Coffee Shop~

Sighing loudly at the sound of rain pouring as he stepped under the dark green awning, a bitter Baekhyun shakes some of the droplets of rain from his chocolate brown hair, disinterestedly observing as the droplets evaporated before he could even blink. Of course, his car just had to break down at this exact moment. Normally, he wouldn’t have really minded taking a nice, long walk back to the house (getting some fresh air was always good after all) but ironically, he had left his umbrella at home that day so there was no way in hell that he would take a forty five minute walk back to his house at this time. 

Today wasn’t what he would refer to as a “bad day”, nope. They had already made it past the breaking point. It was one of those few days where he would refer to it as one of the worst days ever, well, in Baekhyun’s opinion of course. 

It all started with that one phone call from someone that he never expected, and or hoped, to hear from. And from that moment on, came a series of unfortunate events tumbling after it: misplacing his left shoe (which explained why he was wearing a winter boot on his left foot while a midnight black sneaker occupied the other foot), breaking his cell phone after throwing it down too hard because of a phone call from a six foot something guitarist that shall not be named, his car breaking down, and him breaking down because of it breaking down.

Best of all? It had to rain at that precise moment as well. 

Wonderful. Just freaking wonderful. 

With the push of the door, Baekhyun finds himself surrounded by the oh-so-familiar surroundings that your average Starbucks shop would have – the distinct bittersweet aroma of coffee with the small, somewhat buzzing murmur of university students huddled amongst each other, either exchanging contact while there were always a few businessmen and or women amongst the crowd as well, discussing whatever they usually needed to discuss about which Baekhyun clearly couldn’t give a damn about, mixed with the baristas shouting out the orders of the customers who have long awaited their drinks and appetizers. 

His friend, no- best friend (or should I say the secret spawn of satan), Lu Han, who was the not-so-manly male with vanilla colored hair mixing up his orders (which explained why most of the customers looked at Baekhyun as if though he was a chocolate covered ice-cream cone with sprinkles on top) yet no one seemed to complain considering that Lu Han wasn’t what you would describe as “average looking”, waved at him as he walked in with a not-so-usual (and somewhat disturbing) scowl tugging at his lips and motioned for him to come and sit on a vacant seat which was positioned in front of the cash register.

Baekhyun, who wasn’t as annoyed as he was a few milliseconds ago, adjusted the strap of his bag and trudged over with a small smile, trying his best not to cringe because of the obnoxious sound that his sneaker and boot were making as he trudged, miserably plopping himself down onto a stool besides a boy who was scribbling away in a note-book of some sort.

Noticing his best friend’s not so upbeat aura, Lu Han puts down the notebook and pen that he was currently jotting down orders onto and rings up the order for the elderly lady who had been standing there, looking more annoyed by the minute, her decaf Americano. “Baek, ‘sup hm? You look a bit, what’s the word-”

“Aggravated? Yes, yes I am. I had the worst ing day ever like oh my god I can’t even explain how I feel right now,” Baekhyun starts off, Lu Han almost swearing that he could literally see steam shooting out of the brunette’s ears.

“Watch your language Baekhyun,” the manager, Kris, scolds as the man walks (more like struts) away towards his (surprisingly of age) boyfriend, Zitao.

“Says the one who practically abuses profanity whenever he and a certain panda do some not-so-appropriate things in the employee lounge-” Baekhyun shoots back, arms folded proudly as Zitao’s cheeks suddenly flame up with an annoyed Kris running to his side later. “Touché.” 

Lu Han chuckled as Kris stuck out his tongue at the two and pulled Zitao away from the two, probably off to the employee lounge, and started to shout out orders for those who have waited along with the elderly lady from before. “Well, your father gave you that car, and his father got him that car, and that car came from his father and it just goes on and on and on-“ The male shuts up when Baekhyun holds up his hands, motioning for the male to shut up and to just skip to the point before grey hairs were to sprout from out of no-where in particular. “Heh, sorry about that. But can I get you anything?” He asks, eyebrow cocked unamusedly.

Curtly nodding, Baekhyun fishes out his wallet and takes out a handful of cash. “The usual, if you don’t mind.”

”A strawberry & crème frappe and a slice of strawberry cheesecake?”

“You know it.” Baekhyun cracks a grin, nodding as he passes the exact amount of cash to the male.

His best friend uttered a small laugh then nodded, trudging away to ring up the other male’s order. Baekhyun stares off at the window nearby and sighs, somewhat disappointed by what he sees. The rain didn’t really look like it was going to stop anytime soon and Lu Han’s shift ended at nine o’clock sharp, so he might as well set up shop with his song-book & pencil and start composing the song that his teacher had demanded for him to write then perform. Being a struggling musician and college student wasn't easy as it seemed, y’know?

