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Guess what? It’s PUMPKIN SEASON! the sign outside the coffee shop declared. Hux went in anyways. If he didn’t get coffee soon he couldn’t be responsible for his actions.
He’d pulled an all-nighter getting his presentation together, only to get the notification as he walked in the door that the meeting had been postponed with no explanation. He’d rushed out of his apartment, briefcase in hand, expecting to be able to be able to grab a cup of coffee from the breakroom at work but someone had forgotten to place an order that week and they only had decaf on hand.
So in he went, despite the overwhelmingly hipster vibes of the new coffee shop. He’d come in early and had beaten the commuter rush so only two people stood in line in front of him. A middle-aged lady was in the middle of having the barista describe every single specialty drink on the menu to her and he was obviously straining with politeness as he obliged. The man in front of him, an older gentleman with silver hair, stewed in obvious impatience while she made up her mind. Hux could tell the woman was trying the barista’s patience. He swore he could hear teeth grinding and he twisted the bar rag he held in his hands until Hux thought he’d rip it in half.
Once the barista had handed off a triple shot rice milk latte with sugar free caramel syrup and extra foam the older man stomped up to the counter, oblivious to the threads by which the barista was obviously holding on to his temper.
“Hi, would you like to try one of our pumpkin spice lattes today?” the barista asked, a strained grin turning his handsome face into a death mask rictus.
“I don’t want one of your dumb drinks. Just a black coffee. No flavor, no milk, no nothing. Just a plain cup of coffee. I don’t why it’s so impossible to get such a simple thing nowadays.”
Hux gaped at the man in shock. The barista looked about ready to jump over the counter and punch this guy in the face. If he had, Hux didn’t think he’d blame him.
“Rude.” He muttered it under his breath, but the man heard him anyways.
“What was that?”
Well, in for a penny, as his mother always said.
“I said ‘rude’. I thought your generation believed in the old adage ‘if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’. At least that’s what my grandmother always said to me and you don’t look much younger than her.”
Truth be told, the man only looked to be in his fifties, but Hux couldn’t resist adding the extra dig. Now that he’d gotten a good look he could see the boor had taken great pains with his appearance and was obviously trying to minimize his age. His insult hit its mark. The man drew himself up to his full height, which put his eyes at a level with Hux’s chin, and huffed.
“If this is the way they treat customers here, I’ll just have to take my business elsewhere.”
He stomped off and Hux flipped off his retreating back. He could see his reflection in the glass of the door, and also caught an adoring look in the barista’s eyes, but it was gone when he turned back around. Stepping up to the counter, he put forward his best smile and said, “I’d love to try one of your pumpkin spice lattes.”
He nearly spat out his first swallow, overcome by syrupy sweetness, but he managed to choke it down and still smile. He tossed a five in the tip jar and saluted the barista before heading out.
It got better on the second taste and by the time he got to his desk he found he was almost enjoying it.
The day passed. That’s all Hux could say about it. He managed to sneak out at four thirty since he’d come in early, yawning hard enough his jaw cracked on his way out the door. Maybe he should caffeinate again before the trip home. Nodding off on the highway seemed a very real danger. His feet led him across the street to the same coffee shop again.
When he pushed open the door he got an unpleasant surprise. The rude customer from that morning was back and Hux had interrupted him mid rant.
“If you expect to keep customers, you need to fire that boy that was working here this morning,” he was saying as the door shut behind Hux. “I’ve never been treated in such a fashion in my life.”
“I find that hard to believe, considering how you behave,” Hux interjected. He turned to the person on the receiving end of the rant, a diminutive woman with huge glasses. “I assume you are the manager?”
“Owner, actually,” she replied.
“Well, you should commend your employee instead of firing him.” The other man gaped at him, mouth opening and closing as he wavered back and forth between shock and outrage. “I happened to be here this morning when this man was trying to order and your barista showed admirable restraint. I would have dumped the whole pot of coffee down his front if he’d acted that way to me.”
“I never ….” the man spluttered and Hux interrupted.
“Never learned any manners. Yes, that is quite obvious.”
For an instant Hux thought the man was going to take a swing at him and he braced himself, but instead he charged out the door, deliberately ramming Hux with his shoulder on the way out. As the door swung shut behind him, someone started to clap. He hadn’t noticed any other customers when he’d walked in, but the place was packed. Another person joined in, and in the space of a few seconds everyone in the shop had stood, treating him to a standing ovation.
He took a bow. Why not? As he straightened he caught movement behind the counter. The barista from that morning had been hiding in the back room during the altercation, and he’d poked his head out. When he saw Hux, he blushed, a silly grin spreading across his face.
“Kylo, good to know the anger management classes are paying off. Now, sir, thank you for clarifying the situation for us. Is there anything we can get you?” the owner asked, the twinkle in her eye magnified by her huge lenses.
“I’d like to try another one of those pumpkin lattes.”
“Of course! On the house.” Hux tried to protest and she tsk’d at him. “No, no, I insist.”
There were other people in line and he wouldn’t let them make his drink first so he took a seat on one of the stools by the ledge that ran along the window. The owner had taken his name with his drink order and he waited to hear it called, but instead after a few minutes, a cup appeared at his elbow. He caught a flash of dark hair and a fleeting smile as the barista hurried back to the register, and smiled back.
When he looked down at his drink, the smile got bigger.
A phone number had been written on the side of the cup. Looking up, he caught Kylo staring again and he saluted him with the cup. Kylo grinned from ear to ear as Hux pulled out his phone.
Where would you like to go? he typed.
He had to wait for a response until a lull at the counter, but when it came he laughed.
Anywhere but a coffee shop.