Rebecca flipped the closed sign to open and headed back to the counter.  She groaned as she heard “Jingle Bells” pipe through the overhead speakers.  “Really, Dana?”

“It’s December third, Rebecca.  Time for Christmas music,” her boss pointed out.

“Whatever,” Rebecca grumbled, dropping her chin into the palm of her hand and resting her elbow on the counter.

“What’s gotten you all bah humbug?” Dana stacked coffee cups next to the cappuccino machine.

“Nothing in particular, just everything.”  Dana rolled her eyes and Rebecca laughed.  “I have a place to stay, food on the table, a nice job with an awesome boss, but…it’s not what I want. I have my MBA, for God’s sake!  No offense, but I want more than this.”

“No offense taken,” Dana said.  “I get it.  It’s no reflection on you personally.  The job market’s bad.”

“Yeah, I know.  And I do enjoy working here.”  Rebecca looked around the cozy coffeehouse.

“You forgot to mention you’re lonely, and that it’s been so long since you had sex you’re thinking they changed it.”

“Dana!”  Rebecca’s face turned red.

“But you’re not denying it.”

“Yes.  I’d like to find someone.  It’s not my fault you keep hiring gay men.”

“It’s not my fault they’re the only ones applying,” Dana shot back.

“All I want for Christmas is a date,” Rebecca said mournfully.

“Well, that gives you twenty-two days,” Dana said, putting a heart around December 25 on the small calendar by the register.  “He could walk in the door today.”

Rebecca snorted and said nothing.

As the shop got busy, Rebecca was distracted from her depression by customers.  She DID like her job, though the hours were long and tiring.  She liked watching the regulars and making up stories about them in her head.  Some of their stories she already knew.  Two men came in every Tuesday at ten; one was in AA, and the other was his sponsor.  Two women came in every afternoon from two to three, sharing some peace and quiet before gathering their children from school.

Rebecca’s favorites were the people obviously on a first date.  The coffeehouse was a good first date location.  It was very public, inexpensive and it was somewhere you could sit for hours and not get kicked out.    Rebecca didn’t see many first dates on the days she opened, but there were quite a few in the evenings.

“Wait on this last guy, then take your break,” Dana told her around nine-thirty.

“May I help you?” Rebecca asked automatically.  Her heart jumped into her throat as she looked into a pair of beautiful blue eyes.  The eyes were set above a pair of perfect cheekbones.  The man’s face was thin, as was the rest of him.  He wore dark blue jeans that set off his long legs, a grey blazer, red tee, and a colorful scarf artfully arranged around his neck. 

“I’ll take a medium chai, hot, with honey.  Oh, and a cranberry orange muffin, please.”

“Right.  I mean, coming right up.”  Rebecca mentally smacked herself as she rang his order up incorrectly three times in a row.  “Sorry,” she muttered when she was finally able to hand him the right change.

“It’s okay. Sounds like you need that break.”  His smile was beautiful as he took his cup and muffin and went to a small table in the corner.

Rebecca watched him set his laptop up before finally walking away from the counter.  “Mike, I’m going on break,” she said to one of her coworkers.  To Dana, she said, “I’m going to flush my head in the toilet for ten minutes or so.”

She headed to the tiny break area and banged her head against the wall.  She was quietly moaning to herself when Dana came hurrying back.  “What happened?”

“The hottie you told me to wait on? I totally made a fool out of myself.  I’m surprised I was able to stay vertical, my brain was on so much delay.”

“I’m sure he didn’t notice,” Dana said generously, and Rebecca rolled her eyes.  “You’re a girl behind a coffee counter.   I doubt he noticed.”

“Plus the fact that everything he was wearing, even the tee shirt, was designer label,” Rebecca added.  “I’m not what he’s looking for.”

“You have fifteen minutes to get yourself together, chick.  There are other designer label hotties out there,” Dana called back over her shoulder as she headed out front.

Rebecca absently stared into space for the rest of her break, then wandered back out front.  The man was still at his table, his head bopping along with the music in his earbuds as he typed away on the laptop.  “Figures,” Rebecca muttered.  She just hoped she didn’t do anything to draw attention to herself the rest of the time he was there.

“He IS hot,” Dana said quietly.  “And he looks like me might be around your age.”

“Older,” Rebecca said just as quietly. “I think he’s a few years older.”

“God, he’s skinny, isn’t he?” Dana said.  “I bet those are knock off designer stuff, or used.  He probably can’t afford to eat!”

“God,” Rebecca said, laughing as she shoved Dana.

The coffeehouse slowed down a bit before lunch, so she was able to study the man a bit more carefully.  As she walked around the room, cleaning tables and picking up trash, she saw that a music writing program was running on his computer.  So he was a musician of some sort.  His face was animated as he wrote, lighting up when he did something he was pleased with, and wrinkling into a grimace if he didn’t like where something was going.  Rebecca noticed that his cup was empty on her third time around the room, and gathered her nerve.  She stopped by his table and waited until he looked up at her.  He smiled pleasantly and pulled out his earbud.  “Yes?”

