“Hey, Theo! Happy Tuesday.”
She leaned forward on an elbow and bit her lip as she grinned even wider at him. Now that she was getting a better look in better light, she could see his skin was speckled with freckles, dotting across his face like stars in the night sky. His eye also wasn’t exactly brown, like she’d initially thought it was, but rather a more mottled hazel with dark brown clustered around his pupil and a lighter, greener color hovering around the edges.
Well.
Thatwas interesting.
He was striking.
“Hi, Audrey,” Theo replied softly, glancing around at the rest of the shop and looking even more nervous now that there were fewer people around. Perhaps it was because it might be harder for him to try to meld into the wall. “Slow day?”
“Yeah, you came at a good time. It’s weird, but I’m not sad about it.”
His eye caught on the shot of coffee she was still clutching between her fingers. “Wh-what are you, uh, dri-drinking?” he asked hesitantly, almost as if he was unsure if he should even try. His throat bobbed as he swallowed and tried again. “Well, I mean, what’s—what’syourfavorite drink?”
Oh, so he was chatty today?
This was more words than she’d ever been able to wheedle out of him before.
How cute.
A slow smile crept across her lips while Theo fidgeted in front of her. He was about to wring those large, anxious hands together, and if she didn’t know better, he might have even been sweating under that hoodie.
Actually, hemighthave been. It was a lot to wear out in the city in September when it was still this hot.
She folded her hands on the counter. “I’m drinking Josh’s awful failed attempt at a ristretto.”
“I heard that!” Josh snapped at her from the machine, and she giggled. Theo’s eye crinkled, and his mask tilted upward over his cheeks.
There it was.
Finally, a smile.
Audrey beamed even wider at her victory.
“What’s that?” Theo asked. “I’ve never heard of a ristretto.” He winced and his mask shifted back down over his face, but it was so quick Audrey almost didn’t notice. The door opened again behind him and another customer stepped up in line, but she couldn’t see who it was. Theo was far too broad, and she was far too pleased at having made him smile to care. Whoever it was could wait.
“It’s like an espresso, but ‘restricted.’ Pulled for less time, so it’s sweeter, lighter. I like to put mine in a flat white. You can make some nice designs in the foam of a flat white.” She rolled the glass betweenher hands. “I don’t always have time to do it, but when it’s slow, we like to practice that sort of thing. It’s really fun, and a nice change of pace from the kind of stuff I study in my classes. I like the art of it.”
“Oh, are you in school?” He raised a dark eyebrow. “Do you study art?”
“No, I’m an electrical engineering major. A super senior, actually.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Audsbodkins,” Josh shot from the Marzocco as he worked on another ristretto. “You’re graduating this December from NYU. That’s nothing to sneeze at.”
“ ‘Oddsbodkins’?” Theo’s brow furrowed.
She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. “Yeah, theater nerd over here’s auditioning for the Scottish play, so he’s working in Shakespeare puns wherever he can.”
Josh lifted the fresh ristretto and struck a pose, holding it aloft as though it were a skull. “ ‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow!’ ” He clenched his free hand into a fist and sighed dramatically before opening one wry eye and straightening. “The audition is tomorrow and I’m hoping I at least get cast as the Porter this time. Hell, I’d even take Background Player Number Three if I could.”
“Oh. Uh…break a leg, I suppose?” Theo huffed a laugh and turned his attention back to her. “That sounds like a nightmare to me. Acting, I mean.”
Audrey’s grin widened. “Me too. I could never. Too much attention. I don’t think I’d like that, all those people looking at me.”
“Exactly.” What little she could see of Theo’s expression softened. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who—”
An impatient finger jabbed at Theo’s shoulder, and he nearly jumped out of his skin at the contact. “You can flirt with her some other time,sir,” snapped Patricia as she shoved forward to the head of the line, obviously running late (the worst of the three options),and obviously salty about it. “I need to get my coffee and I need to get itnow.”
