Okay so apparently...I have a slight (huge) thing for coffee-shop romances...

(Also as I have never technically been to Starbucks, the setting for this is based off my own personal experiences in cafe's and bakery's and such. So there WILL NOT be any 'call out a name for your coffee' business. And for the sake of the story, let's just pretend the $ sign is a pound sign.)

"Hey, lover-boy. Looks like your favourite customer is in again."

I spun around, my fingers fumbling as I tried to tie up my apron. Pj was grinning over at me from his place at the cake fridge. I walked to the counter, my eyes flicking straight to the door where he was walking in.

"Try not to spill any coffee on yourself this time." Pj muttered as he waltzed past. "It doesn't help."

"Shut up." I hissed, trying to prevent my face from heating up. He was nearly up to the counter, and I didn't want to be blushing when he got there.

Not that I knew what his name was. I didn't have the nerve to ask him, it was hard enough for me to ask him for the money. And he'd never told me his name.

"Hello." His voice was soft, and sweet; like the warm coffee that would soon pass his lips.

"H-hi. Usual?"

He nodded, grinning; which made me think that my face was redder than I first thought. His eyes sparkled when he smiled, like sapphires.

"That will be $4.50 please." I managed to stutter out. I could feel Pj laughing behind me, and if there wasn't a really cute guy in front of me, I would have glared so hard he'd have felt daggers.

Unfortunately, or fortunate for him, I was a loyal employee who didn't want to waste my own or the customers time. At least that's what I told myself.

He handed the money over, a $5 note. I hit the buttons on the register, the bottom compartment opening up with a loud click. I slipped the note in and scooped out his change. Our fingers brushed as I handed it over, and it only made my face heat up more.

"Your coffee will be ready in a moment." I said.

"Thanks." He grinned, pink lips pulled back over perfect, white teeth.

I whirled around, focusing on getting his coffee made. I slipped past the other employees into the storage room to get more coffee beans, when I ran into Pj.

Or more accurately, he ran into me. It was perfectly clear by the giant grin on his face why he was blocking the doorway.

"What do you want?" I asked, using my tall frame to look up on higher shelves for the coffee beans.

"If you blush any harder mate, you're going to turn into a tomato."

"I can't make him think I'm any weirder than he already does." I muttered, pulling the bag down.

"You are weird though." Pj's tone was still amused, until I turned around. Something on my face must have given me away, because his smile dropped and his gaze sharpened.

"Dan...Are you okay?"

"I don't know." I said, shaking my head.

"I just, I keep trying to appear cool, you know? But I'm not, and I end up just making a massive fool of myself. Every time. And I did spill coffee on myself, which is such a stupid thing to do; and all because I like the guy. What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing, Dan. Nothing's wrong with you. The spill was an accident. Honestly, it could have been a lot worse. Do you remember that time I spilt cake on Chris?"

I nodded, laughing at the memory. Pj had been so embarrassed; he'd tried to fix it but ended up only rubbing it in more. I don't know what charm he used, but somehow he got Chris anyway.

"You really do like him, don't you?" Pj asked, his voice soft with concern.

"So much."

"Then get out there, make his bloody coffee, and use that A grade flirting I know you have hidden under your apron."

Pj practically threw me out of the storage room. My mind was set on getting his coffee made, and not making a fool of myself. I went straight to the coffee machine, pouring the beans in. I put a cup under there and turned the machine on, grabbing the milk out of the fridge and filling the silver mug. I moved at record speed, thankfully not spilling anything on myself. I dusted chocolate over the top and put the lid on.

I placed it down on the counter in front of him. He looked up from his phone and smiled.

"Thank you."

I gave a curt nod and turned to attend the rest of the customers, when I heard someone call my name.

I turned back around, startled to see it had been him.

"Yes?" I asked. "Is there something wrong with the coffee?"

"No, no. The coffee's great. It's one of the reasons I keep coming back here."

"One?"

"That's why I called your name. I was wondering what time you finished." It seemed to be his turn to blush, his pale cheeks lighting up with the rosy tint.

"Me?" I squeaked.

