Work Text:
It’s a little bit creepy to notice when a place hires someone new. Lottie figures it could be creepier, since it’s not like she keeps an active spreadsheet of Yellowjackets Smoothie Bar’s employees and their hours, and it’s not like she tried to notice the new face in the striped yellow and black uniform, but she's the only person standing behind the counter, and Yellowjackets doesn't have any employees who are blonde and also have bangs.
But this girl does. And she's standing behind the counter, and she's wearing the uniform, so it's really not difficult for Lottie to connect the dots. They've had that hiring sign in the window for weeks now, it's not like she didn't think about applying herself. She'd never done anything about it, though, and now somebody has obviously beaten her to it. Somebody who is blonde, and has bangs. Somebody who has been left to fend for herself. Somebody, Lottie realizes as she gets closer, who is incredibly attractive. Seriously. It's a miracle that there aren't any stairs in Yellowjackets, because Lottie isn't thinking about walking anymore at all, if there were any stairs she would hit them and go sprawling, which would be especially embarrassing in front of the absolute goddess standing behind the counter.
There's an ease to her beauty, she's obviously wearing copious amounts of eyeliner-thick, dark lines over and below her eyes, as well as a slight wing highlights captivating stormy eyes-but aside from that, she isn't wearing much makeup, and her hair doesn't seem particularly styled. She isn't smiling, either, if anything Lottie would say she's scowling, observing the whole world around her as if it were quite boring and she would much rather be anywhere else. Lottie wouldn't want to be anywhere else, not if it meant she couldn't keep looking at the girl in front of her that looks like she's carved out of marble.
“Hello, welcome to Yellowjackets Smoothie Bar, what can I get buzzing for you today?”
Lottie blinks back into reality. Somewhere in her mind she clocks the strange words the new girl is using, but she's far too caught up in her face and her proximity to it to actually react.
“Um, could I get a… uh. Medium 'honey bee beauty'? With, uh, with raspberry mixed in.” With how much she's struggling to tear her eyes away from the new girl's face, it's a miracle she got any words out at all. She’s not sure why she's hesitating when she orders, she gets the same thing every time she comes here, which is every day.
Well. Lottie supposes she does know why she's stumbling over her words. Her brain doesn't seem to be functioning properly, and she's concerned that the new girl will think her order is boring. That sounds stupid, though, and she doesn't want to think about why she feels heat all over her face from being only a counter away from this girl.
Fingers unaccustomed to the register slowly tap at the screen. Closer up, Lottie can see that what she had previously assumed was natural blonde was bleach-blonde with dark roots shining through at the top of her head. Her roots match her eyebrows, which are furrowed adorably.
“That’ll be $6.79.”
Lottie hands over a ten and finds herself saying, “Keep the change,” like she wasn’t planning on putting the remainder in her vacation savings.
Dark eyebrows raise. “Thanks. And can I get a name for the order?”
It’s stupid. It’s so, so stupid. But the new girl is really hot and Lottie’s tripping all over her words and she’s giving out tips for looks rather than service like she's at damn hooters instead of a local cafe that very much is not known for its revealing uniforms. And if Van were here she’d be laughing her ass off at Lottie gaping like a fish at the new girl, who has thick eyeliner, beautiful blue eyes, pale skin that somehow doesn’t look washed out by the yellow-and-black shirt, and… and a nametag pinned to the shirt. Natalie.
“Hello? Can I get a name for the order?”
“Natalie. Nat-Natalie.”
Natalie looks down at her nametag, then smirks at Lottie. And at first she thinks her cover’s blown, ugh this is so embarrassing-then Natalie says, “Cool. Twins.” And then she walks away from the register.
Lottie holds her breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop, but nothing happens. She just stands there at the register, opening and closing her palms while Natalie makes her smoothie.
How stupid is she?? ‘Natalie’?? Really?! She could be busted at any minute! Van and Tai don’t even ask for her name anymore when she orders, they just scribble an ‘L’ down on the cup and whoever makes the smoothie knows what to do. She’s so stupid. She is so, so, so, so stupid.
Another customer walking in finally bringing Lottie to her senses, she moves down from the order counter to the pickup area. No sooner has the new customer walked in when Van and Taissa walk out from the back, hair tousled, shirts wrinkled, clearly fresh off a make-out session. Van spies Lottie quickly and raises a hand in greeting.
“Heeeyy, L–”
“Natalie?”
By some sort of miracle, the real Natalie appears at the pickup counter, holding Lottie’s smoothie. Lottie quickly takes it and attempts to run, but Van catches her.
“Natalie? Gosh, I forgot, it’s like we have two now.” Van turns to Natalie, delight running rampant in her eyes. “Nat, customer Natalie comes in every day, and you work here almost every day. Oh, this is perfect.” Van looks at Lottie gleefully. “Right, Natalie?”
Tai faces the back of the store, shoulders clearly shaking from laughter.
Natalie grins at them and faces the new customer. “Hi, welcome to Yellowjackets Smoothie Bar, what can I get buzzing for you today?”
Now Tai turns around, making eye contact with Lottie as they both smirk at the slogan. The customer orders and pays, and Van starts making their smoothie while Tai turns to Natalie.
“You know you don’t actually have to say that everytime you greet a customer? It’s bullshit that Van made up.”
Natalie whirls to Van, who is suddenly very invested in making her 'honey oats delight'.
“You–what? Fuck! Fuck you guys, seriously.” But she’s smiling, and soon they’re all laughing, and Lottie feels a weight lifted off her chest as she strolls out of Yellowjackets that day. Van and Tai always make her feel better, and her skin is still tingling on her hands where they brushed Natalie's as she took her smoothie. Then she thinks about Natalie, and how she completely blanked and all the weight she just lost and more comes rushing back down.
