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Bryce tugged her long hair up into a messy bun, dodging past Juniper behind the counter and grabbing her apron. Strictly speaking, she was late, but thankfully no customers had arrived yet, and Juniper wouldn’t tell anyone.
“Rough night?” asked Juniper with a knowing smile. Bryce merely grunted in response. Though she didn’t usually go out on a weeknight (not anymore, anyway), yesterday had been her last final of the term, which she felt had warranted some sort of celebration.
Now she was regretting that decision. It wasn’t the worst hangover she’d ever had, but she hadn’t had chance to grab a coffee yet, so her brain wasn’t at full functioning capacity.
Ironic, considering where she worked, but Jesiba had strict rules about ‘drinking on the job’, as she put it, and Bryce really didn’t fancy being turned into a mountain goat, or whatever weird animal Jesiba had thought up today. Honestly, the threats that woman dished out on a daily basis were probably some sort of workplace violation.
“Can you get the cupcakes out of the oven?” said Juniper as the bell above the door chimed, announcing their first customer of the day.
Smiling gratefully, Bryce shot her a thumbs up and headed into the back room. Inside, there was a small kitchen and break area for the staff, which Bryce used to her advantage whenever she didn’t feel fit for human consumption, and wanted to leave the customer service to Juniper. Honestly, she was an absolute blessing, and Bryce didn’t thank her enough.
“Hey Bryce! How’s it going? Any gossip?” called Lehabah from inside the oven.
Opening the door and reaching in to grab the baking tray, Bryce grinned at the sprite, and whispered conspiratorially, “Fury got into another fight.”
“Oh that’s boring, BB, Fury always gets into fights,” Lehabah pouted, “And she always wins them too.”
“Well I don’t know what else you want me to say, it’s not like anything interesting ever happens to me.”
The fire sprite pouted even harder, and Bryce laughed as she put the cupcakes on the counter to cool off. She chugged a glass of water, then steeled herself in preparation for customer service. Ugh.
Emerging back into the main café area revealed that several customers had already settled into the comfy armchairs that dotted the shop.
Say what you like about Jesiba and her penchant for animal-related threats, but she had an eye for interior design. A mismatched collection of armchairs and sofas worked with the well-stocked bookshelves and warm lighting to create a homely, welcoming atmosphere. Twin staircases framed the counter, leading up to a quieter balcony area with an array of smaller, desk-like tables which were popular with overworked students. Cleverly-positioned bookshelves broke the upstairs area up into smaller sections, so the café could be full and you could still feel completely alone at your table.
But it wasn’t the layout that made The Gallery so popular, it was Juniper’s baking. The faun had a true talent, and Jesiba hadn’t hesitated to use it to her business’ advantage. Oh the coffee was good, definitely, but not good enough to out-compete the chain shop that had opened up down the street a few months ago (and closed down a few days ago).
When Juniper had suggested a vegan menu to Jesiba, she’d turned her nose up, but so far it had been a roaring success, drawing in hipsters and vegan food blogs in addition to their regular customers. The faun in question grinned at Bryce as she emerged from the back room, and bumped their hips together as she trotted past to go and ice the cupcakes ready to be served.
Seeing that there were no customers currently waiting to be served, Bryce leant against the counter and checked her phone absently. Someone had sent a video of Fury head-butting that wanker from last night to the group chat, and Bryce was just liking the message when the door chimed again.
And in walked the chiselled lesbian of Bryce’s dreams. Okay, so maybe she wasn’t a lesbian, in fact the pink, purple, and blue streaks suggested that she was bi, but the point remained that this woman was hot. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a braid, but stray wisps had escaped to frame her face. And wow, it was a nice face.
That face was currently headed in Bryce’s direction, looking absolutely exhausted. Clearly, this woman was here for coffee.
“Hey what can I get you?” Okay, so maybe Bryce leant forwards over the counter at just the right angle to give the girl an eyeful of cleavage but it’s not like you saw babes like that every day, she might as well shoot her shot.
Unfortunately, mystery girl didn’t seem awake enough to acknowledge the existence of anything that wasn’t “One black coffee, thanks.”
Still, Bryce wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, so she swayed her hips just a bit more than usual as she bustled about the counter to prepare the woman’s order. The woman in question continued not to notice her, fiddling absently with the strap of her sword’s sheath.
Oh, Bryce hadn’t notice the sword at first, too distracted by the pretty face (and the leather jacket… and the sinfully tight skinny jeans… sue her, she had a thing for bikers). That was certainly intriguing. Not many people actually carried weapons, or at least not ones quite so obvious. Even if the woman hadn’t been drop-dead gorgeous, the sword would definitely have piqued Bryce’s interest in her.
