#rualmendes

A/N: Thanks for reading! Requests are open

Summary: Reader is a barista that sings every time she gets a tip

Warnings: Swear Words

Y/N was a college student struggling to pay her tuition and her student loan. She was majoring in business and minoring in English so to say she was tired was an understatement. On top of it all, she wasn’t too fond of the holidays. She thought it was just a cash grab and that Christmas music all sounded the same. 

On top of it all, this was the third Christmas since she graduated that she hadn’t had a boyfriend to bring home to her family Christmas party. It was getting to be a little annoying having Grandma Helen pester her the whole time about how she would only remain young for so long. And that it would be too late to start a family if she didn’t start soon. 

She would roll her eyes at her comments, but deep down she felt disappointed that she hadn’t been able to scoop up a guy for her whole college experience. And don’t get me wrong, she had been on plenty of dates, they just hadn’t gone anywhere from there. 

All the college boys wanted was a party girl and Y/N was just not into that. She tried her best to do well in school and get good grades. If she was going to be paying for it, she might as well go to class and do well in it. 

She lived in a dorm nearby campus and hated her roommates. They were obnoxious and constantly broke the rules. They had had the RA called on them multiple times, but her roommates didn’t give a shit. And even though Y/N didn’t participate in their underage drinking, she was still blamed for it. If they were caught drinking illegally one more time, they would be kicked out of their dorm and the school. And then Y/N would have nowhere to go. 

You see, the college she went to was very small and it accepted very few people so there was hardly any housing. By now, most of the houses had been filled with all their roommates. And no one she knew owned a dorm that had available space. And she was not going to be with random roommates again because she couldn’t stand getting in trouble with the school another time. 

All those factors compiled together made it really hard for her to want to go to work at the coffee shop. It was a high paying job on campus, so it saved her gas money, but there was only one problem. They had to sing anytime they got a tip. And since it was Christmas, Y/N had to sing a Christmas carol. She almost quit when her boss told her they would be switching to Christmas music, but she really needed the money. 

Y/N came home from a long shift and saw the RA standing outside their room with the headmaster of the school. He sighed and looked over at Y/N. “Miss L/N, may I speak to you privately please?” Y/N nodded and followed him down the hall. She knew this couldn’t be good. 

“Sir, I wasn’t a part of this. I was at work, I promise.”

“I know, I believe you. It has come to my attention that your roommates were the ones violating the rules,” he paused, and Y/N sighed. “However, due to your roommates being kicked off the campus, you will no longer be able to stay in this dorm. We do not allow students to own a dorm all to themselves. You will need to find another one come Monday. Is that alright with you?” The headmaster looked down on her with piercing blue eyes and she gulped and nodded. “Good. I’m so sorry for this inconvenience Miss L/N. The school has booked you a hotel room for the night while we get this sorted out. Please collect anything you need for the night, and we will have a campus officer take you to the hotel.”

Y/N nodded her head and turned to go inside her dorm to pack up the rest of her stuff. On the way back in, she saw her drunk roommates laughing as they were getting arrested by two policemen. She sighed and went to her room to grab her things.

*****

25 minutes later and Y/N was in the back of a campus officer’s police car on her way to a Marriot just down the road. Her backpack full of things lay at her feet and she stared out the window. What was she going to do? She had no living arrangements now and she had to have them figured out by Monday. 

The officer dropped her off at the lobby of the hotel and wished her luck. She was able to get checked in and quickly walked to the elevator, wanting to get a good night’s rest before her shift at the coffee shop in the morning. 

There was one other person in the elevator with her. He looked to be about her age with chocolate brown curly hair. He was wearing grey sweatpants and a white shirt that was tight around his massive biceps. “Which floor,” he questioned. Hell, even his voice was attractive.

“Tenth.” He pressed the number ten and stepped back. 

“I’m staying on ten too. Hopefully we don’t make any stops—” Just as he said those words, the elevator stopped at level two. The person who got on pressed the number 1 and the elevator began its descent back to the lobby. 

Shawn glanced over at Y/N who chuckled lightly. He moved to stand next to her. “Guess I shouldn’t have jinxed it huh?” 

Y/ N shook her head. “Yea. That was a bad idea.”

“So, where are you from?”

“I’m from the college just down the road, but my roommates are getting kicked out right now so I can’t be there.”

Shawn sucked in a breath of air. “Ooh that’s rough. I’m sorry.” Y/N waved him off with her hand. “I’m a student at that college too. Well, I will be. I’m starting on Monday. I’m from Canada so it was a long trip here and there just getting my housing settled.” 

