Chapter Text
"He’s not coming."
Portia leaned across the counter, slurping noisily on her iced coffee. Julian, who had bought the coffee for her, glared at her over the top of a chunky stack of papers in his hands and shushed her. Portia slurped louder.
"Just give it some time. It's still early," Delilah replied, ignoring Julian.
It was a quiet day at Nadia's Tea Palace, just after the lunchtime rush had died down, leaving only a few students working in quiet corners of the cafe. It was slow enough that Delilah and Portia had time to make themselves drinks and go around to clean at their leisure, as long as they were done before the 4PM pick up when school kids would come flooding in. They lounged around at the front of the shop, Portia behind the counter ‘washing mugs’ and Delilah sat on a stool next to Julian on the other side, pushing a mop around in its bucket.
The shop’s bottom floor was mostly made up of windows instead of walls, letting in warm streams of summer sunlight through the thin fabric scarves that were hung up at intervals over the glass, turning the light to various shades of rich purple and red. Next to the door, there was a clear view of the street outside, that both Portia and Delilah were keeping a close eye on. Or, were supposed to be keeping a close eye on.
At that exact moment, Portia seemed more interested in getting on Julian’s nerves in the loudest ways possible. She slurped again, this time attracting the attention of one of the students hunched over their laptop. Smiling apologetically at them, Delilah swatted the space between Portia and Julian with her wet cloth and shushed them pointedly. Julian cringed back, cradling his papers protectively to his chest.
"Be careful!" he crowed, "This is the newest study on the benefits of bloodletting in cases of minor influenza."
Delilah and Portia exchanged an incredulous look.
"Bloodletting?" Delilah repeated, "Remind me again how you got your medical license?"
Huffing in offence, Julian opened his mouth to explain himself, but Portia cut him off with a scoff. Flicking some of the condensation from the lid of her cup, she managed to wet the corner of one of the pages. Julian wailed. Hiding her laughter behind the lip of her mug, mostly for Julian’s sake, Delilah sipped on the latte Julian had so graciously bought for her.
"You're all so horrible. When have I ever been so cruel to you as you are to me?" he proclaimed in an affected way, throwing his papers down on a nearby table then throwing himself dramatically over the counter. Shaking her head, Delilah patted his back.
"I'm not doing anything," she protested, smirking at Portia, "I think it's cool that you don't care about the general medical consensus."
Julian looked up at her from where his head was stuffed in his arms, blush spreading across the highs of his cheekbones, his messy fringe falling down over one eye. Her hand fell onto his shoulder, the fabric of his lab coat rough under her palm. Delilah told herself her cheeks were only hot from her steaming latte. "Really? Why, thank you, Delilah."
"Suck-up." Portia's voice drew Delilah's gaze up from Julian. The better Devorak had retreated to the sink and was drying the already-washed mugs with a damp cloth.
“Call me names all you want, Portia. I, personally, want to continue getting free drinks from Julian’s doctor salary.” Delilah flashed Julian a teasing smile, raising her mug in cheers.
Over Portia’s laughter, she heard Julian say: “Is that all I am to you, Delilah?” in a mock-wounded way, hand over his heart. Before she had the chance to concede that no, Julian, I like you for much more than your money , her attention was snatched by The Car pulling up on the street out front.
“Portia, shit! He’s here!”
Delilah downed the last of her latte and jumped over the counter at the same time that Portia slammed the mug down loudly on the metal sink. She whirled around to the front door, peering eagerly over the glass cabinet of baked goods and out the window. Delilah felt her heart leap into her throat as she smoothed out her apron. There were few times that she actively liked her uniform, a rich purple polo with a hand-embroidered emblem for the Tea Palace on the left breast and a white mini-skirt (Portia wore white trousers), but even she couldn’t deny that the colour looked gorgeous on her. Nadia had such an eye for fashion.
Delilah bared her teeth to Portia. “How do I look? Lipstick?”