"Yeah, you." He looked down, sheepishly; before glancing up again startled.

"Unless of course you're not interested, or already have someone. I'm not trying to be forward. I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable. I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?"

"No, no it's okay." I glanced at my watch.

"I finish at 3pm."

"Cool. I'll uh; I'll see you later then. If that's okay?"

"Sure."

He smiled that winning grin, grabbing his coffee and walking off. I smiled to myself, about to actually do some work when he ran back. He took a napkin of the top of the pile, searching in his pockets. Sheepishly, he looked up at me.

"Do you have a marker?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah. Hang on." I reached into my own pocket and pulled out a black permanent marker.

"Here." I said, handing it over. He smiled his gratitude, and began scribbling something onto the napkin.

He handed me the marker and the napkin, and walked off again, calling out "I'll see you later, Dan" as he left.

"What's that?" Pj asked, walking over to me.

"You already got his number?" He asked, happily surprised."Told you there was nothing to worry about."

I looked at down at said napkin, to see ten numbers scribbled in messy but readable handwriting, along with a name.

"Phil." I breathed. The name suited him, better than any name I could have imagined.

"My shift is over, so..."

"Here's your pay, now go." Pj said, handing my newly earned money over.

"Thanks." I replied, smiling gratefully. I untied my apron and hung it up, picking my bag up off the floor where I had thrown it.

"Call me later." Pj called as I left. "I want to hear all about how it went with Phil."

I stuck up my finger as I walked away, shaking my head.

I pulled my phone out; looking at the slip of paper Phil had written his number on. I started to dial, when I felt myself run into another body.

"I am so sorry, I wasn't looking..." I muttered, looking up from my phone to see the last person I had expected.

"Phil?"

"Uh, hey Dan. You said your shift ended at three...so I thought I would walk around for a bit. And then I saw it was nearly three so I thought I would wait for you."

"How long have you been waiting?" I asked. We started walking, and I saw Phil's expressive gestures out of the corner of my eye. He waved his hands around when he spoke, and I had to stop myself from laughing. I settled for a smile instead, it was easier to explain.

"5, 10 minutes. Maybe 15?"

"You didn't have to wait that long. You didn't have to wait at all, really."

"I don't mind. I passed this level I've been trying to beat for a week now." Phil shrugged, looking at me sheepishly.

"That, and I couldn't wait to see you again. More properly this time."

Feeling the familiar heat on my face, I rushed to change the subject, even a little.

"So, where are we going then?"

"Ah, I don't know...where do you want to go?"

"You ask me out, and I have to decide where we go? I think there's something a little wrong with this."

"It was a sort of spur-of-the-moment decision. I was sick of mentally pining after you without actually saying something, so when I got up to the counter, I told myself I was just going to do it. Of course, your 10 minute disappearance didn't help my nerves much."

"Sorry about that, I got cornered by my manager. Wait...you really do like me?"

"Of course I do. What, did you just think I asked you out? Without thinking about who it was, or whether I liked them or not?"

"I don't know. I guess it sounds sort of silly when you say it like that. I just thought you asked me out, you know? I didn't think you liked me too."

"We're going to continue this in a minute, because I actually have a lot of serious things to tell you. But I'm sort of hungry. Would you, maybe like to get ice-cream?"

"Where are we going to get the ice-cream?" I asked, puzzled. "Do you own an ice-cream truck?"

"No, but I do know where one is." He said, pointing to the now very evident dessert withholding vehicle.

"Ice-cream sounds really nice." I said, smiling through my embarrassment. Way to completely miss the obvious, Dan. Good job.

We got two-scoop chocolate on a waffle cone. Phil paid, no matter how much I tried to object, he just ignored me and handed the money over anyway.

We walked around a little bit, eating our ice-cream and trying to prevent it from melting all over our hands. Phil pointed out some stone steps at the front of a tall building that appeared to be closed, so we sat down there.

"So, what are these serious things you wanted to tell me?" I asked.

"Oh, the list is just so long, I don't know if I really want to tell you now..."

"Shut up and tell me, you twat." I replied, hitting him with my spare hand.

