Ari didn't show up like she said she would. Not that it bothered him too much, but it isn't like her to no show after saying she would. The day went on as usual, and only the next day when he saw her in class did she apologize. "Sorry I didn't see you at the cafe, I had a study session with friends."
"All good." Zack smiles, and Ari immediately walked off. It's not like he liked her in that way or anything, but the sudden shift of tone did feel like whiplash.
"Woah, maybe she wasn't feeling well." Yusa said. He would be lying if he said her shift in tone didn't bother him, but there was no reason he should let it, he he just went on with his day. Not only that, but he texted Rachel to ask her about the upcoming post service church courses the same day, and instead of replying him within a few hours, she replied him 4 days later. He stopped seeing social media posts from Joey, and when he noticed and checked, she had unfriended him. At the cafe, Krystal hasn't said a single word to him all week, which was unusual. Even if he was a little annoyed by her before, suddenly going cold shoulder on someone for no reason would make even the most oblivious guy question if he did something wrong. At least his jacket is safe unattended. Even the girl from badminton didn't look at him unless he went over to say hi now.
"Welp, I knew this day was coming, it happened boys." Zack says, putting a towel around his head after a game of badminton.
"What happened?" Dymo asks.
"You got a girlfriend?" Jian guesses.
But Zack shakes his head. "Nope, quite the opposite, I lost the rizz powers."
Dymo sighs. "This is so weird, like, it's not that I don't believe you, because what happened happened. But it's so bizarre! Rizz powers that suddenly came and gone!"
"That's what you get for relying on magic, not natural rizz like me!" Jian beams, before shooting a finger gun at the girls from the court next to theirs. The girls giggled and looked away.
Dymo wanted to smack Jian on the head when Zack spoke up. "You know what? I'm not bothered." Though as he said that, it felt like he was trying to convince himself more than convince them.
"Oh?" Dymo raises his eyebrow.
"Yeah, having those powers weren't what it's cracked up to be. Everything felt fake, I felt fake. Maybe, since my powers are gone, in the off chance that a girl does like me, she'll like me for real."
Dymo felt like he needed to say something about his pessimistic statement, but thought better of it. "Good for you!" Jian chimes in. "The best part about being ugly and poor is that you know if anyone loves you, it's for real!"
"Jian!" Dymo rebukes.
...
The next day, Zack walked into NOT Coffee for his shift again, Krystal glanced at the door before looking back at the counter she was wiping. "Sup!" He greets her, she only mumbles in response. Mr. Ming walked in from the back room. "Sup boss."
"Why is there so many damn cats?" He asks.
"Zack keeps feeding them." Krystal says, he could have swore that there was disdain in her voice, or maybe he was a chronic overthinker.
"Stop feeding the cats! I know they're cute but there's too many of them!"
Zack puts his hands up. "Sir, I haven't fed them since you told me to stop 2 weeks ago."
"Then why are there so many of them still?" He asks, but Zack could only shrug. He was telling the truth, sort of. He no longer feeds them at the cafe, but a couple blocks away now.
He made his way into the break room to set his bag down, and saw like 3 cats chilling just outside the back door. "Hey guys!" He says, peeping his head out the back door. "Mr. Ming doesn't like too many cats, can y'all hang out somewhere else?"
The cats of course, can't understand him, and he didn't want to shoo them away cruelly, so the best he could do was not feed them, not pet them, close the door, and hope that they go away on their own. Shortly after he left, Bullet appeared from around the corner and ushered the cats away. As Zack made his way to the front, a metallic satin finished yellow Lotus pulls up in front of the shop, and from it, a chubby looking man with glasses and a pony tail stepped out. Zack would describe him as a Discord mod, but no Discord mod drives a car like that.
"Be on your best behaviour!" Mr. Ming whispered. "That's the big boss."
"Big boss?" Zack asks. "Of NOT Coffee?". Mr. Ming nodded. But Zack couldn't resist, he's a Lotus fn after all. "Hello, welcome to NOT Coffee sir! Would you like some coffee? Or not? That is a very nice Lotus Exige by the way!"
The man raised his eyebrows. "You like cars eh?"
Zack nodded. "Huge Lotus fan. My dream car is an Elise!"
The man chuckled. "Well, that's actually an Elise, it has custom Exige GT3 body panels on, but underneath is the S1!"
"Woah are you serious?"
"Yep! Original Rover K motor in there and everything, it's only slightly tuned up to make 140hp, otherwise everything else is cosmetic, I love the car almost as it is!"
"Wow! It looks so cool, although if I may make a suggestion, the front and rear seems quite bare. I think some canards and a wing would make it look even better."
Mr. Ming was looking at him from behind with wide eyes, signaling him to cut it out, but he pretended not to notice. The big boss chuckles "You read my mind kid, I'm actually planning to get a rear wing, still wondering if I should get a chassis mount that connects all the way to the diffuser."
"That would be so sick, and probably illegal, as it's a protruding part."
"Yeah, fuck the cops. You know how it's like in this country, pay em off a little and they leave you alone. Besides, I'm not hurting anyone."
The pair of them shared a few more laughs before the evening coming in. "Hey nice to meet you kid. What's your name by the way?"
"Call me Zack sir."
"You know who I am?"
Zack nods. "You're the owner sir."
The man smirks. "I'm glad to have you working in my cafe. Call me Fizz. No more of that sir nonsense."
"Cool, nice to meet you Fizz."
"Nice to meet you Zack, talk later."
Fizz then started greeting the guests like he was one of them. With his casual T shirt and shorts, even Mr. Ming, the manager, is dressed like a more powerful guy than him, but he supposes that if you're a rich cafe owner, you can wear whatever you want. After a few busy hours, the evening crowd died down and the cafe was way more chill. There was a single table with 5 guys that came in some nice cars outside and Fizz was socializing with them when he gestured to him. "Zack, come here!"
"Yes boss? I mean, Fizz."
The table laughed. "These are my friends. Guys, this kid that works here in my cafe is pretty cool, the first thing he did was compliment my Lotus."
"Smart boy." A large sized man in a T shirt said. He looks casual, but Zack could somehow tell he was powerful from the way he spoke. It was also probably because he wore a shirt that says: "Lamborghini Owners Club"
There was another guy, this one looking only a little older than him. "How old are you Zack?" He asks.
"22."
"Oh shit! You're not far off me, I thought you were 18 or something. You look young."
Zack doesn't know whether to feel complimented or not. Does he seem childish? Does he not seem respectable? What he should do is stop overthinking.
"What are you studying?" Fizz asks.
"Car design."
"Ooo" the table murmured and nodded in approval. "So, who'll you be working for after this?" The Lamborghini owner asks.
"I don't know, so far I only got 1 reply on my internship applications, and it's not a car company." He shrugs.
"Don't worry!" Yet another man, this one a bearded one with spectacles, gets up and hands Zack his business card. "I don't have any openings now, but in a couple years, who knows?"
Zack took a look at the card, it said: "Roland Foo, FF Works." It seems to be a car workshop that makes custom body kits. "Sweet, thank you very much sir!"
"I got my Exige GT3 kit from him!" Fizz remarks.
"Woah!" He exclaims. "Huge fan of the design sir."