Chapter Text
It 5:42 read on the clock. Jude let out a sigh; he'd barely slept the night before.
Well, frankly it didn't even count as the night before, considering he'd wrapped everything up when it was already long past three in the morning. And as if having to wake up at seven most of the week wasn't enough, he'd left his last class of the day just two hours ago.
No really, who told him studio art would be a good major to throw himself into? Matter of fact, why was his family always so supportive?
He cursed himself and pulled his customer service smile back up to attend to the next obviously-university-student in the line. He went through each line of the "Hi, what can I get for you?" script for the thirtieth time that afternoon, nodding and smiling to the customer who left, then to the new one who took her place in front of him, and the script was replayed once more.
The door was pushed open with it's usual ding! to announce the next customers' arrival. It was at exactly 5:55, and Jude still remembers that, because they were so obnoxiously loud that he took a pleading glance at the clock as if it had some mystical power to free him from his shift and teleport him directly to his bed.
They were a group of three; two of them towering over the entire place, and the blond so broad and huge, that the couple of people in front of him shifted away slightly, as if he would've pick them up by the back of their collars and dropped them to the side himself, if they hadn't.
The guy, however, didn't seem to notice any of that. He was in the middle of retelling a story to his friends dramatically, acting out every conversation.
But Jude had work to do, so he turned back to woman in front of him. "That would be 2.95."
By the time it was the trio's turn to order, the barista had lost at least 20% more of his patience. The giant - the blond, told his last joke to his friends before stepping up to the counter as the other two laughed at what wasn't even that funny in Jude's opinion.
"Hi, what can I get for you?" He smiled. It wasn't as heartfelt as the ones on any of the three's faces.
"Oh. Uhm..." the blond suddenly looked up at the menu, handwritten on the blackboard above the counter. He frowned at the items so thoughtfully; like he'd just realised they had to know what they wanted to order, like they hadn't been in there for at least ten minutes already, and spent the entire time talking - or better say yelling, instead of considering their options.
"One uh, latte, medium - or no, maybe an americano?" He mused out loud, then turned back to look at the rest of the group expectantly, trying to make a collective decision.
Jude didn't roll his eyes because he was professional, but he could afford to blink at them emptily, so he did.
"Yeah, so, two medium lattes and one large americano, please." the guy said and gave a big goofy smile. "For Erling."
Jude nodded and put Arling in, alongside the order. "Alright that would be 10.55."
He paid up and the three were immediately back to their conversation as they walked away, voices echoing off every single wall to land against every last burnt out neuron in Jude's head.
He smiled to the next customer on autopilot and took three more orders before his coworker called the blond's name to pick up the three drinks he'd ordered.
The barista opened his mouth to repeat the same old greeting and same old question again, before the guy waved in his direction from the side, trying to get his attention. "Hey, excuse me? You spelled my name wrong." He announced.
Jude blinked at him for a second, this time with no ill-intent behind it. "Uhhhm..?-"
"It's with an E not an A." The guy clarified.
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so like Erling."
The blond gestured with a hand, looking confused. "Yeah. And that's what I said. It's my name."
Jude looked at the other and debated whether he wanted his perfectionist and competitive nature that told him to be the best at his job to win, or his ego.
He decided being a barista wasn't even that serious of a job anyway, and that he'd already dealt with enough annoying customers that day, one of them being this very guy in front of him. So he let his brows arch up to his forehead with as much attitude as he had, and turned to fully face the guy.
"It's actually not what you said. You said it as Arling - very clearly pronounced it Arling, and so i wrote it just like that, with an A- " Jude started to go off, but the blond rushed to cut him off.
"Fine, alright, alright." The man threw his free hand up in defence. "Just write it with an E next time, dude."
He then stepped back and turned to leave with his two buddies who were standing there, patiently waiting for him and their drinks, and threw a "Thanks for the coffee, though." back over his shoulder at Jude as he was walking out through the door.
"You literally paid for it." Jude only thought to himself. Mainly because the guy was already out the door and there was no point in saying it aloud, but also because he kind of felt shitty for crashing out. He should've been more professional.
Ughh.
***
The next time the blond came into the shop, he was alone.
It had been yet another exhausting day and as he took his order of one medium latte, Jude debated if he should put his name in wrong again, just to entertain himself a little bit. He decided that he was not losing them a brand new customer over something so silly and avoidable, and therefore instead, made sure that the name went E-R-L--
But he was interrupted halfway through.
The guy leaned forward, looking down at him with the same look that was apparently plastered on his face at all times. Lazy smile, and a glint in his eyes, as if anything and everything potentially only existed to amuse him.
Or at least that's what Jude thought was going through the other's head, as the guy placed both palms on the counter and just stared at him for another long second.
"And what's your name?" He asked.
"Jude." He answered before he realised he'd done it and then immediately frowned. Wtf?
The blond hummed in turn, still looking at him carefully, and Jude felt so suddenly annoyed by his own actions that he backspaced on the guy's name and misspelled it on purpose.
Why did he even ask? It was literally right there, pinned to his shirt.
"I think you're really cute, Jude." He then said and Jude's brain processed each word separately and successfully on the spot, but only together and as a full sentence after at least a couple beats had gone by.
His head snapped up and his eyes widened as he stared back at the man who was still casually watching him. "That'll be 3.70." He said in response, and immediately focused his eyes on the next customers in line with the least genuine smile of his life on his lips.
He didn't see the disappointed look on the other's face as he moved to walk away, and also didn't see it when he came up to the counter to pick his order up. But he did see the way his face scrunched up in confusion, from the corner of his eyes, as the man looked at his misspelled name on the cup then back up at Jude, before taking the drink and silently leaving.
***
He would've recognised him by his voice alone this time, even if he'd actually not noticed him coming up next in the line as he'd pretended.
"So Jude, huh?" He made an overly-exaggerated and fake thinking face, lips puckered and fingers tapping against his chin. "Is it J-O-O-D, or maybe G-I-U-D, hmm? I can't figure it out 'cause I don't know how to spell, you know. Like a certain someone."
"Hi, what can I get for you?" Jude turned his focus away as naturally as he knew, busying himself with the screen in front of him.
"One medium latte, and my name spelled right." He replied.
"Sure, and what would that be?" The barista played again, looking up at Erling.
"Erling. With an E." He replied, with a smirk that wasn't quite like the ones Jude had seen on his face before. A bit annoyed, if Jude were to guess.
"Alright. That would be 3.70." He gave his perfect customer service smile, helpful and energetic. And in turn, for the first time ever, he felt like the look on the other man's face was actually unreadable.
"Fine." He tipped his head to the side and then held his phone against the card reader. "You know, Jude," He started and then paused, glancing back at his face. "I really like your perfume."
He grinned, and this time, Jude's jaw dropped immediately.
No slow processing, no delayed response.
He stared at the man, speechless, and the man stared back at him as that one specific smirk slowly reappeared on his face, stretching wide and confident. Satisfied in a way, as if he'd gotten exactly what he'd wanted out of the exchange, or what he'd thought he would get.
Jude stared at him with his mouth still hanging open and a disbelieving frown to his brows, watching him walk away to a free table in front of the windows. Oh my God, literally what the hell?