Lottie chugs the rest of her smoothie and she doesn't taste one drop.
shauna & lots
2:34 pm
lots
SHAUNA
2:36 pm
SHAUNA
2:40 pm
SHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUNNNNAAAAAAAAAAa
2:47 pm
oh my god shauna
3:01 pm
shauna!!!!!!!!!11!!1!1
3:02 pm
shauna
WHAT lottie jfc
3:02 pm
lots
disASTER code red sos i am so dead
3:02 pm
shauna
what HAPPENED
3:02 pm
lots
there’s the enthusiasm im lookin for
3:03 pm
shauna
fuck u
i don’t even wanna know anymore
3:03 pm
lots
NOOOO
im SORRY
ANYWAY. im at yellowjackets right
3:04 pm
shauna
when arent u at yellowjackets
3:04 pm
lots
sssssssshhhhh.
anyway im at yellowjackets and theyve hired a new girl and shauna. i need you to understand. this girl is so hot. like. SO hot. like the most attractive person you can possibly imagine
3:05 pm
shauna
hmm.
3:05 pm
lots
like. hotter than jackie
3:06 pm
shauna
DAMN!
3:06 pm
lots
exactly
3:06 pm
shauna
did u take her pic
3:07 pm
lots
no!!! im not that creepy
3:07 pm
shauna
kay. except you kinda are
3:07 pm
lots
im WORKING on it. and i still didn’t take her picture. but ANYWAY. point is, i’m fucking losing my mind at that register. i am a MESS
3:08 pm
shauna
idk why youre telling me this like im not used to u being a mess around cute girls
3:08 pm
lots
SHUT. UP. so im at the register right. and i order and i pay and i GAVE HER THE CHANGE I WAS GONNA SAVE FOR CANCUN
3:08 pm
shauna
DAMMIT LOTTIE THE CANCUN CHANGE?? we gotta get enough money to get drunk off our asses
3:08 pm
lots
i KNOW im SORRY
3:09 pm
shauna
im just gonna have to get drunk all by myself bc i am NOT sharing my alcohol money with you. fend for yourself.
3:09 pm
lots
i will!
but THATS NOT THE WORST OF IT
3:10 pm
shauna
speak for yourself idk
3:11 pm
lots
SHAUNA. I!! i was gay panicking so hard i was just STARING at her and she asked for a NAME for the order cause shes NEW right and i was just STARING AT HER. so she asks AGAIN and im staring at her and i see she has a nametag on.
3:11 pm
shauna
no… you didnt.
3:11 pm
lots
SHAUNA IM SO STUPID
3:11 pm
shauna
no… surely even you…
3:12 pm
lots
i told her my name was natalie bc thats what it said on her nametag
3:12 pm
shauna
NOOOOOOOOOO
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
LOTTIE PLS
the way i would never go back
3:13 pm
lots
I REALLY DONT WANT TO
but shauna their smoothies are so good…….
3:14 pm
shauna
you are a goddamn smoothie addict
3:15 pm
lottie
sue me! i like supporting small businesses and the nearest smoothie place other than them is like. five miles off campus!! that is not reasonable walking distance for my daily post-class smoothie
3:15 pm
shauna
maybe stop getting a post-class smoothie and put the money towards cancun…?
3:15 pm
lots
shauna it is october
3:16 pm
shauna
never too early!!
3:16 pm
lots
😐
gn shauna
3:18 pm
shauna
gn lottie!! <3
/\
\/
Nat’s favorite part of the new job is probably making the smoothies. It requires enough brain power that she feels entertained, but it’s not so intense that she really has to think about it. Then, she turns on the blender and gets to stand there for a minute or two looking busy with the blender covering up any customers asking her for something.
Cool. Twins.
Not her finest-or smoothest-moment. In her defense, Nat was not expecting anyone remotely attractive to walk into Yellowjackets of all places, let alone anyone as jaw-droppingly gorgeous as that girl. Natalie. A number of things flash through her mind when she thinks of the name. Thick, long, dark hair that she'd like to run her hands through. Rich brown eyes, that changed rapidly from looking like there were many intelligent thoughts running behind them to looking as though they had never had a single idea in their existence. The way she'd stuttered over her own name, looked at Nat from underneath her eyelashes with the slightest tinge of pink on her cheeks. And her voice. And what had she come up with in return? Cool. Twins.
What a fucking joke. Could she have come up with literally anything lamer? Not if she’d tried. Thank fucking god Van and Taissa were too busy being ten minutes past their break ending fucking in the staff bathroom to witness the catastrophe. It’s bad enough that they came back before Natalie left, that they had her saying fucking what can I get buzzing for you like a fucking idiot.
She would have been madder, but Natalie was laughing, too. And normally Nat doesn’t like being laughed at, but there was something about the way Natalie laughed that didn’t make her feel teased. Maybe it’s her eyes. Nat could stare at those for ages. Or maybe she’s just weirdly fixated on a customer’s eyes for no reason. Point is, the familiar ripple of anger floods through her, and for a moment Nat thinks she’s going to get fired from this job on the first day, too, but then Natalie’s laughter floats into the air, like a fucking heavenly chorus, or some shit. And all the stocked up anger just evaporates, turns into something strange and new, that makes her want to giggle and blush like she’s back in the third grade and Travis Martinez is pushing her on the swings..
She hands out another drink. The bell by the front door jingles as a new customer walks in. Van is working an online order and Tai’s working the drive through, so Nat walks up to the register with a sigh.
“Welcome to Yellowjackets what… what can I get for you?” She almost said fucking buzzing.
“What, you don’t want to get anything buzzing for me today?”
She doesn’t have to look to know who it is, but she looks anyway. She likes looking at Natalie, sue her. She looks around before answering, like Van or Tai could ever hear her over their blenders.
“Maybe. But only for you.”
Natalie raises a well-groomed eyebrow. “For me? I’m flattered.”
You should be. This is flirting, right? Nat’s pretty sure they’re flirting right now. She’s usually too drunk for this part, she usually just starts making out with people or asks if she can go over to their house.
“Welp. Buzz buzz buzz, whattaya want?”
Natalie looks down at Nat’s shirt. It’s high couture fashion, yellow and black stripes with a cartoon bee printed on the front with a speech bubble saying “buzz buzz buzz”. Natalie laughs, and humiliating herself is suddenly worth it.
“A medium 'honey bee beauty' with raspberry mixed in, please.”
“That’ll be $6.79.”
