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there’s a newly opened café around the crk city, the place’s extremely packed. even during the weekdays, people never get fed up with the shop’s appetizing menus. the owner even had to hire more workers due to the activity of the shop. but this time, the line’s surprisingly shorter than ever. it really is shocking since this café is a big hit within the city, definitely people’s primary choice. all of the baristas by the counter were also stunned seeing that the line didn’t take almost the entirety of the shop itself.
the blonde barista heard the gossiping of the employees on the counter, he as well got surprised of it too. creme elbowed his co-worker, espresso. “hey, i heard that the shop’s not that jammed today.” he whispered. “well, that’s great. i’m tired of having to work 24/7 for more than a hundred people. i barely even got any sleep lately and coffee’s been saving me.” replied espresso. “ha, you’re still getting a big paycheck, though.” “a~nd that’s why i work.” creme chuckled.
a beautiful redhead woman entered the café, she looked pretty tensed as she went in. “hi, excuse me, where is the comfort room?” linzer asked the employee near the entrance. “oh, it’s right over there. it’s easy to identify, so do not worry about getting lost.” said the female employee, “but miss, have you already ordered something yet?” she added. it’s actually really weird that the city has this policy where you can go to the restroom only if you ordered something in a shop. what if it was urgent and there weren’t any public comfort rooms nearby? it was such a foolish rule made by the government. who even thought of that? linzer didn’t even know about it, she only thought it was just some shenanigans the people made up. “i haven’t.” she said, “oh, if that’s the case, you must order before you head to the washroom, miss.” replied the employee. the redhead was baffled. “…come again?” “there’s a new policy about ordering before going to the restroom. i’m very sorry if it’s an urgent need to go, but we are just strictly following the city’s guidelines.” the employee said. linzer was absolutely dumbfounded. she was already stressed as she entered the shop, now this additional information made her blood boil. she didn’t have any choice but to go to the back of the line, which is still quite pretty long.
the redhead waited with visible annoyance on her face. linzer thought to herself, ‘/why in the world would the government create such a policy? it isn’t even gonna help crk city become better. heavens, why do i live in an atrocious city?/’ she grunted. she noticed there was some ruckus in front, the redhead peeked to see what was the commotion. there was a customer taking too long in ordering, which was being a bother to the others behind the person. the employee by the counter called other baristas in the back to help out taking the orders of the customers in line. as several baristas went out to assist, the blonde barista came along with them. he was looking for a person to help until he saw someone.
creme spotted a person he used to know and it was that redhead woman at the back of the line, linzer. he was too timid to approach her, especially that they had a special bond in the past and that bond is no longer there between them. it’s possible that linzer could’ve forgotten about him already since they haven’t been seeing each other for awfully a long time, but he just hasn’t. the blonde snapped back to reality again. ‘/it’s just helping a customer out, what could likely go wrong? there’s no reason to overthink, it’s a simple task to do and all is over./‘ he thought to himself.
creme slowly builds up his courage to talk to linzer for the first time in years. he approached the redhead and brought out a small notepad and a pen. it’s noticeable that he’s slightly quivering though, he spoke to her with a clear voice. “hello, miss. welcome to our café, what would you like to order?” he greeted, “oh! hi, thank you, i’d like a strawberry frappe, please.” said linzer. “would that be all, miss?” “ah, yes. that’s it. thank you so much for helping out, even if i’m really behind of the line, haha.” she chuckled, “it’s no problem, miss..” “linzer, it’s linzer.” “miss linzer.” he said, smiling. they both looked at each other and smiled. “i’ll get your order served first. you can go to the washroom now, miss linzer.” said creme, “aw, thanks!—huh? hey, wait- how’d you know…!?” the redhead felt embarrassed, because how in the world did that barista know about that? he wasn’t the employee she talked to a while ago. the blonde barista turned back to the customer and replied back with a smile as he ran back to the counter. linzer wore a smug expression, she let out a sigh.
“you’re still the same as you were, creme.” she whispered.