Trixie's World - Caden's Valentine

Caden squinted against the sunlight, trying to see if the cafe wasn’t too packed. It was a Friday afternoon on Valentine’s Day.

“Just go in there!” his friend Dylan told him. “You already know she likes you too!”

“Yeah but…what if she's not even working right now?” he said, fidgeting with the Bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates he had.

Dylan groaned. “Dude. She told you her shift hours. Why would she change them?”

Caden shrugged and moved his curly tan hair out of his eyes. They stood in silence for a little while.

“You know what? Let’s just go in.” Dylan grabbed Caden’s arm and dragged him to the cafe.

“Wait! I didn’t practice my speech! I forgot what I was going to say!”

“You practiced enough.” Dylan muttered, scratching the back of his wavy brown hair.

The boys entered the cafe and looked around before coming up to the counter.

“Hey is Lula here?” asked Dylan leaning on the counter.

Aminta frowned and pushed his arm off. “Dylan! I just cleaned the counter! But yes. She’s in the bathroom right now.”

“Oh okay.” Dylan turned to Caden, “See it’s not that hard.”

Caden just looked around nervously.

“Since we’re here I might as well get a coffee.” Dylan said, turning back to the counter. “Any specials?”

Aminta didn’t even blink and just pointed to the board above her head.

“Can I get the Chocolate Dream Drizzle?” he asked, tapping the counter as he waited for her to ring him up.

“Okay…five dollars and thirty cents.”

He paid then walked over to Caden.

“I hope I don’t mess up.” Caden whispered. “Do you think flowers and chocolate are too simple?”

“Don’t worry you’ll do fine.” Dylan replied, patting him on the back.

“You still didn’t answer my question!”

“Dylan! Your coffee is ready.” called Trixie placing the lid on his drink.

“Oh that was fast.” Dylan took the coffee and was getting a straw when he heard Trixie tell her best friends, Aminta and Izzy, “Guess what! Andrew asked to be my valentine! So of course I said yes.”

He smiled to himself as her friends cheered.

“Yo Caden, I might finish my drink before you talk to her!” he laughed, setting his drink on the table beside Caden.

“Oh shut up.”

Just then the girls bathroom door opened and Lula bounced out.

“See? She’s beautiful!” Caden breathed. “And so lively.”

“For you I guess." Dylan said, taking a sip of his fresh coffee.

“Hot!” he sputtered, burning his tongue.

“Yeah she is.” Caden said, still looking at Lula.

“I was talking about the coffee! And are you going to go talk to her or just stare?”

Caden blinked, finally taking his eyes off her. “What? Oh yeah, I’m going. Soon. At one point.”

“You make me go with you and you’re not even doing anything!” Dylan groaned.

“She looks busy!” protested Caden.

Lula went behind the counter and picked up her bright pink phone.

“Yeah. That’s busy. No for real, what type of busy is that?! She just picked up her phone!”

Caden opened his mouth to come up with another excuse but nothing came out.

“Just talk to her or I’m leaving and you have to do it alone.” Dylan sighed, crossing his arms.

“Fine.” Caden snapped and stomped to the counter.

“Remeber the lines I told you!” Dylan called after him before shaking his head and taking another sip of his coffee.

Caden gulped then put one hand behind his back, with the gifts, and the other on the counter.

Araminta sighed and threw up her hands. “I guess this counter was made to never be clean.”

“Calm down Minty!” Izzy laughed, flipped her black hair and picked up the jar of disinfecting wipes.

“What can I get you?” Minty asked, eyeing his hand that was still on the counter.

“Can you do me a favor?” he whispered, though it didn’t look like he was looking at her but over her shoulder.

“What?” Minty replied, finally pushing his hand off the counter so Izzy could clean it..

“Oh sorry,” he said, realizing his mistake and dropping his hand to his side. “Can you get Lula to take my order? Please?

“Fine. Lula! Can you get Caden’s order? I…have to…uhhh…go to the bathroom.” Minty said, stepping out from behind the counter.

Caden gulped again as Lula came to the counter.

“Hey Lula.” Caden said shyly.

“Hi Caden!” Lula responded, tapping on the register. “What can I get you?”

Caden thought for a second. He had prepared for this question for weeks. What did Dylan tell him to say again?

“You,” he replied. “But I guess coffee will do for now.”

Lula smiled and blushed, “Okay what coffee do you want?”

Caden smiled, he put together a bunch of cheesy pick up lines just for her. “Hmmm…well are you a cappuccino? Cause you’ve got me feeling all frothy inside.” he started. “And are you made of coffee beans? Cause you’re brewing feelings. Are you a latte? Cause I like you a latte. Are you WiFi? Cause I’m feeling a strong connection across this café. Are you a menu? Cause I can’t stop looking at you. Are you a croissant? Cause you’re flaky in the cutest way. Are you a bakery? Cause you’ve got all the sweet stuff. Are you hot chocolate? Cause you're hot and sweet as chocolate. Are you a camera? Cause every time I look at you, I smile. Are you a keyboard? Cause you’re just my type. Are you a cloud? Cause you’ve got my head in the sky. Are you a song? Cause you’re stuck in my head.” he paused for a breath.

Lula was frozen in place, her hand over the register.

He got down on one knee.

“Just...I wanna order you instead of coffee. Will you be my Valentine?” he asked at last, pulling out the flowers and chocolate.

Lula’s hand flew to her mouth.

Face red, Caden just stood there, still as a feather waiting for her reply.

Izzy nudged Lula trying to get her out of her surprise.

“Of course!” squealed Lula hugging him. “At first I didn’t think you were going to ask me!”

Caden smiled shyly.

Dylan stood up and clapped while smirking. “See? I told you she wouldn’t say no!”

Izzy highfived Minty and Trixie. “See? We told you he’d ask you!”

Dylan and Izzy fistbumped.

“We're the best at this.” they said in sync before bursting out in laughter.

Caden playfully rolled his eyes at his best friend.

“I hope you like the flowers…they are kinda simple.” he whispered to Lula.

“They are beautiful.” Lula assured him and squeezed his hand.

“And I like them. As much as I like you.” she added, giving him a small peck on the cheek.

Caden blushed as their friends cheered.

“Oh yeah we got to talk about those cheesy pick-up lines. Did Dylan make those?” laughed Trixie.

“Those were the best of the best.” he replied grinning.

Everyone laughed at that.

“Okay we gotta get back to work.” Minty said, tapping her watch.

“Ah okay.” Dylan replied, picking up his coffee. “Come on lovester.”

The boys said bye and headed out.

“So…what do you think?” Dylan asked Caden as they plopped his green pickup truck.

“I think I did well.” replied Caden, still smiling.

“Good for you.” Dylan said, turning on the radio.

“Yes. Good for me.”