“You always look gorgeous, Delilah,” Julian said, though no one had asked him. “Can I ask what this is about?” Portia stepped forward and used a clean cloth to rub at Delilah’s front teeth. Over Portia’s head, Delilah watched The Car closely. Nothing inside moved. They had time. Portia gave Delilah another once over, then nodded approvingly.
“Delilah has a crush on the person who’s about to come in,” Portia said, flashing Delilah a cattish smile.
Affronted, Delilah swatted at Portia again before glancing nervously at Julian. “I do not have a crush on him. He’s just one of those customers, you know? Always comes in and orders the same thing, wears really outrageous shit…”
“Right. And you have a crush on him,” Portia insisted, picking up another mug to wash.
“He does seem quite outrageous,” Julian said, in an unreadable voice. He was looking over his shoulder at The Car. It was a VW bus, one those hippie vans, but worse than anyone could imagine. Clashing patterns swirled across the body of the van in a way that would give anyone a headache, made infinitsmally worse by the fact that every whorl was painted, seemingly, a different, egregious, neon colour.
“Wait ‘til you see him,” Portia chuckled, winking at Delilah. Mortified, she took one of the recycled plastic cups from the stack and started to shovel ice into the blender. She knew this order by heart: it only deviated when there was a seasonal change in the menu, at which point he would try every new option available then continue to buy his favourite for the duration of the season.
It was quiet in the cafe for all of three seconds when-
“Oh my God!”
That was Julian. Delilah stifled a smile. A moment later, the bell on the door chimed and Delilah turned to face the counter.
Asra was… a vision. He certainly attracted attention for someone who, as far as Delilah could tell, was quite shy. As he approached the counter, Delilah wasn’t quite what she was looking at or where to look first. He wore the most unattractive Hawaiian shirt Delilah had ever laid eyes on, neon green and yellow and pink, patterned with blobs that could have been flowers or could have been lizards. It was cropped, probably by Asra himself judging by the uneven cut just above his belly button. His jean shorts were distressed to the point of almost being more torn fabric than jeans. And then, of course, there were the crocs. Bright orange and slapping on the wooden floor. Delilah thought she might have a stroke just looking at him.
“Is that a snake?” Julian asked, drawing Delilah’s attention to him. The plain white of his lab coat relaxed the building headache behind her eyes.
Asra glanced at him as if only just noticing it wasn’t just Delilah and Portia in the cafe with him. “Yeah. Say hi, Faust,” he said, holding out his arm where a lavender snake was indeed wrapped around him. Faust’s tongue flicked the air curiously beside Julian, but he cringed back a little.
“Can’t,” he said, “Sorry. I’m wearing my uniform.” Delilah didn’t quite believe that was the only reason Julian was sitting on the very edge of his seat, but she didn’t say anything. Asra shrugged and hopped up onto the stool beside Julian. He pulled one foot up onto the stool with him, exposing the disgusting shoe to the two behind the counter.
“You’re a doctor?” Asra asked, politely, resting his cheek on his knee.
Julian nodded, his eyes narrowed as he inspected Asra. Probably because it hurt to look at him directly. “I have a clinic in South End. You?”
“I’m a magician,” Asra shrugged, glancing at Delilah briefly. “And I have an Etsy store.”
Portia and Delilah shared a look with Julian, who, to his credit, only raised one eyebrow. Trying to hold back a blush, Delilah hurried out, “The usual, right, Asra?”
Sitting up a little straighter, Asra nodded, smiling warmly. “Thank you, Lilah.” He looked at Julian out of the corner of his eye, “Uh, I never got your name.”
“That’s Portia’s brother, Doctor Julian Devorak,” Delilah introduced, hesitantly, unsure if it was her place. If it wasn’t, Julian didn’t seem to mind. He shook hands with Asra, his leather gloves shining in the sunlight.
“Nice to meet you…”
“Asra Alnazar. Nice to meet you.”
