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Ding!Went the bell as the door opened, Jake had come to work early to prepare things. He saw that his coworkers had already fixed and organized up some stuff before he arrived. The only thing that wasn't fixed was a sign that was ruined by a rude, vicious customer. God, he never wanted to see him again.As Jake fixed the sign, his boss, Miriam, appeared right in front of him."Jake, hun, we're going to open the café in a few, so you better get ready!" Miriam instructed him."You got it!" The young boy smiled, giving her a thumbs up.Miriam returned the smile, walking back to the kitchen to cook up some treats.Jake exhaled a happy sigh, he felt like it was going to be a great day today! Or at least, an acceptable one.Finally, Jake fixed the sign, then walked up to the entrance of the small shop, flipping the sign from "CLOSED!" to "OPEN!". He went near the cash register, standing next to the cashier, Hunter.Hunter sighed and leaned against the counter."Jeez, I did not wanna wake up this morning," Hunter spoke out.""Really?”
"Yeah, felt like sleeping for some more hours. Plus, I did fall asleep at like.. 12.." Hunter chuckled awkwardly, fiddling with his necklace.
"Didn’t I tell you to go to sleep early? Am I gonna have to repeat it every day?" Jake frowned, worried for his friend.
"Don’t worry man, I’m gonna start going to sleep earlier this time, promise!" Hunter gave a thumbs up, grinning.
"If you say so.." Jake sighed in doubt.
Hunter was about to say another word but was interrupted by a door being clanked open.
Jake and Hunter both looked at the man, then each other.
"See ya in a little bit," Jake waved, walking away.
Hunter paused for a few seconds, before waving back while Jake wasn’t paying to him.As Jake moved closer, he got a better glance at how the guy looked.He had pale white skin, short but lovely black hair, teal orbs, and scars on the right of his chin. He also had a teal and brown jacket, Yankees blue colored pants, and black boots completing his figure like a cherry on top of a milkshake. Jake was concerned about his scars but knew they were there for a reason. He then realized he was staring for too long because the man started to look uncomfortable. "Are you going to keep staring at me like that?" The stranger said in a low tone, having a slightly flushed face. "Ah, sorry!" Jake apologized. "Now, what would you like?" He gave a nervous smile, blushing. "Mmm..could I have a chocolate donut and a cup of vanilla coffee..? Thanks." The customer had a soft smile on his face. "Of course! Could I have your name?""Tom.""Alright Tom, coming right up!" Jake beamed, rushing over to where everything was made. Jake came back with the order and had the receipt, giving it to Tom. The raven-haired man gave him the money and walked off, waving while doing so. Jake sighed and walked back to Hunter. "Sup." Hunter gave a dorky smile, "Why'd ya come back?"Jake opened his mouth but paused, giving Hunter silence before responding to him. "To give you the money, and to talk about the customer." "Hm? Alright then, I'm all ears." Hunter leaned in closer to Jake. The waiter inhaled and exhaled. "He was..so cute.." He said in awe, having a dreamy face.
“Oh?”
