*BEEP BEEP BEEP*
I groaned as I turned over and flopped my hand onto my alarm clock, shutting it off. I opened my eyes to find my cat, Lockley, sitting on my nightstand, her head cocked as in question of why I slapped my alarm clock. I smiled slightly, a sleepy smile, and moved my hand to put on her small, furry cheek and petted her as she leaned into my touch. I glanced over to my alarm clock.
5:15 am
Great. First day of the month and I'm late. Again. I sigh as I sit up and stretch. I stand up and walk over to my closet to find a decent shirt and some camouflage jeans for today.

After I changed and fed Lockley, I walked out of my small, one room,one bathroom apartment and walked down the stairs to my apartment complex entry office. I logged out of the office and walked out of the door, making sure I had my keys and phone, as well as my ID card for the cafe.

When I reached the back door of the central cafe I pulled out my ID from my pocket and scanned it at the scanner. The door opened with a small swoosh and I walked in, the smell of cinnamon and coffee instantly filling my nose. I walked over to the apron rack and found and put on mine. As I walked to the cash register I nodded to the guard by the door and he nodded back and opened the doors, letting the tired workers stagger in. We had to ID everyone so it took a while for me to get everyone.

By the time I was done getting everyone's orders and serving them, it's was well past 7 am. I sighed in exhaustion and looked at my co worker who looked equally tired. We had to serve over 700 people a day and this was only about half a quarter of them for the morning rush. I walked to the back and got us both a nice cup of coffee to refresh ourselves and give us more energy until lunch break. When I came back my co worker was getting frustrated with something.

Or someone.

I peaked over his shoulder to find a small girl standing there looking very nervous and shy. She had slightly tan skin and long, milk chocolate colored hair, as well as large, green eyes, completely opposing my appearance in every way. I was around 6'2 and had a bleached pixie cut with a slight ginger color poking out at random places, everything complimented with my heteracromiatic ocean green and blue eyes.

"Ugh! Kid, what do you want?!" My coworker shouted, shocking me out of my thoughts. I frowned and walked out from behind my coworker, putting his coffee beside him as I spoke.

"Garret, dont be so hard on them. How about I handle them and you take a break." I smiled as he sighed and nodded in acceptance, grabbing his coffee and slinking away in defeat. I smiled and turned to the petite girl in front of me.

"Hi! Sorry about him." I told her,apologizing for my grumpy coworker. She looked up at me And seemed to relax more. Odd, but who was I to judge?

She smiled a small smile at me and I smiled back at her.
"Can I help you with anything or do you want to order now?" I asked in a kindly tone.

She opened her mouth as if to say something but then closed it and hung her head. I slightly chuckled and she looked up at me again.

"It's okay, take your time."

She smiled and took a second, and then opened her mouth.

"U-uhm, a small vanilla cappuccino please."
I nodded and took the order up on the electronic cash register in front of me.

"Name?"

"What?"

"Name, lovely. I need you name for the order."
She lightly blushed at the nickname and I giggled on the inside.

"Uh-uhm Maxine.."

"Lovely name for a lovely girl. Just go ahead and sit at that table over by the window and I'll call your name when it's ready so you can pay."

"O-okay! Thank you!"
I smiled as she turned towards to the table and practically skipped to it. Very cute. I was only a  freshman collage student in my early twenties and she was probably a high school senior(in this universe a high school senior can be anywhere from 18-22 depending on how fast you passed the other grades FYI) as that was the uniform she was wearing but still, cute.

When I finished making her coffee I called her name. I watched at her head popped up and as she started walking over to me,smiling.

After I handed her the cappuccino, and she payed, she had just turned around to walk away when my big mouth asked something that I didn't know would soon change my life.

"Hey could I get your number?"