Rockstar Romance

THREE

"Nice pin!“ Lucas says with a mix of curiosity and amusement in his crooked smile.

Yup. Lucas. Himself. Here. In my mall. In front of my counter. Complimenting me on the pin I wear on my apron. Of his band. I'm so shook I still can't bring myself to speak. I just smile and nod slowly.

„Um... so... what do I need to do to get a coffee around here?“ He ist still beaming at me with those incredible eyes. I've never seen eyes this blue before. I swallow and try to bring myself to speak but my mouth is so dry...

'Alright, Bea, come on, it's now or never!', I cheer myself on in my mind.

„Of course, right, I'm sorry Mr. … um... Lucas. Coming right up.“ I turn towards the coffee station just to stop dead in my tracks again.

„Uh, what's your order again?“ I sheepishly ask without turning to look at him.

I hear his soft chuckle and bring myself to risk a glance over my shoulder.

„Hey, come here one second, I don't bite“, he laughs. I do as he says and, for the first time, take in his whole appearance. He still has that messy dark brown hair and a few days' worth of scruff on his face. He is wearing a faded deep purple T-shirt and skinny jeans. The clothes seem to be made for his perfect body.

I stop myself before I go into full daydream mode again.

„Ok, let's do this again“, I say, grinning at him. A foolproof idea just popped into my head. I close my eyes for a second and switch to sugary sweet, fake friendly salesperson and give him the full program.

I look up at him with a big smile: „Oh, good morning, sir, what a pleasure to greet you. How may we quench your thirst for caffeine today? If I may recommend: Our macha frappuccino is today's special: double espresso, frothed milk, macha sirup and your choice of a sweet topping, for only 3,99.“ I give a little twirl and bow and blink my eyes.

His face changes from confusion to amusement to a genuine warm smile. When I finish twirling, he slow claps. „I see you are full of surprises“, he winks at me. „But I prefer my coffee old school – no fancy gadgets. Just plain good coffee.“

The sound of his voice makes my skin tingle. 'He's talking to me, he's talking to me, he's TALKING to ME!' some freakishly loud voice keeps yelling at me in my mind. This time I succeed at keeping my cool, „I got you, dear sir!“ I chirp and rush over to the coffee machine for some fresh brewed black goodness.

„So can I offer you any baked goods to make up for all those calories you are missing out on with this milk and syrup free coffee of yours?“ I ask as the machine starts humming. „The creme filled donuts are absolutely incredible!“ I realize that talking to him is much easier when I'm not right in front of him.

„Creme filled anything is amazing! I'll have two of those donuts!“

„Coming up“ I sing, still in 'super cheerful mode'. I carefully select two perfect donuts from the shelf and place them on a small paper tray. As I reach for one of our pink and white paper bags, Lucas quickly says „oh, no need to bag them up, let's have them now“.

I'm confused but manage to contain myself. I place the paper tray on the counter in front of him and go to get his coffee. „Do you need a lid?“ I ask, „we're plastic free around here, so these take some getting used to, but - „

„No need, miss - ?“ He looks at me questioningly.

„Yes? Anything else?“ I ask.

„No, thank you, this is perfect“ he smiles, „I was just thinking it's not exactly fair you know my name and I don't know yours“.

„Uhhhhh......“ Come on girl, get it together! „Bea! My name's Bea!“