The tinkling of the bell causes her to jolt, and she quickly turns towards her... now a friend, not exactly a great conversation partner either... "Yeah, be right back. Customers just sent for me."

"Alright." Her co-worker replies, giving her an understanding smile while glancing towards the lines of coffee makers behind her, "You know, you still have two hours to go before the end of your shift. If you like, we could go for a drink or two–"

She was already gone, snatching up a circular tray all while inwardly bemoaning about the heels digging into her feet. Two hours left to go before she could check out, and two hours left before she could change into something more comfortable. Like sneakers.

With a sharp intake of breath, she stops at a table located by the window, pulling out a pen and pad before beaming a smile at the cafe's latest customer. He was a large man, with close-cropped hair and a beard that reached down to a plaid button-up, and he begins to rattle out orders fit for four people instead of two.

Still, she wrote it down. Almost absentmindedly, in fact. At the moment, all she could do was stare at the other man beside the fellow that almost looked like a bear, who sheepishly waved a hand as if to say hello.

... Yeah, it's him alright. She could recognize his ugly mug by sight at this point.

"Two orders of fries–" She raises a brow in his direction for that, "A salad, and... a mocha, a cappuccino, and a black."

She coolly glares at him over her pad, watching him all but wilt under her stare. "I'm on shift right now. You know that, right?"

"Now, now–"

"Jay." He sighs, causing the bear of a man to glance towards him, only to huff a second later and mumble a few choice words to himself. With a sigh, he turns to meet her gaze, only for him to shift his eyes out the window a second later. "... Add two slices of cake. Chocolate."

"Oi!"

She sighs and shakes her head, jotting down the additional orders before nodding once and heading off towards the counter.

"Here." She mutters, ripping the paper and sliding it over towards the woman at the cashier. "Orders for table seven."

"Friends of yours?" The cashier replies with a thin smile, and she lets out a scoff before shaking her head.

"One of them, sure. The other guy, I don't know." She replies back, jabbing a thumb in the pair's direction. "Then again, he did told me that his friend's birthday was coming up, so that might be him."

"Who's who?"

"I'm guessing the bear of a man's his friend." She drawls, "Never seen him before in the library. Also doesn't seem the type to read books, but that just might be me."

"Agree." The cashier nods, "Normally you'd see men like him at a bar or something like that."

"Probably."

She wasn't too sure, though. Hard to coincide the fact that he was all but wilting when she glared at him just a few moments ago, but was now all but arguing with his friend about... something. Not like she could hear them. Nor would she want to, honestly. They seem to be having fun, even if his friend just ripped apart that book that he got for them and started waving it around...

"Order's done." She freezes, turning around a second later to see a tray stacked with steaming fries, a two slices of cake, and three cups of coffee. "Go. You can go chat up your friends, by the way. Not a lot of people right now."

"Uh..."

"Go." The cashier huffs, "Pay me back later when it's rush hour and you have to pound the register like it's owing you money. It's only just two in the afternoon or so – there's still two hours left before we need to prepare for rush hour."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

A quick check on her phone corroborate's the cashier's statement, and she quickly ushers a 'thank you' to them before snatching the tray and making her way towards him and his friend. She had questions that needed to be answered, and she was sure that at least one of them would give her some answers.

"Two orders of fries, two slices of chocolate cake..." She mutters, carefully setting down the tray and handing off the food to each of them. "... And three cups of coffee. I'm assuming that the black's for me."

"No."

"Yep."

She glares at him. So does his friend in fact, and under both of his stares, he quickly retracts his statement. "Yeah, that's for you. Sorry about that."

With a grumble, she takes the open seat beside him and cups the coffee in her hands, letting the warmth course through her body while she lets the fumes waft up her nose.

"So." She begins, eyes narrowed as they slide over towards him. "Why are you guys here?"

"He started it." He immediately replied, pointing towards the bear of a man almost too quickly.

"True." His friend allowed with a nod, "But he jumped in at the last second."

"I didn't."

"Sure you didn't."

The back and forth was making her head hurt. Or at least, making her exasperated. It's as if she had been put into a table with two children, and there was nothing that she could do to stymie that... Oh wait. She had coffee.

She blocked out the world around her for a moment with a sip, indulged in the bitter taste. It only took a second for the rest of the coffee to be drained away, and she stared at the dregs of her cup with a forlorn expression.

"Well shit." She observed. "It's all gone."

"Great, she's back in the land of the living." She blinks owlishly, quickly whirling back towards him with a frown on her face.

"You done with... whatever you're supposed to be arguing about?" She asks, raising a brow at the... well, she wouldn't go so far as to call them imbeciles, but 'idiots' fit just fine. "Because honestly, I tuned out whatever the fuck you guys are saying."

He scowls, but his friend laughs it off, cutting through their cake slice with a fork before popping it into their mouth.

"Can't blame you there." His friend grins, twirling the fork in his hand before chowing down once more. "We're just discussing what he got me, is all. He doesn't ordinarily look like it, but chief here can be good at keeping his mouth shut."

She stares at him, and he gives her a glare in return, as if daring her to contradict his friend's statement. With a sigh, she turns back towards his friend, an idea coming to her mind.

"Maybe." She agrees, before she grins. "... He's gonna give you a book, by the way."

"Oi!"

"Dude." His friend stares. "What the fuck?"

"Look man, I–"

"This is like the third time you gifted me a book for my birthday." His friend grumbles, rubbing a hand over his face. "You know I give it to Maggy so she has something to do, but– Oh. I see where you're going now. Gonna try and be the cool uncle, huh? Bribe her into becoming a mini-you?"

"That's not–"

And they were off to bicker again. She shakes her head with a thin smile gracing her face, placing her cup of coffee down on the table and leaving the pair to their own devices.

Idiots, both of them.