The sun was beating hard outside.

Despite it being so hot outside, this small cafe in the heart of Florence was bustling with people. It was three in the afternoon and the cafe was filled with customers chattering away lightheartedly. In the corner, just near my workstation, sat Mark, his guitar in his lap as he strummed it occasionally trying to come up with a harmony.

I tightened the apron behind my back and pushed a stray strand of hair back from my face before rushing to kitchen to get the cheese and ham sandwiches ordered by table number 17.

Samantha, who was usually in charge of the service was on a leave today and all the responsibility had fallen upon me. Mark couldn't be asked to help me out a little. He was way too busy figuring out how to work out that stupid harmony that had apparently been stuck in his mind for days.

I was alone in this today and fortunately there was no going down in the number of customers. It was the peak time of the afternoon on a Sunday and all the parents were out treating their children. The business was booming and I couldn't complain. It was my cafe afterall.

Smiling, I balanced a tray of sandwiches on one arm and two mugs of Avocado Shake on another and made my way towards the table number 17. I was greeted by a smiling family of four, all having strikingly similar features.

I smiled to myself. Families had this thing of looking similar. Even if you didn't exactly match, if you were together, one could always tell that you were a family.

"Bon Appetit." I greeted them softly before whisking away the dishes of their first order. "Please enjoy your food."

I waved happily at the two children sitting on the table and took off for the kitchen again. Carol was taking the orders at the front desk. I threw her a small smile as she seemed to be overwhelmed by the number of customers turning up. She was the newest addition to our Caffè Italiano family and I believed that a little encouragement was always good to get one going.

"Two cheeseburgers coming right up!" I announced walking towards table number 10.

The doorbell chimed and I looked up to see our newest customer that afternoon. The light blinded me and I looked away for a second. The cafe was relatively darker than the outdoors and it took me a second to adjust to the sudden burst of sunlight.

The cafe door opened wider and a tall, slender guy stepped inside, quickly closing the door behind him which caused the doorbell to chime again.

It was higher than ninety degrees outside and he was wearing a grey hoodie which struck me as extremely strange. In this terrible heat nobody could be bothered with even a single layer of clothes but he even had his face hidden underneath the hoodie.

"Bon Appetit." I quickly muttered to the couple on table 10 and walked back towards my work station. There were hardly anyone asking for coffee today so I had practically nothing to do except filling in for my staff. It would have been crazy if I had to live up to my duty of being Caffè Italiano's clumsy Barista girl as well.

I could feel my eyes tracking every movement of the Hoodie Guy. He looked confused as if he wasn't sure why he was here in the first place, judging from the way he kept on fidgeting on his feet. After about a minute of deliberation, he walked towards one of the few empty tables in the cafe and plonked down into one of the chairs.

Fortunately, the table he chose was in one of the cooler parts of the cafe and he seemed to be relieved. His next action didn't surprise me at all. In one swift movement, his hoodie was off to reveal a plain white v-neck underneath.

I didn't know why but I breathed a sigh of relief having seen him doing that. It was mad hot outside. I couldn't even imagine his desperation to get rid of the dreaded thing.

What struck me as highly unusual was his long platinum blonde hair. Not many people had them naturally. They were most likely to be dyed. Yet they presented a stark contrast to the golden heat outside as if they had a life of their own.

He still seemed to be fidgety. His leg moved continuously. Up and down. Up and down. I tore away my gaze from him and looked down at the little Post-it note in my hand. I looked up to see Carol gazing expectantly at me.

I looked back at the note again.

"Take over for me for a minute. I really need to use the washroom." It said.

I flashed her an assuring smile and gestured her to go on. "Be quick." I mouthed and rushed to her desk, untying my apron from around my waist. It was momentary relief as my attention was yet again claimed by the Hoodie Guy, whose side now faced me.

His platinum hair reached his shoulders and were pin-straight almost as if he had had them done at a salon before coming here. I couldn't make much from his side profile except that he had a really nice nose and consequentially was most likely to be extremely hot.

I cringed at my inappropriate thought and forced my gaze back on a customer now facing me. He was looking at me confused and I blushed.

Coughing awkwardly, I began. "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" I smiled forcefully.

The customer didn't really seem to mind though. "It's okay. A large packet of fries, a hamburger and a cold coffee to go please."

"Yes, right away." I smiled as I wrote down the order and passed the note to the takeaway kitchen of the cafe. "It'll be ready in a couple of minutes. Your order number is 476." I said handing him the receipt.

I sighed as I stood free again. I was really out of it today. The people were most likely ignoring my slip ups thinking the heat had gotten to my head or something similar. I groaned. It was going to be a very long day.

"Excuse me?" I was brought back to my senses as a surprised voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Sorry, what?" My head shot up as I realised that I had cut off the voice of yet another customer.

Instead, of the usual brown, green, hazel eyes I was expecting, my eyes met with the iciest and the bluest pair of eyes I'd ever seen in my life and I blinked. The eyes held amusement and confusion as they gazed back at me unblinkingly.

I took in the facial features of the Hoodie Guy and blinked again.

Oh, Hoodie Guy.

Blinking rapidly, I smiled a foolish smile again. Surprisingly, that always seemed to work for me.

Zoned out?

Just smile.

Too busy to hear the customer?

Just smile.

That was my life's motto and probably the only reason why I was still here.

"I could have asked if you're done checking me out yet, insert a ridiculous endearment here, but strangely enough you girls never are so I'm not going to waste my breath." He smirked and it wasn't your usual heart-melting, palpitation-inducing smirk. It was a full blown, chilly smirk that promised a thousand dangerous secrets and a million ways to ruin one's life.

It wasn't a smirk. It was a dangerous mystery whose mere mention made you want to run a million miles away. But, I knew that it was no use running...

His voice was pulling me in.

...because I couldn't have gotten far anyway.

And this time, it was no use smiling.

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The very first chapter of Coffee And Delinquency 😆
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