Natalie hands over a five and two ones, then stuffs more bills into the tip jar. Nat only nods in acknowledgement as she starts to make the smoothie. And what if she’s a little more generous than Taissa taught her to be with pouring in the ingredients? Oops. She’ll just have to use a large cup.
“Natalie? Honey bee beauty?”
Natalie steps up to take the smoothie and raises her eyebrows. “I did order a medium, you know.”
Nat shrugs. “Hand slipped pouring the stuff in.”
“Right.”
Jesus fucking christ she has to resist the urge to fucking wink. She hates what pretty girls do to her composure.
Natalie takes a sip of her smoothie, and Nat has to tear her eyes away from the customer’s lips.
“Well, you did a pretty good job with the ratios considering your hand slipped.”
She shrugs again. “I’m a smoothie-making prodigy.”
Then Natalie fucking smiles at her, all plump lips and crinkled lines in the corners of her sparkling eyes, and God she’s so pretty.
“You are,” she agrees. “I’ll just have to come back for another, I guess.”
Then she turns and sashays out the door, vanishing as quickly as she came.
Van puts the mobile order on the shelf, calling out the name and standing beside Nat at the pickup counter. The customer stands from one of the tables. Van nudges Nat, mouthing ‘ GAY’ at her and without missing a beat calls, “Have a great day!” as the customer walks out the door with their order.
Nat feels her cheeks turning pink as she elbows Van back. “You’re one to talk,” she mumbles, eyeing Taissa.
Van smirks. “Just an observation.”
She takes her break an hour later, and when she hears footsteps following her she’s ready to turn around and tell Tai to fuck off, that she knows she fucked up the ‘strawberry honey soup’ bowl, she just needs fifteen minutes to fucking breathe but then she sees flashes of red hair plopping down beside her.
“We’re gonna go to this arcade outside campus after closing,” Van says, watching Nat carefully. “You wanna come with?”
She wrinkles her nose. “Depends. Am I gonna be third wheeling?”
Van shrugs. “I promise we won’t abandon you for a quickie in the bathroom.”
That's just about all she can really ask. Nat nods, and Van grins.
“Cool. Cool, I’ll tell Tai.”
Tai. Nat’s eyes slide to Van, and she must be able to see the worry, because she chuckles as she gets to her feet.
“It’s fine, Nat. Inviting you was her idea, so. No biggie.”
Huh.
“Yeah,” she says, feeling stupid and not having anything better to say. “No biggie.”
“Uh-huh. See you in…” Van pulls her phone out of her pocket. “Twelve minutes.”
Nat groans “Don’t remind me.”
Van closes the door to the back of the store, and Nat sits alone, in the quiet, very still. It was Tai’s idea to invite her. She isn’t sure what to make of it. This feeling of being welcomed, of people actually seeming to like her and want to be around her because they just enjoy her presence, they don’t want anything from her. It’s new. Nat’s pretty sure she likes it.
(***)***-**** & nat
11:39 pm
(***)***-****
there we go. helloooo nat!
nat changed (***)***-**** ’s name to van
11:41 pm
nat
hiiii van
van changed nat ’s name to buzz buzz buzz
11:42 pm
buzz buzz buzz
i can’t fucking stand you
11:42 pm
van
then sit down
11:42 pm
buzz buzz buzz
>:(
11:43 pm
van
in all seriousness, tho. thank you for coming tonight. i know that couldnt have been easy for you, but i had a blast and im positive tai had a blast and i hope that you had a blast. thanks for taking a chance on your weird ass lesbian coworkers :)
buzz buzz buzz changed van ’s name to ******* sap
11:43 pm
buzz buzz buzz
fuck it wont let me
uhhh
buzz buzz buzz changed ******* sap ’s name to fuhking sap
11:44 pm
buzz buzz buzz
hah.
get it
cause youre a fucking sap
11:45 pm
fuhking sap
so like that was you telling me we’re best friends now in nat-speak, right?
11:45 pm
buzz buzz buzz
🖕🖕🖕
11:45 pm
fuhking sap
awwwww
now give me my name back you little shit
11:46 pm
buzz buzz buzz
:(
ur no fun
buzz buzz buzz changed fuhking sap ’s name to VAN MF!
VAN MF! changed buzz buzz buzz ’s name to nat😎
11:47 pm
VAN MF!
oh thats a nice touch
the all caps
i am indeed a mother fucker exclamation point
11:50 pm
nat😎
once i slept with a guy and afterwards i was looking around his house and realized id fucked his mom
11:50 pm
VAN MF!
NATALIE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK
WHY WOULD YOU ADMIT THAT
I WOULD TAKE THAT TO MY G R A V E WTF
11:51 pm
nat😎
sorry are we not friends sharing funny anecdotes
11:51 pm
VAN MF!
i mean we CAN BE but RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE you play your king???
11:51 pm
nat😎
who said that was my king??
11:51 pm
VAN MF!
IS IT NOT??!!
11:51 pm
nat😎
hhhhhhh
uh
no comment
11:53 pm
VAN MF!
noooo i wanna know
naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatt
tell me your dirty secrets
11:54 pm
nat😎
only if i get something in return
11:54 pm
VAN MF!
you wanna know my deepest darkest secrets? 😊
11:55 pm
nat😎
no.
tell me about natalie the customer
11:56 pm
VAN MF!
god damnit
11:56 pm
nat😎
huh
is that it ?
11:56 pm
VAN MF!
now i owe tai ten bucks, thanks a lot
11:56 pm
nat😎
i am lost
do u not know anything about customer natalie? you guys seemed real chummy
11:57 pm
VAN MF!
first of all. we are having two completely separate conversations right now. second of all. did you just call me and natalie chummy
11:58 pm
nat😎
first yeah i KNOW im CONFUSED second um. no comment
11:58 pm
VAN MF!
yeah yeah yeah.
sooo natalie. she comes in every day and orders the same thing every time. i think shes rich as fuck but i also don’t think she gets along with her parents? so like sometimes shes loaded and sometimes shes scraping pennies together for her smoothie. also shes a psych major and she lives on campus and tai has a few classes with her and her friend shauna
11:59 pm
nat😎
damn you were holding out on me
11:59 pm
VAN MF!
also she’s hot asf. obvs.
