Chapter Text
Will's POV. Friday, 8:30 am.
I can hear my alarm going off. Fuck. I refuse to open my eyes as I lay there for a minute, listening to the sound of my favorite song (which I set as my alarm a while ago) on repeat. I start to think about things. Ugh, it feels like I've barely slept even though I definitely slept over 9 hours. Why do I feel knackered when I've only just woken up? I hope work isn't bad today, no rude customers, no inconvenient orders, not understaffed and most of all I better not spill anything on anyone...again. God, I really like my new job but I'm so nervous all the time. Any time it gets busy I feel like I'm going to crack under the pressure or accidentally say something wrong because I'm rushing around and stressed. I just don't wanna fuck it up, not this one. At least Aby was nice and let me off about the spillage yesterday, not to mention Jim. He was far too nice about it really, even I'd be more pissed off if that happened to me, some clumsy waiter spilling hot coffee all over my cool outfit. But no, he just forgave me like that and walked off, slightly ducking through the doorway so his head didn't hit the frame. Anyway- what am I doing? I need to get up. I turn over and switch off the alarm that had drawn so far into the background of my thoughts that it'd become almost fully muted. I drag a hand over my face, simultaneously pushing my hair back out of the way, preparing myself to get up. Once I get to work I'll be fine, I always am, it's just this bit. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself. "Right." I mutter to myself as I get up, as if that explains anything. It doesn't.
I walk over to my wardrobe, snatching my neatly ironed shirt and trousers out to put them on. I finish my outfit with socks and stupid safety shoes, walking towards my mirror to make sure I look half decent. I lean forward slightly, adjusting my hair to make sure it doesn't look like I've just crawled out of bed...which I have, but that's irrelevant. "Shit." I mumble, noticing a small stain on my shirt. Oh well, my apron at work will cover it, besides I'm fucked if I'm ironing another shirt now. I double check I have my essentials - phone, keys, wallet, vape - and leave the house quickly after checking the time on my phone and realising I've got ten minutes until I'm meant to start my shift. I hope into my car, turning the key and breathing a sigh of relief when my slightly dodgy ignition works. I drive to work, which only takes me about 6 minutes. I pull up in the car park, taking a deep breath before heading into the cafe. "Morning, Aby." I smile as I walk in, hearing the bell above the door chime behind me as always. "Good morning, Will." She replies as she sets up the coffee machines. "What would you like me to do before 9?" I ask. We open at 9, but there's usually not a lot to do before the customers come in. "Uhh, just wipe down tables please, make sure they're up to standard etc." Aby communicates. I do as she says, grabbing a cloth and chemical spray to make sure all the tables are 'up to standard'. I hear Aby on the phone a few minutes later and accidentally tune in, I'm pretty sure she's talking to Ieuan. "Alright, yeah that's no worries. Not the end of the world." Aby speaks over the phone, hanging up shortly after. "Ieuan's still sick, just us again." She shouts over to me, confirming my suspicion. I give her a nod and carry on with the tables for a while before finishing that job, following it up with bringing more milk out front from the back storage area.
Before I know it it's 9:15, and our first customer comes in. She's cleaning a coffee machine, so gives me a head tilt as if to say "you can serve them". I walk over to the till, smiling at the woman who's walked in. She looks quite posh, wearing a long, sleek dress and high heels. Not the sort of customers we normally get. "Hello, love. Could I please have a cappuccino?" She asks me, without a hint of a smile on her face. "Of course, anything else?" I reply. "No, thank you dear." "Alright, cash or card?" "Cash." She speaks, handing me some coins. Right, got to count these quickly, can't keep her waiting for long, I think to myself. I count the pounds first, one, two, three. Right, that's good. Now the pence. Twenty, uhh, ten, another ten, another twenty, a five, another five and another ten. Shit, what's that? Two twenties is forty...add three tens that's seventy...two fives...that's eighty. Thank fuck for that, I hate maths. "Yeah that's all good, I'll bring it over. I smile up at her, noticing she's still just as serious. She picks a table but the window and sets up a laptop, typing away on it for a while. I make her cappuccino and bring it over to her, then return to my position for a while and wait for the rush. A few minutes later, the posh lady waves me over. I walk over, wondering what she wants with me. "Hello again, I'm afraid my coffee isn't hot enough." She slightly scowls. "Oh, alright, nae problem, I'll go and warm that up now for ya." I reply. It is a problem, inconvenient woman. I chuck it in the microwave for a few minutes and stop it just before it overflows, swiftly handing it back to her so she can drink it and leave. By the time she does leave, we're starting to get busier. Tables are filling up and there's also quite a few takeaway orders. Aby's taken over on the till and I'm making the coffees amidst taking orders from tables.