“Yeah! He had such a handsome face..” "Mhmm…" Hunter rolled his eyes unamused, looking down at the floor with a hurt expression. "Hey, there's more people, better go do your job or Miriam would be pretty mad." Hunter chuckled. "Right!– Thanks!" Jake waved goodbye to Hunter once again, handing him the money before rushing to the impatient consumers.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Jake gave out a loud groan of boredom. Not many customers had arrived to the café today. Jake isn't complaining though, half of the people that come in the small building are complete assholes.He sighed, and looked over at Hunter, he wasn't really doing much, just texting on his phone. Jake decided to open up a conversation him, since he didn't really have anything better to do. “Hey, Hunter.” Hunter looked over at him, smiling, “Sup, Jake.”Jake returned the smile, “You think we should start our break earlier than we would normally do it?” Jake asked him, curious. Hunter pondered for a little before answering. “Why not.” Hunter kept the grin on his face, turning off his phone, “Where should we head off too? There's not many things that I can think of..” “Hmm..we can think about it while we're walking out!” Jake replied. Hunter gave a thumbs up, there weren't many options anyway.Before the two left outside, they told the others that worked there that they would be taking a walk. The two girls didn't care, simply just shrugging it off and continued to do their job. The two didn't go anywhere. They just walked around, talking about funny short stories and jokes to keep them hooked, and not bored. Jake and Hunter walked back near the cash register, waving to their other co-workers, Ally and Grett. "Back from our break!" Hunter had a grin on his face, which slowly disappeared as he saw the expressions on the faces of the girls. "Um..you guys alright?" Hunter asked them, Jake didn't care much about what happened while they were gone, so he just scrolled through his phone. "Obviously not! The last two customers were a pain in the ass." Grett growled, crossing her arms. "I liked the guy but..the lady was rude." Ally frowned, "Hopefully we don't see her again..""Agreed," Grett sighed, “But, there was this one girl that totally caught Ally's attention.” Grett laughed, causing Ally to blush and look away in embarrassment. “Really? Tell me more.” Jake said, dragging a stool near the counter and sat on it, it had attracted Jake's attention quite a lot. “She had most of her black hair tied into a bun..white and black type of clothing with an orange sweater wrapped around her waist..” Ally smiled shyly, “She was very pretty, I hope she arrives again soon, might ask her for her number..” She mumbled the last part. “I've seen that gal before, she lives nearby, so possibly she'll come back.” Grett had made Ally's smile ever wider, making her eyes shine in excitement.“Aww, Ally! You got a little crush!~” Jake teased, chuckling. Ally pouted. “I bet you've thought a customer was cute before!” Jake paused his chuckling, going silent. Ally giggled, going quiet as well. The awkward silence went by for a minute or two, before Grett started to speak.“Now, do we close up early? Not many customers have arrived.” She asked, the other three deciding the answer to the question. “Sure, we can close up early.” Hunter answered Grett's question, Jake and Ally nodding in agreement. Just as Hunter was about to walk to the door to flip the sign to open, a small ‘ding!’ had alerted the others that someone had entered the café. The 4 looked at the door, seeing a man that was very familiar to Jake and Hunter. It was Tom, the guy Jake had a little crush for. Hunter frowned just looking at the sight at him, turning his head back to Grett and Ally's direction. “Woo! New customer!” Ally clapped her hands silently, grinning. “He's not new, Ally! Well, sort of. I saw him the other day!” Jake said, his blush not disappearing. “Oooh..so that's who you've thought was cute?” "Um..yeah.” Jake chuckled awkwardly, walking over to the police officer. "Hello there again!" Jake flapped his hand, smiling widely. "Oh um– hello." Tom gave a half-smile, looking down at the table. "So what would you like?""Same as last time." "Which was..?""Oh right. A donut and a cup a coffee.""What kind of donut and coffee?""Just whatever.""Okay then!" Jake wrote on his small notepad, walking away. —"Alright, here you go." Jake gave him his order, smiling softly. "Thanks– Uh..""Jake." Jake stared at Tom, "My name is Jake." "Ah, nice name, suits you well." Tom curled his lips, before reaching over for his wallet. "Thanks." Jake mumbled, covering half of his face. Tom gave him the money, Jake waved goodbye and walked away. It was a new day, except it was more crowded than usual. Well, that's because Miriam had thought of giving the place a little bit of more flavor. Adding yellow lights and making a few adjustments while Ally, Grett, Hunter, and Jake were out of the building. Jake thought it gave the place a lot more coziness than before. And the other agreed, more