“There you go! That’ll be – uh…” Bryce cheerfully placed the finished drink in front of mystery girl, then watched in a mixture of horror and awe as she chugged it down in under ten seconds and slammed it back down onto the counter.
“Same again, thanks.”
Eyes wide, Bryce busied herself with making a second coffee. Chugging the first one seemed to have managed to wake the woman up a bit, so Bryce wasn’t going to question her methods (even if she was absolutely baffled as to how she hadn’t completely scalded her whole throat chugging it like that oh my gods).
When Bryce turned back to mystery girl this time, armed with a smile and a second cup of coffee, she was pleased to note the woman’s gaze raked down and then back up Bryce’s body in a very appreciative manner. Now she was getting somewhere.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” she said, leaning forwards on the counter as she plucked the coffee confidently from Bryce’s hand, “Is it new? I’ve never been before, and I’m sure I’d remember seeing such a gorgeous… place.”
At this, the woman winked, and Bryce snorted. It was certainly the most unusual flirting she’d heard in a while. “Wow, just wow. At least you didn’t ask me if I ‘come here often’.”
Mystery girl barked out a harsh laugh, and Bryce grinned. She was cute when she laughed.
“Don’t tell me someone’s actually used that on you before?”
“You’d better believe it.”
The woman just laughed again, tucking a pink strand of hair behind her ear and sipping on her coffee. Thankfully, she made no move to go and sit at one of the tables, seemingly content to finish her drink standing at the counter.
“So,” continued Bryce, “Do you come here often?”
The woman snorted so hard that coffee spurted out of her nose, then proceeded to laugh loud enough to disturb the whole café. Ignoring the disgruntled stares, she replied, “No, actually, this is my first time,” she winked, “But I’ll definitely be coming back.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, see, there’s this really cute barista, funny too, and I’d really like to see her again.”
“Ah, that must be my colleague, Juniper, she’s just in the back room icing some cupcakes, I can go and get her if you like?” Bryce grinned wickedly.
Mystery girl stuck her tongue out, “You know what, I changed my mind; I’m never coming back. The staff are just too damn rude.”
Bryce laughed, “I guess you won’t want this then?”
Intrigued, the woman leaned forwards to see what Bryce was holding.
“Nope, nuh uh, hold out your hand and close your eyes.”
“You realise how suspicious that sounds, right? Am I about to get mugged?” Despite her complaints, the woman closed her eyes and held out her right hand to Bryce, who grinned and grabbed it.
“I doubt anyone would mug you when you’re lugging that great big sword around. You look like you’d chop me in half. There you go, you can have your hand back now.”
“Wow, how gracious of you. And I’d never chop you in half… unless you asked me to,” the woman winked again, then looked down at her hand, where Bryce had scrawled her number.
“It’s a good thing you’re so gorgeous because that’s possibly the weirdest thing anyone’s ever said to me. Is chopping me in half supposed to be an innuendo? Like, ‘scissoring’ gone wrong?”
The woman tipped her head back and laughed again and wow, Bryce didn’t think she’d ever get used to how pretty this mystery girl was.
Which reminded her…
“Don’t I get a name to match to your pretty face?”
Mystery girl looked her up and down again, then winked and said, “Danika Fendyr, at your service.”
“It’s a pleasure to officially meet you, Miss Fendyr,” Bryce said, bowing dramatically, “Bryce Quinlan, at your service.”
Danika’s laughs were drowned out by the chime of the bell above the door. At the reminder that yes, they were in a coffee shop and no, Danika was not the only customer, she pulled a wallet out of her pocket and started rifling through it. Bryce noticed her nails were short, coloured with chipped pink nail polish.
“Don’t bother,” taking a leaf out of Danika’s book, Bryce winked at the taller woman, “It’s on the house.”
“Wow, I’ll definitely be coming here more often then,” laughed Danika, before glancing at the time on her phone and paling, “Shit, sorry, I really need to go, I’ll uh, text you, thanks, bye!”
Then she was out of the door, and Bryce was left to deal with the mid-morning rush alone. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Juniper finished icing the cupcakes, and then she was able to help with customers.
By the time Bryce’s break finally rolled around she’d almost forgotten about Danika. Almost.
Pulling out her phone, she smiled to see two texts from an unknown number:
I’m glad u gave me ur number, bc I like you a latte
Then:
how’s that for a pick up line? better or worse than ‘you come here often?’?
Bryce hid her grin in her hand. What a nerd.
“Hey BB, who ya texting?”
Ignoring Lehabah, Bryce replied:
worse, definitely worse
somehow, it worked tho. when can I see you again?
A few minutes later, her phone pinged with a reply:
coffee tomorrow? I know this great place in town, the barista’s a real cutie ;)