“I was, uh, wondering if you needed a refill or anything.”

“Oh, do you need this table?” His eyes wandered around the half-empty coffeehouse.  “Because I can do this somewhere else…”

“Oh, no! No, stay all day if you want,” Rebecca said immediately. 

“I tend to lose track of time when I’m working,” he explained.

“It’s okay, really. I just…saw your cup was empty.  Didn’t know if you needed fuel for those creative juices,” she teased.

He smiled again.  “It definitely helps.  I’d actually just like a bottle of water, if you have it.”

“We do. Coming right up.”  Rebecca hurried back to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.  “Here you go.”

“What do I owe you?”  He started patting at pockets.

“Pay when you leave,” she said.  “I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Thank you…” He paused.

“Rebecca,” she said.

“Rebecca.”  He smiled broadly, a huge smile that made his blue eyes crinkle.  “I’m JC.”

“JC,” she repeated.  She turned around and headed for the counter, refusing to give in to the urge to turn around and see if he was watching her walk away.

“He totally watched you walk away,” Dana said in a low voice as soon as Rebecca got behind the counter.  Rebecca blushed and said nothing.

About an hour later, JC came up to pay for his water.  “Thanks for the good service,” JC said, shoving some money into the tip jar.

“You’re welcome,” Rebecca said.

“Are you stuck here all day?” JC asked, slinging his laptop bag up onto his shoulder.

Rebecca shook her head.  “Six to four.”

“Bad enough,” JC said, exaggerating a shudder.  “Well, see you around.”

“Come back again,” Rebecca said with a smile.  He waved over his shoulder and disappeared out the door.

“About that six to four shift,” Dana said, walking over. 

Rebecca groaned.  “What?”

“How about you leave now, and come back and work four to nine?  Please, Rebecca?  Evan called off, and I’m really stuck.”

“Dana!”

“C’mon.  You worked about five and a half hours this morning, and then five more tonight. It’s the same amount of time.  You can go home and relax, take a nap…”

“Fine.”  Rebecca untied her apron.  “But ONLY because a cute guy talked to me, gave me a smile, and told me his name.  You’re damn lucky.”

When Rebecca came back into the shop at four, the place was almost empty.  Dana was gone, and the night manager, Tim, was in her place.  Rebecca liked Tim, but it wasn’t the same as having Dana around.  Rebecca immediately attacked her duties, and as the sky got darker, the coffeeshop got busier.

“Hey, check out the cutie in the back booth.”  One of the flamboyant gay employees, Byron, nudged Rebecca.  “I love a man with long legs.”

“Yes, he’s hot,” Rebecca replied faintly, her eyes widening as she recognized JC.  He didn’t have the laptop this time, and didn’t come up to get a drink.  This time he wore blue jeans and a purple sweater.

“Looks like he’s waiting for someone,” Byron continued.  “Maybe it’s me.”

“I doubt it,” Rebecca almost snapped. Byron chuckled.  JC met her gaze and his eyes widened.  She blushed at being caught staring, and turned to fill something. ANYTHING.  “I’m…gonna go get sugar,” she blurted out to no one, and disappeared into the storage area.

Once she got her embarrassment under control, she returned to the front with a bag of sugar in her hands.  She almost dropped it as she saw JC’s face broaden into the eye-crinkling grin as a handsome blond man entered the coffee shop.  JC jumped up and hugged the man tightly.  “Well, looks like I may be lucky after all,” Byron drawled.  “That boy is gay as the day is long.  Look at the way he’s hugging him.”

“Huh?”  Rebecca frowned.

“I don’t know about that,” another gay employee said.  “Do you know who that is?”  Byron and Rebecca both shook their heads.  “That’s Lance Bass.  Poster boy for gay boyband hotness.  Completely out of the closet.”

“Of course that’s who that is!” Byron exclaimed.  “So the other hottie is…”

“JC Chasez,” Jason said, rolling his eyes.  “I take it you weren’t boyband fans?”

“Uh, NO,” Byron and Rebecca said together. 

“JC Chasez,” Rebecca repeated faintly.  So he was famous.  A millionaire.  The clothes WERE real designer labels.  And here he was again, with a very out of the closet friend, who he hugged like it was something he loved to do.  “So, uh, is he gay, too?”

“Not sure,” Jason said, frowning.  “He flames like crazy sometimes, but it’s never been proven.”

“The way he hugged Lance?  He’s gay,” Byron said.  He and Jason went over to the cappuccino machine, still chatting about Lance and JC.

“Of course he is,” Rebecca muttered, kicking a box on the floor.  So much for finding a man for Christmas.

