A macchiato with vanilla biscotti, why don't they just call it a tiny strong coffee and a vanilla biscuit?

That's pretty much what it is because I'm not buying all that fancy crap, even if the gen pop seemed to believe the food tasted better because you used some exotic sounding words.

The only thing it did was raise the price for something you could buy cheaper with the use of normal words.
The wonderful smell of fresh ground coffee beans hit me as I finished filling the tiny cup and I went though the rest of the process with the making of a macchiato.

You'd think after spending so much time around coffee, inhaling it, drinking it and basically living around it would put me off any further drinking of the beverage for the rest of my life but nope.
I still love it and I don't think it'll change anytime soon.

I placed the cup on a small plate along with the vanilla biscotti and grabbed a napkin before walking out of the coffee making area and into the seating area where the customer was waiting for her drink.
It didn't look like much waiting was going on since all of her attention was directed at the laptop sitting in front of her, she came in here everyday and was a regular customer who'd tip well and was polite and friendly.

None of the staff here had much of an idea what she was doing with her laptop all day. I knew though since I could be really nosy and enjoyed knowing what everyone was up to.
I'm also interested in people's life's though. I don't just snoop into their business, I do have some interest.

She for example was writing a novel that from the small parts she'd let me read would likely be a best seller, if she could ever get it finished, it would take a while though because she was a procrastinator and (unfortunately) a perfectionist.

"Here you go, how's the book coming?" I asked while carefully placing the coffee, plate and biscuit thing on her table with a smile.

The shop would be closing soon and I know she'd be finishing up as well since she was the last customer left in the cafe/bakery, I was looking forward to going home and Skyping with my Mum.
I've been staying in America with a auntie while I went to the local art school and worked part time at a cafe because they needed a good barista and I needed the cash.

The rest of the staff had gone home a while ago and I was stuck here being the unlucky worker tasked with cleaning up, counting the cash and then locking up everything once the store was closed.
The owner was a friend of my aunties so I was trusted enough to be handed the keys even if I was sixteen and by technicality and years of history, should be irresponsible and drinking like an alcoholic while going to wild parties and causing trouble every night.

"It's going great thanks, I think there's only a couple of chapters left till its done. I feel like I've run a marathon." A smile crossed my face and I laughed before heading back to the coffee machine to shut it down for the day.

I knew too well what it was like to write for what felt like ages, in my time at school I've had to write tons and tons of essays, reports, stories and everything else, to the point where it felt as if my fingers were gonna drop off any second from the pen holding and the keyboard pushing.

It was a legal form of torture even if my hands were used to clutching a paintbrush everyday.

It didn't take long to shut off the machine and by the time I finished cleaning the benches, the rest of the tables and all the machinery.

Jill the cafes resident writer was packing up and leaving, she gave me a smile and a large tip before waving goodbye and walking out the door, leaving only the sound of the jingling bells behind her. The day has been long I have no idea how I'm still standing, oh yeah, I'm in a coffee house.

With a sigh I took off my apron and hung it up on a peg before walking out to the staff room to collect my things which were a backpack and a jacket, so not much. I placed my stuff on the bench and started sorting the money out of the till before bagging it and putting it in the vault underneath the bosses desk.

The money was secured and I got the keys to the place from the top draw and went into the front of the shop for the last time today.

I stuffed my jacket into my backpack and pulled the straps on before doing a final check of the laces on my sneakers to avoid any possible tripping over between the cafe and the apartment I shared with my aunt.

I wasn't in the mood for any scrapes or bruises, I was tired and wanted to get home so I could crash, I had to get here early in the morning tomorrow and it'd be best if it wasn't while I was cranky.

As I reached for the handle to open the door and take a step outside I saw someone jog towards the cafe and stop while staring in the window. At the obvious sight of the place being closed he swore before talking a couple of steps away from the building and by the looks of it, sighing.

He'd seemed to have had a day even longer than mine, was tired and in the middle of experiencing a whole bunch of crappy feelings.

