Her Only Dream

Chapter Four

***Kat's POV***

    The next morning when I headed in, I had the first few hours alone, setting up the cafe, checking and timing shots for the espresso, and getting everything ready, to be honest I was a little tired, it had been harder to get to sleep than I thought it would.  Nessa came strolling in when I was supposed to get another person on shift, and I smiled, she was one of my favorites to work with.

    "Hey Kat, you are looking pretty rough this morning, you alright?"  Nessa watched me with some concern.

    "Just a little tired, stayed up later than normal is all."  I responded with a slight yawn, collecting my tips that I had gotten from when I was alone and counting them up to see if I had made enough for a coffee to help boost me up a little, with my discount it seemed to be just enough.  "Wanna ring me up for a peppermint mocha?  I need the boost today."

    "Sure thing!  I hope it wasn't anything with Lily?"  Nessa asked a bit of concern in her voice, when my mom wasn't working she enjoyed her time with her grandbaby and would bring her in to say hi, plus we had a shared love of books and I'd let her know anytime a new book came out for her favorite authors, so everyone at the store knew my kid basically.

    "No, Lily was fine, I was just online talking to someone."  I wouldn't meet Nessa's eyes as I made my own drink,  but I knew after this I was going to likely get interrogated.   

    "Ooooh really....would it happen to be anyone I know?"  Nessa had a mile wide grin on her face, and I felt myself starting to blush, knowing that wouldn't help my case that much.  Thankfully a morning rush came in and we were kept hopping for a while, though Nessa kept shooting me looks from the corner of her eye that told me that we weren't done with that conversation yet.

    I ended up finding multiple ways to keep myself busy, while she kept trying to find ways to corner me, if there was one thing I was good at, it was running away from conversations I didn't want to face.   Still, after lunch I wasn't expecting her to corner me with no escape, until I was literally saved by the bell, at least that's what I thought when I heard it ding and Nessa give me another one of those disgusted looks of hers since she didn't get to question me.  We both turned to look at the customer, only for my heart to start racing while dropping to my feet.  Jake had come in for his afternoon break.  

    "Well you two look like you are having fun."  He started with his normal smile, Nessa grinning like the Cheshire cat while I was blushing and looking anywhere else.  "Think I can get my normal?" 

    "Absolutely, and you look like you are in a really good mood today.  Anything special?"  Nessa took the drink from him, ringing him up, while I went to work making it, thankfully I actually got to turn my back to them but I could feel someone watching me.

    "Just had a really great conversation with someone last night, and I'm looking forward to talking to them again." 

    "You know it's funny you say that, Kat here was talking to someone last night and evidently she stayed up later than normal talking to them, she looked so tired this morning.  Must have been some conversation for her, though she hasn't told me who she was talking to."

     Now I felt two sets of eyes watching me and tried hard not to shift where I was standing, instead I turned on the blender, toning them out for a bit, or trying to, as I saw Jake from the corner of my eye in his normal spot near our counter, a huge grin on his face as he waited.  It's nothing, it's nothing, just relax, glancing at the clock I would normally be going to break in a couple minutes, but I wasn't sure that was a good idea at the moment, so I focused on trying to hide my nerves while I poured the drink for him.  

    Previously, Jake had always waited until I moved my hand away from his drink before he'd grab it, today though, I guess he had a little bit of a rush or something, because he reached for the drink before I could let go, his hand a warm contrast to the cold of the cup, but the contact also caused some tingles that I tried hard not to react to before pulling my hand away, it had felt too good, and I couldn't let myself enjoy something like that.

    "So you stayed up late talking to someone, hmmm?"  Jake sat there, grinning as he watched me, and I couldn't help but be confused as to him sitting there relaxing, why was he in such a rush to grab his drink if he was just going to sit there.  "I take it that it must have been a really good conversation then."

    "Yes, I had fun."  I was trying to find anything and everything I could do to get out of this, but Nessa had disappeared for the moment, so I couldn't leave, but I also wanted to sit down for a moment, I'd been on my feet running most of the day and wanted to sit down.  I glanced at the other end of the serving area and saw the chair we kept there for when we wanted to sit, and started walking over there.

    "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to chase you off, I just wanted to talk some more."  I heard Jake behind me and looked at him a little shocked, he actually sounded worried and a little upset.

    "I was just heading over there cause I wanted to sit for a few, I wasn't walking away because of anything you said."  I watched as the concern flowed off his face as he looked at the chair I was pointing to.  So  I turned back and walked over, sitting down, only to look up and see Jake was right near the chair, back to smiling and with something in his eyes I had never seen, there was almost a look of fear, but it was gone so fast I couldn't tell for sure, but there was also a look of determination as well.

    "Kat, I've really been wanting to ask you this for a while but I wasn't sure if I could or not until last night.  Would you be willing to go out on a date with me?"

    I blinked a few times while my brain tried to comprehend what was going on, there was no way I just heard that, I had to be dreaming still.