She sighed at her blonde curls and tucked them behind her ear before picking off some eyeliner that had gone astray. Smoothing down her grey half sleeve sweater and navy pleated skirt, she stepped back out into the shop and kept her head down as she headed over to the coffee shop.
When she went to pull open the door, she found it to be way too easy. Clarke looked behind her and jumped as she realized Vince was already there behind her, reaching above her to hold open the door. He gave her a crooked smile. "After you," he said with his eyebrow raised before she turned her head back around and headed inside.
Yet again, she let him pick the seat and was surprised as he came up behind her and pulled out her chair for her. Did this guy step out of some novel? "What would you like?" Vince asked nodding over to the counter.
"Oh, I can get it myself. You don't need to do that," Clarke insisted, trying to scoot her chair out so she could go up there herself, but Vince stood his ground. She slinked back down in her chair. "I guess I'll take a soy chai latte and a turkey panini," she said quietly. He nodded down at her with a smile and headed towards the counter.
Clarke looked down at her manicured nails and tapped them on the table, feeling weird sitting there and waiting for some man to bring her food and coffee. This was why she avoided being with a guy between the hours of seven a.m. and ten p.m. She looked up to see Joe staring at her while wiping up one of the tables across from her.
"You know, if you keep scrubbing the same table like that, you'll have to repaint it," she commented, feeling more annoyed with him than usual.
"Someone is in a bad mood. Trouble in paradise?" Joe asked with an irksome grin, walking over to her and sitting down in the chair next to her. He nodded over to Vince who was waiting on the order at the other end of the counter.
"We're not really…" She stopped herself, realizing that she was about to let the cat out of the bag. "We're fine, Joe," she said harshly.
"Well, you know I'm always here if you realize you made the wrong choice." Suddenly, he didn't seem so cute or funny anymore. Joe was officially annoying her. It was feeling almost like harassment.
Luckily, Vince showed back up, standing in front of Joe and clearing his throat. Joe jumped up and went back behind the counter without another word. "What was that all about?" Vince asked, setting her coffee and sandwich down in front of her.