I head over to a table with my notepad. "Good mornin' lads what can I get for you today?" I ask them, trying my best to keep smiling and not yawn from how tired I am. "Morning. I'll have a latte, please, and a maple waffle." The man on the left says. "Alrighty, and for you sir?" I turn to the other man. "I'll have a strawberry tart please, and an iced americano." I nod as I write down his order. Hm, an iced americano, that's what Jim had yesterday. I wonder if he'll be back today, or if I've put him off by ruining a good white shirt of his. Considering Aby told me earlier that he tends to come back a lot, I reckon there's a good chance. Not that I care that much, it was just a nice change to have a fully decent customer. Wouldn't complain at seeing him again. "Excuse me?" I hear one of the men say, through my thoughts. "Ah, yes? Sorry." I respond. "Do you have almond milk?" He inquires. "Uh, yes, yeah, we do." I stutter, realising I accidentally got lost in my thoughts. "Good good, can I get some almond milk on the side?" "Yes, 'course, I'll bring your drinks over in a minute." I smile as I walk back behind the counter. Shit, I need to focus more. I'm probably unfocused because I'm tired. I make those men's drinks and plate up their food, bringing it over on a tray. "Thanks mate." One of them says. I nod at them as I put everything on the table, pulling my tray back and tucking under my arm as I walk away. I stand behind the counter for a few minutes, Aby having served everyone else for now, pondering my thoughts.
I find myself staring at those two men. I don't know why. Aby comes up to me, making me flinch a little. "You alright today? You seem a bit off." She voices. "Yeah, absolutely fine, Abs. Just a little tired." I affirm, trying to reassure her. "Okay, good. Y'know, I may be your boss in here but you can always talk to me." She says, softly. "Thanks, I appreciate it." I reply, not a hundred percent sure if it's a good idea to share my thoughts with my boss. "What's so interesting about those men then? You've been staring at them for about fifteen minutes." She giggles. "Nothin' much, it's just nice to see couples having a good time." I guess that's why. I continue to look at them. "Aw, yeah, I get that. You'll find a great girl, I'm sure." She smiles innocently. I stay silent for a minute, thoughts racing through my head. "I, uhh... Yeah, I'm sure I'll find a nice girl...eventually." I say, my head lowering, glancing at the floor. There's both an overwhelming amount of thoughts in my head and also just an empty, calm space. "Oh, god, I'm sorry, are you...?" Aby stumbles over her words. "No, no I'm not." I immediately reply. "Not that there's anything wrong with it, I'm just not." I confirm. "Okay, sorry if that was a bit forward." Aby looks away. "You're fine, honest. I don't take offence, Abs." I reply, smiling softly. I'm not going to say I haven't thought about it in the past, but everyone has debated it once or twice. When I was a bit younger I questioned it for a few months, before realizing I am definitely straight, just as I thought. A man can admire other men and yearn for a relationship similar to theirs and not take much notice of women recently and attempt to block every thought about dating out of their head and still be as straight as the next guy. Can't they? What am I saying, of course they can. Ugh, I must be tired to be thinking about this. I'm not thinking straight. "Right." I say, pushing myself off of the counter and heading over to clear some tables. It's like I can feel Aby staring at me, which is fair enough, that was a bit of a weird conversation.
A few more hours pass and the day is going pretty steadily, no really rude customers, no spillages (yet) and time is ticking by pretty quickly. It's glance over at the clock, it's just past 1 pm. We're only open until 5 so I'm relieved I'm about halfway through my shift. I've been constantly busy serving people but not so busy I'm rushed off my feet, which is making out for a surprisingly good shift. Aby even let me eat one of the pastries during my break earlier since I told her I hadn't had breakfast. Typically though I spilt half of it down my apron and spent what felt like at least ten minutes trying to brush crumbs off. It did make me and Aby laugh a bit though. A woman comes up to the counter to order, and Aby takes it. Just a flat white to takeaway, easy one. I start to make it and then hear a clash from across the room. Aby and I turn our heads so fast we may as well have broken our necks. A toddler accidentally knocked a cup of water over, at least nothing got broken. Aby swears underneath her breath, heading over to clean it up. I chuckle to myself although I'd be pissed if I had to clean it up, even if we are getting paid for it. I finish the flat white and hand it to the woman, who thanks me and walks away. No one else is at the counter so I turn around and start to make sure everything looks neat and is displayed properly. It helps me because I'm a perfectionist and there's the added benefit that it gives me bonus points if Aby notices me doing it without being asked. I hum a tune to myself as I rearrange the syrups, just before hearing the doorbell chime as another customer must have walked in. I turn around, and, preparing to take their order, I tap around on the till. "Afternoon." I hear a man say. "Afternoon Sir-" I freeze as I look up. It's Jim. How did I not recognize his voice? I guess I have only met him twice, still, a very small part of me is disappointed in myself. "Oh I'm a Sir now am I? How exciting." He smirks. "Jim, how are you today?" I ask, brushing off his statement because I don't quite know how to respond. "I'm good, same as always. You look tired." He points out. "Ah, uh, yeah, just one of those days." I respond, not really having an excuse for being or looking tired, I didn't know it was that obvious.
