Page 27 of Falling With a Spin

“I just cleaned that,” I grumbled, throwing my head back and closing my eyes. I take a deep breath as I walk over to the register, putting on my best customer service smile.

Hunter gives me a small enough smile that the dimples I got a glance at earlier peak out a little bit. I glance behind him to see two other guys, the one on the left with short black hair that's styled with enough gel that he looks like he came right out of a cartoon show and with green eyes that have a speckle of blue in them. He has tattoos up along his arm, a few peeking out from his black shirt that fits like a second layer of skin. I think this is Justin. I honestly can’t remember, and on his right is, well fuck me sideways and just throw me out the window.

It’s Garrett.

The look on his face is pure amusement. I look back towards Justin. Then back towards Garrett. They are fucking twins.

That's right. I remember Garrett mentioning it that morning.

The appearance between them is too uncanny. I get that twins are supposed to look identical, but this is as if someone just copied and pasted them in the fucking womb.

The smirk on Garrett’s face snaps me out of my haze. I throw a glare at him and move my gaze to Hunter.

“Yup, now what can I get for you boys?” I reply with a wide smile. I hope it’s something easy and not the world's most complicated drink. College students who need to stay up for hours to get their last few assignments in before the deadline will come in and get more sugar in their drink than actual coffee.

“Okay, okay, it’s a lot. I hope you are ready. I get this drink every day.” He responds, and I lift my eyebrows. “I will get a black iced coffee.” My fingers hover over the screen to type in the long-order, ready-to-use muscle memory from working at the coffee shop for over a year.

I continue to wait for the rest of the order. Looking up, the long black shirt that he is wearing hugs his muscles in all the right places. I want to reach out to touch them, wrapping my small, dainty hand around them. And those dimples are still peaking out as he smiles at me. His blue eyes are a little brighter than when I ran into him earlier, with the setting sun shining through the windows.

Behind him, someone coughs, and my eyes shoot to Justin, who is scratching the back of his head and looking off to the side. My cheeks flush red, and I realize that was the end of his order and that there’s a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

“Oh, sorry, do you want cream or sugar?” I ask him.

“Just surprise me, love.” He smiles and turns to his friends, “Do you want anything, Justin? Garrett?”

I wasn’t paying attention to what the other two were ordering, but somehow, I was still functioning enough to punch in their orders. Did Hunter just call me love? Irritation bubbling in my core.

“It’ll be out in a few minutes.” I regain my composure and start working on the drinks.

As I’m finishing up their drinks, putting creamer and vanilla sweetener in Hunters iced coffee, I wonder how they all know each other. Childhood best friends? Roommates? The latter makes sense since they do, in fact, live together. Garrett, I only know because of Taylor, and I just found that out. Does that mean Taylor knows them? I made a mental note to ask her later.

I’m barely out from behind the counter, their drinks in hand, when I trip over my shoelace, falling backward, the drinks following suit. Hunter’s coffee spills all over my white shirt, Justin's pink drink soaks my black leggings, and Garrett’s green tea lays in a puddle next to me. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and try to compose myself before getting back up. Remember when I said, What else can happen today? Yeah, pretty sure I fucking jinxed myself.

Don’t cry, Emma. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

Don’t. Fucking. Cry.

“Are you okay?” Hunter jumps from his seat, coming over to help me up. Liam comes out from the back, takes one look at me, and shakes his head before turning back around.

“I'm fine,” I say, pushing away so I don’t drip the mixture of drinks onto him. “I’m going to remake your drinks. I really am sorry about this,” I reply, pointing to the mess.

Turning around, I head to the back to grab a mop bucket and wet floor sign. Hunter grabs my elbow, stopping me and I bite my lip holding back the tears as I turn to face him.

“Forget about the drinks, Emma; you’re covered in them, actually. Let me take you home or help you get cleaned up.” He says, handing me some napkins to wipe off what is on my face.

“I appreciate it, but it's fine.” I attempt to smile. I’m pretty sure I look like a drowned cat. “I don’t want to ruin your car, plus I'm still working. I just need to go to the bathroom to wash some of this off.” Turning around and heading towards the bathroom this time.

He jumps in front of me, blocking my entrance. I let out a sigh of defeat, clenching my fist. I just want one thing to go correctly today.

Hunter brings his hands to my face, and I feel how soft they are. I’m used to the rough touch from Chad, and the softness of Hunters causes the tears I’m holding back to escape. He gently wipes them away, and the smallest touch sends shivers down my spine. I close my eyes, hoping he doesn’t notice.

“Oh, for the love of god. Stop being stubborn and get your ass in the car so I can take you home.” He tells me, his tone turning demanding. “Today has been a hard day and you deserve a break so please don’t argue with me on this.”

“Fine.” I huff.

Opening my eyes, I quickly look away from him and walk to the back but stop when I see Justin talking with Liam. I give him a small smile and wave and he responds with a nod of understanding. He’s a great manager. Most places have shitty management and don’t care about their employees and just want what is best for the customer, even if that means hurting the employees.

When I got in today, we talked about why I was out. I didn’t go into immense detail about it. Liam asked if I was ready to go back to work and if I wasn’t, then it was okay to take more time off. I was firm on coming back and said that it would be good for me to focus on something other than the thoughts in my head.

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