He had just gotten out his songbook from his bag when he had felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. Tilting his head to his right, he saw the boy from earlier whose head was practically buried in his own sketchbook, pulling his hand away from his shoulder and brushing away the few strands of hair from his rather well-sculpted face. “Can you pass me a napkin please?”

Baekhyun’s eyes followed the direction of his pointing finger to the stand of napkins sitting on his right before nodding curtly, allowing the same smile that had formed when Lu Han greeted him to take shape on his face. “Sure,” he said, taking out three to four of the napkins and handed them to the boy, cringing when he noticed that his grip must've been too tight (considering most of them were balled up)

“Thank you,” he smiled and bowed his head slightly, taking only one napkin from the bunch before staring down at the paper with something that Baekhyun recognized as determination.

Baekhyun didn’t mean to be nosy – really, he didn’t. But sometimes, you couldn’t stop curiosity from taking over – now could you? Looking over the boy’s shoulder with slight interest, Baekhyun crinkles his nose as the male dips the edge of the napkin into his drink, which Baekhyun identified as a Green Tea Frappuccino with crème (Baekhyun fancied Starbucks and had at least tried each and every drink or food item on the menus).

Baekhyun’s eyes dashed from the drink onto the napkin’s destination, which resided at the sketchbook that the male had his head buried into minutes earlier, onto a drawing of a park that stirred up memories that were supposed to be somewhere in the back of his head (considering that he and a certain six foot something male used to go there a lot), looking as if though it was more of a picture rather than a drawing. It was simply stunning: skies with cotton-like clouds scattered about, two park benches, with one lone street lamp diving the both of them. His eyes widened as the boy brought the soiled end of the napkin to the crisp white page.

“No!” Baekhyun shouts, accidentally knocking over the male’s drink as he tries to grab the hand that was about to dip a small amount of green onto the drawing, luckily not spilling anything onto the sketchbook nor the latter’s khaki pants or baby blue shirt. When the male stops and turns his head in Baekhyun’s direction with widened eyes, that’s when the male takes it as his cue to shut up before he worsens the already terrible predicament that he finds himself tumbling into. Shooting an apologetic smile, Baekhyun manages to utter a few words without making them sound too stuttered. “What I meant was, err, well, it’s perfect – really. You’ll, err, ruin it?”

Instead of being mad and going off at the brunette, the male, who was clearly an artist, shakes his head with a cheeky grin (which makes Baekhyun’s heart flutter at the mere sight of it, considering that he was more than decent looking – he could’ve even been “god-like”). “I won’t. Watch.” Is all he hears before his eyes are once more diverted onto the crisp white page that was almost supposedly “soiled”. He does it quick and Baekhyun observes with widened eyes as the wet edge of the napkin presses down onto the page and the boy flicks his wrist effortlessly, a light green tint splashing onto the trees. Simply perfect. It was amazing – he had to admit.

“Well, my teacher proposed an assignment for us, the students, to create and then color a picture without the use of art tools such as pencils, markers, things like that.” The male explains with a faint smile. That’s when Baekhyun smiles and nods, all of the confusion vanishing like a puff of smoke. “That’s cool.” “Thanks, I thought that too.”
That’s when a certain cotton candy hair colored Lu Han pops into the conversation, cutting it short and frankly without a care too as he places Baekhyun’s long awaited order in front of him, the artist going back to his drawing. “A strawberry & crème frappe and a slice of strawberry cheesecake.” Baekhyun forces a smile and nods at his best friend, mentally cursing the male for somewhat ing, even though this actually wasn’t the first time it had happened, honestly.
-
It becomes a cycle now, it’s no longer one of those “once upon a blue moon” kind of thing for Baekhyun.
He who shall not be named, (Chanyeol), ruins his day with not one, but multiple phone-calls. Baekhyun misplaces his things, breaks things, his car breaks down, and you should know the rest. But whenever it happens, he’s not as annoyed as he usually was. Nope. Because everytime he takes a step into the Starbucks shop, it’s not the familiar yet somewhat distinct aroma of bittersweet coffee that catches his attention – it’s that one boy who’s always sitting in the same spot, head buried in the sketchbook that he supposedly refers to as “sanctuary”.

