I'd Like To Order A New Heart Please

"Hello, are you ready to order?" I asked, standing behind the cash register. I've only been working at the Coffee Bean for 2 months, and I'm already sick of that question. Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I listened to the two young teenage girls debate on what had less calories in it.

"I'll have a bottle of water please." One finally requested, "Same here" the other girl piped in.

"Two waters Jace!" I yelled behind my shoulder, collecting the right amount of money from the girls. Jace came up behind me, handed the girls their waters, and then went back to working on someone's ice blended drink. I let go a silent sigh, those were the last costumers of my shift.

"Nicole is finished!" I sang happily in 3rd person to Jace. She smiled slightly before serving a few more costumers.

Jace has been working here for 5 months so far, and we clicked instantly when I started working here. She's just a couple months younger then me, but to me it's like she was born 35 with the maturity level she has.

Jace was adopted from South Korea when she just a baby, so she's working a couple of jobs to pay off the college dorm that we share, her car, and a trip to back to her hometown, Seoul Korea.

Since she was adopted from Asia, she has the characteristics of, you guessed it, an Asian! Jace has black hair, with some left over blond from previous dying incidents, tan skin, and of course the infamous brown eyes. The fact that we started dorming together recently only brought us together more.

As I took my apron off, I watched as Jace pretty much slammed the cash register closed in a hurry to make more drinks. I sighed and slipped my apron back on, "Jace, what do you need me to make?" She had 3 blenders going at once, and not missing a beat when some more people came into cafe. Jace turned and gave me an appreciative smile before pointing to the blenders, silently telling me to pour out the drinks.

Me staying past my shift isn't a new thing, it happens quite often actually. This was my own way of helping Jace raise money for herself. Plus, the next person who's supposed to take my place is lazy and barley comes in when she's supposed to. The only reason she doesn't get fired is because she's the boss's niece.

I continued to help Jace till he came in. That one costumer that made my overtime worth while. With his gorgeous hair that always seems to fall in place and the chocolate pools he calls eyes, he strolled right up to the counter, not being able to see my relief that it was my job to smile at him as a customer, and not an extremely good looking guy.

Jace was about to go to the register, but seeing that it was the nameless guy that I often talked about, she swerved her walking, busying herself with someone else's order.

I casually made my way to the counter and smiled at him, "Are you ready to order?" He sent me the smile. The smile that he always gave me when I asked what he wanted to order. It was always the same, every day that he came in. "Just a regular coffee please." Yup, I knew it.

I made sure to pour a generous amount into his coffee cup before handing it to him and accepting his money. I slyly watched as he sat in the chair that he always sat in, busying himself with his iPod, and completely unaware of my internal battle if today would be the day that I actually talked to him.

Today I ended up helping Jace till the end of her shift, and tonight I'd just help her close. Oh well, extra money for me. Besides, the employee after me didn't even come in today.

A couple minutes before closing, our boss, Claire, came in. Her face fell with disappointment when she saw that her niece hadn't come to work again. She sighed and rubbed her temples, "Stacey didn't come in today, did she?" Jace and I gave her an apologetic look and shook our heads 'no'.

She sighed again, "Well thanks for helping again Nicole, this is the 10th time this month."

I just smiled and Jace nudged me playfully with her elbow, "I think you two deserve a bonus for putting up with my no-show niece, besides I'll have the money since I'm going to have to let her go." I felt my smile grow, and I could just sense Jace's excitement, this is exactly what she needed, a bonus and a new reliable partner.

Claire went into the employee's lounge, leaving us to clean us and attempt to hurry the remaining costumers out. I breathed in deeply, he was still here.

It was like some weird sign, like my pet fish in fishy heaven wanted me to talk to this guy.

Jace playfully nudged me again and whispered a very low "go girl!" before cleaning up the tables that no one occupied.

Task 1: Talk to him without dying.

I braced myself again, ready this time. I strolled over to his table, catching his eye as I did so. He pulled out his ear buds smiling lightly, "Is it closing time already?"

I smiled, "Yup!"

He got up and stretched, checking his watch as he did so. "Geez! It's 9'o clock already! I've been here for 3 hours!"

I laughed lightly, "Well, our coffee is pretty darn good!" Wow, that was a lame attempt at a joke.

My horrible attempt at comedy worked though, "That I can't deny…." He seemed to be peering down at my chest, "Nicole." Oh! He was looking at my name tag!

I smiled at him, "Well if you excuse me sir, I need to clean up your table."

His face scrunched up in an adorable way, "Joe, please. Sir makes me feel like I'm ancient or something."

I laughed lightly, "Joe it is. But still, I need to clean the tables."

Joe looked down, realizing that he was blocking my way to clean the table he was at, "Oh! Sorry! I'll be getting out of your way then!" Please, I don't mind.

Joe made his way to the door and smiled at me, "Nice meeting you Nicole!" And he was gone.

I stared at his wake, only to come out of it from hysterics coming from behind the counter. I peered my head over to see a squatting Claire and Jace.

Wow, my good friend and my boss were mocking my skills on how to talk to extremely attractive guys.

I rolled my eyes, "Laugh all you want, but at least I got his name!" Jace and Claire continued to laugh, not caring that I did talk to Joe, but how I talked to him.

The lights were off and Claire was locking the door, still chuckling, "Honestly Nicole! Using your worker status to talk to a boy!" Claire and Jace were laughing again and I was kind of glad the night hid my forming blush.

"Anyways, see you girls later!" Claire said before getting into her car and driving off.

"Well, shall we go home?" Jace asked with a thick fake Australian accent. I just snorted at her lame attempt to be cool and together we got in my car to head to our dorm.