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The first time Sarah saw Katherine was on a rainy day in November. She came stumbling into the café, completely soaked, her hair sticking to her face as she stood in the doorway, mumbling some curse words to herself. They didn´t really talk that day, she simply took the other woman´s coffee order and then watched as she sat down on a table by the window, trying to sort herself out. Sarah had to admit that she might have been a little distracted from work that day, because whoever that woman was, she was beautiful and she had something about herself, something special, even if Sarah couldn´t quite put her finger on what it was. An hour passed, maybe more, she couldn´t quite tell, but eventually the rain had stopped, and with that the woman was gone. Sarah had gone home that night, wondering what it was that made her think about that woman, still, but nothing had come of it and she had figured that the feeling would pass eventually.
The next day, however, she was still thinking about yesterday’s encounter and Sarah found herself looking up ever so often when the little bell over the door rang, indicating a new customer. It was near the end of her shift when the bell rang once more and Sarah looked up, almost out of habit already, when she felt her heart skip a beat. It was the woman, she had come back, and this time she seemed look even more beautiful with her hair in place and her pink dress peeking out from under her coat. Sarah needed a moment to get a grip on herself so she wouldn´t be bluntly staring anymore.
“Hey,” the woman said, giving her a smile. “I´m glad you´re here,” she leaned against the counter, a bag slung over her shoulder as she moved to push a strand of hair from her face. “I feel like I was kinda rude yesterday, so I came to apologize. I was just a little annoyed by the weather, I got caught in the rain and was completely soaked, like you probably noticed,” she explained and Sarah couldn´t help but smile.
“There´s no need to apologize for that, you weren´t rude at all.” And that was true, she had seen far worse customers than the ones that simply ordered their coffee and left with another word.
“Still, I wanted to. It´s why I came back. And because this is actually a really nice café,” she smiled. “So if you are still serving me then I would like a coffee, black, and…” she leaned back, looking at the various cakes, cookies and other things they had on display. “Which one of these would you recommend?”
Sarah smiled, feeling positively giddy for some reason. She leaned over to get a better look at the display, thinking for a moment, before picking up one of the cupcakes with a pink topping. “This one,” she then smiled, “It fits with your dress,”
The woman looked down on herself then, letting out a chuckle. “You noticed my dress, even if it´s tucked away under the coat?” she then asked. “Well then I shall trust your skills and take it,”
Sarah was blushing, because she had basically just admitted to checking the woman out, but fortunately she didn´t seem to mind too much, because she had gotten out her wallet to pay and Sarah quickly took the money, not wanting to risk any more embarrassment. She still found herself looking over ever so often though as the woman had moved over to the same table she had been sitting at yesterday, coffee and cupcake on the table, before getting out a laptop and beginning to write. She sat there for a while, almost absorbed in her own world, but when she eventually tried the cupcake a smile spread out across her face and she looked over at Sarah, who almost knocked over the two espressos she had been preparing because she had been, once again, caught staring.
Instead of giving her a weird look though, the woman only smiled a little brighter and pointed to the cupcake before giving her a thumbs up. Sarah smiled back.
-
The next day came around and Sarah found herself, once again, waiting for the woman to return. She knew the chances were slim, because while she has said she liked the café Sarah figured that she probably had to work and really, who had time to hang out a at café every day?
“We do,” her co-worker had told her then and Sarah had just rolled her eyes.
“We work here,” she had then reminded him, wanting to add to it, but then the little bell above the door rang and soon enough the woman was standing at the counter, smiling. “Hey…Sarah.” She grinned and for a moment Sarah was a little taken aback, until she remembered that she was wearing a name tag. She mentally slapped herself then because wow, why was she being so weird all of a sudden? This was just a normal customer who happened to have come by three days in a row, nothing wrong with that.
You don´t even know her name… she then thought, resisting the urge to bite her lip.
“I´m in a bit of a hurry, but it seems like your coffee is a little addicting,” she chuckled. “Not that coffee in general wouldn´t be addicting, but this one is particularly good. So the usual to go, please.”