12:00 am
nat😎
ew.
12:00 am
VAN MF!
sorry
12:01 am
nat.
12:03 am
nat??
12:04 am
NAT
12:07 am
NATALIE
12:11 am
you are not asleep i can see that you are active on ig!!!
12:13 am
nat😎
does customer natalie not have instagram?? i cannot find her anywhere
sorry. hi
12:13 am
VAN MF!
dont scare me like that!!
anyway. yeah actually i dont think she really has any social media shes. um. kinda spiritual i think. not like jesusy but like vibes and auras and rocks talk to me kinda way. dont think shes huge on tech
12:14 am
nat😎
kay
see ya tmrw
12:17 am
VAN MF!
SEE YOU TOMORROW NAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
12:18 am
nat😎
golden retriever ass
12:18 am
VAN MF!
bold words from the archetype of a black cat
12:19 am
nat😎
hmm
VAN MF! changed nat😎’s name to black cat
black cat changed VAN MF! ’s name to golden retriever
12:20 am
black cat
heh
12:20 am
golden retriever
GOOD NIGHT
SQUIRREL???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
12:20 am
black cat
fucking hell
/\
\/
Lottie tries not to let her disappointment show when she walks into Yellowjackets and doesn’t see Natalie.
“Hey,” Van says, projecting over the blender Taissa has running. They meet at the counter. “Natalie, huh?”
Lottie hides her face in her hands. “Oh, my God. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Lot, she’s on her break. What the hell happened?”
“I don’t even know,” she says, leaning on the counter. “She’s just… she just looks like that and I was freaking out and she asked for a name for my order and I was panicking–have you looked at her , Van?–but I panicked and I was looking at her nametag and it just happened.”
Van shakes her head, laughing as she starts to make Lottie’s honey bee beauty with raspberry. “Jesus, Lottie.”
“I know. ”
“Well, I’m covering for you, so, you’re welcome.”
Lottie looks up from the counter, surprised and hopeful. “You are?”
“Yeah, dude. She asked about you, you know? We were texting, and she asked if you had instagram, ‘cause she couldn’t find the other Natalie that fit your description.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. So I lied and said that you’re into spiritual stuff and you don’t really do social media.”
“Thank you, Van.”
Van shrugs, pouring ice into the blender. “She’s gonna find out sooner or later, I didn’t want to be the one to tell her.”
Lottie stews on that as she digs for payment, not liking the idea but knowing that Van is right. She can’t lie to Natalie forever.
Taissa puts a lid on the smoothie she’s been making and puts it on the mobile order shelf, walking to the door that leads into the back of the store and knocking. “That’s twenty minutes, Scatorccio,” she shouts into the door. “Break’s fifteen.”
Van grins and Lottie looks around, realizing she’s the only customer in the store.
The door to the back of Yellowjackets cracks open and Natalie slips out, glaring at Tai. They exchange whispered words that Lottie can’t make out over the blender Van’s just turned on. The redhead wiggles her eyebrows at Lottie and slides her a napkin. Lottie picks it up, expecting some drama happening between Nat and Tai. Instead, she finds the words ‘ She thinks you’re hot, you know’ scrawled in Van’s messy handwriting.
She looks up to Van for more information, alarmed, but the girl has retreated back to Natalie and Tai, loudly saying, “I think I’m gonna take my break now.”
Taissa turns around and shoots Lottie a smirk. “You know what? Me, too. See you in fifteen, Scatorccio.”
They walk into the back room, Van shouting, “Just give Natalie her smoothie, will you?”
Natalie (Scatorccio? Is that her last name?) rolls her eyes at her coworkers, shaking her head at Lottie. Lottie only smiles back, and Nat walks up to the blender Van left, turning it off and picking up a cup. Blue eyes trail down to Lottie's hand, at the flash of white. Lottie remembers the note just in time and balls it up in her hand. Natalie raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything as Lottie unceremoniously stuffs the napkin in her pocket.
“You order that honey raspberry thing again?” she asks, pouring it into a cup.
“Yeah,” Lottie says, smiling and feeling heat on her cheeks, kicking herself for being unable to exist calmly within a ten foot radius of Natalie. “I always get that.”
“Mm.” Natalie finishes pouring all of the mixture into the cup and picks up a lid. Lottie shouldn't notice, but she can't help but observe how cute she looks focusing on pouring the smoothie, eyes laser focused, tongue barely poking out between her teeth. “I guess I’ll have to get used to making it, then.”
Her words don’t really make it sound like something to look forward to, but there’s something about her tone, maybe fondness? And she’s smiling at Lottie. Like it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
“And them?” Natalie nods towards the back of the store where Van and Tai disappeared to. She shakes her head, snickering. “They think they’re so funny.”
Now that Lottie can agree with without any hesitations. That Lottie can think about without feeling hot all over and fluttery in her stomach. “They sure do.”
Natalie’s just watching Lottie with that knowing smile, like she’s reading Lottie’s mind, and she’s got the smoothie in her hand, lidded and holding a straw, but she’s just holding it against her stomach, making no move to give it to Lottie.
She clears her throat. “Is it, um.” She looks pointedly at her smoothie. “Is it ready?”
“Oh.” Natalie blinks, shaking her head. She holds out the smoothie to Lottie, flushing. “Sorry.”
Lottie accepts the smoothie and raises an eyebrow at Natalie, who avoids her gaze. She has her smoothie. Their business transaction is complete, so what should happen is Lottie leaves now and Natalie cleans the blender, or something work-related.
But she doesn’t want to leave. Doesn’t want this moment to end, with their eyes making gentle contact, frozen in the moment that will end whenever they obey their duties. Lottie to leave, or go sit and scroll on her phone at one of the tables, Nat to go spray and wipe the counters.
“We’re going to have to do something to figure this out, you know.”
Natalie frowns. “Sorry? Figure what out?”
“Our names, silly. Or. I guess I should say, our name .”
She had intended to say that her name wasn’t actually Natalie, that she was just a gay idiot who freaked out because Natalie is the most stunning woman she has ever seen, but instead she’d said… that . And now here she is, digging herself deeper into this stupid hole.
