Caramel & Macchiato
Chapter 1

"You're here early!" Ino said with mock surprise. "Again."

Hinata Hyuga was always early because she simply did not trust public transportation. She was also a light sleeper and had still not bought any drapes for her bedroom so she wakes up with the early morning light every day. Countless times she has heard from friends and family alike that she is crazy for waking up that early but they have now come to accept it.

The wooden counter is cleaned spotless although she knows that it will be a complete mess by the end of the day.

"I'm beginning to think that you may be a vampire or something; pale porcelain skin. dark hair, the eyes, doesn't sleep…" Ino said in a hushed conspiratorial voice. She broke the awkward silence with a wide gorgeous smile and patted Hinata on the back. "You should lighten up a little, Hinata!"

Hinata smiled back politely at her new colleague, it was not like she came that much later anyway.

"Good morning, Ino." Hinata finally said.

"Mornin'," Ino said back. With her perky nature Ino reminded her much of her childhood friend Kiba. It had been a while since she had last spoken to him, she made a mental note to herself to text him when she came back home.

"On time as usual." Shizune said, striding in looking as tired as always.

Why Shizune had decided to become the owner of a café with early openings would be hard for most to figure out. That is, until she gets her first cup of coffee. The woman is perhaps insane as her routine every morning before they open is to fill up her cup with four shots of espresso and one ice cube to cool it so that she could chug it all down within seconds. That she has not gotten a heart attack yet is beyond Hinata, instead it seems to resuscitate her, somehow.

Hinata shivers at the mere thought of doing that every morning. She cannot even stand the taste of plain coffee. Which some may find ironic as she works as a barista. But the thing is, you do not have to taste the drinks before you hand them out. And she likes some drinks with coffee in them, like a melted mocha latte, preferably without the coffee.

The café is busier than usual for a Tuesday morning, it has already filled up with people even though most orders were to go. Coffee & Cream was the most popular café around this area ever since it had established a few years ago.

After she gave a stressed middle aged woman her latte macchiato she hurriedly went back to take the next order.

"Welcome to Coffee and Cream! W-what would you like to order today, Sir?" Hinata said in her "work voice". She cursed herself for stuttering and could feel her cheeks heating up from the sight in front of her. Tall, dark and handsome. She could bet her whole rent this month on him being a lawyer. And probably a corporate lawyer at that, he had that air of superiority around him that she was all too familiar with. She felt stupid for reacting the way she had, he was not even her type!

"A double shot Coffee Macchiato, to go." He said. His voice deep and uninviting.

"Anything else, Sir?"

"No."

"What name would you like it under?" Hinata asked as she grabbed the proper paper cup for his order and a pen, she could not manage to look back up at him all she could look at was his luxurious looking black coat that he had opened up and the deep maroon color of his button up shirt.

"Sasuke."

"That will be 4.50, Sir. You can pick it up to the side of the counter when I'm done." She said and motioned to the left with her hand.

After he had walked away she quickly glanced over to the people standing in line, most looked stressed and/or annoyed to have to wait.

"Hot!" Ino whispered smoothly into her ear as she walked by to take the next order.

She could see it, he was an attractive looking man, but she could not stand business men. She would of course never say that to him.

The man, Sasuke, looked up at her from his phone and Hinata quickly refocused to make the drink that he had asked for.

When she was done she handed it over to him.

"Here you go, Sir, a caramel macchiato."

He looked at her as if she had stepped on his shoe. "I ordered a coffee macchiato."

Oh no.

"I'm so sorry, Sir! I'll make you a new one immediately!" She said and bent her head down in shame, she could feel the stares coming from some of the other customers in line. They did not call them coffee macchiato but espresso macchiato, she was not about to tell him that. It was her fault and he did not seem like the kind who would take any excuses.

"Don't bother." He responded, clipped. He was already buttoning up his coat.

"You'll get one for free next time. And a bakery of your choice." She said, but to his back as he was already walking off.

It was raining, the light raindrops were trickling down against the floor to ceiling windows facing the city park outside. Just a few people were in the café, one of them a student her age writing on his laptop by the large window and then a couple further in. Hinata would not usually be working from opening to closing time but one of their co workers, Shino, had called in sick last night and Hinata needed the money as well, so she had offered to close the café. They closed at nine and she could not help but count down the minutes until then.

The doorbell rang and Hinata snapped out of her tired haze and put a smile on her face. But it quickly fell off when she saw who it was that had walked in, hair wet and an incredibly annoyed look on his face. He zoned in on her and strode over to the counter.

He stood silent and simply just looked down at her for a few moments as he removed his black leather gloves and like he had done before he unbuttoned his black coat.

"You said that I would receive a free drink." It was not a question, he did not seem to be like the type of person to ask for anything.

She had not thought that he would actually come back, there were multiple other café's around this park that he could go to instead to get his dose of caffeine.

"Yes, of course, Sir. What would you like?" she finally responded. The thing she liked about the late shifts at the café was that it was not as busy so it had a more relaxing atmosphere than the sometimes chaotic mornings.

"What would you recommend?" he asked and glanced around at the things on the counter before his dark eyes looked back at her. For some reason she could not help but flush at the way he looked at her, his eyes never strayed away.

"I like the belgian hot chocolate, but the cappuccino is one of our customer favourites." Hinata answered, she had not expected him to ask her for her recommendations. When the couple that had been sitting further in walked past the counter to leave, Hinata gave them a quick little wave of goodbye.

"And cake?" he asked.

"Eh, they are all really good… but I think that the mudcake is one of my favourites."

