This is your favorite coffee shop, and you are friendly with some of the baristas behind the counter.

Notwithstanding, there is a newer barista you have noticed in the last few weeks, and you think he is cute.

It isn’t lost on you that whenever you show up in the coffee shop and get in line, he has the biggest smile on his face when you get in front of him and he is taking your order.

Much more than the professional smile he reserves for regular customers.

With you, his smile always feels a little extra.

He is grinning from ear to ear like a kid who just got gifted his favorite toy.

It lingers too, long after he has taken your order, as though his mouth muscles are stuck in place.

As you observe him from a distance, waiting for your order, there is a noticeable uptick of energy as he serves the customers who came after you.

An energy he didn’t have when you initially walked into the coffee shop.

As you work on your iPad or laptop from your table, continuing to wait for your order to be called out, you look up every now and then, and sure enough, you catch him looking at you.

Sometimes, he smiles when you see him, and other times he doesn’t.

Either way, you catch him looking at you.

When your order is called out and you go up to the counter to grab your drink, he notices you and smiles, even though he is busy taking the order of a different customer in line.

Additionally, there have been times where he has put it upon himself to bring your order to your table, and when he does, he lingers for a moment observing what you are doing.

It’s as though he wants to open a conversation by asking you about what you are working on, but he holds himself back.

All of this extra-friendly behavior you experience from him whenever you come into the coffee shop always stays with you after the fact.

You have gone as far as to ask some friends about his extra-friendly behavior to get further insight into whether you are being far too presumptuous about it.

A barista who is extra friendly to a customer is usually either a personal friend to the customer or has served the customer over a sustained period of time and built a rapport with them.

You aren’t either of these.

This means that his extra-friendly behavior is a sign he likes you.

He has already shown plenty of signs he does.

All of this isn’t in your head.

The reason why he hasn’t asked you out yet has more to do with his uncertainty about whether you like him too and the awkwardness of the employee-customer dynamic.

The next time you see him at the coffee shop, tell him how much you loved the way he made the last drink he served you when you were last at the coffee shop.

This lets him know that you are actually aware of his existence.

It loosens him up, permitting him to go beyond the safe and friendly behavior to an actual conversation, which facilitates determining chemistry.