people had started to apply for the job. The four were excited to see more people, it would be nice to have a few extra hands up helping. Hunter was at the cash register, collecting more money than they would usually have. This would surely make Miriam happy! Jake had check the time on his cellular device, realizing he had 30 more minutes on the job, guess when it's busy in the café time sure goes by faster. Jake inhaled and exhaled, smiling softly, fewer customers were arriving and he was glad, only four people working was quite stressful, people demanding their orders this instant, he was surprised none of them just stormed out and left, upset they didn't get what they wanted. Most of them were patient, though, since they knew there were only four people making their orders. Jake rested his head on his arms, relaxing. Until Tom had stepped in once again, but with another person. She had dark skin with dark hair, and long, wavy brown hair with a red bow attached. She also had a red sweater, with blue jeans that were slightly ripped from the ends, and white and black shoes. Jake thought she looked like a sweet girl, her clothing choices were a nice sight to see. “This was the place you were talking about!? It looks wonderful!” The girl practically shouted, clapping her hands in excitement. “Yeah, it's had some changes though, don't remember seeing yellow lights when I was here a few days ago.. Seems like a nice change though.” Tom smiled, he loved her company, and how exciting and energetic she was, it made Tom chuckle sometimes. Jake quickly walked to the two, and cleared his throat, giving the two a heads up he was there. “Oh, hi!!” The woman waved, smiling widely. “I would like uhh..” She looked through the menu printed and posted on the wall, squinting. “I would like a soy milk latte with the name Gabby please!” Gabby spoke at a very rapid pace, Jake writing the order fastly in his small notebook. “Okay! And you, Tom?” Jake grinned, “Same as always, if that doesn't bother you.” “Of course it doesn't! I write customer's usuals in the back of the notebook, just in case I forget!” Jake said, his grin never disappearing. Tom felt his heart beat faster than before, something with Jake just made him feel, giddy. “That's smart, I wouldn't have thought of it before.” Tom chuckled, Jake also chuckled, causing Tom to blush, Gabby noticed this, raising an eyebrow with her huge grin. As Jake walked away, Gabby's sweet grin turned into a mischievous one. “You like him don't youuuu?” Gabby giggled, watching as Tom's blush worsened. “I–I don't! He's just.. Uhm..” Tom had a loss of words, feeling defeated. “Fine..he's cute,” Tom admitted, “But he'd probably have no interest in me. ” Tom sighed, swinging one of his keys in a circle with his index finger. “You don't know thatt!! Maybe he also likes you a whole lot too!!” Tom paused, thinking about what Gabby had said. “Maybe..but who knows..” Tom slouched in his chair, frowning. Just as Gabby was gonna respond, Jake had arrived with the sweets. “Here you guys go! Hope the latte is good, people don't usually order it so it's probably one of the only times I've made it!..” Jake grinned nervously. As Gabby took a sip of the coffee, her expression became more joyful. “YESS!! THIS IS THE BEST!! THANK YOU!!” Gabby yelled happily, continuing to drink the latte. While Gabby was verbal to express her emotions, Tom was the opposite. Just eating the donut and taking small sips of his coffee in silence. Jake was already at another table when the two were enjoying the treats. After they finished, they walked to the counter, paying for the sugary goodies and walking out, pleased. “That was the BEST café I've ever been in so far, Tom!!” Gabby said joyfully, “I should take Ellie here next time I visit, I think she would love this place!” Tom smiled, nodding in agreement. “She would definitely love this place." Tom went quiet before suggesting Gabby something. "Hey, maybe she should work here?” “Perhaps!! If she did, I would definitely go every day just to see her beautiful face!!” Gabby raised her hands up in delight, picturing Ellie in the same uniform Jake had worn. Tom and Gabby then stopped in their tracks, looking at each other. “Well, this is where we go our separate ways, Gabs” Tom smiled, hugging Gabby, who hugged back, of course. The two walked the opposite direction of each other, walking back home to do their own thing.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Another day in the small, cozy café, and the business was growing day by day! Jake was joyful with how such a tiny café had used to be exactly as it was, small and quite empty, to the same building with even more customers. Miriam deserves this after all, her baking is splendid, of course he did help sometimes. …Ding!A woman had arrived in the café, and the bell attached to the door made it's merry sound, Jake waved at the ginger, going from resting his hand on the counter to having a polite posture. “Hello there!” He smiled, “Um, hi. I would like to apply for a job here?...” The pale girl looked sort of nervous, as if she thought he would decline, which he didn't. “Of course! What's your name?”