He looked down at all the cakes behind the glass on the shelves next to the counter, roaming with his eyes until he found the mudcake. He straightened his back and rested his hand on the counter, it looked more rugged than what she had expected from an office person like him.

"Do you usually work this late?" he asked and looked up at the large clock hanging on the wall behind her. She turned to look, it was almost nine.

"Not normally. A colleague got sick so I took his shift." she answered him before she could even think, it was as if her words just flew out of her mouth.

"I will just take some warm water, to go." he said and strummed once with his fingers against the counter before he put both of his hands in his coat pockets. He turned around then, looking at the interior of the café.

"Would you want some tea or something with that?" she asked, confused. No one had ever ordered just warm water except some moms who would use it to mix up their baby formulas and Hinata guessed that he did not have any baby formula with him.

"No, just water and no caramel," he said after he had turned back to her, with a hint of a smirk on his lips. The annoyed look he had had on his face when he had first walked in had slowly disappeared and now he just looked tired. Had he also just gotten off from work? She knew that lawyers were infamous for being workaholics, but he had come in just a few minutes after they had opened.

"Did you just leave from work?" she asked to fill the silence after she had turned on the boiler.

"Yes," he said after just a brief moments hesitation, then he continued, "I work at Akatsuki Law."

"Oh, that's close by," she said, mostly to herself. Every morning she walked passed it from the subway station, it was only two blocks away from the café, a tall metal and glass building just at the corner of the park.. Maybe that was why he came back, because the café was so close?

They stood there in silence and the awkwardness between them grew with the too slow boil of the water. Whenever he looked away, she took the opportunity to sneak a glance at him.

"It's a nice place," he said.

"Excuse me, what did you say?" she asked, the water boiler had finished just as he had spoken.

"This place is nice," he spoke again, a little louder this time. Hinata looked around the café, he was right. Coffee & Cream was a cosy café with many little nooks and crannies for privacy, it had a mixture of vintage retro and modern and a lot of plants everywhere that Shino was in charge of taking care of.

"The owner, Shizune, is an interior designer," she said, Shizune still worked with a few clients on some projects and only came out every now and then from her office to check on how they were doing. She poured up the hot water in a paper cup and put a lid on it. "I'm really sorry for messing up your order this morning."

"It's fine," he said and shook his head reassuringly. Before he took the cup he took out his wallet from a pocket inside his coat and put a ten dollar bill on the counter.

"It's free," she reminded him.

"I know, it's a tip," he said nonchalantly and dragged a hand through his now almost dry hair before he put his gloves back on. Hinata looked away from him, cheeks feeling warm again and looked out the window. The rain poured down on the streets outside.

"You can borrow an umbrella, if you want?" she offered him, it was the least she could do for a tip like that.

"Sure," he said. She was a little impressed with how easily he had taken her up on her offer, she could never have done that.

"Just give me a moment, I need to get it from the breakroom," she said and left after he gave her a quick nod.

Once inside the breakroom she leaned her back against the closed door and took a few deep breaths. Fine, he was attractive! But he was still not her type, she should not be reacting like this to the absolute least amount of male attention. She thought about the last time she had dated someone, it was in pre school, it had been Kiba… The only reason he had even asked her to become his girlfriend was because they had lost their first kiss to each other after a spin the bottle at some kids birthday party. They had not even managed to hold hands and had broken up as friends on mutual terms after not even two weeks. Had that even counted?

After that no one had ever approached her and she was too scared to go on any of those dating apps. Ino's horror story of an online date gone wrong that she had told Hinata after she had just started working at the café had just put another nail in the coffin for her. This man waiting on the other side of the door could be a serial killer for all she knew.

After slapping her cheeks a couple of times (and making sure that she looked presentable in the mirror) she grabbed her black umbrella out of her old leather backpack. She took a deep breath before putting her hand on the door handle and opening it.

"Here you go," she said and walked around the counter to stand on the same side as him, so that she could give him the umbrella more easily. He looked even taller up close like this, he could have definitely had a carrier in modeling if he wanted to. He had probably been scouted already, she thought to herself.

"Thank you…" he said and took it from her, it looked like he wanted to say something more.

"No problem, I have my raincoat with me," she explained and pointed to the door she had just come out from.

"Do you usually work the morning shifts?" he said, his voice a little lower. His long strands had fallen back down over his dark eyes.

"Y-yes…" she said and could feel her stomach fluttering for some dumb reason.

He just nodded his head at that and halted for a moment before he eventually left and walked out the door.

Finally she could breathe properly again. She put a hand over her chest to feel her beating heart. Somehow she felt more alive, but she also felt as if she was on the verge of puking from all the adrenaline pumping through her body.

The rhythmic buzzing of her phone in her back pocket brought her attention back to what the time was. Hurriedly she stumbled a little to pick up her phone, she looked at the screen to see who was calling her. It was Tenten.

"Tenten, I'm so sorry! Work ran a little late, but I'll just close it here and then I'll go," She had completely forgotten about Tenten, she looked up at the clock, twenty minutes past nine. How had time managed to pass by so fast? All she did was boil some water.

"I get it, just message me next time. I was just getting worried."

Tenten was truly a godsend. Hinata thanked her repeatedly before Tenten told her to hang up and hurry up instead.

She had only closed the café less than a handful of times before so she had still needed to follow a list that Shizune had made for her. After she had locked the door she pulled up her hood of her raincoat, the rain was not as heavy anymore but she could not take the chance to fall ill.

AN: I'll update close next week. But I just wanted to write something a little fluffier. If you like it please write a review. Sorry for any grammatical errors and thank you for reading.