Work Text:
“What, are you a serial coffee drinker or something?”
“I’m only on my fourth cup of the day, and I believe the word you’re looking for is addict?” Sophie didn’t
take her eyes off the laptop screen.
Keefe rolled his eyes, “Whatever. You look like a serial killer anyway.”
“You look like a serial killer.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
She looked up from the device to glare at him.
“Need I remind you how out of it you acted the day you were sleep deprived to a fault?”
“I- You can’t win every argument, y’know?”
“I can if I’m better at arguing. Anyway, I have a three-page worksheet due on Monday, and it’s my only assignment for the weekend. I really don’t want to put it off until the last minute…”
“I could help you with it."
She froze.
“You can-what?”
“Yeah, both my parents studied psychology and wanted me to major in it, so I was bombarded with
textbooks and random knowledge all my life. That, and I’ve heard my roommate cramming for over two
years straight. I might just surprise you.”
“Uh huh…”
“I’m not stupid,” he looked her dead in the eyes.
She tensed up under his gaze.
“Okay. How about I ask you one of the questions on here and you can try to answer it?”
“Sure.”
Both of them relaxed.
For the next few minutes, Keefe made customers’ drinks while Sophie read through her worksheet. He
was about to go take more orders when he saw her sitting idly.
“Got anything yet?”
“Yeah, can you explain the Opponent-Process theory of emotion?”
“The Opponent-Process theory?”
“Mhm.”
“Great. Emotional psychology is my strong point.”
The question may have been easy, but Sophie often struggled with emotional psychology. Her near-perfect memory wasn’t particularly helpful when it came to interpreting or paraphrasing things. The fact
that she wasn't too fond of emotional psychology and hadn’t slept in over a day made it even
harder.
Her downward spiral stopped when he spoke.
“So basically, it’s when you have two opposing emotions- like fear and excitement. If you’re doing
something that makes you feel mainly scared, the slight excitement counters it. And the more you
experience the emotion, or the more you do the thing, it decreases the primary emotion and increases
the second one. Eventually you’ll start to feel more excited than scared.”
“Wait a minute. That’s actually makes sense.”
He stood up a little straighter.
“Like I said, I’m not stupid. And come on- you’ve got to have something harder than that!”
Sophie smirked, “That was one of the easier ones. But sure, let’s see if you’re as smart as you think you
are.”
About half an hour and eleven questions later, she discovered that Keefe was in fact, extremely well
versed in emotional psychology.
“Look,” he rested his hands on the counter, “I may be good at it, but that doesn’t mean I like it or find it
interesting; I’m happy to help though.”
“Glad we got that cleared up. I will be asking you questions regularly from now on."
“Hey. That was not part of the plan-”
“Then maybe I’ll find your roommate-”
“You don’t know who my roommate is-”
“I’ll figure it out-”
“You’re insane.”
There was a moment of silence before Sophie spoke again.
“I just remembered that my boyfriend is a psych major too.”
Keefe blinked, “How bad is your memory?”
“It’s actually really good!” She was quick to defend herself. “There’s so much up here that sometimes it
takes a while to get it all sorted and find what I’m looking for.”
“I know what you mean. It’s like you can remember every little thing that’s ever happened- except for
what you actually need to know.”
“Exactly! I’m usually pretty alert, though. I only tend to forget stuff when I’m tired…”
Keefe glanced at the empty coffee cup beside her.
“Well, if you’re tired you should probably leave.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
He tilted his head to the side, “Then what did you mean?”
“Can you please get me a coffee?” She sighed in defeat.
“Of course!” Just as Sophie was about to smile, he pulled out a notepad. “What kind? And what size?”
“Keefe!”