"Morning, Allison. Could I get a Cappuccino Special, please?" Max glanced over his shoulder when the little bell above the coffee shop doors jingled. It wasn't her. Not yet.

"Sure."

He put his hands together like he was praying. "And, if it's not too much, would you be able to make one of those heart shapes in the foam? Pretty please?"

"Of course, no problem."

While he waited, he kept looking over his shoulder, but the girl he was waiting for hadn't shown her face yet. Then again, it wasn't four o'clock yet. She could be here any moment.

"There. How's this?"

Max brightened at the sight of the coffee. "Perfect! You're the best, Allison." He picked up the coffee just as the little bell rang again.

"Felicity!"

The girl froze at the sound of her name. "Damn it, Max, not again," she groaned.

Max was not deterred by Felicity's negativity. "I already got you your favourite, Beautiful." He presented the cappuccino like it was his heart on a platter.

Felicity sighed. "For God's sake, can you just let me get my drink in peace, please?"

"Come on, just give me a chance. One chance. I might not be as bad as you think!"

"Staring again, are ye?"

I flinched at the voice close behind me. Liam, my favourite coworker here at the Coffee Corner, grinned at me.

"I get it, you know. He's sexy, I won't deny that. Hell, I'd do him if he was into men. But he's only got eyes for the bitchy one." He gestured with his head towards Felicity, just as she flicked her hair over her shoulder and found herself a seat at an empty table. Max immediately joined her, which made her shoot him a deathly glare.

He was sexy. There was no denying that. The epitome of tall, dark and handsome. A twinkle in his eyes that made my knees wobble every single time. But that was not the reason I couldn't stop watching him.

"Don't let her hear that," I smiled weakly. "She'll get you sacked."

"Ha! Puh-lease, she's welcome to try. Robert knows how much money I bring in. He wouldn't dream of sacking me."

I chuckled, then went back to restocking the brownies in the display case. No matter how hard I tried, my eyes wouldn't stop from wandering across the table in the back.

Max stood up, put one hand on his chest and the other stretched out towards Felicity, and said, "If you only hold me tight, we'll be holding on forever."

"Bonnie Tyler," I muttered. From the corner of my eye I spotted the pointed look Liam shot me, and my cheeks heated up.

"What the hell are you even saying?" Felicity groaned. "D'you know what, I'm done. I'll get my coffee somewhere else." She picked up her handbag and stormed out of the coffee shop.

"You've got to tell him, Allison," said Liam.

"Shush! He's coming this way."

Liam threw his dirty dish towel at me, which I caught in surprise. "Tell him!" he hissed.

Max sat down at the bar with a deep sigh. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to scare your customer away."

"That's okay. You already paid for her coffee anyway."

He chuckled. My heart made a little leap. He sighed and shook his head. "You must think I'm such an idiot."

Itching for something to do, my hands automatically started making a Latte – Max' favourite. "Not at all. Determination is a good trait."

"Is that so?" He grinned. "Too bad Felicity can't see that."

"Yeah," I said, my heart squeezing painfully in my chest. "Too bad."

"I dunno. Maybe I should just give up. Lately I feel like I'm only doing it for the sake of it."

Behind him, Liam interrupted his table-cleaning to gesture wildly, mouthing, This is your chance! Tell him!

But Liam had one fling after another. Liam didn't understand how hard it was. To watch someone give their all to another person, while hoping, praying, every day, that they would finally notice you.

Max' eyes widened when I slid the Latte over to him. "Oh. You made that for me?"

My cheeks flushed, so I busied myself wiping down the counter. "Can't let my favourite neighbour go thirsty, right?"

I'd moved in with my aunt and uncle the day my parents and older brother died in a car accident. A single moment, and I'd lost everything. My aunt and uncle were amazing people, but they both led very busy lives. I was often left alone at home. With nothing to keep me company but the photographs I had left of the family I'd lost. By happy chance, my new home was right next door to Max.

He fell silent. When I glanced up, he was smiling at me. But it was different from his usual one. This one was more lopsided. More cheeky. More... genuine? Or was that just my heart playing tricks on me? I cleared my throat and focused on wiping the all-but-shining counter.

"Well..." he said. "Thank you for the drink, ma'am."

"Christian Kane." I'd blurted it out before I could stop myself. My face burned. I turned my back to him to straighten out the cups and glasses, wishing I could fall through the face of the earth and disappear. The silence was deafening beyond the clinking of glass and ceramic.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Would you, er... Would you like a brownie with that? It's on the house," I rattled. While he pondered his answer, I found myself unable to breathe.

"Yes, please."

My hands trembled under his gaze, as I put one of the brownies on a dish for him.

"How do you know that song?"

I had no choice but to look up at him. I shrugged, looking over his shoulder at Liam helplessly, but he just shot me a thumbs-up. "I always hear your music when your window is open."

The amount of times I'd been lying on my bed after a long day, with only his music to keep me company, were too many to count. It made me feel better every single time. As if I had a friend watching over me, chasing away my sadness and loneliness whenever I needed it.

"Oh," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise it bothered you."

"It doesn't! Honestly. You have great taste in music." That was what I should have said. It was the safe answer. The sane answer. What rolled out instead was, "Somehow I'm full of forgiveness. I guess it's meant to be."

He fell silent for so long that I almost corrected myself. The words "It doesn't, honestly" were on the tip of my tongue.

But he was quicker. "No Doubt."

My heart made a backflip.

He narrowed his eyes. "I'd like to know what you're all about, what's up there."

The answer came instantly. "Stereophonics."

"Not bad." His brown eyes twinkled. Liam gestured something behind him, but I couldn't take my eyes off Max. He pointed towards the window of the Coffee Corner, against which drops of rain pattered softly. "Huh, would you look at that. It seems the sun shines through the rain."

"That's easy," I said, rolling my eyes. Despite the embarrassment, my lips curved into a smile as I enjoyed the game we were playing. "The Bangles. Everyone knows that, it's iconic."

"Sorry," he said. "The quality's diminished."

"The Skints."

He laughed. "Fine. You win. If you want your reward, all you have to do is close your eyes and just reach out your hands."

"Extreme."

"I think I'm in love with you."

"Er..." I thought hard, going through all the songs I'd heard coming from his window. There was an I think I'm in love, and an I think I'm in love again, but I couldn't think of a song with that specific lyric. "I don't know," I admitted curiously. "Who's that from."

His lips curled upwards. "Me."

Round 1.1

Prompt: Write a romance story using at least 2 out of 10 specific music pieces. 

Wordcount: 1329 words