“Ellie, Ellie Parker.” Ellie said in her monotone voice, “Alright, then! Hello again, Ellie! Go into that room over there, that's where the boss is, Miriam. She'll give the form and it'll continue on from there!” The taller one smiled, “Ah, thank you.” Ellie gave a small smile, before walking into Miriam's office. Jake felt proud, he had helped a polite woman hopefully obtain a job. Just as Jake was about to go on his break (he always takes his breaks ten minutes earlier than usual…) Tom had walked in, sitting on a table, with a friend again. This time it wasn't a female, it was a male.The guy had a split colored wolf cut, which was brown and a vanilla white. He also wore a red turtleneck, with gray pants?... Jake couldn't tell because his back was facing him, so he couldn't get a clear look on what his face looked like. Jake walked over to them, his pencil and notepad ready. “Hello again, Tom! Who have you brought this time?” Jake laughed, causing Tom to blush sort of out of embarrassment. “This is my friend, Aiden. I wanted him to try the donuts here…” Tom looked like he was about to start drooling just thinking about the dessert. Aiden just scoffed and rolled his eyes, having a smile. “And other things here, of course.”Jake gave a loud chuckle, nodding. “Okay so Tom wants the same as last time… what do you want Aiden?”The split-haired young adult thought about it for a while, before responding. “Chocolate donut and a lemon pie?– Oh and I wouldn't like a drink, thanks.” Aiden replied, squinting at the menu 12 feet away from him. “Of course, be right back.” Jake grinned, walking over to where Hunter, Ally, and Grett were.Tom watched as Jake walked away, and sighed as he slouched down on the diner booth. “What's wrong, man?” Aiden asked, tilting his head. “It's too early to start liking a guy you've only known for 3 weeks, right?”Aiden's raised an eyebrow, looking even more confused. “What?”“Our waiter! His name is Jake… Doesn't he look handsome?” Tom sighed, resting his hand on his cheek. “He looks okay, not really my type. James is way cuter.” Aiden giggled.Tom rolled his eyes, “That's because you're dating him! Of course he's gonna be cuter.” Aiden covered his mouth with his right hand, but you can see him curling his lips.“Maybe you should ask him if you guys can hang out when he's not working?” Aiden gave him a suggestion. Tom grinned widely, “Hey, maybe I should do that! Thanks.” Aiden nodded, “Yeah, no proble–“Here you guys go!” Jake gave them their orders with a smile. Aiden quietly said a small “Thank you” and started to eat his lemon pie. “You're welcome!” Jake waved and left, probably to get another customer’s order.The two men sat and had several conversations about stupid shit, one about Tom's childhood and another about James and Aiden's vacation during the summer.After they were done, Aiden paid for the desserts, which weren't a lot. Before they had left, the older one of the duo wanted to speak to Jake, before he had left his shift for the day. “Heyyy Jake..” Tom spoke rather nervously, his voice high pitched. The shorter man hummed as a response, taking off his apron. “Would you uh…” Tom paused, inhaling and exhaling. “Go hangout with me somewhere when you're not working?” Jake's eyebrows raised, then suddenly his eyes lit up, and smiled broadly. “Sure! I'm off on Sunday, what time?”“5:30 if that's okay with you.” Tom felt his face burn, his eyes locking contact with the waiter. “Alright then! Here's my number.” Jake got a small piece of paper and a pen from I don't even know where, and wrote it down. "Here you go! Call me~" He winked, and left the building. The black-haired gulped, “Stop looking at him and let's go already,” Aiden rolled his eyes, slightly pushing Tom in a playful way. “I'm goingg… sheesh…” Tom pouted.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tom sticked his arm out of the window and inhaled the fresh air, today his da–hangout… with Jake. He was really excited and wanted to know more about this gorgeous looking man. The scar-faced male was looking for the blue-haired boy, they were supposed to meet here and drive to the skating rink, yet he is 15 minutes late. Tom thought about leaving and texting Jake if they could reschedule, but that suggestion quickly disappeared from his head as soon as he saw Jake. The boy ran towards the car and quickly got in, “Sorry I took a while!