Five Days to Fall for You

I adjust the grind on the espresso machine without thinking, my fingers moving over the familiar knobs as if they are second nature. A smile tugs at the corner of my lips as I hand the warm cup to the customer. It's always the same, but it never gets old.

"Good morning," I greet one of the regulars that come in.

"Hello!" he greets me, then orders his drink.

I whip it up and hand it to him. As I wait for the next customer, I make small talk with my coworkers. We don't have a lot of downtime, but there's always time to talk. Finally, another regular comes in. I know her order by heart.

"Good morning! Your regular?"

"Good morning, yes, thank you."

She's simple, so her iced mocha is quick and easy. Before I turn from the back counter to give it to her, I write a cheesy pickup line on one of those sleeves meant for hot drinks and slip it on her cup. "Are you Australian? Because you meet all of my koalafications:)"

The woman always sits outside to enjoy her drink, so I watch her walk out to the tables out front. She seems to notice the note when she sits down and I see a small smile form on her lips. I blush and force myself to turn to another customer.

After my shift and all through the night, I think of all the best pickup lines to try out.

Yet again, the same woman comes into the shop bright and early. I smile and greet her. "Good morning, your regular?"

"Good morning, yes, thank you," she chuckles.

Once again, I make her iced mocha. "Are you a parking ticket? Because you've got 'fine' written all over you!" I write another pickup line on her cup sleeve and watch her take it outside. her smile comes back when she reads it. I admire her until I have to go back to work.

The next day's shift is busier than usual. As I'm serving another customer, my heart skips a beat when the regular woman comes in.

"I can help her," my coworker offers.

I quickly decline. "No, I got it."

I wrap up with my current customer and the woman steps up with a small smile. "Good morning, iced mocha, please."

"You got it." I wink at her before turning away to make the drink.

"I was wondering if you had an extra heart... because mine was just stolen." I write on her cup sleeve and slip it on, handing it to her. I watch her, as usual, take her drink outside. Today, her smile is bigger when she reads my pickup line. My face heats up so much that I have to go to the back to stop blushing.

I can't stop smiling and thinking about the woman, not even when a whole new day starts.

"What's up with you?" my coworker, Ella, asks.

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't stopped staring at that woman outside."

"No idea what you're talking about," I deadpan, still staring at the woman.

"Uh-huh. Well, here's a customer. Better get to work."

My cheeks flush as I serve the new customer, glancing at the woman outside every now and then. A few customers come in and leave when I catch the woman finally getting up. She comes back into the shop, though.

"Hi," she greets me for the second time today.

"Hey, what can I get you?" I ask.

"One of those muffins?"

"Sure thing."

I'm shaking slightly as I collect her muffin and slide it across the counter to her. As she's handing me her cash, she slides her palm against mine.

"Keep the change," she says, leaving right away.

I go to put the money in the register but pause when I find a small folded piece of paper with the two dollars she handed me. I open it and immediately, my face burns up along with a grin. "I seem to have lost my phone number. Can I have yours?"

As I'm making myself a coffee to make it through another day's shift, Ella joins me behind the bar.

"What's got you all smiley?" Ella questions my constant smile.

"That woman," I admit.

"What about her?"

I whip around from making my coffee to face her. "Okay, so basically, every time she comes in, I write a stupid little pickup line on her cup. That's why I watch her when she's outside. Because every time she reads it, she smiles and I love it. But yesterday, when she came in a second time for her muffin, she gave me this!" I hand her the little folded paper I've been keeping in my pocket.

Ella reads the note and does a little hop. "Aw! This is so cute!" she squeals. "Well, now you have to give her your number!"

"It's just a pickup line. What if it doesn't mean anything and she's just being nice? What if she isn't even gay?"

"Dude!" Ella smacks my arm. "If this is the first time she's done this after this long, it's gotta mean something. Just do it. What's the worst that could happen?"

"I—" Before I can even start the list of things that could go wrong, the woman herself walks in. Ella smirks at me as I step up to the counter.

"Good morning, your regular?"

"Yes, please. Thank you."

I nervously make her iced mocha and consider what to do. "Are you a camera? Because every time I look at you, I smile." I pause.

"Just do it," Ella whispers as she walks past me.

I smile to myself and shake my head. I don't let myself overthink it and write my number on the cup sleeve. I watch the woman go sit outside with her drink. When she reads my note, she smiles briefly but her smile fades. I can't tell her expression from here. I turn away, not daring to look back at her. I keep myself busy until the end of my shift.

On the walk to my car after my shift, my phone vibrates in my pocket. It's a text from an unknown number. Curious, I open it and immediately smile like a fool.

"Hey! I'm so glad you caught on to my pickup line:) My name's Lilly, I would love to get to know you!"

I take a few seconds to respond but we arrange a time during the week to see each other outside of my workplace.

-

Carrying two coffees, I walk down a dirt path in the park where Lilly and I are meeting.

"Good afternoon, your regular?"

She smiles big when she sees me. "Hey!"

"Hey," I laugh, handing her the iced mocha I brought from work. To keep the tradition, I wrote a cheesy pickup line on the cup sleeve.

"Wow, thank you!"

We sit on a bench together and start getting to know each other. We talk about her job, our dream jobs which turn out to be very different from our current jobs, and everything else.

"I really hope you don't stop writing these. They always make my day," Lilly comments.

"Well, now that I know they work, I definitely won't," I laugh.

"They really do. It only took me five days to fall for you."

For the next three months, it's the same routine for us. I keep myself entertained and busy until Lilly comes in, orders her usual, and I add a little love note or pickup line to her drink sleeve.

A little later than usual, Lilly strolls through the coffee shop.

"Good afternoon," I greet her.

"Hey! Can I get an iced mocha?"

"Of course."

I make her coffee and go to write another pickup line but stop. With a bit of hesitation, I decide to go with something I've been wanting to write for a while. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

I hand her the coffee and watch her leave to sit outside. When she reads my note, expecting another pickup line, she freezes. She doesn't take a sip of her drink, just comes rushing back inside. She comes to the side of the counter so I step out of the bar to meet her.

"Is everything okay?" I ask.

"You are so cheesy. But yes. Yes, yes, yes!" she squeals, pulling me into a hug.

I couldn't stop the huge smile even if I tried.