┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐

chapter six
you're hopeless.

└─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘
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┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐

Ken couldn't help but feel a little bit off-put by the girl that was sitting in the backseat of his car with him and his girlfriend, smiling from ear-to-ear for no reason whatsoever-that's what he thought, at least.

Sure, he knew very well that the small girl was was this happy-go-lucky, sunshine-loving, and light-hearted person, and to be honest, that was one of the things he liked most about her, if not the most.

If he was being honest, she was probably the most tolerable out of his girlfriend's best friends-hell, he'd even say that he thought of her as one of his best friends.

But when he had picked her and his girlfriend up from their friend's house the morning after their weekly get-together, she seemed happy-a little bit too happy, if you asked him.

Ken didn't exactly know how to explain it. Something about the girl seemed off, you could say. Like, really, really off.

The boy thought that it was all too good to be true that, at six o'clock in the morning with less than two hours of sleep, she was singing to herself in her seat, shaking her foot with one of her legs over the other, her smile not faltering, not falling.

Bailey, on the other hand, had looked like a complete mess. Don't get him wrong, he thought she looked beautiful no matter how little sleep she got, but he'd be lying if he said that she couldn't do with a little but of shut-eye.

He himself had eight hours of sleep, something that didn't happen nearly as much as it should, and even he felt too drained to go for a drive at six in the morning, yet this girl with almost little to no sleep just-so-happened to be all fine and dandy?

Something was wrong.

He ignored it for the most part, yet his eyes still moved back and forth from the dimly-lit road in front of him, the short-haired girl that was seconds away from sleeping and smacking her head on the window, and the girl in the back seat that was smiling to herself like an absolute idiot.

The brown-haired girl started to tap her fingers on the car door to the tune of the song she was singing to herself, to the point that the boy's brow had twitched.

Keep it together, Ken, he told himself, tightly gripping onto the steering wheel. Kaycee probably just drank too much coffee.

He kept his eyes on the road, not wanting to drive them into the side of the road.

Ken was going to drop off his girlfriend at their apartment, before taking his friend to the coffee shop.

Since he and the small girl had a shift the day after their weekly get-together, he thought that giving her a free lift to the café would be his way of saying thank you for being a good friend-both his and his girlfriend's.

With a small turn, they made it to the couple's apartment building, tiny when compared to the tall towers and buildings that towered over it.

He stopped the car in front of the small building, the sound of the screeching tires making his girlfriend's eyes shoot open.

"You okay there, babe?" Ken asked his girlfriend, his hand softly squeezing her knee through the fabric of her light-washed jeans.

The entire car ride, he had a hand tentatively placed on her knee, tenderly tracing shapes onto her soft skin, something that she thought was calming, comforting-even enough to put her to sleep.

That was why she just gave up on trying to keep herself awake and placed her head against the glass, even if she knew that, in the end, it was going to bite her back in the ass. A girl needs her sleep.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little bit shaken up, that's all," Bailey said sheepishly, giving him the smallest of smiles.

Ken couldn't help but smile at his girlfriend, leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek, making that laugh of hers he loved so much fall from her lips.

Smiling as she shook her head, Bailey unbuckled her seatbelt, before scooting out of her seat.

"I'll be sleeping, okay? You two stay safe," said the girl, standing outside of the car.

Ken smirked. "Don't worry your pretty little face, babe. We'll be fine, I swear."

Bailey rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, the smallest of smiles still tugging at her lips. "Okay, whatever you say, homeboy."

The boy shook his head at the nickname, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. He kept his eyes on her as she dragged herself along the street, before going into their apartment building.

A hand on the steering wheel and the other at his side, Ken then turned around, taking a look at the girl sitting behind him.

"Rice, you-" He stopped himself, and his eye had twitched ever-so-slightly.

Kaycee sat in the backseat, staring out the window, her eyes looking like they'd swallowed stars, smiling from ear-to-ear.

Ken couldn't believe-no, he refused to believe that this girl, sitting with him in his car, had less sleep than he did, and still looked like she had everything together.

Something's up.

He turned around, looking at whatever it was she was smiling at outside, only to find himself even more confused than he already was.

All he could find outside was a tiny chihuahua relieving itself by the poor, poor fire hydrant, and a young man, looking like he'd already wasted most of his young life, that had ran straight into said fire hydrant.

Yeah, no. That's not it, he told himself.

"Yo, Rice," Ken turned around, snapping his fingers, snapping her out of whatever it was she was in. "Do you wanna get your butt over here or what?"

