Page 38 of Knight
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gwen
A few days had passed since the whole breakdown incident, as I had started to refer to it in my mind. I was taking refuge in the new coffee shop I’d found. Royally Brewed was a bit of a walk from the apartment, but the good thing was that it was far from the campus and in the middle of the afternoon, like right now, it was often quiet. As much as I liked people watching and overhearing other people’s conversations, I did have to actually get some studying done if I was going to keep my GPA up.
“Hi,” the guy behind the counter said to me with the same wide smile he always gave me. I wasn’t sure if he had started to recognize me or if he was just overly friendly. Either way, I’d take that smile, because it was the kind of smile that was infectious. I suddenly didn’t have a bad or heavy feeling anywhere inside me. “What can I get you today?”
“Um,” I paused looking up at the menu, though I wasn’t sure why, because I always got the same thing.
A light huff of a laugh caused my eyes to snap back to the guy. His face was still warm so I got the feeling he wasn’t getting impatient or making fun of me.
“I’m sorry,” he said when I raised a brow at him. “It’s just, you do this every time you come in here and then order the same thing. Large raspberry mocha with an extra shot. Whole milk but no whipped cream. Right?”
I let out a breathy laugh.
“You never know, one of these days I could come in here and surprise you by ordering something completely different. But yes, I’ll take that today.” I smiled as I pulled out my card and swiped it.
“Okay,” he said moving off to make my drink. “But when you do, it has to be something insane. You can’t just switch from raspberry mocha to like a mint chocolate one.”
“No?”
“No.” He gave a little shake of his head and a lock of his light brown hair fell on his forehead. “It’s gotta be like a small red eye with steamed milk and two pumps each of—chocolate, blueberry, and almond.”
“That sounds…” My face scrunched up with disgust. I couldn’t imagine that tasting good at all.
“Terrible? Yes, I know, because I’ve tried it.”
“Oh, God. Why?” I said with a laugh.
“Because this guy came in and actually ordered it one time and I just had to know, you know?” He made his way back over to me and set the cup on the counter in front of me. “Never again.”
“I would say not. Thank you.” I said with a nod as I took my cup.
I found a table in the corner, away from the door and any windows. In other words, away from anything that could be distracting. I got to work as I waited for Tara. After a while, I raised my head and scanned the area. Sometimes she was late, so I wasn’t really worried. As my eyes danced over the front counter, I noticed a sign I hadn’t seen when I was standing there. My pen rested against my lips as I thought about it.
“Hey?” I said to the guy who had made my coffee, whose name I still didn’t know. Guessed it was time to change that. He looked up from the table he was wiping down just a few over from where I was.
“Yeah? You need something else?”
“No. I just saw the sign. What are you hiring for?”
He left his rag and made his way over to me.
“Oh, barista. It’s not many hours, but we are flexible here with schedules. I take it you’re in college?” He pointed to the mess of notes and books I had spread out on the table in front of me.
“Yes,” I said putting my pen down. “I’m Gwen, by the way,” I said as I held my hand out to him.
“Dale,” he said as he shook my hand. “Are you interested in the job?”
“Yeah. Can I get an application, please?”
I knew Dad wasn’t too thrilled with me working at the bar. Though, I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like I didn’t have bodyguards pretty much every second I was there. And it wasn’t like I needed his approval, but if I could give him one less thing to stress out about then I would. This would be a better fit for me anyway. I definitely loved coffee more than alcohol, especially after my latest tango with it. Just thinking about that night had my stomach churning.
“Sure. I’ll go grab one.” He darted off and as I turned my attention to the door, Tara walked in.
She was wearing more makeup than she usually did. Her hair was put up in a high ponytail and it seemed like there wasn’t a strand out of place. That wasn’t to say that she normally looked bad.
“Hey,” I said as she walked up and set her books on the small empty corner of the table. “Your makeup looks good.”
