Coffee Break

“Maaaaaartin!” Jack trilled, skipping into the shop.

I groaned at how loud Jack’s voice was, glad that the shop wasn’t busy yet this morning. If Jack’s found out gossip for me, I don’t want the whole freaking town to hear it.

“I’m taking a cigarette break, Bill,” I mumbled, untying my apron.

“Sure,” William mused.

Jack grinned and followed me out the back of the shop, waiting until I’d sat down on the back steps to start speaking.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be to find out stuff about him, y’know,” Jack grinned, sitting gracefully down next to me.

“Oh yeah?” I murmured, pulling a Marlboro out the pack in my back pocket and lighting it.

Jack looked at me hopefully, making me roll my eyes and pass him a white stick too. He lit it from the end of mine and took a deep drag, exhaling before talking again.

“Mmhmm. His full name is Zachary Steven Merrick, he’s 22, turning 23 next April, and he moved here from Baltimore after attending college there. No-one knows why though, but we can work on that. Uh, his brother is called Sam and he’s 25, and his dad is called Mark and he’s 50. Zack has another brother called Ryan, but he’s 26 and married, living in New Jersey. From this we can gather that he’s family orientated, because he lives with them too,” Jack said.

I nodded. Family orientated. Not like me then.

“Zack works out every morning and evening at the local gym, whether he’s working in the electronics shop or not, and he buys protein shake mix as well as healthy snacks and vitamins from John and Kyle’s health shop, and he buys running clothes and new sneakers from Rian and Paul’s Sports shop every now and again. This tells us that he’s a fitness freak, and a health nut. And looking at his body, it pays off,” Jack grinned.

Fitness and health junkie. Again, not like me.

“Okay, now we get to the fun stuff. Zack skateboards as well as taking photographs, and I know this because I found his work on the Baltimore School for the Arts website. You should check it out, he’s amazing. He loves action movies and chick flicks, but not horror movies. Um, he eats a lot of sushi, he hates loud people and…he has a fair few tattoos!” Jack said excitedly.

I know he has a fair few tattoos. He wore a muscle shirt once last summer and they were exposed pretty nicely. Pretty fucking nicely.

“Anything else?” I asked, biting my bottom lip as I took a final drag of my cigarette.

“Uh…yeah, he’s colourblind,” Jack nodded.

Well, that’s new.

“I wouldn’t have expected that,” I said softly.

I really wouldn’t.

“Mmhmm, Kennedy told me that when Zack was in his and Gabe’s clothing store once, that Zack was muttering under his breath about how shopping for clothing would be so much easier if he wasn’t colourblind,” Jack explained.

I thought over Jack's words as Jack finished off his cigarette, not sure what to make of all the new information.

“Is that it?” I asked, biting my bottom lip as I flicked away my cigarette butt too.

“Well, he’s a complete homosexual, thanks to someone finding out from Chizzy about the time that Zack got wasted in a bar and made-out with the male bartender, but I think we all figured that out anyway due to him always smiling at you and no-one else,” Jack smirked.

I blushed but shrugged. I had kinda assumed that he was gay, so to hear that he definitely was is a good feeling. A very good feeling.

“You really asked everyone you possibly could, didn’t you?” I smiled.

“I used old fucks and all,” Jack winked.

“If you weren’t so into Tay, I really would think you were gay,” I chuckled.

“Hey!” Jack pouted.

I raised an eyebrow, challenging him.

“You’re the most flaming straight man I’ve ever met,” I snickered.

Jack thought about it for a second, before shrugging.

“As long as Tay doesn’t think I’m into men, whatever!” Jack grinned.

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head in amusement.

“Thanks for doing this, by the way. I feel like some sort of mafia boss sending out underground orders,” I mused.

“That would be so cool! It’s okay though, Martin. Everyone knows how much you like him, so we’re happy to help. And I like to gossip. You’ll just have fun explaining to Zack, after you finally fuck him and get married, how you know pretty much everything about him without even asking,” Jack smirked.