He leaned against a wall a bit away and pulled out a cigarette while the falling daytime rays of light hit his white hair and lit it up to the point where it seemed to glow. I couldn't see his face from here and couldn't see much of his face and could only tell how he looked from his profile which wasn't saying much since the only thing I could see was a slightly turned up nose.

Before I was even aware of what I was doing I'd taken off my backpack on hung it from a hook on the wall before stepping out of the shop and into the street where the guy continued to lean against the wall with his cigarette.

Slowly but casually I walked up to him and was standing there for a minute before he noticed me and jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of someone in the nearly empty and darkening street.

The cigarette dropped from his mouth and he stared at it for a moment before crushing it beneath the heel of his sneaker before turning to me and sticking one of his hands into the pockets of his skinny leg black jeans.

With his other hand he ran his hand through his short white hair, messing it up even though it already stuck out all over the place, he turned to me and my mouth immediately fell open when I saw his face.

Gerard Way sighed and dropped against the wall once more, it was obvious he wasn't feeling in a chatty mood right now and I could relate. There were some times when you'd rather kill someone than talk, I felt kinda sorry for him.

He appeared completely stressed out and looked like he needed a good nights sleep, a couple of days actually.

"Please don't ask for an autograph, I really don't want to talk to anyone." He mumbled to me before reaching into his jacket for another cigarette.

I stood there awkwardly for a moment, I'd just come face to face with my idol and he was behaving nothing like you think a celebrity would.

But then again everyone had their off days and eventually everyone would end up in a bad mood, celebrity's would be even more likely to end up feeling crappy since they had a whole bunch of stuff to deal with on a daily basis.

"Uh, I wasn't gonna ask for one. I was just closing up the cafe but if you want a drink or something I was gonna offer to turn the machines back on."

He stopped fumbling around in his jacket and looked clearly at me for a moment before stuffing his hand into his pocket and looking past me while I gestured to the inside of the shop nervously.

I couldn't believe I was talking to Gerard Way, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance, I listened to their songs every single day since the first time I ever heard them.

He's much better looking than he was in pictures, I could tell he was attractive through those but now I was standing in front of him and we were face to face.

Wow, I meant just wow he was gorgeous in every sense of the word, please tell me I'm not drooling right now, that would be so embarrassing I'd never be able to forgive myself for acting like an idiot, not ever.

"Your voice sounds strange." He said while frowning at me and I couldn't resist the urge to clear my throat.

There was many things he could have been talking about when he said my voice sounded strange.

For example it could have been the pitch I spoke in since my voice was known to rise when I was nervous or it could have sounded hoarse since I haven't gotten a chance to drink much today and my throat felt dry or it could have been the most obvious reason, one he wouldn't know but could easily guess.

"I'm from Australia, I haven't been here for very long." He nodded at my simple explanation and took a step away from the wall.

Yeah I was Australian, born and raised there with my Mum who'd also been born and raised there and so on for about six generations maybe even more I didn't know since I'd never gone to any effort to research my family history and it honestly didn't matter much to me unless I came from a long line of witches or something cool like that.

I pulled on my black, neon paint splattered T-shirt as we stood there in the empty street and I tried to think of something intelligent to say to someone who I'd had a bit of a crush on for a long while now.

This is really strange and weird but at the same time it was awesome I never thought in a million years I'd get to meet him but here I was having a very awkward conversation with Gerard Way.

"It wouldn't be too much effort to fire everything back up would it?" I took his response to my earlier offer of a coffee as a yes.

I stopped playing around with my shirt which I'd nearly torn a thread off instead of cutting it away and not having to worry about wrecking my shirt. I needed to get in control of my fiddling habit when I got nervous or excited. I've almost ruined so many articles of clothing thanks to it and its not the most attractive habit to have since my nails would also have to suffer.

"Na, it'll be fine." I shrugged and stuffed the keys to the building into my pants pocket before walking back to the entrance

I pushed open the door and waited by it for Gerard to start following me, it took him a moment of staring at the ground, completely in another world then he realised I'd moved and jogged over, not looking like he cared much though.

I wonder what's going on with him, he looks really depressed maybe he's been having a bad day, what in his life could be be though, he's famous and he's got what everyone in the world desires.

