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Noel couldn’t help looking up every time the doorbell rang, hoping that Lex might stop by to say hello to her. It was such a dismay to see Paul come in three times and watch Emma make his coffee with heart eyes and always get a kiss on the cheek when he leaned in to take it. Life truly was unfair.
Lex had promised she’d try to stop by on her break, and Noel, in turn, had promised that she’d have a coffee and a cake pop waiting for her. The cake pop had already been squirreled away, plus an extra for Hannah. The coffee would be easy to make. She could have Lex’s order ready in a minute. Lex just needed to come.
“Who are you watching for?” Zoey teased. Noel wrinkled her nose and shook her head. Zoey wasn’t important. Or nice.
“No one,” Noel said with a shrug. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Oh come on, Noel,” Zoey said, leaning over the counter and getting closer. “You got a boyfriend I don’t know about?”
Noel burst out laughing. As if the flannel tied around her waist said anything about her being straight. “No, Zo-ey , are you waiting for yours?” Today, she had a bit of a bark.
“Alright, no need to get snappy, it was just a question,” Zoey said, rolling her eyes and going back to work. “Oh, by the way, are you auditioning for Godspell?”
“My uncle’s making me.”
“Oh, good!” Zoey clapped happily. “It’ll be so fun! Just don’t audition for the same part as me!” She grinned teasingly at Noel as if they were friends and tapped the counter. Noel heaved a long sigh as the doorbell rang again.
Lex had impeccable timing. She wore her Toy Zone vest, jeans, and a t-shirt. It was warm out for October. Noel immediately began making her coffee, which was a medium iced coffee with two sugars and two pumps of pumpkin, without even thinking about it. Hannah trailed behind Lex, holding her hand and not looking like she was having a good day.
When Lex’s coffee was done, Noel took it and the cake pops and brought them around the counter. She handed them to Lex with a kiss to her cheek and then knelt down in front of Hannah.
“Hey, Banana,” Noel said. “Good day or a bad day?”
“Bad day,” Hannah said quietly. Noel frowned and held her hand out.
“Why’s it a bad day?”
Hannah took Noel’s hand for a second before letting go. “Just is.”
“Would a cake pop make it better?” Noel held out the jack-o-lantern-designed cake pop. “It’s chocolate.”
A small smile crossed Hannah’s face as she took it from Noel’s hand. “Thanks, Ellie.”
“‘Course, Banana.” Noel held out her fist for a fist-bump. “Fist bump?”
“Fist bump,” Hannah agreed, knocking their knuckles together before she sat down to eat her cake pop. Noel stood and leaned her hand on the counter.
“I get off at five, if that’s anything for you,” She said to Lex.
“Are you just asking for a ride?”
“I mean, I was going to suggest dinner,” Noel raised an eyebrow. “But, um, a ride would be great too. In addition to dinner. We’ve had a good day today with tips. Everyone wants the fall drinks. I’m sick of pumpkin shit.”
“Maybe that’s your new nickname, pumpkin.” Lex teased and Noel just laughed. “I’m serious,” Lex said. “But yeah, dinner sounds good.”
“Good,” Noel said with a smile. “Does Ethan want to watch Hannah, maybe? Or if we get her to sleep at my place, she can pretend she’s me.”
“Ethan can watch her,” Lex said, nudging her lightly. “No pretending necessary. If Sam doesn’t like it, he can suck it.”
“I wish,” Noel said. “He said to be home by nine tonight.”
“Well, that’s enough time for dinner,” Lex said. “And I don’t mind if you wear your work uniform. We won’t go anywhere fancy. Probably the pizza place on Eighth Street or something.”
“Pizza Pete’s?” Noel smiled. “I loved that place when I first moved back.”
“If we go to Pizza Pete’s, we can take Banana.”
“Perfect,” Noel said. “Pizza Pete’s it is.” She leaned up and kissed Lex quickly. “See you at five?”
“See you at five,” Lex agreed. “Love you, Ellie.”
“Love you too, Lexie.” She went back around the counter and gave Hannah a wave goodbye. Hannah waved back, showing her the yellow flannel that used to belong to Noel. Noel smiled and watched them leave, a dopey grin on her face as she watched them outside from the window. Lex put Hannah’s hat back on her head and Hannah was smiling a bit, different from her frown from before.
“Whatchya looking at, Noel?” Emma’s voice came from behind her. Noel could almost hear the smile on her face.
“Huh?” Noel turned around. “What?” She snapped back into reality.
“Nevermind,” Emma laughed. “I can let you off a tiny bit early if you want.”
“Like, how early?” Noel raised an eyebrow.
“How do you feel about right now?”
“Really?”
“I take it you don’t want to spend two hours with Zoey instead of your girlfriend.”
“No, I do not,” Noel said. “Are you sure you want to suffer through that?”
“I’ll deal with it,” Emma promised. “Go have fun.”
“Thank you,” Noel said, practically ripping her apron off and running out the door. Emma pushed her share of the tips into her hand as she passed by.
“Lexie!” Noel called as she reached the parking lot. “Lexie! Guess what?” She caught up to her, grabbing her waist from behind.
“Ellie,” Lex said, stumbling a bit in surprise. “Hi. What’s up?”
“They let me out early!” She smiled, peeking in the car to see Hannah already inside. “Well, Emma let me go early. And she gave me my tips.”
“Oh, sick,” Lex said, wrapping an arm around Noel. “So, early dinner at Pizza Pete’s, then?”
“Early dinner and some ski-ball.” Noel agreed.
“Oh, so I can kick your ass a third time?” Lex grinned. “How nice of you.”
“No, I’ll win,” Noel got in the passenger’s seat. Lex looked at her before she closed the door.
“Do you want to try driving again? We don’t get on the main road for Pizza Pete’s.”
Noel hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t sure she did want to. Every time she drove, all she could think about was the crash. But, then again, she hated the fact she couldn't drive, and if she was going to mess up in front of someone, then Lex was the person to mess up in front of.
“Yeah,” Noel said. “Yeah. Okay.” She got out of the passenger’s seat, and made her way over to the driver’s seat of the car. Lex got in the passenger side and handed her the keys, squeezing her hand.
“You got it, babe,” She said softly.
“Thanks,” Noel said. “Love you.”
“Love you too, Ellie,” Lex replied.
At Pizza Pete’s, Noel was more than relieved when Lex offered to drive home. The drive to the restaurant was a little too stressful. She’d made it, but it had taken her a while to calm down afterwards. Lex had understood, and they’d walked into Pizza Pete’s hand in hand, Hannah trailing right behind them.
“I’m proud of you,” Lex said quietly.
“Thanks,” Noel whispered. “I just want some pizza and to beat your ass at skee-ball.”
“Oh, and you can make jokes,” Lex said, kissing her cheek. “You are improving.”
“It’s not a joke,” Noel protested. “I’m gonna destroy you.”
She did not, in fact, destroy Lex. She lost, very badly. But that was okay. She had gotten to give Lex coffee, gotten off from work early, and her day had massively improved by being with her. Maybe working at Beanies with Zoey was worth it, after all.