Kaycee nodded her head up and down with a small hum, taking her seatbelt off and scooting out of the backseat. The boy could only watch as she sauntered to the other side of his car, strolling on over to the front, and then sliding into the seat beside his.

"Hey, sorry about that," she apologized, almost as if she was embarrassed.

She shuffled to string her seatbelt over her small body as she spoke, "I was just thinking about something."

Ken started up the car, the sound of the engine filling their ears. It was almost so loud that the girl didn't hear him mutter under his breath, "Yeah, right-more like someone."

Kaycee was about to say something, but next thing she knew, they were turning around the block, making their way to the coffee shop.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

For the poor, not-so-sleep-deprived boy, the ride to the coffee shop was equally as frustrating as the drive from their friend's house to their apartment, maybe even more.

Kaycee laid her arm out on the arm rest of the car door, tapping her fingers along the window, still starry-eyed as she smiled to herself. Ken wasn't sure why, though, since the only thing he was actually sure about was the fact that he had absolutely no idea what was going through that head of hers.

To him, there was no reason to be smiling like that, to be looking out the window like that-so entranced, so enchanted, almost as if there was something she could see that he couldn't.

Honestly, all he could really see outside was the pollution of the city and people going about their miserable, day-to-day lives, like the usual.

Ken turned around the block, and there they were, at their warm, cozy, little café-with no parking spaces.

Even though he's been working at the coffee shop for who even knows how long, he still wasn't over the fact that they didn't have any parking.

This made for an undeniably dreadful routine. Long-story-short, he had to go waste some gas and go around searching for a spot, and then he had to go and waste some of his energy, going back to the café.

"Kaycee," Ken breathed out.

She turned to him, telling him to go on. "I'm just gonna go look for a spot to park. Can you open up the coffee shop while I go look for a spot?"

Nodding her head, she slipped out of her seatbelt, scooting out of the front seat, shutting the door after stepping out of the car. She watched as the car drove off and disappeared around the corner.

Kaycee didn't know that she was tapping her foot to the tune of the song she was singing, a song she'd heard sometime the other day, a soft smile on her face.

The girl opened the café, and as soon as she stepped inside, the scent of coffee that she'd grown to love hit her senses.

She flipped the small sign that hung on the glass door, from closed to open.

Kaycee made her way to the back of the counter, bending down to take one of the black aprons that was neatly-folded and placed into one of the drawers below the counter.

After tying the thin strings of the apron around her small waist, she took her phone out of her pocket, and to her surprise, she had nothing-no new notifications, no new messages.

Nothing.

It's okay, Kaycee, she thought to herself. It's seven in the morning. It's too early.

Kaycee checked again, just to be sure. Still, she had nothing. That's fine, that's fine.

As the sound of the small bell hung above the glass door filled her ears, her head quickly shot up, her eyes landing on none other than her friend.

Kaycee tried her best not to look somewhat disappointed. Tried. "Wow, looks like someone's happy to see me," Ken said, sarcastically.

Sliding her phone back into her pocket, she shrugged her shoulders.

"It's fine, it's fine," said Ken, making his way around the corner of the counter, before bending over and bringing out one of the aprons.

They did their morning routine. They filled up the display with the coffee shop's well-known, home-baked goods; they cleaned the counters, chairs, and pretty much every corner of the café; they mopped the floors.

All the while they did that, there was something the girl was doing that the boy thought was extra, extra weird.

Kaycee was an energetic person, he knew that, but he thought that even for her, it would be too hard to do your job with only two hours of sleep, but there she was, going through her tasks almost twice as fast as he did, table after table.

Ken thought it was weird, yes, but that wasn't the thing. That was the tip of the iceberg.

The thing was, that after every single table she'd cleaned, she would stop for a bit, slipping her phone out of her pocket, staring at it for a split second, before moving on to the next table.

When their first customer of the day walked into the coffee shop, he couldn't have missed how her head shot up and snapped to the door as soon as the sound of the small bell hung above the door filled her ears.

At this point, Ken started to put two and two together-it was obvious, really obvious, and he had no idea how he hadn't seen it.

As the man made his way to them, the boy tapped the girl on her shoulder, tearing her eyes away from her screen and turning around.

"Kaycee, can you take this one?" Ken asked, his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it softly. "It'll help you get your mind off of him, I promise."

Kaycee was about to say something, until she stopped herself, her brows stitching together, and a sigh slipping from her lips. Shutting her phone off, she slid it back into its spot in her pocket.

