Anya, the Latte Girl (Jim)

[Anastasia]

Ever since the customer hitting and singing incident Anya had been attempting to keep a low profile at work; she did all the hours she was asked, did anything without complaining, and did her job as well as she could but not too well as to cause attention to anyone. Her boss, despite reprimanding her at first for hitting the customer, was beginning to warm to her again, and in the end hadn’t really been all that angry once he had heard the full story. So today was the first day she was actually happy to be there, smiling as she served her customers and laughing with the other waitresses and her boss.

“It’s a quiet day today,” said her boss preparing an elaborate tea for one of their best customers sitting in the corner.

“That it is boss, maybe we could work it on some more publicity,” she said absently, cleaning the coffee machine.

“You mean like telling folks we’ve got some live theatre readily available,” said the boss grinning as the other waitresses laughed, “including drama, comedy, romance and music?”

Anya turned to look at him and grinned, “walked right into that one didn’t I?”

The boss nodded but continued, “but it’s not actually a bad idea…I’ll think about it.”

Anya smiled and turned towards the customer that had just appeared and said, “What can I get…for…you…”

In a word. Wow.

[jim]

Jim looked up at the waitress and smiled as she trailed off in the middle of her sentence. "Hi. Cat got your tongue? I'd like a triple foam whip latte with extra um, milk. Or something. Do you have muffins? Blueberry? Hot ones? With lots of butter, please. And a glass of cold milk too, please. What else you got that's good?" He smiled charmingly. Ever since he'd discovered that the combination of eating massive quantities of food and working out for insanely long hours forced him to sleep at more normal hours, he'd been in a much better mood. The physical therapy was helping him regain his balance, he'd made a friend or two - things were looking up. Hell, he had Why shouldn't he smile at a pretty girl in a cafe?

Even if she was staring at him like a bit of mental case. Although, with her eyes wide and mouth slightly open, she looked the very picture of surprise and loveliness. Bright red hair cascaded in waves down her back, her trim waitress' uniform fit her impeccably and there was just a smudge of coffee grounds brushed across her apron.

She was very pretty, he noted. And she had red hair. Red hair like waves. He almost frowned as he tried to remember why that seemed significant to him.

[Anastasia]

Anya nodded as he rhymed off his order and with one hand absentmindedly wrote it down on a notepad beside her, still smiling and staring at the boy in front of her. “Uh huh…” she said just a little dreamily as the boy rhymed off his order.

She shook herself and managed to snap herself out of it, this was not good customer service, people tended to be a little weirded out when you just stared at them. After all she did have recent first hand experience at that. He was exceptionally good looking though so she could hardly be blamed, however she did make her smile a little more normal as she began to prepare the drink.

Looking over at him as she prepared the milk she said, “We've uh... got some cookies as well, freshly made this morning. Probably better than the muffins to be honest, and I'll have to check if there's any left, we got a big order for some things morning. I...don't think I've seen you in here before, are you new in town?"

[jim]

On any other day, Jim would probably have been a little offput by the way she was staring at him. It was almost enough to make him uncomfortable, but not today - today was a good day. He felt more cheerful than he had in a long time, and it showed with every move he mad. Where he often put off a very close off vibe, one that he could hide behind, today he he smiled invitingly, a real smile that reached all the way to his eyes. He slowly folded, unfolded, and tugged at his napkin almost idly with his hands as he watched her prepare his latte.

"Cookies, eh? That sounds - great, yeah, I'd love some cookies. Chocolate chip, white chocolate maybe? And maybe some pumpkin bread, if you've got anything of that." Glancing down at his hands, he saw that his napkin was a crinkled mess and quietly tucked it in his pocket before plucking a new one from the dispenser on the table. "Yeah, I suppose you could say I'm new in town. I've been in here once or twice - must not have been your shift." He tossed the last part out casually, as if it was an afterthought. But he really hoped she'd respond with the hours she worked in some form. The red hair - he just couldn't take his eyes off it, and he fold the napkin in his hands again without looking down at what he was doing. He'd love to come see her here again; he knew that already.

Red waves. Blue blue sky. Red sky. Blue waves. He blinked, and turned away from the girl, and the images faded. He looked out the window, took a quiet breath, and looked back at the girl. Blue sky. Red waves. This time, when he blinked, a feathered shadow flew across his vision.

He looked down and was surprised to find he'd folded his napkin into perfect origami crane. He set it on the table with a little disbelief. He'd had no idea he could do that.

[Anastasia]

“Must have been” she said agreeing with him, giving him a smile as she continued to prepare his drink, “I’m sure I would have noticed you if you’d come in here before. You’ve got a nice smile.”

Now, Anya, as a rule did not date customers. It was bad for business and she saw how it went down for all the other waitresses who would end up having some kind of domestic with their other half in the middle of the café and usually always end up getting fired. It was just good common sense not too, or if you were dating someone, to make sure they never came in to the café. However, what she had learned, was that flirting was a completely different matter, flirting, was in fact, recommended for her chosen profession. Flirting got tips, flirting got customers coming back and wishing to be served only be you which led back to the first point, getting tips. She had to make sure it didn’t go too far of course, but some flirtatious banter had never hurt her in the past.

“I work certain days during the week and most weekends,” she said, ,making conversation, “nine to five, so I cant really complain. What do you do?”

She was just placing the cup of hot milk on the counter when she saw the beautiful crane he had made. She stared at it and smiled, “Other than making extraordinary pieces of artwork?”

Looking up at him and grinning said, “Let me guess, you’re some penniless, heartbroken artist who’s looking to create his great masterpiece but cant seem to find his muse?”