Because of You

"Ouch!" a voice called from the front of the cafe. I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the stock room, a look of disbelief spread across my face.

"Yo, Jang Dongwoo! Did you really spill another cappuccino?! Now I'm going to have to start the counter over," I scolded. With the amount of coffee and other things that Dongwoo spilled on a daily basis, I'd started to keep a tally on the unused chalkboard of the number of days we'd gone without a spill. So far, we hadn't made it past seven, but at least the older boy was trying harder than before.

The offender just smiled sheepishly, coffee dripping down his white polo shirt. I pulled a towel out of my apron pocket and threw it at him, shaking my head.

"Geez, really...this is becoming too common," I grumbled, ruffling my hair. I turned and walked out into the hallway to get the mop, only to be met with Junghwa and Sungyeol making out. To be fair, it was probably the most private place available for such things, but it still didn't mean I wanted it to be happening right in front of me.

"Gah, my eyes!" I yelped, slapping my hand over face and blindly shoving them away from the supply closet. My best friend giggled as they stumbled away, but Sungyeol soon silenced her with more kisses. I finally located the mop and quickly slammed the closet door shut, making loud retching noises as I scurried back to the front of the cafe.

"Here, clean this up," I said flatly, pushing the mop into Dongwoo's hands. He smiled and nodded, causing me to sigh. It was a good thing that we had just taken the rubber mats out back to be washed. They were incredibly hard to clean coffee out of and it was almost getting to the busy part of the day, so not having Dongwoo to run the other cash register would've been a big hassle. I watched him mop the tile for a few more moments before I grabbed the eraser, wiping off the previous number on the chalkboard and writing a zero in its place.

"I'm going to go see what's going on in the kitchen," I told the older boy before walking through the swinging metal door.

"Hyunjae, watch out!" a panicked voice called, seconds before I tripped over a crouched body on the floor. Straightening myself up, I shot a glare at the young man at my feet who was smiling innocently at me. I knew better than to believe that smile.

"Sungjong, what are you doing down there?" I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose. It wasn't even lunch time yet and I was already getting a migraine from the stress I was being put under.

"A girl he likes just walked in with her friends and he doesn't want to be embarrassed," Woohyun supplied, swiping a bit of chocolate off of the wooden spoon he was holding and licking it off his finger.

I shrugged, looking back at Sungjong. "Fine, stay back here. I'll just tell Hoya to dock your pay later," I said. I knew for a fact that this would change his mind, since he was trying to save every one of his paychecks towards getting himself a car. I watched his face contort in horror at the mere thought of losing any money.

"But Hyunjae!" he began frantically. I crossed my arms and gave him a look. He bit his lip and peeked up over the counter, glancing around cautiously. Woohyun paused his stirring again and let out a low whistle, raising his eyebrows at me. I turned away from him and tapped Sungjong on the arm.

"Alright, I'll bus her table," he relented with another sigh. I grinned and squeezed his shoulder.

"No need, Sungjong," I told him. "I'll get Sungyeol to bus her table...well, if he stops sucking Junghwa's face like a vacuum!" I added, raising my voice at the end. The younger boy gave me a look of disbelief as I turned and walked back out to the front of the cafe.

Luckily, Dongwoo had already managed to clean up the spilled coffee and change into a clean uniform. He was even patiently serving the customers waiting in line, for once not seeming like he was so hyper he'd jump over the counter any second. As I looked past him, I noticed Myungsoo sitting at the counter, his eyes closed and his head resting in his hand while he dozed. I had had it with being the only one interested in actually working, and he was about to become the rather unfortunate target of my anger. A glare settled on my face as I pushed past Dongwoo, slamming both of my hands down on the counter and watching as the older boy jolted upright. His face settled almost immediately back into its usual blank stare, and it only angered me more.

"Excuse me, what do you think this is? You don't get to sleep when you're on shift!" I scolded. "Go take those girls' orders." I gestured towards the table Sungjong's crush was seated at.

Myungsoo rolled his eyes at me, slowly pushing his body up into a standing position. Silently he headed over, pulling the order pad out of his pocket. He knew by now not take my words personally, but I still felt a bit bad for yelling at him. Then I could hear the girls giggling from the other side of the cafe, and it only irritated me even further.