Y/N didn’t know what to do. Maybe he had room wherever he was housing at. But she was too shy to ask, especially since she just met him. 

The elevator dinged and they had reached level ten. “What room are you at?”

“1018, you?”

“1019. Guess I’m right next to you.” 

They walked to their rooms together making small talk and Y/N genuinely smiled for the first time that day. 

“Well, night…” She trailed off not knowing his name. 

“Shawn. And you?”

“Y/N.”

“Good night, Y/N. Sleep well. Good luck with the whole roommate situation.”

“Thanks. Maybe I’ll see you around campus.”

“Yea, see you around.”

She swiped her card and walked into her room. She quickly got ready for bed and fell asleep. 

Shawn lay in the next room over beating himself up over not getting her number. She was so pretty, and they were both going to the same college. But Shawn decided he shouldn’t knock on her door and disturb her. She needed her sleep. If they were supposed to meet again, fate would bring them together. 

*****

The next day Y/N was jolted awake by her alarm. She slammed the button down and rolled out of bed. Her eyes were a bit swollen with tiredness, but she would have to make do. She thought about Shawn as she pulled her hair into a bun and placed her hat over it. She really did hope she would seem him at their college. Or maybe even before then. 

She the 15 minutes back to her campus and to the coffee shop. She put her apron on and got ready to serve the first costumers of the day. A lot of them would leave tips just to hear her sing and she had to pretend that she enjoyed torturing their ears with her off key singing. 

It was ten in the morning, and she was already feeling drained. “Welcome, what can I get for you,” she said in a less than friendly manner to the customer without looking up from the cash register. 

“Hi. Could I get a hot chocolate with whip cream on it. And I’d also like to know when you get off?” 

Y/N glanced up recognizing that voice. It was Shawn from the elevator. She saw the smirk on his face, and she felt her cheeks go hot with embarrassment. “I am so sorry for talking to you like that.”

“Don’t sweat it. You’re stressed, I get it.” 

She typed his order into the system, but Y/N decided to use her employee rewards and pay for it herself. “It’s on the house. You made my night a lot better so let me do this for you.”

She quickly made his drink and handed it to him. “What’s this?” He pointed to the tip jar and saw the sign that said, ‘Tip for me to sing a song.’

“Please don’t pay attention to that. You don’t need to tip me.”

“I know. But I would love to hear you sing.”

He placed the ten-dollar bill he was intending to pay with into the jar. Y/N sent him the evil eye and he chuckled. 

“I’m not doing it.”

“Oh, but you have to. If you don’t, I’ll report you to your manager.” 

Y/N groaned. “Which Christmas carol would you like?”

“Hmm. What about ‘All I want for Christmas is You?’” 

“For real?” He nodded. “Fine.” Y/N burst into an awful sounding rendition of Mariah Carrie’s famous song and even Shawn was getting second-hand embarrassment for her. 

“Ok, that’s enough,” he chuckled as she immediately stopped. “So, when do you get off?”

Y/N looked down at her watch. “Five minutes, why?”

“I was wondering if you could tour me around campus.”

Five minutes later and Y/N and Shawn were holding hands and walking through the crisp winter morning. “So, did you find a new place to live? Since you got kicked out and everything?”

“No. Unfortunately not.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking. You’re a pretty girl. And I’m not just doing this because your pretty, but what if I gave you the apartment I’m going to be staying at? I have some buddies who need a dorm mate, and I could easily live with them. You need it more than me.”

Y/N was appalled. “Shawn…I can’t let you do that.”

“Please, I insist. And hey, if we end up becoming better friends, I could always move back in.” He sent her a breathtaking smile. 

“Well, I mean, I guess. Thank, thank you so much! You are a life saver!”

“Anything for you milady. Well, there is a cost.” He said with a coy smile on his face. 

“I’ll pay anything, I’m just really grateful for you.”

“Ok. I just want your number and to go on a date with you. Last night after you went into your room, I debated knocking on your door and asking for it, but I thought it would be weird. Luckily, I found you.” 

Y/N chuckled and typed in her phone number to Shawn’s phone.

“Thank you, my awful singer friend.”

“Wow, how dare you offend my singing.”

“You have to admit it was pretty bad.”

“Ok, you’re right.” Maybe she was a bad singer, but she might have found somebody to take home to her GrandmaHelen.