Delilah didn’t bother to hide the smile that warmed her lips as she mixed up Asra’s regular luminous pink iced coffee. While she worked, Portia’s made up the hot chocolate that accompanied Asra’s drink. While the ice blended, Delilah bagged up chocolate muffin and put it down on the counter in front of Asra. She lingered a moment to let Faust sniff her hand, and when she tried to turn back to the blender, Asra grabbed her wrist. He looked a little surprised that he had done it, dropping his grip as quickly as he had taken it up.
“Uh, your eyeshadow,” he said, blushing furiously, averting his eyes. “It looks really nice. I like it.”
It took everything Delilah had in her not to start jumping around in joy right there and then. In fact, it was nothing short of a miracle that she managed a very dignified, “Thanks. I like your choker” in response. As soon as her back was to Asra, she let the massive smile she had been holding back take over her face. Portia nudged her with her shoulder, wiggling her eyebrows. Delilah put the two cups and the paper bag on the table in front of Asra, hoping she didn’t look as shy as she felt. Asra deposited a ten dollar note on the table and pulled a few coins from his radioactive-yellow fanny pack. He held out the coins in the centre of his palm, looking around at Portia, Julian, and Delilah to ensure they were paying attention. Then, he closed his palm, shook his fist three times, and opened his hand. No coins clattered to the table. Julian’s mouth dropped open.
“How did you-?” he spluttered.
Asra tapped the tip of his nose, sweeping up his order in his arms and tossing the vanished coins into the tip mug. “Told you; I’m a magician. See you later, ladies, Julian.” With a bow, Asra hopped down off the stool and made his escape. A bulky shadow opened the door to The Car for him and he tumbled into the driver’s side, disappearing.
A beat of silence passed after Asra left, in which Julian remained looking stunned, Delilah collapsed onto the counter with a furious blush, and Portia looked over them both with a half-exasperated, half-amused sigh.
Breaking from his reverie of shock, Julian put his gloved hand on Delilah’s arm. “Now I see why you’re wearing that,” he said, grinning salaciously. If it was possible, Delilah blushed even more. She tugged her arm from Julian’s grip and went back to wiping down the counter.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she retorted, primely. Julian’s raised eyebrow said more than any words could. Of course she knew what he was talking about.
“Your eyes,” Julian said, taking her arm again and pulling her towards him. Their faces were only a few inches apart, Julian staring meaningfully at her eyes. Delilah swallowed hard, trying not to blush at how close he was. He was truly so shameless… But she understood why. She’d put on some disgustingly bright, and totally out of character, eyeshadow in the same leopard print style that Asra had worn as a crop-top the last time he came to the Tea Palace. It had taken two hours and three attempts to perfect, and she hadn’t even been sure that Asra would notice. But he had. And he’d liked it.
“You don’t like it?” she asked Julian, once her face had returned to its usual colour.
Julian held her there for a few seconds longer, then shrugged languidly. “I already said you always look gorgeous, Delilah.” He swung up from his stool and grabbed his papers from the table. “Anyway, I must be on my way. Lunch break’s almost over!” He shoved the papers messily in his travel bag and downed the rest of his coffee before taking Delilah’s hand and kissing it. He leaned over the counter, grabbed Portia by the back of the neck, and dragged her over to kiss her forehead too.
“Bye, Julian!” Delilah called to his back as he retreated to the door.
“Later, Ilya. You coming to Mazelinka’s tonight?”
Julian spun around with an affronted scoff, putting his hand over his heart. “Would I ever miss family dinner?” With that, he was out the door.
Delilah and Portia exchanged a look. “Well, that was eventful,” Delilah said, passing Portia to wash up her cup. With a sideways glance, she looked at the clock. Another hour until the 4PM rush. They certainly had some time to kill… “Want to play Go Fish with my tarot deck?”
Portia perked up instantly, rushing around the counter to clear one of the nearby tables. “Do I ever!”
Delilah lost three times in a row, her thoughts still stuck with Asra’s hand as it had latched onto her wrist.