"How's the weather out there today?" I ask, as if I don't have eyes. I have absolutely no clue why I'm trying to make small talk. "Not as hot as yesterday, thank fuck." He replies, running a hand through his hair. "That's good. So you work outside a lot?" I pry into his life. "Yeah, I'm a lumberjack, so out chopping wood all day." He grins. "That's so sick, wish I had a cool job." I reply. "There's no such thing as a cool or lame job, mate. Everyone's just making a living, eh?" Jim smiles. He's right. "You're right." I agree with him. "Anyway, can I get an iced americano and a cinnamon roll please mate?" He asks me. "Coming right up. You can go sit down, I'll bring it over in a sec." I look up at him. "Thanks, lad. Try not to spill anything on me today." Jim winks at me as he walks away. I just laugh nervously. Aby comes back over after cleaning up as I'm preparing Jim's drink. "Ah, James is in?" She clocks on straight away, seeing the large iced americano. "Yeah, surprised he came back what with my clumsy ass around now." I chuckle. She laughs with me. "I'll take it over, I wanna say hi." She goes to grab the drink and cinnamon roll. "Ah it's okay, I'll take it. I wanted to ask him about something anyway." I say, unwilling to give up the only good company (apart from Aby) that I get in this job. I take the food and drink over, glancing over Jim as I walk towards him. He's wearing a very similar outfit to yesterday. Same trousers and shoes, with a checkered shirt replacing the t-shirt/flannel combo from yesterday. The top two buttons are undone. I hand him his drink, our fingers brushing each other as he takes it from me. I put his cinnamon roll down on the table. "Sure you're alright mate? You didn't look this tired yesterday?" He asks, a little invasively but I don't mind. "I'm- uh, yeah, absolutely fine Jim, honest. Just didn't sleep well. Thanks for asking." I stutter. "Alrighty." He nods, sipping his coffee. "You been busy today?" Jim asks me, looking up into my eyes. "Same old really, bit busy." I respond. "Wouldn't want it to be quiet." Jim mumbles. I don't really know how to respond to that, so I just laugh under my breath. "So you must work long hours, chopping all that wood." I question, once again trying my best at small talk. "7 til 7, but I enjoy it." "Wow, hence why you were in the shop late last night." I say. "You got me there." Jim holds his hands up sarcastically. "Right well I'll stop bothering you and let you drink ya' coffee then." I rub the back of my neck, nervously. I don't know why it's so hard to speak to him, he seems like a great guy. Maybe it's because he's so tall and muscular and intimidating. "I'm not complaining, but Aby probably would if you don't get back to work." He laughs. "Ah, yeah, exactly." I grin, happy I'm not annoying him. I turn around and head back to the counter, Aby's serving other people.
Throughout the next hour I carry on serving people and cleaning down tables as it starts to get quieter, the lunch rush almost over. My eyes flicker around every now and then, scanning the cafe just to see how many people are still here. There's only four tables still here for now, one of which being Jim. His lunch break must almost be over, I think to myself. I go over to clean a table near his, as I haven't done that section yet. I start to wipe it down, attempting to scrub off a large juice stain that seems to be permanently stuck to the table. "Put some elbow grease into it, you're a skinny lad but you can't be that weak." Jim raises his voice over the cafe's music. I scoff to myself as I look over at him. "You wanna do it?" I bite back with my words. I see Jim smirk into his coffee, the look he gives me is almost lethal. I realise that's the first time I've spoken to him without thinking. "Sorry, heh, didn't mean it in a rude way." I step a little closer to him, slightly embarrassed. "Absolutely fine, it was funny." He continues to hold eye contact. I look away and chuckle softly. At least he didn't take offence. Jim gets up and walks over to Aby at the counter to pay. "Unfortunately I have to pay today since your newest employee didn't spill anything on me this time." I hear him say to Aby. I keep cleaning tables and attempt to listen to their conversation, which really isn't much except a simple "how are you" and then Jim tapping his card. Would've been nice if I could take his payment, oh well, doesn't matter really. Jim saunters past me on his way out. "See you later, Will, mate." He says as he walks past. "Yep, bye Jim." I reply, smiling, as he walks out the door and down the road, out of sight once again.