– it's just…” Jake wheezed, “Took a short nap.” The shorter one did air quotes with his fingers. Tom snorted, “It's alright. We all make slip-ups.” He gave a reassuring grin, “Great, I would've been real embarrassed if you had a problem with it.” After Jake had spoken the drive to the rink was pretty awkward and silent, but Tom had to stay focused on the road anyway so it didn't really matter. Once they got there, Tom was the first to get out of the car. He absolutely loved skating, a special childhood memory to him was skating with his mom. Ice skating is literally just skating but on ice, right? While Tom was the most excited, Jake on the other hand was quite nervous. He never skated at all, he was more used to skateboards and scooters. He just shrugged off his worries and got out of the vehicle, the atmosphere felt nice, people walking in the skating rink, others just taking a simple walk, probably more that he didn't focus on. Anyway, as they got into the skating rink, they got their ice skates and carefully put them on, and got on the rink. Tom slowly placed a foot on the ground and smiled, he stayed there with Jake to try and guide him. Jake furrowed his eyebrows, and almost fell on his ass. After some time, he finally was able to balance himself with Tom's help. The older one took the younger one's hand and glided through the smooth, slick ice. Jake looked scared for his dear life, and gripped onto Tom. “Slow down!— We're gonna fucking fall if you move again.” The blue-haired man whisper-shouted, causing his friend to laugh. “We're not gonna fall, as long as I don't lose my balance, the both of us are gonna be fine!” He gave a bright smile. “Okay…” Tom skated to a wall, “Stay there and watch me.” He then drifted to the middle of the stadium and tried to impress Jake with his way of slowing down, by sliding through the ice and making a star, but failed. Jake bursted into laughter, and went over to help him out. “Thanks,” The noirette smiled. It took him a few seconds, but he realized Jake was able to skate by himself. “Dude, you were able to skate by yourself!” Tom had a big grin, giving the other a fist bump. “I guess I was?” Jake was just as shocked as Tom, having a goofy smile. “Well, c'mon! We gotta try and dance together.” Jake thought about it for some seconds, before nodding, having a wider grin. The duo slided to the middle and practiced some moves with each other, they succeeded most of them, others they fell and giggled like dumb teenage girls. After getting slightly bored, the two decided to call it a night with ice skating. Tom gave back their ice skates and before both of them left, they got snacks from the snack bar. Jake got pretzels while Tom got a bag of chips.“God, these pretzels are so awesome.” The blue-haired boy spoke with his mouth full, walking to the car. “You're gonna choke, stop eating with your mouth full.”“Whatever you say, mom.” Jake rolled his eyes, and got inside the vehicle. He gave directions to Tom on where he lived, so he could drop him off, obviously. As Tom drove, the two were having a conversation about the fun little hangout. Once they got to their destination, Jake waved his friend goodbye and got off, watching as the car disappeared. He sighed, not really having anything to do now. The boy decided to just sleep, he couldn't wait to see him again.. . . Jake jolted awake, getting startled from his alarm. He exhaled, standing up and went to start his morning routine. It was pretty simple, really. Brushing his teeth, showering and drying off, furthermore shit. After he was done with his daily morning routine, he exited out of his apartment door and went downstairs, heading over to the bus-stop. He noticed the ginger from the other day was already sitting down, bouncing her leg up and down from anxiety. He decided to start a little conversation with her. “Hello!” The porcelain-skinned man waved, smiling. Ellie jumped a little, she was frightened by the unexpected chat. “Oh, Hi.” The woman said in a quiet voice, “You're gonna be working at the café, right? Pretty sure I saw you last time!” Jake chuckled. “Yeah, pretty nervous. I'm not sure if I'll do the proper things and UGH. It's just stressing.” Ellie sighed, crossing her legs and arms. “Oh, I felt exactly the same! Well, not exactly but you get what I mean. I was so scared that I would probably get fired the first day, but I didn't!”Ellie's uneasiness vaguely decreased, she felt more confident about the job. “I appreciate your help,” She gave a half-smile. Jake nodded, “Happy to help!” After Jake responded, they both went silent, it wasn't awkward… Maybe just a bit. A few minutes later, the bus finally arrived, and the two pale-skinned adults went inside. The ride to the café was shorter than usual, possibly because of the male getting glued to his phone. As soon as they arrived to their stop, they got off and went inside the building. It took a while, but Jake and the others taught Ellie how things work around, she quickly got the hang of it!“Hey, you were right, Jake.” The male turned his around, now fulling looking at her. “Right about what?”“When you saw me earlier, you helped me calm down, genuinely thankful for your help.” She grinned, and stopped to go give a customer a cup of coffee. Jake inhaled and exhaled, he thought Ellie seemed like a friendly person. “Jake.”The blue-haired looked back, “Oh, hey Hunter! What's up?” His lips were curled into a smile. “The cop you always talk to is here . . . ““Oh– thanks!” The waiter rushed passed through Hunter, who just stood there staring at Jake. He inhaled and exhaled and went back to the cash register.