"You know he won't get mad at you for venting," Dongwoo said, resting his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. I was surprised at his sudden closeness, but I just forced a smile and nodded.

"That doesn't mean I feel good about doing it," I muttered when he stepped away, sighing softly. Myungsoo and I had dated for a few months, which had probably a poor decision to begin with, considering we were coworkers. After a while of awkwardly stumbling through the dating period, we decided we were too similar to be anything but friends and broke it off.

The door chimes rang just then and I turned to see Hoya walking in, his coat slung over his shoulder and his sunglasses sliding down his nose as he approached the counter.

"Hey, Howon," I teased, watching his nose scrunch up in annoyance.

"Ugh, I told you to call me Hoya!" he whined, tucking his sunglasses into the collar of his shirt. "Junghwa's here today, right?"

I feigned a hurt expression. "Oh, I see how it is. You care about Junghwa more than me!"

Hoya leaned across the counter and grabbed both of my hands, swinging them playfully. "No, of course not! We all know you're my favorite, Hyunjae," he said, winking. I laughed and slapped his arm.

"Sometimes you're greasier than Woohyun, I swear," I laughed.

The older boy grinned. "I kid, I kid. Besides, we all know I'm not your type of guy."

"Are you here to run the cash register or just to harass Junghwa?" I asked, ignoring his comment and smiling at him.

He tapped his chin as if he was thinking about it, then winked. "A bit of both, if I'm being brutally honest."

"Yeah, well, I just caught her locking lips with Sungyeol outside the storage closet, so I don't know how successful you'll be today," I informed him, waving a customer up to the counter. Hoya moved to the side, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Could I have an iced caramel latte?" the woman asked, glancing at Hoya with narrowed eyes. "No whipped cream, thanks."

"Sure, you can pay over there," I replied, pointing towards Dongwoo's register.

When she had walked away to the pickup counter, Hoya leaned across the counter again on his elbows, his eyes wide. "Really? And you just let them be?" he questioned.

I shrugged, snapping the lid onto the woman's coffee. "Yeah, why? Does it bother you that much?"

"No, it's just...that's so unlike you," he muttered, running a hand through his hair.

I reached over and swatted his hand away. "Don't do that, you'll mess it up," I scolded. "You want to look your best when you're hitting on a taken woman, don't you?"

He playfully sneered at me, but straightened up when Junghwa emerged from the staff entrance. "Hey, beautiful," he greeted her with a smirk. I watched my best friend's cheeks flush a deep pink and rolled my eyes.

"Ugh, I'll be back," I muttered to no one, taking the woman's order to the pickup counter.

"Is it stressful?" the woman asked me as I handed her the cup.

I raised my eyebrows. "Pardon me?"

She laughed slightly, gesturing to the cafe. "The job. I'm sure those boys aren't much help around here." She glanced at the other end of the counter where Hoya, Dongwoo and Myungsoo were gathered, talking and laughing while they threw napkins at each other.

"Honestly, sometimes I think I work in a zoo," I replied, shaking my head. "But they're not so bad most of the time."

The woman laughed and said goodbye to me, walking out the door quickly. I looked around at the nearly empty cafe, then over at the boys who were still messing around with each other. In an hour or so, the cafe would be beyond packed and everyone would be scrambling about, so I decided to take advantage of the current lull.

"Hoya, I'm taking my break," I called, not really caring if he heard me over Dongwoo's obnoxious laughter or not. I tossed my apron on one of the empty hooks in the stock room and grabbed my sweatshirt, pulling it over my head just in time to hear a loud crashing sound.

"Dongwoo!" two voices chorused, and I was torn between laughing and groaning at the familiar situation.

"Hyunjae?" Hoya called out a moment later, his voice taking on the sugary sweet tone which told me he wanted something. I glared at the stock room door even though no one could see me. "Can you help us clean up the dishes Dongwoo just broke?"

I snorted loudly. "No way! I just said I was taking my break, clean it up yourselves!" I knew I only had a few seconds before I would be suckered into helping them, so I hurriedly ran towards the back door, managing to slip through it just as I heard Hoya call out my name again.