Natalie laughs. “Oh, right. Well, I let my friends call me Nat, so.”
Lottie stands there for a minute, then realizes that the carrot of friendship is being dangled in front of her face.
“Oh, cool. Well, I usually just go by Natalie with everyone, so.”
Nat grins. “Cool. Natalie?”
“Cool.” Lottie’s heart races at the girl standing in front of her. “Nat.” She takes a sip of her smoothie. “And… what Tai said earlier. Was that your last name?”
Nat bites her lip. “Maybe. Scatorccio.”
The denial and then the confirmation in the very next word. This girl is going to be the death of her.
This girl whose name is Natalie Scatorccio.
“Hmm.” Lottie smiles one more time at Nat and turns to leave.
“Hold on. You’re not gonna tell me yours?”
Lottie turns around at the door, playing innocent. “Tell you my what?”
“Your last name,” Nat says, looking at her sort of bewildered but also smiling. It’s stunning. “I told you mine, now you gotta tell me yours.”
“I never agreed to that deal, Scatorccio.” Lottie walks out the door.
“Fuck you, Natalie Whatever-Your-Last-Name-Is!” follows her outside, Nat’s voice protecting her from the buzz of campus all the way back to her dorm.
Sitting on her bed and texting Shauna back home, she sips at her smoothie and smells Nat’s perfume. Curious, she opens up instagram and searches ‘Natalie Scatorccio’. There are plenty of Natalie’s, but the lower number of Scatorccio’s quickly leads Lottie to a profile that matches who she’s looking for. With promising shared followers Van and Tai, the profile is mercifully public and allows Lottie to see the posts. There aren’t many of them, and they don’t seem to be frequent, but they all feature familiar eyeliner and striking eyes.
Nat hasn’t always dyed her hair, Lottie learns. It used to be just brown, dark brown, but she’s no less enchanting with the darker hair. She’s so lost in Nat’s picture that her roommate rattling the doorknob startles her into dropping her phone, fingers skimming the screen carelessly.
“Laura Lee,” she hisses, picking up her phone. She unlikes the picture again, but the damage is done. Her finger has slipped, and now Nat’s going to get a notification that some chick named Lottie has liked her photo.
“Lottie?” Laura Lee puts her bag down on her bed, looking at Lottie, concerned.
Lottie puts her head in her hands and sighs.
shauna & lots
3:31 pm
lots
fuck im so stupid
3:31 pm
shauna
what did you do now??
3:31 pm
lots
so remember my yellowjackets situation
3:32 pm
shauna
yes i remember the yellowjackets situation wtf else would i be referring to
3:32 pm
lots
SORRY i just wanted to check.
anyway i dug myself in deeper
3:33 pm
shauna
NO
3:34 pm
lots
i TRIED to tell her but instead i told her we had to figure out what we were gonna call each other
BUT ik what her last name is now and i found her insta so. honestly i think this is a win
3:34 pm
shauna
NO ITS NOT
send her ig tho im tryna see if she’s as hot as u say
3:35 pm
lots
never trusting me smh
instagram.com/nataliesca…
3:39 pm
shauna
HOT DAMN
3:39 pm
lots
watch out jackie
3:39 pm
shauna
nooooo
but damn lottie that is ur dream girl
3:40 pm
lots
shut up im fucking it up too bad
3:40 pm
shauna
well that is true
3:40 pm
lots
just cause i said it doesnt mean you can say it back
3:40 pm
shauna
you just read yourself sorry it was true
3:42 pm
lots
FUCK
3:42 pm
shauna
huh
3:43 pm
lots
LAURA LEE JUST GOT HOME
3:43 pm
shauna
ok and? i love laura lee shes a sweetheart
3:43 pm
lots
NO NO I AGREE. BUT.
3:43 pm
shauna
girl what did you do
3:44 pm
lots
may have been scrolling nats ig
3:44 pm
shauna
no.
3:44 pm
lots
and i may have been startled by laura lee’s returning home
3:44 pm
shauna
NO.
3:44 pm
lots
and my finger may have slipped and liked her post
3:44 pm
shauna
LOTTIE. JFC
3:45 pm
lots
IK IT WAS AN ACCIDENT
3:45 pm
shauna
UNLIKE IT IDIOT
3:45 pm
lots
I DID
3:45 pm
shauna
GOOD.
jesus lottie
3:45 pm
lots
WHAT THE FUCK AM I GONNA DO
3:45 pm
shauna
girl idk
i wasnt even this stupid when jax and i were first hooking up
3:46 pm
lots
shauna i do not want to hear about your happy relationship right now
so happy for you but. i am losing my mind rn
3:47 pm
shauna
i get that. i really dont know tho
you could always maybe… idk hear me out… tell her the truth?
3:48 pm
lots
nuh uh
3:48 pm
shauna
forgive me for trying to suggest the best objective option
3:48 pm
lots
you are forgiven
3:50 pm
shauna
or you could tell her you have a twin named lottie or smth idk
3:51 pm
lots
WAIT THATS GENIUS
3:51 pm
shauna
WHAT
LOTTIE NO I WAS KIDDING
DO NOT TELL NATALIE YOU HAVE AN IDENTICAL TWIN
DONT DIG YOURSELF INTO A HOLE LIKE THAT
LOTTIE.
3:54 pm
lots
thank you shauna ily 😊
best friend everrrr
3:54 pm
shauna
LOTTIE. YOU CANT TELL THAT GIRL THAT YOU ARE A TWIN
3:54 pm
lots
i absolutely can
now are you going to help me make a fake instagram account for natalie matthews or what
3:55 pm
shauna
i cant stand you sometimes
3:56 pm
whats the password
3:57 pm
lots
NatScatorcc!o69
3:57 pm
shauna
oh fuck off
3:57 pm
lots
😁
/\
\/
She feels the buzzing in her pocket and is addicted to her phone enough to be pretty sure that the notifications were from instagram. What instagram has to say is a mystery until Nat takes her break an hour later.
She's expecting a follow notification from some mutual friend of Van and Taissa's, that's been happening since they hung out, even one of the memes Van's been sending her, she's working but Nat has no doubt that she would find a way to send a meme on the job. She finds neither of those things.
