Of Cappuccinos, Super Heroes and American Presidents

The first time Lily visits that particular Starbucks it’s pouring outside. The traffic is absolutely insane and she’s there’s no way she’s going to get to her lecture on time. She’s already a bit late anyway, and so she figures going inside for a cup of coffee couldn’t possibly do any harm.

As soon as Lily steps foot into the shop, the first thing she notices is her barista. James, it says on the name tag. It’s not that he’s particularly attractive or anything, it’s just that he’s got a stupid smirk on his face and she would rather like to wipe it off. If she’s being completely honest, it’s actually kind of offensive. How dare he give her that smile, does he actually think she’s going to fall for that? Psssssht. It’s not like it’s endearing or anything.

Lily waits patiently in line and, when the time comes for her to order her cappuccino, she does the only thing any rational woman such as herself would do in her situation; she gives him a fake name. She doesn’t miss the way the corners of his lips tug upwards when he finally shouts “Tall cappuccino for Wonderwoman!”

The plan had been to get in, get coffee, get out and never return. Of course, Lily’s life never goes as planned. The truth is, her workload this semester is stupidly intense and she needs all the caffeine she can possibly get. The coffee shop’s fortunate location is the absolute number one reason she keeps going back, she tells herself. It’s definitely not the fact that he keeps smiling at her like she’s God’s gift to mankind.

She could just go to the other café down the street, but it would be incredibly stupid to avoid such a nice coffee shop just to prove a point to no one but herself. Lily settles on simply ignoring the annoying git, and it would have worked too, except every time she has some spare time it’s his bleeding shift. Of course.

The next time she goes there, her order consists of a venti Americano and she tells him her name is Batman. This time, there’s another boy with James behind the bar. His name is Sirius but she nicknames him ‘sleek hair dude’ and wonders if his hair is actually real. She suspects he and James are probably a little gay for each other, because she’s never seen two other best friends smile like so much at each other.

Sometimes, when the shop is a little emptier James will come out of the bar with a new serving of the coffee she loves so much, and more often than not it’s on the house and the refill would be nice if it didn’t always come with a smirk attached to it.

After he goes back to his rightful place, Lily is left to wonder; is he flirting with her? She doesn’t want him to be but God, she just wants to know already.

“James is a dumb name anyway”, she rants to her friends. “His neck is stupidly long, he looks like a giraffe. Besides hes not that tall.” Lily much prefers short blokes anyway. Shorter guys are more down-to-earth.

“Plus,” she continues, “he always has two more of his friends around. One is actually quite decent, but the other? Who does that Peter guy things he his, always hogging all the cheesecake to himself? Maybe I want cheesecake too.”

“Lily,” her best friend, Mary, starts, “you’re allergic to dairy.”

“That’s not the point.” Lily shoots back. That was not the point. “I don’t like them one bit.”

This one time, she’s taking a walk with Mary and out of the blue, the not-so-subtle brunette decides she is craving caffeine like no other. They enter the stupid Starbucks, much to Lily’s dismay. Not fifteen minutes have passed and Mary’s already developed one hundred theories about James and the fact that he is, apparently, flirting with her.

“He’s hot, you should go for it.”

“He is most certainly not! He is not cute at all, Mary.” Except he is. He is sort of cute, in all of his gangly glory. But Lily has to save face, and so she asks, “Have you even looked at his hair?”

“It looks tousled.”

“It looks dumb.”

She goes back the next week only to find his phone number scribbled in her coffee cup. Lily isn’t flattered at all because honestly the nerve of some people. After that, though, she actually takes a proper look at what he wrote and just begins to laugh hysterically and keeps doing so for the next tem minutes. She had told him her name was Michelle, and James, like the enormous dork he was, asked her to be the first lady to his Obama.

It’s eleven pm and Lily is sitting on her couch, deciding if she should text him or not. It’s sort of late, maybe he’s sleeping? After all, he does start working quite early. She wonders just when did she memorise his schedule.

But because it is so late, Mary isn’t around to smile knowingly at her. She is completely alone in her bedroom, and for once, Lily doesn’t feel like she has to pretend.

Michelle Obama reporting to duty.

The response is almost immediate.

hi michelle

is michelle actually your name

Of course James would be a double texter.

Are you too good for capital letters? Or punctuation for that matter?

ha ha you're hilarious

Oh yes. And pretty too.

If Mary were there, she'd accuse her of flirting.

yep

v v pretty

Shouldn't you be sleeping?

yes but i think you'll find i don't always do what i should

You rebel. Go to sleep, James.

only if you promise to come by the shop tomorrow

Alright. Goodnight.

you too michelle

She locks her phone and turns around, nuzzling her face in her pillow. For some reason though, she doesn't seem to be able to fall asleep. Something feels off, unfinished. She picks up her phone again and stares at the screen. After a few moments of cautious deliberation, she starts typing.

Call me Lily.