Sarah smiled in return and she was momentarily thinking about whether this statement meant that she would be coming back more often now (and if her heart skipped a beat at that then so what?) or not, but then another thought entered her mind and she looked around for a pen, fortunately finding one rather quickly next to the register. “What´s your name then?” Alright, so now her heart was most definitely beating a little faster and she had a hard time trying not to forget how to breathe, because it felt like she could be caught doing something forbidden at any moment. The woman didn´t seem to notice the change in Sarah´s behaviour though, because she was still smiling.
“It´s Katherine,” she then said and Sarah nodded as she wrote the name onto the cup. It sounded nice, and it somehow fit, and for the rest of the day it was the only thing repeating in Sarah´s head.
-
Katherine came in almost every day from then on. She sat on the exact same table, her laptop open as she typed, sipping on her coffee absent minded and picking little pieces of the cupcake to pop them into her mouth while she read over what she had written. Even if she didn´t stay to write, Katherine always came in to collect her coffee and after a while Sarah had started adding a little heart on top of the ‘i’ in her name, because…well because it looked pretty, and Katherine didn´t seem to mind, her smile was as bright as ever as she took the cup and promised to come back the next day.
Today was different though, Sarah could tell when she came back from her break and found Katherine sitting in her usual spot, head resting in her hands and cursing at her computer. She seemed upset about something, probably about whatever she was writing at the moment, and Sarah immediately felt bad for her. Sure, they had never talked more than a few words, small talk really, but there was still something about Katherine, something that made Sarah want to watch her for hours, even if she did nothing but sit there and write.
The café was rather empty, so Sarah took a plate, placing one of the cupcakes onto it, Katherine´s favorite obviously, and then moved to walk over to the table. For a moment she wasn´t quite sure what to say, so Sarah simply placed the plate on the table, the noise causing Katherine to look up.
“Uh…I´m sorry,” Sarah said, biting her lip. “I didn´t want to interrupt you,”
Katherine let out a sigh, stretching a little on the chair. “You´re not. I didn´t order that though,” she pointed at the cupcake before looking back at Sarah.
“Oh, I know.” Sarah then smiled. “It´s on the house, I figured you could use it,” she then said, playing with the hem of her apron because she really didn´t know where else to put her hands right then. Katherine´s lips curled into a smile immediately though and once again Sarah could feel her heart beating a little faster.
“Well thank you, Sarah.” she then said, “You most definitely made my day.” She smiled once more, picking up the cupcake and taking a bite, a soft and almost happy noise escaping her mouth. “Yes, most definitely.” Katherine then repeated, still smiling and alright, that was a smile Sarah would be thinking about for the rest of the day, not that she didn´t spend most of her time thinking about Katherine, and of course her smile as well, anyway.
-
Tuesday was a busy day, so Sarah only really caught a glimpse of Katherine as she ordered her coffee for takeaway, black as usual, and she could feel her mood drop immediately. It was weird, and Sarah knew her mood shouldn´t depend on whether or not she got to talk to Katherine for a few minutes, but she couldn´t help it, especially on days like these, when the café was packed and customers were rude and complaining about the long line and the wait. She was just finishing up a latté when Marc, her co-worker, touched her shoulder, causing Sarah to look up.
“A customer gave me this with the instruction to specifically return it to you,” he then said and Sarah frowned, feeling her frustration grow.
“If they don´t like it then they could just throw it away instead of annoying me…” she muttered with a sigh and Marc just shrugged, handing over the cup before going back to work. Sarah was seriously considering to just crumble the cup in her hand, but there was probably still coffee in it and the last thing she needed now was to pour hot coffee over herself. She sighed again and then walked over to the trash can, only briefly glancing up, and suddenly catching sight of Katherine, who was standing outside the café, looking at her through the window. Sarah frowned, what was she doing? She found the other woman pointing at her then, no…pointing downwards? Sarah raised an eyebrow and then looked down, the coffee cup still in her hand. It was only then that she caught sight of the name written on it, in her own hand writing, Katherine. But there had been something added to it, something that was written in a different hand writing. Call me x, and then a number, which Sarah assumed could only be Katherine´s.
It took her a moment to understand what was going on and then she blushed, looking up, but Katherine was gone from the window. For a short moment Sarah panicked, clutching the cup in her hand, what was she supposed to do? Actually call? What was she even going to say?
Get it together, Sarah Jacobs. She then told herself. You´re not fifteen anymore!
-
About three blocks away from the café Katherine smiled when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out then, answering the call.
“Hey, cupcake.”