The fuck?
Who the fuck is Lottie Matthews?
“Hey, guys?” She sticks her head out from the back door. Van and Taissa look at her expectantly. “Do either of you know a Lottie Matthews?”
They immediately look at each other like they know something she doesn’t, immediately answering her question in a silent yes .
“She goes to school here,” Tai says. “She comes in sometimes.”
Nat raises an eyebrow upon hearing that she comes to the store, but Van quickly says, “You haven’t met her yet,” and she sags.
She taps on the profile of the girl who sent her notifications for liking and then immediately unliking one of her posts. She looks at the profile picture and frowns.
“She looks a lot like Natalie.”
Van raises her eyebrows. “What’d she do, follow you?”
Nat shakes her head. “No, she liked and then unliked one of my posts in the same minute.”
Van snickers. Taissa glares.
“Sorry,” she says, giggling. “I’m sorry. That’s just incredibly in-character for Lottie.”
“It is,” Tai agrees, going back to her smoothie. “Thank you, Nat, I will be holding that over her head next time we have seminar together.”
Nat smirks at the thought of this girl she’s never met being given her dues. “Good. I’m finishing my break in peace, now.”
“You’re the one who came out here,” Van says, smiling anyway as she holds her hands up in surrender.
And she was the one who complained in the first place, but Nat smiles as she closes the door. She likes the thing that she's hesitant to call friendship that she has going on with Van and Tai, even if they can be annoyingly cryptic and vague. She has more questions about Lottie Matthews now than she did before. Nat spends the rest of her break scrolling on Lottie Matthews’ instagram, and she would die before telling another soul.
She’s found a new sort of groove with the job at Yellowjackets. She can stand at the counter and take orders and make smoothies without really cracking into her brain beyond remembering orders and making small talk with chattier customers. But she’s reached a certain depth, a point where she can tap out an order on the register and be thinking about something else entirely, like Natalie. She can be pouring fruit into the blender and be picturing soft, fluffy hair and intense eyes, staring straight into her soul. But not in a bad way, in like… an endearing way?
She could never admit it out loud, because Van would be entirely too gleeful about it, but a certain Natalie occupies an awful lot of her brain space for someone she doesn’t know beyond their being a customer at her job.
“Hey.”
She actually flinches at the voice, looking around and spotting the source of the voice. Natalie. Standing at the counter, smiling and looking like she's trying to hold back laughter. She's not very successful.
“Anyone in there?”
How long has she been standing there?
“Shit, sorry.” Maybe her multitasking still needs some work. She starts tapping out a honey bee beauty and adds the raspberry. “Honey bee beauty with raspberry?”
Natalie nods, handing over cash.
Nat doles out her change and starts making the smoothie. A quick scan around the store tells her that Natalie is the only customer who isn’t holed up at one of the tables with a laptop and headphones. So, she takes a chance.
“Did you know you’ve got a campus doppelganger?”
Natalie tilts her head. “Hmm?”
“Yeah. Some chick named Lottie Matthews. She looks just like you.”
“Oh.” Natalie starts laughing . Which is… weird. That’s a weird reaction to finding out someone else looks exactly like you, right? “How’d you meet Lottie?”
She knows about Lottie? What the fuck?
“Um, she liked a post of mine on instagram and then unliked it right after,” Nat says, failing to hide her smirk.
Natalie laughs harder. “Oh my God. Thank you for that. I am so excited to hold that over her head.” She looks at the confused expression on Nat’s face. “Oh. Lottie’s my sister. We’re twins.”
Oh. Oh fucking hell. There’s two of them? What the fuck is she supposed to do with two hot Natalie’s??
“Oh,” she says aloud, feeling like she’s floating somewhere far, far away where she hasn't met an incredibly attractive girl who is apparently an identical twin. “That’s cool. Oh, my God , Van’s gonna lose her shit.”
Natalie chuckles.
Nat’s laughing with her, delighted to finally have the upper hand, for once, and then she remembers something. The Lottie who’d liked her instagram post had a last name in her user. And if that Lottie was Natalie’s twin, they probably had the same last name.
“Honey bee beauty with raspberry for Natalie Matthews?”
Natalie wrinkles her nose as she takes the smoothie. “How’d you figure it out?”
“Your sister,” Nat says, smug that she’d gotten it right (Natalie’s reaction gave it away). “Has her last name on her instagram handle.”
Natalie clicks her tongue. “Damn. All that money our parents spent on social media safety courses. Out the window.”
“Yes, I can stalk you now.” Nat wiggles her eyebrows menacingly. Natalie laughs.
“Oh, no, please, I’m scared.”
The conversation dies out, and they’re both just standing there, smiling, staring at each other. Natalie has dimples . Fucking dimples . Dude. She’s a goner.
Natalie snaps out of it first.
“Well.” She blinks and takes a step back from the counter, pink lips wrapping around the straw and taking a sip. “I’d best be going now, I have a sister to torment.”
“Ha ha.” Nat rolls her eyes, but she’s grinning. “Don’t be too hard on her. We’ve all had little gay panic attacks like that.”
Natalie smirks. “Oh, yes. She would know all about that.”
She leans on the counter just then, and there’s something about her. Maybe the light’s coming in through the windows just right, maybe she started using a different conditioner. Or maybe it’s her eyes, so beautifully brown and thick, her teasing smile stretching so perfectly over her bones it makes Nat ache. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.
Nat swallows.
Watching her, Natalie steps back looking… satisfied?
“Well, I’ll see you, Nat.”
“Bye, Natalie,” she calls, waving like an idiot as Natalie walks out of the store and disappears.
She can still smell her hair. She dips her finger in the blender and licks off a bit of her special honey bee beauty with raspberry and has to physically stop herself from moaning. Fuck that is good. Why don’t they have that on the regular menu? Shit.
Nat gets a spoon to scrape out the rest of the leftovers, glad that Van and Tai have the day off and aren’t here to witness her making a fool of herself.
(She’s kind of more glad that they weren’t there earlier, even though she was only talking to a customer.
It feels more intimate, somehow.)
golden retriever & black cat
5:16 pm
black cat
why didn’t you tell me about natalie????????????