As he stepped in I closed the door behind him and flipped over the sign so it said closed then locked the door in case anyone saw us inside and thought the cafe was still open.

I shouldn't be inviting people in after closing hours but who cares, it's just one drink and he looks like he could use it, besides I'm the most useful worker they've got here.
If it wasn't for me half the stuff wouldn't be running, it was the least my boss could do.

He lent against the bench as I walked behind the counter and fired up the coffee machine, it'd take a little while for the water to heat up so I docked my iPod in the CD player we had sitting on the bench and quickly turned off the song that'd started playing. It'd been The Ghost of You and for some reason it felt weird to listen to a My Chem song with the singer right in front of me, instead it went onto a Black Veil Brides song and I turned back to the machine.

"What do you want?" I asked as a pushed a stray strand of green hair out of my face.

He sighed and stared at the counter for a moment, trying to search for something I couldn't see, his really quiet and nothing like the guy I saw in interviews.

I wonder if he's like this all the time or if it's just accredited to his bad mood because he seems to be nice and outgoing, not one of the popular kid types but he looked like he had no trouble chatting with anyone.

I cleared my throat and he looked at me as if he'd only just realized I'd been talking, maybe he had because he looked completely out of it at the moment.

In his own world or 'off with the fairies' as my Mum liked to say whenever I got the spaced out look on my face the whole family had come to associate with me thinking of some new inspiration for a painting or creating something of some sort.

"Just coffee would be great, strong." I nodded and turned around to got to work.

With a cup in hand and the coffee beans ground I watched as the dark liquid poured into the cup and the smell wafted into my face.

Damn how on earth can something smell so great, it's a wonder I'm not addicted to coffee or something, I drink it enough that it was entirely possible especially with the quality of the beans we had. The boss tried to buy the highest quality she could so everything always tasted great.

When the cup was finished being filled I steamed the milk since he hadn't asked for soy or anything else, then added it to the cup full of strong coffee and topped it off with the shape of a leaf on top.
Because I was an art student I couldn't resist the urge to learn every form of coffee foam art there was and in my opinion I'd done a damn good job of mastering it.

I placed the large cup in front of him and got a small, slightly sad looking smile from him before he took a sip from the full cup and the smile became almost happy which made me glad I'd put someone in a semi good mood today and I turned around to face the machine as I decided to make a drink for myself.
I worked here I got all the free coffees I wanted and could drink ten in a day if I felt like it and the boss wouldn't care.

Halfway through the making of my soy, caramel latte (it was reasonable to use fancy words in this situation) Gerard started talking to me.

Not very loudly and it sounded like he was on the verge of sighing or just getting really upset but it made me feel happy to know he was at least trying to talk since he looked as if he were on the verge of entering full blown sulk mode.

"So what's your name?" I turned around and watched as he took another sip of coffee.

He was still leaning on the bench and his hair looked completely messed up, beyond the point of no return, or at least a comb and same hair gel.
Don't judge me I don't know how guys style their hair, I barely pay any attention to mine besides coloring it or brushing it when clumps start to form at the back of my head.

I didn't have time for a whole bunch of effort spent merely curling my hair or whatever it was I'm supposed to do.

"It's Lyric, I kinda hate it sometimes." I said, half mumbling the rest of the sentence as I finished making my own drink.

I walked over to a table in the corner and sat down, crossing one leg over the other and putting my elbows on the table.
I hadn't bothered turning off the machine in case I wanted another drink or he might for all I know.

So better safe than sorry because its a bitch to fire up the coffee machine once it was turned off, I'd only done it in the first place because he looked like he could use a drink.

He moved away from the counter and held onto his coffee before sitting next to me at the small table and I edged back slightly. It was really weird talking to someone like him as if he were just anyone I'd chat to while serving coffee.

I didn't know how I was supposed to behave, was I supposed to act normal and treat him like everyone else or is there some kind of custom in how you're supposed to treat famous people?

"That's uh, that's a really beautiful name." He mumbled while staring at his coffee and I was glad since my face went bright red.