Sometimes he and the boy that he knows as Jongdae, or “Chen” as the young male prefers to be called talk about the randomest things that neither of them could frankly give a damn about. Even if it’s about how nice the weather is (even though Baekhyun usually only comes to Starbucks when his car ‘conveniently’ breaks down in front of the shop on a rainy or badly weathered day (there’s really no need to drag mother nature into this, now is there?), giving Baekhyun an excuse to just take the heavy load of stress off of his shoulders. And sometimes they just sit there quietly and enjoy one another’s presence. It’s one of the ways for Baekhyun to just peer over the male’s shoulder, watching him add more touches to the picture that he’s been working on for about a few weeks now. Either way, it’s comforting for the both of them. Baekhyun clearly treasures the moments they share together – even if it’s when one of them gathers the courage to strike a conversation, despite it being somewhat boring to either of them.

But on one particular day, it’s one of Lu Han’s so-called “graveyard shifts”, it’s when Lu Han crawls into the employee’s lounge just to snooze a bit, leaving the fate of his job and probably of the shop in the hands of his oh-so-innocent best friend and the artist (which, for Lu Han’s sake, Kris knows nothing about). Baekhyun steps out of line and more than words are exchanged. It’s one of those days where he breaks down, showing his pitifully vulnerable side because of someone who broke him one time too many. He tells Jongdae about the six foot something guitarist who clearly couldn’t take a hint since it’s been about three weeks since their fourth breakup and he still calls every now and then, expecting for Baekhyun to just pick up and act as if though nothing happened between the two.

Baekhyun tells him about how long he’s been closed off from society since their first breakup, leading up to the fourth one. About how he used to stare at the closed door and at the empty coat rack that once hung a certain Park Chanyeol’s too-big blazer with his knees hugged close to his chest. About how he would always wait even though his efforts and wishes for a miracle were just futile and that he would never hear the oh-so familiar jingle of keys being dropped by a six foot something giant who’s hands are always fumbling with them. About how the male would sit there from half of an hour to a day, wondering if he should just wait a little longer (even though “a little longer” usually turns into “I’m hungry, it’s been about twenty freaking hours since I’ve eaten!”) Or about the walls that once hung hundreds of polaroid photographs of a lovely young couple which were now nothing more than cruel reminders of what was supposed to last forever that only lasted for three years, tops.

Jongdae is there to listen like always though, offering the older a shoulder to lean on when Baekhyun’s vision is clearly too blurred up due to the tears rolling down one by one until the latter’s eyes are puffy red and his nose is stuffed, which is probably how Baekhyun finds himself falling head over heels for the younger (even though he’s only older by a couple of months; age doesn’t matter, now does it?).
-
After showing his vulnerable side to Jongdae that day, their friendship isn’t what you would refer to as a friendship anymore. No, they’re not friends with benefits. And no, they’re sadly not dating either (well, they both deny the fact that they’re both interested in each other anyways).

But then the day he finishes his project and turns it in is when everything changes with them. Complete changes. It’s not like one of those small, almost unnoticeable changes like when someone lightly trims their bangs by a centimeter or so. It’s one of those changes where if you were to shave your head and dye your eyebrows neon pink. Yes, it’s that big of a change.

Baekhyun no longer comes to Starbucks because his car breaks down on a rainy day and he just so happens to forget his umbrella at home. He comes for Jongdae, despite the gas prices being high up in the sky nowadays. For Jongdae, anything is worth it.

“I finished my song!” Baekhyun explains, clapping his hands together in a giddy manner. “Really? I finished my project!” That’s when the two dance some kind of Irish jig that Lu Han clearly finds disturbing before Kris coughs awkwardly, placing a hand over Zitao’s eyes. “He’s just jealous.” Jongdae sticks out his tongue at the older while Kris sends him the middle finger, Lu Han scolding the male about how he was supposed to be better than that, Zitao snickering at how vulnerable his boyfriend looked at the moment.

But the moment is suddenly interrupted when Baekhyun’s cellphone vibrates, the male pulling it out only to see the words “Blocked Number: Park Chanyeol” flashing in a white, bolded font. But before he can click ‘decline’, Jongdae grabs the cellphone and clicks ‘accept’, a cheeky grin tugging at the corner of his lips. “Hello there, Chanyeol!” He shouts into the cellphone as soon as he hears a raspy ‘hello’ from the other line. “I’m 99.9% sure that you don’t know who I am and don’t even want anything to do with me, and I might not be in the place to be saying any of this, but Baekhyun doesn’t like you anymore so you should just stop because he’s as good as mine now! Bye!” 

But surprisingly, Baekhyun doesn’t look as mad as Jongdae imagined for him to look. In fact, he doesn’t look mad at all (which was the opposite of what Jongdae was expecting even though it was secretly what he had hoped for).

“Hey Chen,” Baekhyun fidgets with his cellphone as Jongdae tosses it back at him. “Yeah?” “Thank you.”

Name: Suzy Vo

Country: United States

Age: 13

Oneshot Title: Coffee Shop