"Okay," the girl breathed. The softest of smiles tugged on her lips, the smallest bit of hope in her eyes. "Maybe it will."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Kaycee didn't really know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she was looking forward to the boy coming to the coffee shop, to the point that it was going to be what made her day.

On one hand, the thought that she was going to see him and that heart-melting smile of his again helped her get through the day even if she had gotten little to no sleep, and it had kept her in a good mood for most of the day.

Normally, with only two hours of sleep, she'd be a complete mess. If she was being completely honest, she would have probably slapped someone by now, or maybe even shouted at an annoying customer.

On the other hand, though, she was getting her hopes up every time someone would walk through the door, and every time, she'd just get let down. She'd get crushed.

Her head would snap to the door every time someone walked in, but it would never be who she wanted it to be.

Ken and Kaycee had already snacked on some of the sandwiches at the coffee shop, the sun set in its spot smack center in the sky, yet she still didn't get so much as a single text from him.

It was past lunch time-he had to have been awake by now.

She wasn't going to lie, things weren't looking so good. She was starting to lose hope. Maybe it was too good to be true, that things were going all too well for it to be real.

But, she wasn't the type to give up so easily.

She was persistent. She wanted to stay positive.

After some thought, she decided that, maybe, it'd be better if she just didn't think about him.

She needed to distract herself, and for the most part, just entertaining the customers at the coffee shop did the trick.

Thing is, she knew better. She knew it wasn't going to last.

It was Sunday, and, as usual, business was slow-pretty much everyone and their great grandmother was at home, either spending some time with their family, or sulking over the fact that the weekend was about to end.

Kaycee couldn't exactly distract herself by taking orders if she didn't have anyone to take orders from. She had served all five of the people that were in the café, and it didn't look like someone was going to walk in any time soon.

So, she resorted to the only other thing she could do at a time like this-latte art.

Normally, this wouldn't be something she'd do, seeing as they couldn't make coffee for anyone but the customers, but hey, they had already eaten the café's food-there was no going back now.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

So, there she was, a freshly-brewed espresso in one hand and a small cup of steamed milk in the other.

Kaycee was an artist. She had long-perfected the famous rosetta design, the leaf-like design people would see on their coffee almost too perfect.

So, she thought that it was time for a change.

The girl leaned over the counter, staring into the steaming cup that sat on the smooth surface, chewing her lip, concentrated.

After a few more seconds of looking back and forth between the coffee-filled mug and the small cup of steamed milk, she sighed. The girl spoke up, "Can you get me a toothpick?"

Ken stopped scrolling down his screen and slowly looked up, almost as if he was startled, surprised.

He pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yes, you," she said.

Ken thought that he'd probably be better off not asking, so he didn't. The boy just got the toothpick and gave it to her, just like she asked him to. "Thank you."

He watched as she poured some of the steamed milk from the small cup into the porcelain mug, the pristine white of the foam piercing through the lighter shade of brown. The two slowly melted into one another.

His eyes followed as she delicately held the thin piece of wood in between her fingers, the tip ever-so-slightly dipped into the espresso, drawing the thick cream out into the coffee.

Ken had seen her do this before, and he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't impressed with some of things she'd done before.

"What are you going to draw?" He asked, curious. She looked up, the boy looking over her shoulder.

Kaycee shrugged. "I don't know, actually." She swirled the toothpick a little bit. "I guess I'll just draw whatever my heart desires."

Ken raised his brows at her, eyes raking over what she'd drawn in her cup.

She noticed. "Hey, what's with the look?"

The boy simply pointed to the porcelain cup, and the girl didn't get it at first, until she took a look at what was inside it.

Kaycee drew a heart. In steamed milk. Well, would you look at that.

Her cheeks were suddenly kissed red, like that of a flourishing rose, flowering all over her skin. She fidgeted with the thin piece of wood she held in between her fingers, her brows furrowing together.

She nervously laughed, "That doesn't mean anything, right?"

Ken nodded slowly. "Right."

That's when the girl's phone shifted in her pocket, and within the blink of an eye, she had already slipped her phone out of her pocket, swiping up. It wasn't him.

A disappointed sigh slipped from her soft lips, her eyes falling shut, before sliding her phone back into her pocket.

"Kaycee," Ken started, scratching the back of his neck. "Maybe you should, I don't know, text him already?"

"Can't," she answered, "I'll come off as clingy."

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever you say. It's your call, okay?" The girl nodded.

Kaycee delicately dipped the thin piece of wood back into the drink, drawing the cream into the coffee, drawing something, anything-just not that. The last thing she needed to see right now was a heart made out of steamed milk.