Gerard didn't appear to mean anything by it though and except for the small pause casually mentioned it before taking another drink from the cup.
He also didn't know I was sitting there and mentally fangirling for the next couple of minutes 'til I finished my coffee and got up to make another.
I'm positive I'm still blushing after what he said, please don't make him notice.

I picked my empty cup and waited for him to empty his before he passed it to me and I walked back to the coffee machine to make some more.

I can't believe he said that to me, this is unbelievable, is my heart going as fast as I think it is, oh my god I can't believe he'd say something like that to me, isn't it completely obvious I'm internally acting like a complete idiot. Don't start acting like a fangirl, you're not one and he probably sees them everyday.

"What were you drinking?" He asked as I got out the things to make more drinks.

I turned to see him get out of the chair and walk behind the counter, in a normal situation if someone were to do that I'd tell then to get out of the staff only area but it didn't matter now since the store was closed and he was Gerard Way.

It's not like there was anything he could screw around with unless he happened to start attempting to use the highly complex coffee machine, which he couldn't anyway since I was using it.

"A caramel, soy latte, nowhere near as fancy as it sounds, tastes pretty good though. Do you want one? " I gestured to the caramel bottle sitting on the counter as he nodded and sat on the bench while looking at it, then nodded.

I could feel him watching me as I made some more drinks so I tried to distract myself by focusing all my attention on what I was doing.
Which didn't work considering I nearly have myself a steam burn three times before I was finished. Thank god he hadn't showed up during working hours, I never would have gotten anything done.

When finished I put the cups on the bench and made some shapes over them while smiling because I was so fricken proud of myself for learning how to do all the fancy foam art.

If only I could get paid for it, oh yeah I do that's why I'm most trusted and go to employee even if I've only been working here for five months.

The iPod continued to play loudly through the CD player as I handed him his drink before raiding the cookie jar and having a snack.

I was hungry and hadn't gotten a chance to eat anything during my shift, I was also supposed to be at home now. Eating dinner and getting ready for bed, it seemed even the night sky was agreeing with me as I turned on a dim light that brightened the cafe.

"Are you allowed to just eat those?" He asked as I put five large biscuits onto a plate before sitting near him on the same bench.

I shrugged and took a sip of my drink before biting into an chocolate chip cookie, I'd never thought Gerard Way would be the rule following type.

I also never imagined I'd meet him let alone be sitting next to him in a closed cafe while drinking coffee I'd made after hours when I should be heading home and getting some sleep because I had the early shift tomorrow morning.

It wasn't just the early shift, it was an all day one and I'd need to brace myself.

"They throw them all out usually, we only serve fresh stuff. The bakers will show up really early in the morning and get to work making more." I held the plate out to him and he took a biscuit.

Somehow he got more talkative and we casually chatted while drinking the coffees that over time began to go cold.

I still couldn't get past the sadness that rung loud and clear in each word he spoke along with the occasional moments when his sentence would drift off and he'd end up staring at a wall, the floor or any other object in the room.

Try as I might I was unable to resist asking him what made him look so upset, the surprised look on his face said he didn't realize I'd noticed. Normal people probably wouldn't notice but it was the small movements and gestures he made that said he was suffering on the inside, I've always been observant and it could be a blessing and a curse.

"It's nothing, just some personal troubles, it doesn't matter." He mumbled while gong back to his usual routine of halfheartedly answering a question then staring off into the distance.

He placed his empty coffee cup beside him on the bench and put it in the sink where I'd put a plate only a couple of minutes ago.

I'd be one of the first people to show up in the morning for work so I'd be able to clean everything then and it's not like the bakers would care, they didn't even come into this area.

I had to get all the sweets from their area and place it into the jars out here.

It was a reminder I had to be down here at five thirty in the morning to open the store, wipe down the benches, heat up the machine and do all the other stuff before the cafe opened at six thirty.
I'm not a morning person so thank god I'm at least getting paid for my suffering even if I enjoyed all the scents that came along with this place and the chance to meet new and fascinating people all the time.