"Okay, okay. Just, whatever you do, please don't call me a twat." Phil was trying to appear dramatic, but his laugh sort of ruined the facade.

"In all seriousness though. You don't think that I like you, right?"

I nodded slowly, wondering where this was leading. "It's sort of hard for me to believe."

"You're wrong. I like pretty much everything about you."

Phil smiled over at me, his eyes bright and shining.

"I like your voice, the way it's deep but not baritone, it has a nice honey-smooth tone to it. I like the way you blush whenever I speak to you, or say anything nice; because it makes you look even cuter. Your eyes are really round and like, brown...but in a good way. Like melted chocolate...or really sweet coffee. Which is another thing I like, you're really good at making coffee. Your hair is always perfect, but I have to admit I like it better curly. I've only ever seen it once, and I'm guessing you had been running late or something because you looked quite frazzled, but your hair looked great."

"From what I've seen when you're working and today, you seem like a really sweet guy, and pretty much one of the main reasons I asked you out today, in a sense, is because I want to get to know you better. You have a really cute button nose, and I sort of want to kiss it, like all the time. And your lips are pretty much perfect, and I want to kiss those too."

Phil looked worried, an expression that thankfully seemed to disappear after he saw my own expression.

"That last bit sounded a little creepy to me, I wanted to make sure you weren't uncomfortable."

I didn't say anything. Using the hand that wasn't holding my ice-cream, I brushed his cheek, my thumb rubbing across the coarse stubble. I pulled him close to me, careful not to knock the sweet out of his hand. I moved slowly; sure, Phil had just admitted he wanted to kiss me, but saying something and actually doing it are two different things.

"I really want to kiss you, too." I said, my lips brushing against his with each word.

"Then why don't you?" He replied, closing the short distance between us.

The kiss was better than I expected. There were no fireworks, no electric sparks flittering between our lips; his lips were slightly chapped, and faintly sweet. But it was perfect in every other sense. Our lips moved in a synchronised rhythm, and I started to wonder why it had taken us this long to kiss.

I pulled away, flushed from kissing Phil. I removed my hand from his face, and placed it centimetres away from his hand.

"Ice-cream was a good idea, but next time we should finish it before we kiss." I said.

"Next time?" Phil said, smiling. "You want there to be a next time?"

"This isn't a love-me-and-leave-me situation. And you're a really good kisser."

Phil took my ice-cream cone out of my hand, and walked over to the bin, chucking them both away. He kept the napkins from around the cone, handing one to me so I could wipe my sticky fingers. I was silent the whole time, watching him with a puzzled expression.

"That was my ice-cream."

"Yeah, but now we can kiss again." Phil said, pulling me up, and off the steps.

He pulled me close by my hips, so we were chest to chest; nose to nose. I ran my fingers through his hair, locking my arms around his neck. We kissed deeper this time. There were no surprises, no awkwardness. We knew what we were doing, how it would work. I trailed my tongue along his bottom lip. He opened slightly, allowing me to slip my tongue in. He tasted like chocolate, with a faint hint of stale coffee. There was another flavour, one even fainter. The only way to explain would be Phil. Like the way he smelt. It wasn't familiar, and I had no reason as to what it was, but I liked it.

The kiss was great, in the way that even though I was kissing Phil, I yearned to kiss him more. I could spend my whole life attached to his lips.

Unfortunately, my brain decided it couldn't function without oxygen, and I wasn't that skilled at kissing. Maybe with a little more practice, and Phil's help; I could be.

"Coffee isn't the only thing you're good with." Phil said. His breaths were short, raspy; it seemed it wasn't only me who was having trouble getting air.

"And here I was thinking you were the expert. Seriously, did you touch Heaven with those lips?"

"Heaven needs a place on earth. Would you keep me grounded?"

I laughed, a loud, totally unattractive chuckle. Phil started laughing too, but where mine was strident, his was like music to my ears. I could get used to hearing that sound.

"We're so bad at flirting." I said. Phil nodded his agreement.

"Good thing we don't need to then." He said.

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm already smitten."