Coffee Break

A day off work. Finally. I’ve had a nine day run of shifts up until yesterday, which I never normally would but Sam begged me to take on one of his shifts because he was meeting his girlfriend’s parents. Yeah, he met a girl in the first month we got here (not unlike the first time I met Martin) and after two months of dates they got together and have been inseparable since (okay, so a little unlike when I met Martin). Claire, her name is. She’s really nice. Good for Sam, too. But yeah, I had to cover a shift for Sam, working the photography section of our shop as well as the rest of the electronic sales. Dad and Sam actually do the repairs on computers and laptops, because I do the camera repairs as well as developing photos, but I still had to process all the stuff brought in onto our computer system.

I won’t be doing that again any time soon.

Sam’s covering my shift today in payment, so I can just take my time and relax today. Obviously that means an 8am workout in the gym. Because I come here so much, Chizzy and Butcher gave me my own locker in the gym (because as co-owners they can do what they want), which is where I’ve shoved all my stuff to be kept safe while I work-out. It’s been three days since Martin gave me his number on that coffee cup. I haven’t had time to text him because I’ve had a lot of photos to develop and obviously yesterday I was swamped, and my dad’s done the coffee run for the past couple of days so I haven’t even seen him.

I hope he doesn’t think I’m an ass.

I do want to text him, but what would I say? I don’t exactly know him that well, other than our short conversations while I wait for my food to come out. Sure, it’s great knowing he prefers Michaelangelo the Ninja Turtle, that his favourite band is The Clash and that he hates soy sauce with a passion, and I do actually like knowing that by smiling at him, I get the biggest warmest smile back, but I want to know more. I just don’t know how to approach it.

Martin was on my mind the entire time I did my hour on the weights, my half hour on the cross-trainer and my hour switching between the treadmill and rowing machine for cardio. I just couldn’t stop thinking about him, his voice, his smile, his beautiful blue eyes, and that scared me a little. I shouldn’t have someone I barely know constant in my mind.

But how do I change that? I don’t want to put in a crazy amount of effort with him if he turns out to be a complete asshole, but who could know something about Martin without my curiosity getting back to Martin?

Who?

I spotted Chizzy across the room, rearranging the weights on the shelves. Chizzy. Chizzy will be able to help me, right? He’s lived here longer than me, he must know something about Martin. Yeah, I’ll talk to Chizzy. Taking a deep breath, I walked over to my Australian friend.

“Chizzy, how much do you know about Martin Johnson?” I asked, leaning against the wall next to him.

Wow, I blurted that out didn't I?

“Other than the fact he’s completely in love with you and that he had Jack Barakat snoop around town to find out anything and everything about you?” Chizzy asked, not missing a beat.

I blushed. I knew Martin liked me, but to get Jack Barakat to gossip? Wow. How much exactly did he find out?!

“Uh, yeah, other than that,” I nodded.

Chizzy chuckled and stopped what he was doing, standing up to full height.

“Johnson isn’t that complex a guy. He’s never come in here, mind you, but he’s worked in Coffee Break since he graduated college 2 years ago. He parties a lot with the guys in the health shop, the clothing store, the coffee shop and the sports store and Barakat and Tay Jardine in the hairdressers, but he keeps himself to himself mainly,”

Wow, he has a lot of friends. Unlike me.

“What I’ve seen of him around town is that he’s fairly pessimistic. He only really smiles when you’re around actually, but he’s not rude unless he’s provoked. And he drives a 1966 Pontiac GTO, which shows he’s got a good taste in cars,”

A good taste and interest in cars. Unlike me.

“Uh…as far as I know he’s an alright guy. No-one ever has anything bad to say about him anyway,” Chizzy shrugged.

“What do you mean?” I frowned.

Surely he’s got to have some bad traits.