While being stuck in the awkward silence I drained my cup and got off the bench to put it into the sink with the rest of the stuff.

When I turned around Gerard was getting the jacket he'd taken off from the bench and pulling it on before reaching into the jacket pocket I automatically knew what he was going to do and shook my head as he began to ask how much money he owed.

"No you don't have to, it's fine, I get free coffee anyways and they'll just think it was me who drunk it, it wouldn't be a first." I laughed before heading to the hook my backpack hung from.

I went back to the bench and grabbed my iPod while Gerard stood there looking uncomfortable.

Did I say something or was my laughter weird?

He's probably expecting the crazy fan reaction any moment, I hadn't acted like a spazz earlier but for all he knew I was gonna become a psycho at second now. I definitely wasn't though because he didn't look like he needed the hassle and I wasn't that kind of person.

Because it was dark outside with only the street lights to illuminate the darkness it was obvious it'd be cold by now and I got my coat out of my backpack while turning off the lights and the coffee machine.

Gerard walked with me out the entrance as I turned around and locked the door behind me, until tomorrow morning I'd be responsible for keeping the keys to the place safe and getting there in time to unlock.

Knowing I'd have to say goodbye to him at any moment I got my headphones out of my backpack and put them around me neck, getting ready to listen to music while I went on my merry (but long) way towards the subway and eventually the apartment building where my aunt would hopefully still have my dinner out and not put into the fridge where it would go gross and cold.

"Would you at least be willing to let me pay you for staying behind?" I shook my head and gave him a smile I'd been told was (unintentionally) scary.

The night air was definitely cold and even through my thick jacket I could feel it trying to get into my skin and make me freezing.

A form of weather sabotage, how lovely, I hoped I got home quickly, I'd never been the kind of person who enjoyed the cold, it was an understatement actually, I fricken hate the cold and wish it would go away and stay away, forever so I'd never have to see my breath in the cold air again.

"Not a chance. I've always wanted to meet you, ever since I heard Demolition Lovers I was hooked on your music and it made me feel sane even when my life was falling apart around me. Just thank you, I feel truly happy being able to meet someone who could change my life and make everything seem alright. I just hope you'll be okay after whatever it is you're experiencing right now, again, thank you."

I don't know why I started babbling about the music, I'd always been passionate about songs and stuff so I guess when I started to talk about it I was set of and went into my music based tangent that no one should be stuck having to listen to because even I knew it could get very boring, very fast and sometimes I annoyed myself with how much I'd talk about music so Gerard would have to be annoyed by this point.

Surprisingly he didn't look bored, exasperated or any of the feelings I thought he'd be experiencing while having to listen to me.

Instead he had a genuinely happy smile on his face and looked like he was about to start crying. Congratulations Lyric, you've just made Gerard Way look like he was gonna cry, this is the worst thing you've ever done, you have just made your idol upset, good on ya.

Before my brain could react my body had decided what it would be doing next and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

So in the next second I'd gone from standing there awkwardly and feeling bad to taking a couple of steps forward and doing the most stupid thing in the history of stupid things I'd done.

I put my arms around his waist and hugged Gerard Way, immediately I felt like a weirdo when I realised what I was doing.

The hug lasted for around five seconds before I got control over myself and pulled away but not before I felt his arms wrapped around me for a brief moment.
Holy hell, just got hugged by Gerard Way, brain chill the fuck out.

Right now is not the time for fangirling or acting like and idiot, he probably already thinks you're crazy so don't push it any further.

"It was truly amazing to meet you, I'll remember this forever. I can't wait to hear your next album, see ya." I hitched the straps of my backpack higher and jogged away before I could do anything else.

I can't believe I just got to meet him, this was so amazing, I swear even if I get amnesia I'll always remember getting to meet him.

I hope he forgets how stupid I was though because it'd be embarrassing to know I'd freaked out Gerard Way by hugging him. Sometimes I don't know what my brain's up to, it doesn't wait to consult with the logic hidden somewhere in my body.

In the end I hope he feels better after whatever was troubling him because it'd be tragic to never hear another album from My Chemical Romance.