“Could I get a peppermint mocha and a chai tea?” A low voice said.  Rebecca looked up quickly.  Lance Bass was smiling at her.  “Skim milk in the mocha, and…”

“Honey in the tea?” Rebecca finished for him.

“Yes.”  The smile reached his unique green eyes.  “I guess you’ve waited on JC before?”

“Earlier today,” Rebecca said as she wrote down his order and passed it off to Jason.

“Have you worked here long?”  Lance asked.

Rebecca was a little surprised, but she simply said, “Yes.  For months.”

“I see.”  Lance paid and took their drinks.  “Thanks.”

“No problem. Enjoy.”  Rebecca turned to the next customer as Lance stepped aside to wait for his drinks.  She watched from the corner of her eye as Lance took the drinks, sat down with JC and started talking.  JC’s eyes wandered to her a few times but he didn’t get up.

Rebecca soon got busy and forgot to watch JC.  When she got a minute to breathe, she was shocked to see that it was almost seven o’clock.  She grabbed a salad from the cooler in front of the counter.  “Tim, I’m eating dinner!”

“Clock out!”

Rebecca groaned as she went to the computer and clocked out. Sometimes Tim seemed to think they were all fifteen years old.  She grabbed a newspaper from the table by the wall and sat down at a tiny table in the far corner of the room.  They were allowed to eat on the floor as long as the room wasn’t busy.  She sprinkled raspberry vinegairette on her salad and munched away, flipping through the newspaper.  She looked up just in time to see JC and Lance stand.  They hugged each other long and hard, and JC actually kissed Lance on the cheek.  Rebecca looked down and violently stabbed a piece of lettuce.  Life wasn’t fair. She was going to end up one of those women who lived alone with twenty cats in a rundown apartment. She’d probably end up on “Hoarders” or something.

“Hey, Rebecca.”

Rebecca swallowed hard and tried not to choke as she looked up at JC.  “Hey there, JC.”

“Mind if I sit?”  He pointed to the chair across from her.

“Of course not.”  Rebecca wiped her face with her napkin.  “How are you?”

“Good.  Just had coffee with my friend, Lance.”

“Right. I saw.”  Rebecca nodded. 

JC frowned a little.  “So, um, you know who I am?”  Rebecca nodded again.  “Ah.”

“You’re the guy that likes chai with honey,” she said, and he visibly relaxed.

“Yes, that’s me.”  JC tilted his head to the side.  “You said you worked until four.”

“I did. I mean, I was supposed to, then my boss groveled, and I left shortly after you did, and came back to work four to nine.”

“That was nice of you.”

“She’s good to me…gives me off when I need it.”

“That IS a nice boss,” JC agreed.  “My boss is the public. I don’t often get time off.”

“I bet,” Rebecca said, feeling that the entire situation was quite surreal.

“So…would she give you a night off for a date?”  JC softly asked, and Rebecca’s eyes widened.  “With me, I mean.”

“You’re…you’re asking me out?”

“I’m trying to…” JC blushed a little.

“I mean, you’re…I thought…”

“Is this where the celebrity thing comes in?” JC’s voice was full of disappointment.

“No! I mean, yeah, wow, that’s amazing, but…” Rebecca lowered her voice.  “I thought you were gay.”  JC’s mouth dropped open.  “I mean, you and Lance…not that just because you were with HIM or anything, but the way you hugged…you kissed him.”

JC laughed out loud.  “I understand.  The guys keep telling me that the kissing thing isn’t a good idea, but I can’t help it. I kiss all my friends.  I assure you that I am VERY straight.”

“You’re asking me out.” Rebecca repeated.  JC nodded.  “Okay. I’m saying yes.”

“Great.”  JC’s entire face lit up.  “When do you have a night free?”

“Um, the next one is Thursday.”

“Thursday.  That works for me.  Shall I meet you here?  If you want, they have all the windows decorated in the department store downtown…we could walk down there, maybe grab a bite, look around?”

“That sounds really wonderful,” Rebecca said.  “Let me give you my number.”

They pulled out their cellphones and exchanged information.  “Great.”  JC stood up.  “I’m so glad I came back tonight, Rebecca.  I came back with Lance because I thought you WOULDN’T be here. I was nervous about asking you out, and I just wanted to be where you were, though you weren’t here.  Does that make any sense?”

“Yes,” she said, laughing.  “It does.”

“Good.”  JC reached out his hand, and she shook it.  “Thursday, then.  Six-thirty.”

“Thursday,” Rebecca repeated.

“If it’s okay, can I call you before that?”

“Of course,” Rebecca said. 

“Good,” JC said again.  “Have a good night.”

“You, too,” Rebecca said, watching him walk out the door before picking up her cellphone and madly dialing. “Hello, Dana? You won’t BELIEVE this…”