A Devil's Journey

Oakvale Cafe

"Trinity the cinnamon buns are burniiiiiiing" I heard my boss wail from her office while I was upfront finishing up with a customer. I loved how the customers never batted an eye when she did this. Everyone was a regular after all and she loved to sit in her office all day and bark orders.

I quickly finished his drink and handed it to him with my best customer service smile, earning a couple bucks in the tip jar as he headed out. It had been a pretty steady day, but thankfully started to slow down an hour ago. No one was eating in this late, just taking their stuff to go.

I turned and ran to the back heading straight for the oven, grabbing the mitts and pulling out the cinnamon buns, putting them down on the counter before going back to close the oven. Inspecting the cinnamon buns it looks as though I had caught them at the right time, they looked absolutely perfect. I would be lying if I said the smell didn't make my mouth water.

"The buns are fine Alicia!" I yelled back "not that you couldn't have come to get them yourself instead of sitting on your stupid butt" I muttered under my breath. She really didn't do much of anything. I'm still not entirely sure what she does back there all day, but between taking care of all the baking and all the customers, I was exhausted.

I leaned back on the counter for a moment to catch my breath and relax a moment, closing my eyes a split second before I heard the bell ding as the door opened. Another customer. I sighed looking at the clock, at least there were only 30 minutes left. Chances are this would be the last one of the day. I pushed off the counter and made my way to the front.

As I rounded the corner I started my usual welcoming greeting "Hi there welcome to Oakvale Cafe how can I...." I trailed off as I looked up and saw a complete stranger. He was eyeing up some of the baking in the display cabinet and hadn't looked my way yet. He had jet black hair and piercing blue eyes that looked like they could pierce through your soul. "..help you" I finally managed to spit out as I made my way behind the counter.

He continued looking in the display, I swear it was like he didn't hear me. I continued toward him, stopping on the other side of the display. He still hadn't even looked up! What a weirdo. A weirdo that I HAD to talk to. I noticed his clothes showed signs of wear and tear, just how far had he traveled?

I finally found the courage to speak again "Hi there, is there something I can get for you?" it came out in my normal voice instead of my customer service voice. Huh. I'm usually pretty good at turning that on. He finally looked up at me after I asked what he wanted and a part of me suddenly wished he hadn't. I was right about those eyes. I'm fairly certain he just took a look deep into my soul.

He stared at me for a moment before straightening up and flashing me a dazzling smile. "Hi there, I'm not sure what I should get... what would you recommend?". His voice was deep and husky and I felt mesmerized by him. I realized I was staring instead of answering and finally came to my senses "o-oh! well I would actually recommend one of our cinnamon buns! A fresh batch just came out of the oven and they are absolutely heavenly when they first come out".

He smirked at what I said, I couldn't think of a reason to smirk about that but he quickly defused my confusion, returning to a smile and responded "indeed, I will try one of your... heavenly cinnamon buns". He seemed to hesitate before saying heavenly. Great, so he was a total weirdo.

"Oh great! Let me go get you one then". I turned around making my way to the back. I swear, I felt him stare at my back the whole way.

As I rounded the corner to the back area I felt myself release some tension I didn't even realize I was holding. What was this stranger doing to me? I went over to the tray of cinnamon buns, cutting them and pulling out one of the best looking ones from the center. They were still quite hot and I burnt my finger on it, cursing under my breath as I placed it on one of our plates.

I grabbed the plate and went back up front. The man had moved from the display area over to the main counter and was looking at the drink menu intently. This time he didn't wait to look in my direction though, as soon as I had made it within his peripheral vision he turned his head to look at me. A smile quickly gracing his face, though softer this time.

I set the plate down on the back counter, turning my back to him as I drizzled caramel sauce over it as well as some icing sugar. Even I had to admit it looked really good. I turned around and confirmed my suspicion that he had been watching me the whole time, trying to shake off the weird feeling that knowledge gave me.

"Would you like a drink as well? It might be a bit late for coffee, but a hot chocolate would probably hit the spot" I blurted out. Where did that come from? His eyes never left me, but I found it hard to look at him for more than a couple of seconds. "That sounds lovely, what is your name?" he said boldly.

"It's Trinity" I responded without thinking. What if this guy wasn't nice? I suppose I only gave him my first name, but I was the only Trinity in town. I wouldn't be that hard to track down. Still, I responded way too quickly. I need to be more careful.

I turned around again to make his hot chocolate, deciding to be bold myself "what's your name?". I knew he was still looking at me, but it was much easier to ask the question without looking directly at him. He answered just as quick as I did "Vincent". Huh. I kind of liked that name. Not that I would say so.

I finished up his hot chocolate with some whipped cream on top and placed it on the counter, noticing he had finally stopped looking at me, rummaging around in his backpack looking for money. I watched for a bit, realizing if he was looking this hard that he was probably low on funds. Traveling wasn't exactly cheap.

"You know what Vincent" I stopped as he looked at me as I said his name. Dang those eyes. "I-It's on the house". This time I smiled at him and he looked confused. Finally! I was winning. "Are you sure? I'm sure I've got enough money in here somewhere..." he said as I shook my head. "Honestly don't worry about it, my boss will never know the difference". It was true, like I said, in the office ALL DAY.

The smile he gave me made me feel weak the knees. My goodness he was gorgeous. "You just made my day, thank you so much... Trinity". Oh god. If I wasn't weak before, the way he said my name really did me in. "M-my pleasure" I stuttered out as he grabbed his food and drink and went to sit down.

I was tempted to follow, wanting to talk to him, ask some questions about where he came from and why on earth he was in this town. I took a deep breath and walked around the counter, heading toward the dining area when I heard the familiar sound of my boss "Trinityyyyy these dishes aren't going to wash themseeeeelves". Dang! I stopped in my tracks looking at the dining area. His back was to me so he didn't see me heading over. I shook my head and turned in my tracks. These dishes were going to be done FAST.