Just as she started to doodle something else in her drink, she caught something out of the corner of her eye-a boy, and a tall one, at that.

Kaycee didn't want to get her hopes up, truly she didn't, but she really did hope it was him. Hoped.

While the girl was so caught up in catching this boy as he walked into the café, she had completely forgotten about the cup of coffee and cream that sat in front of her. Little did she know, though, her hand moved on its own, as if it had its own mind, making who even knows what.

Only when the doors swung open did she get a good look at the boy's face.

And just like that, she was let down again.

The boy wasn't a complete stranger. It was the same boy she had caught staring at her the day before, his hair slicked back, and his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket.

"You're hopeless-you know that, right?"

Kaycee turned around to see that Ken had picked up the porcelain mug that she had pretty much pushed to the back of her head the second she spotted someone strolling to the café, peering inside.

"What is it?" She asked. He shook his head, showing her what she'd so-mindlessly drawn in the cup.

Sure, it was somewhat sloppily-done, far from being fully-detailed, and easily not one of her best works, but there was one thing that she got right-the fact that, within a second, you would be able to tell who it was.

Kaycee had made a portrait of Sean, with steamed milk, in a shot of espresso. How in the actual fu-

"I think you should definitely text him," Ken suggested, setting the now Sean-ified espresso back down onto the counter.

"I think so, too," Kaycee said, a small, soft smile tugging at her lips.

kaycee
hi sean
read 1:23 PM

kaycee
where you at?
read 1:23 PM

Kaycee knew she'd be lying if she said her heart didn't skip a beat when she saw that he'd seen her messages, but she didn't really know what to say when minutes had passed and he still had her on read, on seen.

He wasn't typing, she knew that.

Maybe she just needed to be a little bit more patient. Maybe she just needed to wait a little bit longer. Maybe he was about to walk straight through that door.

Or maybe not.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

His dreams drifted away as they gave way for the day, daylight streaming into their room through their window, cracked open, only covered by the thin, thin sheet of cloth they called a curtain.

Sean slowly opened his eyes, everything around him a blur. He didn't know where he was, what time it was, and who it was that had wrapped their arms around him.

His head was pounding. He propped himself up on his elbows, pushing away whoever it was that was too close for comfort, clutching onto his arm, clinging onto him like a helpless child.

"Look who decided to wake up."

Sean squinted his eyes, his sense of sight slowly coming back to him. The boy ran his hands through his tousled hair, lightly tugging at the tips, his head throbbing.

"Jules? Is that you?" He asked, sheepishly, slowly swiping his eyes with his hands.

Julian sat at their small table, licking some of the cheese and ketchup that had dripped onto his fingers from the burger he bought from the fast food place down the street.

"I thought you wouldn't wake up," he smirked. "All that's left is Josh."

Sean sat up, his eyes sweeping over the sleeping figure next to him, the boy's mouth still hanging open. Yeah, that's Josh, alright.

A groan erupted from his throat as he dragged his hand down his face, his hand falling behind him to hold himself up.

"So, uh, w-what time is it?" Sean asked, sleepily, a small yawn slipping from his lips.

Julian glanced down at his watch. "Oh, it's around one o'clock in the afternoon."

Shoot.

And just like that, the boy's eyes shot open, as if something surged through him, his body shooting up from the bed.

He shuffled to check his phone and, just to his luck, he didn't even plug it in, his last one percent of battery staring him right in the face. Oh, damn it.

That's when his phone screen lit up, two messages from the person he wanted to talk to. His fingers tapped away at the screen, typing his passcode as quickly as he could, his phone seconds away from dying on him.

kaycee
hi sean

kaycee
where you at?

Sean started to type something in reply when, suddenly, his screen turned black-he had ran out of time.

Great. Just, great.

"Screw this," he said under his breath, tearing the sheets off of his body and throwing them onto the boy sleeping next to him.

Sean swore that was the fastest he'd ever gotten ready for anything in his life, hearing the blood rushing through his ears, the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

He was all over the place, pacing around their apartment building, picking out random pieces of clothing from his closet and then plopping them onto the couch.

Sean took a shower, threw on his clothes, tucked some money into his pocket, and then booked it. "I'll be back later," he said to his best friend, before slamming the door shut.

He had never ran faster in his life.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Kaycee didn't know how long she'd been staring at her phone screen, scrolling through the messages that she sent him, but what she did know, though, was that it felt like she'd been standing there for an absolute eternity.

Her shift was going to be over in less than half an hour, and all she wanted to do was go back home, listen to some nice music, and earn back all the sleep she had lost.