5:16 pm
golden retriever
huh?
5:16 pm
black cat
on your whole little infodump you failed to mention that she’s a twin??
5:16 pm
golden retriever
WHAT
i mean. oh yeah
haha sorry about that forgot
Tai tai & vavoom <3
5:17 pm
vavoom <3
TAI
5:17
TAAAIIISSAAAAAAAAAAA
5:18
BABY YOURE NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS
5:18
Tai tai
What happened?
5:18
vavoom <3
NAT JUST TEXTED ME
5:19 pm
Tai tai
Okay? And?
5:19 pm
vavoom <3
IT WAS ABOUT LOTTIE
she said. omfg. i havent accepted it yet
5:19 pm
Tai tai
Oh god what did Lottie tell her now?
5:20 pm
vavoom <3
she told nat that shes a twin and that lottie is her twin
5:20 pm
Tai tai
No fucking way.
5:21 pm
vavoom <3
Attached image
5:21 pm
Tai tai
Woah. What a fucking idiot.
5:22 pm
vavoom <3
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTT
Taissa & lottie
5:30 pm
Taissa
Lottie.
5:31 pm
lottie
hey tai
5:31 pm
why’d you type my name like that im scared
5:31
Taissa
You need to stop lying to Nat.
Lottie splutters in her bed, gaping at her phone. Laura Lee looks up from her homework at the disturbance, tilting her head at Lottie.
“What happened?”
Lottie can’t get any words out, she just makes offended noises and tosses her phone over to Laura Lee’s bed. She has an evening mass soon, but she’s still home for the time being homework and company and, now, love advice. She picks it up off her blankets and reads, making a noise of understanding when she reads the most recent text. She stretches her arm and deposits Lottie’s phone back onto her bed.
“She’s right, you know.”
“Ugh. You, too?”
“It’s not nice to lie, Lottie. Besides, you don’t really want to lie to her, do you?”
Lottie squirms uncomfortably in her bed. “No.”
“Right. So I think you should tell Nat.”
“Tell her what? That I’m a vindictive bitch who told her I have a twin when I don’t? For literally no reason?”
“It wasn’t for no reason.”
Laura Lee says it softly, the way she does when she says something so important she’s afraid to say it too loud.
Lottie doesn’t like it, but she’s right. It wasn’t for no reason.
“I don’t really know her, though. If I tell her the truth and she never wants to speak with me again… I don’t know... I don't know what I'd do.”
“I don’t think she would do that. From what you’ve described it sounds like she likes you, too. If you tell her I think she would understand. But if she doesn’t… Can you really blame her?”
Lottie sighs. “No. It’s what I have coming.”
“I really don’t think she’ll react like that, though.”
Unconvinced, Lottie picks up her phone.
Taissa & lottie
5:34
lottie
i know.
shauna and lots
5:34
lots
i fucking love my roommate dude
van ! & lot !
5:34
lot !
hey
do you have nat’s number
and if you do. could i maybe have it
5:36 pm
van !
i have your number
is there another natalie you were referring to ?
5:36 pm
lot !
van please
i know i’ve been stupid i want to fix it and i know you know what im talking about
so if you have nat’s number: may i have it please
5:37
van !
sorry lottie i actually don’t have her number
5:37 pm
i wish i did she is fucking secretive about that shit
5:38 pm
like weirdly protective over her phone number
5:38 pm
anyway best of luck getting it
5:38 pm
if she didnt wanna give it to me i have no idea what shes gonna say to you so. have fun with that
5:40 pm
lot !
😁👍
5:41 pm
van !
translation: FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FU
5:40 pm
lot !
yeah basically
thanks van
Lottie paces past the door to Yellowjackets for the third time, hesitates for the third time, and, for the third time, winces and turns around, starting her fourth lap of the block. If she didn’t wanna give it to me I have no idea what she’s gonna say to you . Unfortunately, Lottie has an idea of what Nat might say when she asks for her phone number. Her best guess starts with an ‘N’ and ends with an ‘O’.
She thought about DM’ing Nat on instagram. She’d followed her on instagram on the Natalie Matthews account, and Nat had followed her back, which she’d spent a good amount of time screeching to Laura Lee about before being able to act normally again. She had seriously considered DM’ing her, but she just couldn’t do it. Something about typing out what she had to say with the name ‘Natalie Matthews’ blazing above her words made her feel too guilty every time. She couldn’t take the first step to unraveling her lie in a communication method that only existed within the lie.
It was complicated and probably a little conceited, but she’d spent an hour with her fingers hovering over her phone and she hadn’t come up with anything, and she’d eventually given up and decided to put it off until the following day, when she made her inevitable trip to Yellowjackets after her last class.
But then her legs and her mind started fighting with each other and here she was, finishing the loop of her fourth pace of the street and turning back towards Yellowjackets.
She isn’t paying enough attention to her surroundings. She’s nearly crashed into at least three people and she hasn’t looked at the dogs on walks nearly as much as she usually would. She just looks down at her ratty converse with the shredded shoelaces as they go one in front of the other over and over again. She spaces out so far that she doesn’t even register Yellowjackets coming up in her peripheral vision. She doesn’t register the door opening, or the ringing of the bell that sounds just like the one hanging just inside Yellowjackets that rings whenever the door opens or closes.
She doesn’t register the second pair of converse appear in her square of vision down at the concrete, facing her. She doesn’t register any of it until she walks face first into a yellow-and-black clad body with bleach-blonde hair and bangs.
Nat is unfazed by Lottie crashing into her, only raising her eyebrows as Lottie stumbles backwards and regains awareness. One hand rests on her hips, the other one… the other one holds what looks like a ‘honey bee beauty’ with raspberry.
Lottie blinks. “Is that for me?”
Nat huffs. “It might be, if you ever planned on coming inside. What the fuck are you doing?”
She just gapes at Nat, nothing intelligent to say. “You saw me?” she says instead. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Yeah, dipshit.” Nat frowns, looking genuinely upset. “I saw you the first time, then you turned around, and then I saw you the second and third times and figured if you weren’t going to do anything then maybe I should.”
