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Jeremy and Michael have been friends for years, since Jeremy got his first PC actually.
Back when Jeremy played a shitty mmorpg because it was popular with his peers and he wanted to fit in. Which didn’t actually work because he got really invested in the game and ended up playing it so much that he was at least 30 levels above everyone else which just made him look like one of those geeky game addicts that would choose warcraft over a girl.
So playing this game didn’t make Jeremy popular but it did make him meet Michael, a boy his age, who was equally invested and ready to stay up until 4am on a school day just to go collect the right materials with Jeremy to get a new shiny armour, that wasn’t actually better than the one he had but it was a limited edition event so he needed it anyway.
He and Jeremy ended up being great friends, even after the inevitable shut down of the server they were playing on. They just moved on to different games, then to chat clients and years later to phone calls.
Jeremy might not have been popular but he had Michael and that was enough. Even if that meant spending all his bar mitzvah money on a new headset and weird special events in games to keep up with their weekly game nights.
Things haven’t changed much over the next years, even as they both entered college and had less time to talk because of part time jobs and the amount of time they spend studying. Michael was still the first person to know about everything that happened in Jeremy’s life, even if that was that he met the cutest barista he had ever seen.
This was exactly what had happened the Monday after their usual game marathon. The coffee shop called “Digital Silk” Jeremy frequented was a rather small one. It had opened just as he had entered college and was therefore more of a secret gem around campus. The dark hardwood floor looked old and homely, while the retro 80’s and 90’s decor perfected the nostalgic atmosphere. Now that Jeremy was in college people called places like this “hipster” like, which could be both taken as an insult or as a sign that this shop was cool.
Jeremy chuckled at the thought, thinking back to his freshman year in high school. He was unsure and geeky and for most people that was a reason to ignore him. It was horrible for his self confidence to be an outcast just because he liked retro games. He had told Michael about it later, how he felt like he had to change to fit in and Michael called bullshit on that, saying guys like them would be cool in college. He’d just have to wait for a while and being himself would pay off and either way Michael liked him better the way he was.
Now Jeremy could appreciate the advice. He might not be cool or popular in the high school definition of the word but Michael was right that it added to his charm now. He actually made some friends since College started that had similar interests.
Said friends where the once to introduce him to this particular coffee shop. It was a little overpriced so the owner could pay the bills, but it wasn’t too bad. As in it didn’t keep Jeremy from getting his coffee from this exact shop nearly every day.
So he entered the small shop before his first lecture of the day as always, barely paying attention to his surroundings, since he knew the interior by heart as this point. He took out the exact change to get the specific mocha with caramel he only got on Mondays and went to the register to tell the barista his order.
“One tall Caramel Mocha.”, he said finally looking up to what he would later describe as “the cutest most handsome barista I have ever seen omg Michael you should have seen him he’s an angel! He looks better than the new playable character in Apocalypse of the Damned! And his smile!”
His face went red. His face always did that when he was nervous and god was he nervous. How would he be able to keep getting his coffee from here if this barista was the one taking his order? If he had looked up before ordering he would have probably forgotten what he wanted to get and started stuttering.
Jeremy turned around and ran out of the Café without looking back. “Well done.”, the thought. “It’s just like that one time Christine started talking to you in the hall and you were so embarrassed you just went away because you didn’t know what to answer. Very smooth Jeremy.”
He nervously raked his hands through his hair, slowly approaching his Campus.
Since he didn’t take his time drinking his coffee he now had about 20 minutes before his course. “Enough time to write Michael I guess...” , he mumbled to himself, taking out his phone to text his best friend.
Player1: You’ll never believe what just happened to me.
Player1: Wait you’re probably at your part time job and can’t answer fuck.
Player1: I’ll just tell you anyway because okay I’ve just met the cutest most handsome barista I have ever seen omg Michael you should have seen him he’s an angel!
Player1: He looks better than the new playable character in Apocalypse of the Damned!
Player1: And his smile!
Player1: Srsly he’s fucking gorgeous and I just ran away without even paying like a tool
Player1: I can’t ever go there again
Player1: Wait what if he goes to my college? Do I have to move to not have an embarrassing next meeting with him
The sudden flood of people reminded Jeremy that he would have to go soon.
Player1: Fuck I need to go but you need to help me with this later bro I’m kind of low key freaking out
That would have to be enough venting for now if he wanted to get a nice seat in the lecture hall.
Sadly he wasn’t able to focus on much during the next few hours. Not like he needed to the semester had just started and most professors just talked about what the next few months would be about, nothing he couldn’t look up online later or ask one of his friends about.
Still it worried him that this interaction if you could call it that with the barista threw him of his game this much. It wasn’t like he hadn’t met really good looking people before. He totally did but none of them caught him quite as off guard as this one.
Maybe it was his smile?
The way he looked like they were best friends?
His dimples?
His styled hair that just looked slightly messy?
His weird hipster glasses that would look ridiculous on anyone else?
Suddenly Jeremy’s head was flooded with small things about the nameless barista he didn’t even remember having noticed during the few seconds he had stared at him.
In a way it was kind of embarrassing how many things you could remember and only notice when you were far away from the person.
The dude probably wasn’t even that handsome. Yeah Jeremy probably just imagined it because he was tired and stressed and something. That had to be it, he told himself while packed his backpack, ready to go back to the café to see if the mystery guy was still there. If he was Jeremy would be able to confirm this idea that had formed in his head, if he wasn’t he’d probably see him again soon enough.
With a practiced swagger he made his way of campus, trying hard not to slouch and look more confident than he felt. However that got harder and harder the closer he got to Digital Silk. Only one more turn to the right and he’d be right in front of the big window besides the door.
And there he was standing behind the register looking up at Jeremy who stopped dead in his tracks again just starring at the man. They starred at each other for a moment in which Jeremy noticed that his memory didn’t do the real deal justice at all and then something snapped him out of his thoughts. The barista winked at Jeremy with a huge grin. Which was all that it took for Jeremy to blush yet again and take of running as his nerves got the best of him.
He really couldn’t come here anymore if this would be his reaction every time he saw the other.