Chapter Text
Laura groaned as she flopped onto the worn, suede couch in the corner of the coffee shop. She ignored the petulant glares she received from the patrons around her. It was a small, quiet store that catered to a faithful crowd of business people. They all sat silently and solitarily at small tables, huddled over their expensive looking laptops. Laura huffed as she thought about the blog post she had to edit before the end of the day. She unzipped the backpack she’d brought with her, and pulled out her tattered, used laptop. It was nothing fancy, but it was all she could afford from the pay she got working as the lead blogger for the local newspaper.
She grimaced at the way her laptop’s hinges squeaked as she pulled open the screen. However, this noise paled in comparison to the loud moans and expletives produced by the last page she had open in her browser. Porn.
Laura let out a high-pitched yelp as she worked to exit out of the webpage. She quickly scanned the coffee shop only to find that all eyes were on her. She locked eyes with the shop’s barista, Carmilla who leaned smugly over the counter, fighting to repress a laugh. The girl was beautiful, with dark hair and dark eyes that contrasted her pale skin. It was the type of beautiful that took her breath away and ruptured her stomach to a swarm of butterflies. The type that caused a soft blush to coat Laura’s cheeks and soft tingles to dance over her lips. Her heart was already pounding from sheer embarrassment, but now it was attempting to leap from her ribcage and into the hands of the girl behind the counter.
Laura came to the shop almost everyday just to see Carmilla. It had been almost a month since the dark-haired girl started working there, and almost a month since Laura had fallen head over heels for her.
Carmilla raised her eyebrows and pointed to Laura’s laptop, the amusement still evident on her face. Laura quickly muted her computer before exiting out of her web browser. Once her crisis was solved, Laura immediately darted her eyes to find the beautiful barista. She was still leaning over the counter, absent-mindedly playing with the napkin holder, and gave Laura a smirk when their eyes connected once again. Laura wiped her clammy hands over the fabric of her jeans and moved to walk towards the girl. Unfortunately, her vision was obstructed by a tall, fairly buff young man in the store’s uniform. His nametag read Kirsch. He scratched his head through his short hair as he began to speak, “Sorry little hottie, but um my manager asked me to kick you out.”
Laura frowned and responded, “Listen, I’m sorry about the porn, but could I at least order something?” Kirsch shook his head in rejection of her request.
“No can do, little hottie.” he denied once again, “She specifically told me to make sure you left immediately.”
Laura sighed in defeat and packed her laptop into her bag as Kirsch watched over her. She walked to the store’s exit and threw one last glance over her shoulder to look at Carmilla. The dark-haired girl waved playfully as she walked through the doors.
Laura returned to the coffee shop the next morning, purposefully leaving her laptop at home. She took in a deep breath before swinging open the door and striding inside. Her presence caused the store’s usual occupants to quickly look up from their laptop screens before resuming their work. There was a short line in front of the counter today, and Laura made sure to join it. She thought about what she would say to the barista today, and wondered if she’d ever work up the courage to ask her out. She couldn’t decide whether to be bold and say “Please go out with me, I think you’re the love of my life,” or to just act cool and pretend that she wasn’t having major heart palpitations. Laura unconsciously moved further up the line and she was rather unprepared to find herself looking directly at Carmilla. Her eyes scanned the seductive eyes framed by smudged eyeliner, and focused on the soft pink lips under her pointed nose. Her eyes jumped to the small silver name tag pinned to the girl’s uniform, reading ‘Carmilla’. Carmilla spoke and Laura was certain that her voice alone could impregnate her. It was husky, soft, and enticing.
“Hey there, porn-girl.” She began. “What can I get for you?”
Laura’s brain short-circuited and not unlike any other time she ordered, she was rendered speechless. She scanned the menu hanging behind the barista’s head before sputtering out a response. “C-coffee.” Once the idiotic response left her mouth, she felt a warm blush begin to spread across her cheeks. Carmilla was amused and chuckled at Laura’s awkwardness.
“Wow, I hate to break it to you cutie,” she teased. “But you’re going to have to be a little more specific.”
Laura died when she heard Carmilla call her cutie. She was certain that her friends would have to call her father and start preparing funeral arrangements. She tried to look unfazed by Carmilla’s teasing and replied, “I’ll have a medium dark roast with two cream puffs.”
“Ahh so porn-girl speaks English.” Carmilla said as she turns her back to prepare Laura’s order.
“Doyouwannahangoutlater?” Laura blurted out. Carmilla threw her an amused look over her shoulder while placing the lid onto the coffee cup.
“I didn’t quite catch that, cupcake,” she responded smoothly. Laura took a deep breath before coughing and mumbling, “Nothing.”
Carmilla reached into the glass display case next to the counter and placed the cream puffs into a paper bag. She placed Laura’s order onto the counter before ringing her up. “Well cutie, that’ll be five dollars and eighty-seven cents.”
Laura fumbled to pull her wallet from the pocket of her jeans and handed Carmilla a five and a one. “Keep the change,” she said, feeling cool. Carmilla shook her head and laughed at Laura’s dorkiness. She reached over the counter to pat the smaller girl’s hand. She smirked and said, “Time to go cutie, you’re holding up the line.” As Laura turned to leave the line, Carmilla called out to her, “See you tomorrow?”
Laura nodded furiously and Carmilla winked at her before taking the next customer’s order.