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Working as a barista, Shannon had seen her fair share of strange people. But the people who intrigued her the most were the pair of men who came into the local shop like clockwork, once every week.
The tall man would always be fully dressed in modern, black clothes, and never took off his sunglasses, no matter the weather. He had a permanent scowl on his face and looked like everything angered him. He would always come in with a shorter man who wore tan, vintage clothes. This man always had a smile on his face, was polite to everyone and held the door open for other people. They seemed like 2 people who should hate each other. But somehow they didn’t.
Grumpy Man’s scowl always lessened slightly when he looked at Cheerful Man, like his happiness rubbed off on him. And Cheerful Man’s smile always widened the most when he looked at Grumpy Man.
Then one day the Grumpy Man came in alone. Shannon was worried for a second, until she saw that Grumpy Man looked slightly excited. He sauntered up to the counter and put in his usual order, to-go for a change.
“Where’s your…friend?” she settled for saying after stuttering a bit.
“Hm? Oh, my angel? He’s busy, got some new books and hasn’t moved from his desk,” Grumpy Man said, before pulling out his card and paying for his drinks.
He walked over to the pick-up area and pulled out his phone and started tapping away.
My angel? Shannon suppressed a grin. She had been right, they were dating. She guessed the “opposites attract” saying was real after all.
The next few weeks, the couple came in as normal until one day, Cheerful Man walked in by himself. On a day she hadn’t ever seen him come in before. He walked up to the counter with a smile and ordered something he had never ordered before.
“Not getting your usual?” she asked him.
Cheerful Man smiled and shook his head, “I’m surprising my Crowley,” he said.
Shannon had to smile at that. They seemed like such a sweet and loving couple, even if they did look unconventional. She handed Cheerful Man his order and told him,
“I hope your boyfriend enjoys it!”
Cheerful Man’s smile faltered and he looked confused, but took the order from her and wished her a good day. This baffled Shannon as she thought over her words. What could she have said to confuse Cheerful Man?
A few days later, Cheerful and Grumpy man were back, holding hands as they walked into the shop. Cheerful man went to find a table while Grumpy Man came up to the counter to order. For once, he didn’t have a scowl on his face, instead looking amused. He ordered their usual and Shannon made small talk, hoping to uncover what confused Cheerful Man a few days ago.
“Did you like your surprise?” she asked.
Grumpy Man broke out into a true smile, something she had never seen on his face before.
“I did,” he said, shooting a fond look over at Cheerful Man.
“Your boyfriend is so nice to do that for you,” she said.
The amused look came back across Grumpy Man’s face.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Grumpy Man said.
Shannon was stunned, which seemed to amuse Grumpy Man further.
“You humans, always wanting to label everything,” Grumpy Man said with a laugh.
You humans? She looked over to Grumpy Man. He certainly looked like a human to her. That was such a strange thing to say.
“Oh,” she managed to say after recovering from the shock, “Then what are you two?”
“We’re just an us,” Grumpy Man said, looking over at Cheerful Man with an affectionate look. Cheerful Man returned the look.
Grumpy Man paid for the drinks and walked over to Cheerful Man and took his hand.
Just an us? Well, she supposed that made sense and was quite a sweet way to describe them. She internally shrugged. They seemed happy with whatever arrangement they had, even if Shannon didn’t quite understand.