With a Little Help From My Friends

The bell rings, and Pete sighs. Working at a café was a lot harder than he thought, and, even for six months, he still wasn’t used to the rhythm. He was lucky that his coworker, Charlie, was helping him through his shift today.

He looked up, and immediately turned red, trying to hide behind the counter. Oh God, please, not him, he thought, not Mr. Perfection.

Pete had a growing crush on a guy ever since he first appeared at the café. Blond hair, grayish blue eyes, and, to quote him, “a mouth that could give me some very good times”. His name was Patrick Stump, he learned, after he once paid with his credit card and Pete subtly at it.

He sat at one of the tables, next to the window, and Charlie looked at her coworker.

“Pete, what the hell are you still doing here? Go serve the man!”

“I can’t, Charlie! It’s him!” Pete whispered, trying not to catch any costumer’s attention.

“’Him’? Him who?”

Pete blushed even harder, if possible. “It’s him! It’s Mr. Perfection!”

Charlie looked at him for a moment, confused, before realizing what he meant. Some months ago, Pete had started talking about a guy he was starting to like, and he was a costumer that, for some reason, only came on his shift, hence the reason she had never seen him. Charlie had called him Mr. Perfection as a joke, but the name stuck. Pete hasn’t shut up about him a single day, and she was starting to get tired of listening to his speech.

She looked at the blonde, whistling. “Well, I gotta say, Pete, you have one hell of a good taste on guys!”

“Yeah, okay, thanks. Now can you please go serve him for me? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?” he knew he was being childish, but he didn’t care.

Charlie rolled her eyes, and smiled. “Fine, I’ll do it.” She got out of the counter, and turned around. “Has anyone ever told you that you look really cute when you’re in love?”

Pete flicked her off, and she went to the table, laughing.

“So, pretty boy, what’s gonna be?”

Patrick looked up at her, smiling. Jesus Christ, even his smile is gorgeous! Pete must be the luckiest man in the world, she thought.

“A latte, please.”

“A latte coming out, then.” Charlie went to make the order, and looked at Pete, who was at the register, occasionally looking at the blonde.

His friend looked like a lovesick puppy, and she wanted to make something to make him happy, preferably while hooking them up.

When she was reaching Patrick’s table, she suddenly had an idea. Smirking, she placed the latte in front of the boy, who smiled and thanked her.

“Hey, you’re Patrick, right?”

“Yes?” he asked, confused. How did she know his name? Did he met her somewhere and didn’t remember?

“No, you don’t know me.” She said, like she read the boy’s mind. “Do you see that guy over the counter? The one with the pink hair? He’s my friend, and he has a huge crush on you ever since you passed through that door. Believe me, he hasn’t shut up about you ever since! The thing is that he’s really shy, and he doesn’t have the courage to ask you out, so, if you could do that yourself, it would be great. But only if you want to!” she exclaimed.

Patrick looked at the boy in the counter. He wasn’t going to lie, one of the main reasons he always came here at the same time was because of the pretty barista with beautiful brown eyes and short pink hair. But he never really thought about asking him out, maybe because he didn’t know how he would react.

He looked at the red haired barista in front of him, and gave her a small smile. “Yeah, I think I could do that.”

“Yes! Thank you so much, Patrick! But please, just don’t tell him I was the one who told you this, okay? He’d kill me.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him a thing. And please, call me Trick.” The blonde said, sipping on his coffee.

Charlie went back to the counter, where Pete was looking at her from his spot. What did you do, he mouthed, and she faked an innocent expression, smiling.

Pete looked at her suspiciously, but didn’t say anything, because he still had costumers to serve.

Half an hour later, Patrick showed up on the queue, and Pete blushed instantly, stuttering a little. While he was giving him the change, Patrick smiled nervously. God, how am I going to do this?

“Hey… Pete” he said, looking at the name card he had. “I was wondering if… if you wanted to go to the cinema with me tonight? When your shift ends, maybe?”

Pete blinked. Once. Twice. And then swallowed hard. “You mean, like, in a date?”

Now it was Patrick’s turn to blush madly. “Well, if you want it to be, then yes, it could be a date.” He caught Charlie trying not to laugh in the corner of his eye, and suddenly thought it could be a set up. He sighed, of course, how could I be so stupid, and looked to the blushing man in front of him. “Look, if you don’t want to, it’s fine, I just-”

“No!” Pete shouted, making everyone look at him. Fortunately there weren’t everyone too many people at the café at the moment. He could feel his ears burning, but he didn’t really care. “I want to go out with you. My shift ends at eight, is it okay for you?”

The blonde smiled widely. “It’s perfect. Catch you at eight, then.” He kissed the pink haired man on the cheek and left.

Pete looked at the door, completely dumbfounded, until Charlie shook him. “Pete? Pete Wentz to Earth, hello?”

“He just asked me out. Patrick fucking Stump just asked me on a date!” he looked at his friend, happier than he’s ever been in months. “This is your doing, isn’t it? You told him!”

Charlie faked a surprised expression. “Me? What do you mean, I’ve go nothing to do with it!”

Pete hugged her tightly. “I know it was you. Thank you so much, Charlie! I love you!”

The redhead girl broke the hug, smiling. “I love you too. What are friends for, anyway?” She slapped Pete’s ass playfully, making him squeal. “Now back to work, you lucky bastard! You still have two more hours until your date!”

Pete made continence at her, grinning from ear to ear. “Sir, yes sir!” he exclaimed, before turning to the register.

This is gonna be one hell of a date, he thought, and later, he found out he was right.