Black Coffee

Henry was a superstar at Bella. Jasmine is practically in love with his work ethic. He's been folding clothes without being asked, being super nice to the customers (who were all women and were giggling with delight every time Henry looked their way), and the customers kept telling Jasmine what a wonderful employee Henry was. He was making the rest of us look bad. It doesn't really matter because Jasmine offered me a pay raise for referring Henry to her. So, we all win.

I had about half an hour left of my shift when Logan came into Bella. At first, I heard the door open and I didn't pay any attention to who had walked in. I was redoing the jean wall.. again. Henry was supposed to greet whoever had walked in, since he was at the customer service station. I was busy concentrating on organizing the jeans by color and size and didn't hear anyone come up to me. I felt someone tap my shoulder and I freaked out. It took me a minute to register what was happening.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Logan said, when I realized that it was him who tapped my shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok," I said to him, trying to get my heart to stop racing. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to get a cup of coffee or something," he asked me.

I was hesitant. It sounded like it was going to be a date and we had agreed to be friends. It was as if Logan had read my mind. He had quickly added: "I mean, as friends." I thought about it for a second, while folding (or rolling, if you wanted to be technical about it) the jeans. We DID say that we'd try to be friends. I didn't see anything wrong with hanging out with a friend. So, why not?

"Sure, I guess," I told him, shrugging. I looked at my watch. "I still have about 20 minutes left of my shift. Do you want to come back later?" I felt bad. I didn't want him to have to wait here in the store while I finished folding the jeans.

"Ok, I'll be back in 20, then," he told me. He left the store.

Henry walked up to me and picked up a pair of jeans to help me fold.

"What was that about?" he asked, not looking at me.

"Oh, nothing," I said, shrugging. It was nothing. I was just going out to have a cup of coffee with a friend. It's not like Henry's my boyfriend or something, where I have to tell him where I'm going and who I'm going there with. Well.. let me backtrack.. I still don't have to answer to him even if he was my boyfriend.

"Well, it didn't look like nothing," he said, pointedly. I sighed. He wasn't going to let up on the subject until I told him.

"We're going out to get a cup of coffee after I'm off from work," I told him. "You happy?" I rolled my eyes.

"Was that really that hard?" He asked me. I sighed as he walked away. I really didn't understand why he was being a jerk about me hanging out with Logan. Logan and I were just friends.

After I got off my shift, I met up with Logan outside of Bella. I swear, I saw Henry muttering under his breath as I walked out of the store, but I thought nothing of it.

He's just annoyed that I didn't come out and tell him that I was going to get coffee with Logan. I thought.

Logan and I went to this trendy cafe near Logan's house. I was surprised that Logan took his coffee black with no sugar. He was incredibly hardcore compared to what I was having- my strawberries and cream frappuccino. I wouldn't let him pay for my coffee, it would have been to date-like and I would have felt awkward during the entire time we were there, which wasn't that long.

We went to his house for a quickie and I couldn't help but say what was on my mind afterwords.

"We're still friends, right?" I asked him.

"Oh, yeah," he said, with a goofy grin. "Definitely friends."