The rest of my shift feels like it's dragging. I'm not not enjoying it, but there's a few difficult customers in and it's still relatively quiet so it's a bit boring. I realise we're low on coffee beans, so I start making my way to the back to grab some. "You didn't look this tired yesterday" replays in my head, for some reason. I frown to myself slightly. It wasn't an insult, just an observation, why has that stuck? It was just a normal conversation, I talk to customers every day the same way. I reach the back room, opening the door to the dark dingy cupboard full of supplies. I glance around, the motion detector light not having registered me yet. I walk further in, there we go, now I can actually see. My head's gone empty. Why the fuck did I come in here? I needed to restock something...shit. I've completely lost it. I run a hand through my hair, sighing with frustration as I turn around and begrudgingly walk back to the front, hoping it'll trigger my memory. I bump into Aby as I come back out. "You okay?" Aby asks me. "I've fucking lost it, Abs." I shake my head. "What makes you say that?" She replies. "Just gone into the storage room to get something and I forgot what. Brain just failed out me. Nowt in there." I breathe. "Ah, happens to the best of us." She giggles. "I really need to make sure I sleep better, I feel like I'm going insane." I respond. Aby just smiles comfortingly, as she walks off to go and serve someone. "Coffee beans!" I say to myself after having looked over to the coffee machines. "Idiot." I scowl to myself. I head back into the storage cupboard, grabbing a couple of bags of beans and returning to the front. I need to get home and sleep. I refill the machines, humming to myself as I do. C'mon, only 45 minutes to go. Twenty minutes til I can start closing. The customers gradually leave, only one table left, and they're almost done. Aby goes on her break and I wait at the counter for what feels like forever until this guy comes up to pay. "Sorry to hold you up mate." He chirps. "No worries, card or cash?" "Card." "Alright." I load up the card machine and hold it up so he can tap his card. He does so, hands me a tip in cash which I thank him for and then leaves. "See you again mate." He says, walking away. "Why aye." I reply. I breathe a deep sigh of relief, having gotten the day over with. It definitely wasn't that bad, but my tiredness didn't help at all.
I finish closing, having turned all the machines off and mopped the floor. "You can go, Will. I'll finish up." Aby chimes in. "Nice one, see ya tomorrow." I reply, taking my apron off. I head out the door and round into the car park, getting into my car. I immediately grab a piece of chewing gum. I always do after my shift, it's a routine thing. I turn the car on and drive away for the day. I arrive home and smile as I get in, throwing myself onto my bed as soon as I get into my bedroom and staring up at the ceiling, taking in the silence. I replay the day in my head, going through every event and wondering if I could've done anything differently. I definitely could've. I search around in my pocket for my phone, grabbing it to doomscroll on some social media app, to stop any anxious thoughts. I scroll, taking in any and all useless yet entertaining content that's definitely ruining my attention span. I come across a video of a lumberjack, and let out a small "hm" at it. It's a video of him chopping down a tree (no shit) with ease at a local forest. Weird that my social media knows where I live. I wonder if that's the forest that Jim works at? Probably not, doesn't matter anyway. I keep scrolling, consuming the content. It's probably been at least an hour, but I don't check the time. I scroll and scroll and scroll, waiting until it gets boring. But it doesn't. It's like I could scroll forever and never think again, just watching endless videos and not having a single thought cross my mind. I like it like that. I think too much. After a while I drag myself back out of bed to make a quick sandwich, scran it and then get changed into my pyjamas, returning to the pit that is my bed. Aby's messaged me. "You sure you were okay today? Don't worry about me if you need to take tomorrow off." It says. I really couldn't wish for a nicer boss, she's almost too nice. "I'm good, thanks Abs, just gonna catch up on sleep. I'll be in, see ya tomorrow." I text back. "Alright, sleep well." She replies. I set my alarm and put my phone down on my bedside table, charging it. I roll over and close my eyes, trying push out all thoughts so I can sleep. Tomorrow's another day, I'm sure I'll be fine. Hopefully.