Zeland stared at the blackboard behind the counter, his eyes swimming. He had been sleeping really poorly for the past few weeks, and the serious lack of sleep is taking a toll on his mental alertness. Hence as to how he found himself stoning, very blankly, on an incrementally daily basis.
"Sir? Your order?" The barista called out to him for the fourth time, waving her hand in front of his face, "sir?"
He jolted out of his daze. "Yeah?"
"Your order, sir?" The barista smiled ever so patiently.
His eyes skipped the words on the board aimlessly, he wasn't a coffee person, so the sheer variety of different types had him momentarily speechless.
"We'll get two caramel café lattes, large, one-for-one, to-go." A female voice inserted herself in between the beat of silence, already pulling out her wallet.
He glanced down, looking into the unfamiliar pair of dizzying caramel eyes staring right back at him. She had pretty eyes.
Zeland looked back at the menu board behind the counter. What's a café latte again?
"I'm here for the keychain." A velvety smile in explanation, she gestured at the little chalkboard the cafe had placed up and pulled out a coin to rub the two scratch-cards the barista handed her.
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At her words, he turned to glance at the pretty scrawls on the chalkboard. There was a one-for-one event going on, and for every one-for-one purchase, you gain two scratch-card chances to win a limited edition lucky clover keychain.
"Can I get a name?" The barista asked.
"R." The girl bent on scratching her cards replied.
R? Like the one on the pictures? He noticeably paused, his gaze now training on her maroon beanie perched on her maroon-brown hair.
"Z-e." He spelt. Maybe R is a girl? He mused to himself, drowning in his thoughts.
A jazzy ringtone and the hustle of movements drew his drifting thoughts back to her. The girl clipped her phone between her shoulder and ear, heaving her computer bag and cuboid casing onto the counter to free her hands.
Camera case? He blinked, waking up a little.
"Zoe? Yeah I'm on the way... mm-hmm, I got—what? Now? I—" She broke off, glancing round the filled café at loss "—I can't right now, I... wait, actually, hold on," she looked up from her scratch-cards, her caramel eyes zeroing on his glassy gaze caught him off guard.
A hand covering her phone, she mouthed: "Can you help watch my things for while? I need to rush for something, I'll be back real quick, thank you so much."
Without even waiting for a reply from him, she pushed her computer and camera casings into his arms. A flickering of her fingers in farewell and the maroon-haired girl slipped into the pool of people, smooth as a seal diving into the water.
Stunned, Zeland hugged his newly acquired gadgets, shifting down the counter to make way for the next customer in half-awakened stupor. And goddamnit why is it so heavy, what the hell is her computer made of?