Coffee
Yuki and Rika returned to their corner of the office from lunch.
Kiko had already been sitting on in her chair, and spun around.
“How’s the forehead?”
Yuki was puzzled.
“How do you know about it? You weren’t even there.”
Kiko laughed slyly.
“The whole office knows about it.”
Two workers walked by, one saying.
“I hope the forehead is ok!”
Yuki, embarrassed, dropped into her seat and put her head on the desk.
“Ow.”
Then let out a long sigh
Rika frowned.
“What’s wrong Yuki?”
Yuki kept her head on her desk.
“It’s the first day and I’m already the talk of the office, not in a good way.”
“It’s ok Yuki, no one’s making fun of you. Don’t worry about it, let’s just get back to work.”
She sat up and pumped her fist.
“Alright!”
Rika smiled.
“Let’s get you introduced to those clients.”
Yuki nodded.
“Oh, and I hate to make you a gofer, but could you run to the coffee shop for us?”
Yuki had only expected being the gofer.
“Sure! What would you like?”
“Large, double, Mocha latte.”
Kiko spun around from her screen.
“Oh! Get me a large Hazelnut frappe, with chocolate drizzled on top!”
“Dude, that can’t be healthy.”
Kiko stared mockingly.
“Mocha latté?”
“Touché.”
Rika opened her wallet and gave Yuki her credit card.
“Use this, and get yourself whatever you want.”
Yuki nodded, typing the orders in a note on her phone.
“I’ll be right back!”
Rika smiled again.
“Don’t rush.”
Kiko chimed in.
“Please don’t spill everything!”
Yuki nodded and left to the elevators.
While walking away she heard Riko’s voice.
“You really need to not be rude.”
Kiko replied innocently.
“It’s just some encouragement.”
The elevator was empty as Yuki descended. She thought back to something Rika had said that was interesting to her. She used the term “Dude”. Yuki had never heard anyone use it casually outside of American movies and shows.
There were a lot of quirks to how Rika spoke. She had said “Holy Jesus” in the canteen. She also said names backwards. Yuki thought her Blue eyes might have just been colored contacts, and she styled her hair more Western. There was also her last name.
“Rika must be American. Although, She doesn’t really have an accent. I guess I’ll ask her when I get back.”
Yuki nodded to herself as she walked out the front doors of the office building. Crossing the street to the conveniently placed café. It was rather busy, mostly with who looked like other gofers on coffee runs. She didn’t recognize any of them from her floor though. The line moved rather quickly, considering the amount of drinks being ordered. The guy in front of her left balancing two full drink carriers, the two baristas looking impressed.
“I’m lucky our team is understaffed, I guess.”
As she walked up to the counter the barista asked from her order.
“Hello! What would you like?”
“Hello!”
Yuki unlocked her phone and read aloud the drink orders.
“You must be new.”
Yuki coyly smiled.
“Yeah, it’s my first day. You’ll probably see me in here often.”
“Ha! There’s a lot of regulars with group orders. In advanced, my name is Kaede.”
“Oh! I’m Yuki.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you Yuki. The drinks will be ready in a couple minutes.”
Yuki sat at a small table across from the pick up area. She unlocked her phone and began scrolling through her timeline. Noticing a tweet from the account of a show she loved. The new season was about to start its broadcast.
“It’s on tonight!? I thought it’s air date was tomorrow!”
Realizing she had actually yelled she looked up at the barista. Who was already staring at Yuki.
“Wait. Which show?”
Yuki rushed up to the counter, pointing to the tweet on her phone’s display.
“What? I’m going to miss it! I’ve been waiting a whole year!”
“Same! ****-chan, I’m so sorryyy!”
“We’ll just wait for the rebroadcast I guess.”
“It’s not the same though. And everyone will already be tweeting about it.”
“Yeahhhhh.”
Both Yuki and the barista deflated on the counter.
“Your drinks are ready.”
“Thanks. Well! At least we know now and won’t miss next weeks!”
The barista snapped and gave a thumbs up.
“Definitely. Enjoy your day Yuki!”
“Thanks Kaede! See you!”
Yuki walked across the street with the three coffees, consciously ensuring she didn’t spill anything or trip. Kiko had obviously been joking, but it still would be terrible.
In front of the elevators she paused and took a selfie with the three coffees.
She posted the photo on Twitter with the caption “Office life ( ^ω^ )”.
“Oh wait. I wonder if the company has rules about tweeting. I’ll ask Rika.”
The elevator was empty on the ride up to her floor.
“I must have been at the end of the coffee rush.”
The doors opened and she turned to begin the walk to their little corner of the office.
“She’s back!”
Kiko was peering over the top of her monitor.
“Uwu! Our adorable little gopher is back! And she did excellent!”
“Kiko, stop teasing her. But, welcome back Yuki.”
Yuki was blushing from being called adorable, as she handed the large frappé to Kiko. Who, began to pout while sipping the drink.
“Here is your card and large Mocha latte.”
“Thank you Yuki.”
“My pleasure .” She said with a smile and bow.
Rika couldn’t help but smile at the adorable gesture.
“You got yourself a drink right?”
“Yes, just a hot green tea though. I wasn’t sure if any could be made here though.”
“That’s all? And no, you have to bring you’re own. We’re OL, but not ‘OL’. Y’nah’m sayin’?”
Yuki tilted her head in confusion.
“Y’nah’m sayin’?”
Kiko began giggling.
“She means, ‘do you know what I’m mean by that’?”
Rika blushed.
“Sorry about that.”
“Uh! It’s no problem! I just didn’t here you...”
“No need to be polite, American slang tends to slip out.”
“I was going to ask you about that.”
Rika looked up as if remembering something.
“Riiiiight, you don’t know. I guess it’d be confusing. Yes, I’m American. Well, half American, half Japanese. It’s a story for another time, told over some beers.”
Kiko smiled, “How about tonight after work!”
“Hey, yeah that’s a good idea. To welcome Yuki to the team.”
Yuki smiled and nodded enthusiastically.
“Alright!”
She thought to herself, “I’m missing my show anyways.”