Well I, uh, hadn’t thought of that. Wow, that could be embarrassing.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks. Um, I’d better get back inside before Bill fires me,” I mumbled, standing up.

“Like he’d ever do that. See you at Kennedy, John and Kyle’s tonight?” Jack grinned, standing up too.

Kennedy, John and Kyle are having a 'social get-together' tonight, that really means everyone's going to get trashed, someone will lose their clothes and at least two people will fall asleep in vomit. Not necessarily their own vomit. It should be a good night.

“Yeah, see you,” I nodded, heading back inside.

*

It’s nearly half 11. Zack will be here soon for his morning coffee order and I think I might freak out. I know I shouldn’t have asked Jack to gossip around. Now I know too much about him. I’m not exaggerating! I know way too much about him without even talking to him about something other than his coffee orders and the weather.

Not that I could talk to him. I’d still fuck things up.

“Zack will be here soon,” Alex sang in my ear, softly so only William heard and snickered.

“Fuck you, I know that,” I grumbled, loading the double shots for the three coffees.

“Chill, Marty. Now you know more about him, you can just talk to him. Ease him into conversation,” William smiled.

“Like fuck I can talk to him,” I muttered, pressing the filter button to start the process.

“Seriously, just talk to him, Martin. You have nothing to lose. Just something simple. Keep it simple,” Alex encouraged.

I bit my bottom lip, but shrugged. Do I really have nothing to lose? What’s a little conversation? Apart from complete humiliation? No, Alex said keep it simple. I can keep it simple, right? I’m not exactly a complex guy.

“$6 still?”

Oh gosh, Zack’s on time. Not that I’d ever expect him not to be, but still. Oh and he looks so hot today, with his t-shirt clinging to his muscled chest and arms and…

“Of course, Zack,” William laughed, handing Zack his change.

Snap out of it, Martin.

Zack walked down to my end of the counter, and I subtly wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. Sweaty palms are just nasty, and definitely not what I want Zack to think of when he thinks of me. If he thinks of me. Okay, now all I have to do is talk to him. Talk to him. Talk. I can talk to Zack. I can do this, right?

“Here’s your coffee,” I smiled.

“Thanks, Martin,” Zack said warmly.

“I-I like your shirt,” I blurted.

Oh fuck. That was smooth.

“What?” Zack said, surprised.

I blushed deeply. “I like your shirt. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were fucking epic,”

Zack grinned, making my stomach butterfly. Oh my gosh, he’s grinning at something I said!

“Donatello was definitely my favourite,” Zack said.

“Nah, Michaelangelo was mine,” I replied shyly.

“Hmm, he was definitely a close second,” Zack chuckled.

I grinned, Zack grinning back. Fuck, he looks so beautiful when he smiles.

“I need a frappuccino, Martin!” William called.

I groaned softly at the interruption. Why William?! I was just having my first conversation with Zack!

“I’d better go. See you around?” Zack said, picking up his coffees.

“Yeah, see you,” I nodded, smiling.

As soon as Zack was out of the shop, I squealed.

“We talked, Bilvy! We fucking talked!” I said happily, grabbing the crushed ice for the cold drink.

“It was about cartoon turtles, Marty, don’t expect a proposal from it,” William snickered.

“Fuck you, I’m making progress. At least he knows I’m not a complete idiot now,” I said triumphantly.

“Not a complete idiot,” William grinned.

I flipped him my middle finger before starting work on my next drink. I talked to Zack. I fucking talked to Zack and he talked back! Fuck, that’s went so much better than I thought it would. That’s one step down, right? Next step; two weeks of non-stop fucking on our honeymoon in Barbados.

*

Two weeks later, after talking a little to Zack every day, I sucked up whatever courage I had and scrawled my name and number on the side of one of the take-away coffee cups, spinning it around just as Zack reached them, so he knew it was for him. I bit my bottom lip as Zack scanned the message, my cheeks blushing as he lifted his head to look at me.

Then he smiled at me, before leaving the shop.
He fucking smiled.
That’s a good sign, right?