“I mean exactly what I said. No-one ever has anything bad to say about him. Paul and Rian from the Sports shop work-out in here with Kennedy from the clothing store, and they talk a lot amongst themselves, sometimes bitching about how John and Kennedy are having a fight or about how William and Gabe need to think about PDA or about how Kyle needs to stop complaining about John and Kennedy are too loud in bed, but they never bitch about Martin. Never. They admire him, if nothing else,”

“They admire him?” I said, confused.

He doesn’t seem the type to be admired. Okay that sounded mean. I just meant that Martin seems the type to want to stay in the shadows, not to steal spotlight and have attention on him.

Chizzy smirked at me. “Yeah, he looks after everyone, whether he realises it or not. He may come across as grumpy and sarcastic, but he always makes sure the drunkest person gets home okay, that whoever’s sad isn’t by the end of the day and if there’s a problem that it gets sorted. Hell, he even let Alex live with him when the kid’s building got cockroaches,”

“I know about Alex,” I mumbled, thinking over his words.

Chizzy looked at me strangely for a few seconds, before folding his arms over his chest.

“Why do you want to know so much about Martin Johnson anyway, huh Zack?” Chizzy smirked.

I blushed.

“He gave me his number so I was just trying to figure out whether to text him or not,” I admitted.

“I think you should,” Chizzy shrugged.

“Yeah?” I said, chewing my bottom lip.

“Yeah. It’s not like one text will lead straight to hot passionate fucking and marriage, is it?” Chizzy said, wriggling his eyebrows.

I blushed even deeper and punched him hard in the shoulder. Hot passionate fucking. No, not the time to be thinking about Martin naked, writhing, sweating, begging…no! Still, I haven’t got laid in forever…

NO!

Bad Zack. And bad Chizzy for putting those words in my head.

“Well, thanks for helping,” I said softly.

“Any time. Martin may have his flaming army, but you’ve got us. Butcher and I have your back, man,” Chizzy smiled.

I felt a bubble of happiness form in my stomach, making me smile back. It’s been a long time since I’ve had people who I can really count on as friends.

“Now, as co-owner of this gym, I’m kicking your ass out so you can go and text him. And you’re not allowed to come back until you do,” Chizzy said firmly, although his eyes were playful.

I grimaced but nodded, and left the room, heading down the corridor to the changing room where my locker was. I took my time in the shower, taking even longer to get dry and get dressed, before I had nothing else to do but pick up my phone.

It’s nearly 11. Martin probably thinks I’m coming in today for the coffee order because I normally work today. Maybe I could just send him a text to let him know I’m not working? That’s quite basic, right?

Hey Martin, it’s Zack. Sorry it’s taken me a while to text but I’ve been super busy. Just thought I’d let you know that I’m not working today so it’ll be my brother coming in to get his and dad’s coffee order. See you tomorrow. Z x

Ah shit, I put a kiss at the end. Damn it. Oh well, I can’t change that now, can I? I picked up my bag and headed out of the changing room, almost crashing into Butcher.

“Hey Zack! Didn’t know you’d be in today,” Butcher said cheerfully.

“Yeah, just done 2 and a half hours today. Got a day off so I’m going to take some photos around town,” I nodded, smiling.

“Good man, good man. Are you coming out with Chizzy and I to The Rig tonight?” Butcher asked.

The Rig; the bar right near their apartment, where we usually go. Eh, why not?

“Sure, I’ll get to yours for 9. Oh, and tell Chizzy I sent the text? He’ll know what I mean,” I smiled.

“Whatever you say, Zack. See you later!” Butcher laughed.

I laughed as well, heading out of the gym. Just as I started walking down the road, my phone buzzed. Martin :). Oh my gosh.

Hey Zack! I’m just glad you actually texted, I can’t believe I gave you my number on the side of a coffee cup! So cliché! Oh, and thanks, I’ll only make two coffees for him to pick up. Can’t wait until tomorrow. M x

I blushed a little. He can’t wait to see me. Is it bad that I can’t wait to see him too?