"Hi," she heard a voice say to her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She slightly tilted her head up, only to find the same boy that she'd seen the day before standing in front of her.

Kaycee set her phone down, setting it to the side. "How may I help you?" She asked, politely.

He coughed, clearing his throat. "Well, my name's Gabe, and I really wanted to get your-"

Suddenly, someone slammed the doors to the coffee shop open, the glass almost shattering, and the thin, thin string that held the tiny bell in place nearly being torn.

Kaycee's eyes widened at who stood at the door.

There stood the one and only Sean Lew, his chest rising and falling with every breath, his hair a tousled mess, only slightly tucked into the gray beanie that sat on top of his head.

He looked like he had carelessly thrown on a dark blue jacket, some pants, a beanie, and then ran on over to the coffee shop-to her.

If she was being honest, he looked like he'd ran a marathon. Still cute, though, Kaycee thought. Oh, shut up.

The scene looked like it was straight out of a poorly-written rom-com, where one of the characters makes their way to the church to stop the person they love from being taken away from them.

Sean dragged himself to the counter, deciding that he didn't really have enough time to deal with the other boy that was there, and that he, honestly, didn't really care.

"God, Kaycee," Sean panted. "I'm so, so, so sorry."

Hearing his sweet, sweet voice, hearing him say her name, it all made her melt-it was stupid, she knew. She had been waiting on him the whole day, but now that he was there, it was so, so worth it.

All she needed to do was wait.

Kaycee whispered, softly, "What happened?"

At this point, Gabe had already seen enough proof that the pretty girl at the coffee shop was, indeed, taken.

Seeing that it wasn't his place, that he didn't really belong there, Gabe had slowly backed away.

Sean drew his breath. "I woke up at one o'clock, and not only that, I forgot to charge my phone. I read your texts-hell, I was gonna reply, but my phone just had to die on me."

The girl couldn't help but watch him as he rambled on, finding it absolutely adorable how his cheeks had flushed a shade of pink, looking so, so adorably flustered.

"I didn't even eat lunch-much less breakfast-I just threw on some clothes and sprinted straight to here," Sean breathed out. "I thought that I wouldn't be able to catch you."

Kaycee couldn't help but giggle, her laugh flitting through the air like a melody, music to the boy's ears.

"Well, you caught me just in time," she spoke, eyes sweeping over his. Through her long, curled lashes, she could see the flecks of gold that laid hidden beneath his dark brown.

He was caffeine, and she was addicted.

He smiled back, dimples teasing the corners of his cheeks. His voice had softened, "I'm glad I did."

They stood there, smiling at each other, simply happy that they got to see each other, before the boy spoke up.

"Anyway," Sean started, scratching the back of his neck. "Maybe I could order a small cappuccino?"

"Maybe you could," Kaycee teased.

The girl got his drink done in the blink of an eye. Then, there came the name.

She didn't want to say it, but she didn't know any other stupid way to spell his name, so she stood there, paper cup in hand, pen in the other. She looked at him, as he smiled back at her, and she could only smile back, before scribbling something down.

Sean handed her a couple dollars as she handed him the milk-filled paper cup. He laughed at the name she gave him this time. "Seen, huh?"

Kaycee shrugged, a shy smile on her lips. "Well, you did leave me on seen."

"And I'm sorry for that," he said, "I can make it up to you, but only if you let me."

She smirked. "And how exactly are you going to do that?"

The boy didn't even have to say anything to her, he just had to hold his hand out, and just like that, she already knew what he was talking about.

Smiling, she shook her head, and handed him a pen and pieces of tissue-his secret weapons, if you will.

Sean scribbled it down, smiling from ear-to-ear, and slid it over to Kaycee, setting his arms on the counter.

'I already told you that I liked you a latte, so why don't we mocha it a date?'

Kaycee couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips, stretching past her sparkling eyes, and the small dimple that teased the corner of her lip whenever she smiled.

"You don't have to give me an answer now," Sean added. "You know I'd wait for you."

Her heart fluttered at his words, butterflies flittering about in the deepest pit of her stomach.

"Let's go out for lunch later," she said, shocked at her own words. She didn't know where this came from, but there she was, and there was no taking it back now.

"Really?" Sean asked, almost not being able to hide how happy he was, his voice higher.

"Yes, really," the girl giggled. "Now go sit down or something. You're distracting me over here."

The boy laughed, taking the paper cup with him to his table. The second his eyes left hers, she smiled to herself again, small laughs slipping from her lips.

Kaycee couldn't believe this was really happening.

God, she really was hopeless.

└─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