“No, I just don’t think Miss Mikaela here remembers my favorite drink.”
The manager’s eyes widened, thinking he was a returning customer. Then she looked at Mikaela, expecting her favorite barista to remember this tiny detail.
Mikaela took a breath. “That was one caramel macchiato with low fat milk. Easy on the caramel drizzle.”
He smiled. She even remembered his exact words. “Oh, that one. That’s a mouthful, but I really like that drink.”
The manager smiled and excused herself, thinking all was well.
“Will that be all, sir?” she said, trying to maintain a straight face instead of scowling. She wanted to grit her teeth in front of him, wanted to tell him what a dick he was.
“No, I have to ask you something else.” She didn’t think he would be this childish.
Another customer walked in the café and waited behind Justin. This wasn’t good at all. “I’ll call your name for your order. Thanks.”
“But you didn’t hear me out yet,” he said. He wasn’t going to allow it to end like this. He would not be dismissed.
The woman behind Justin was getting impatient. “Young man, could you hurry up? Some of us have to be at work before eight.”
Justin looked behind him and smiled at the woman. “Just one second, if you please.” He turned to face Mikaela once more. “Now, will you go on a date with me later?”
“What?” Her face turned pink and her ears grew warm.
The customer behind Justin smiled hearing this. At least there was still some romance in the world, and the young man seemed tenacious to date the barista with the lovely smile. She wanted to see how this went, so she said nothing, deciding to wait for the drama to unfold.
“Will you go on a date with me later?” he asked her again.
“I’m at work,” she gasped. “You shouldn’t ask me this.”
He took out something from his pocket. A silver charm bracelet lay inside a thin box.
The woman behind Justin approved, nodding at Mikaela, signaling for her to say yes with a smile. Mikaela looked away and called for Mary Anne, asking her to take over for just a few minutes.
Mikaela took off her apron and stepped outside of the counter and took Justin’s smooth hand roughly, dragging him out of the store with all her might. They were at the al fresco area of the café where no one was around, much to Justin’s chagrin.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re trying to do here—”
“I’m trying to get you to say yes to a date this afternoon or tonight.”
“And do what?” she snapped. “You’ll leave me alone again. Do you know what kind of asshole you are?”
He frowned. They had barely known each other, and here she was calling him rude names. “Which part spoke of asshole?”
“You left me a thousand dollars—”
“I thought you needed it,” he calmly said. “It looked like you needed it from the way you made your barista life sound.”
“I don’t need your money. I’m not a slut,” she said in a bigger voice.
A passerby looked at her condescendingly and she lowered her voice, feeling her face heat up again. “As I said, I don’t need your money. I’m no charity case.”
“I just thought you needed extra help,” he reasoned. “Did you even take it? I have a feeling you didn’t.”
“No,” she sputtered. “Of course I didn’t take it. You think I’m starved or somethin’?”
“Why are you so angry? If you didn’t take it, you needn’t be angry.”
“You made me seem like I was a hooker.”