“Sorry,” Lottie says, looking back down at her shoes. “I guess I just… I’m just nervous.”
“To get a fucking smoothie, Natalie? I’m not that scary.”
Lottie winces. Natalie . “No, you’re not that scary.”
Somewhere outside of her fixed gaze on her feet, Lottie sees Nat nodding.
“Yeah. I’m not. Come inside?”
Lottie nods.
She stands still until she hears the bell ringing. Nat holds the door for her and puts a hand on the small of her back and guides her to the counter.
“$6.79,” she murmurs into Lottie’s ear, lips brushing her hair. She must feel Lottie stiffen, Nat’s hand still on her back, and she hesitates walking to the other side of the counter. “Or… is today’s on the house?”
Oh.
“No,” Lottie says, quickly diving into her bag for her wallet. “No, I got it. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Nat resurfaces on the other side of the counter and slides Lottie’s smoothie towards her. Her eyes soften, fixed on Lottie. She speaks gently. “Are you alright, Natalie?”
“Of course!” Lottie smiles, too bright, too fake, and she knows Nat can see it. Just say it. Just ask. “I’m fine.”
Nat smiles back, but she doesn’t look the least bit convinced. “Right.” She accepts Lottie’s card and puts it in the machine. The receipt prints as it always does, Nat doesn’t ask if Lottie wants it; she knows by now that she never does.
Then she hands the card back, and the receipt is with it.
“Oh, I don’t need a receipt.”
Nat pushes her hand farther into Lottie. “Just take it. Please. Just today. That way… you know, if you want to talk about it.” There’s an intensity to her gaze that isn’t usually there.
Lottie accepts her card and the receipt, confused, and shoves them into her bag. When she looks back up, Nat’s looking at her, expectant, as if she’s waiting for something, seeking the answer to a question that Lottie hasn’t been asked. She flashes a smile at Nat.
Just ask the girl for her phone number.
But Lottie isn’t going to. She never could, she always knew she couldn’t, that’s why she paced the block four times, she would have kept going if Nat hadn’t stopped her. Nat. Perfect, wonderful Nat. Nat, who noticed Lottie pacing at the door and made her smoothie, even came outside to check on her. Nat, whose phone number she is never going to get. Nat, who she’s just going to have to wrack up the courage to DM on her fake instagram account.
Nat, who’s walked back around the counter while she’s zoned out and is gripping Lottie by the elbows, pulling her down so their faces are level with one another, yelling, “What the fuck is wrong, Natalie?”
She isn’t crying, but a glimpse in the glass tells her that Lottie looks close to it. She takes a shaky breath. “I’m just being stupid, Van got in my head…” she shakes her head, only her shame and fear keeping her from completely losing it at Nat’s touching her arms. “It’s stupid, but… I was going to ask you for your number.”
Nat raises her eyebrows. “My number? My phone number?”
“That’s the one,” Lottie says, grimacing at the beginning of the rejection.
Nat laughs.
Hmm.
She wasn’t expecting that to be the next part of Natalie Scatorccio rejecting Lottie Matthews. She was expecting more of a ‘get lost, dirty liar’ or ‘fuck off, perv’. Not laughter. Especially not laughter that seems so genuine. Looking at Nat, completely lost, Lottie doesn’t see any anger in her eyes, no hints that she’s relishing in rejecting Lottie and telling her to get out. Just humor.
“Take a look at that fuckin’ receipt, Matthews,” she says, still giggling, shoving a numb Lottie towards the door. “And learn how to read, yeah?”
Lottie doesn’t even bother to walk out of Nat’s line of sight, she just tears into her bag and paws around for her wallet, where she foolishly shoved her card and that stupid receipt. Almost, almost, there. That receipt. That stupid, wonderful, incredible receipt. That stupid receipt, where, scrawled in handwriting Lottie wants to analyze, beneath the neatly typed words ‘Cashier: N. Scatorccio’ is written ‘###-###-#### -Nat (from Yellowjackets) ((duh)’ .
Lottie laughs, feeling all of the stress and the mental preparation for rejection melting away. Take that, Van. Feeling a wide smile overtaking her features, Lottie looks back through the glass.
Nat stands behind the counter, smirking and flipping Lottie off.
van ! & lot !
4:05 pm
lot !
so not only did she give me her number i didnt even actually have to ask for it
4:05
van !
woah what
4:05 pm
lot !
i did ask, because im stupid, but she had already given it to me
4:06 pm
van !
HUH
4:06 pm
lot !
she wrote it on a receipt but i dont usually take a receipt so i tried to tell her i didnt want a receipt but she gave it to me anyway so i put it in my bag without looking. then ig i wasnt good at hiding that i was anxious so she asked me wtf was wrong and i wound up telling her i was nervous to ask for her number. then she laughed at me and told me to learn how to read
4:07 pm
van !
LMAOOOOOOOO
thats actually so pathetic for you
im surprised you actually had the balls to ask her
(even if you already had her number at the time)
omg thats hilarious
im telling tai
4:07 pm
lot !
nooo tais going to laugh at me
4:09 pm
van !
tai says that you are silly and that she is also surprised you had the balls to ask (but she said the word ‘guts’ because she dislikes the word balls)
4:09 pm
lot !
😛
but menacing and angry
4:10 pm
van !
now seems like a great time to confess that i do have nats number and that shes been texting me about you. latest she said is ‘god shes so oblivious van kill me’
4:10 pm
lot !
oh fuck you
lot ! left the conversation
She looks down at her phone. She’s typed in the number that she got all by herself andmade it a new contact named ‘nat <3’. Because maybe Lottie’s a little cliche. Sue her.
Now all she has to do is text what she wants to say. Which, really, is the problem. What does she say? ‘It was all a lie everything I ever told you was a lie I’m a monster?’ Was that coming on too strong? She didn’t want to come on too weak, either, and just say something vague and ominous like ‘We need to talk’. That sounded scary. She never liked getting ‘We need to talk’ texts.
Ugh.
She’s never really had a crush like this before. A new crush on someone she isn’t already familiar with, who she doesn’t already know back and forth, like she could close her eyes and picture them just the same. The picture’s still blurry when she closes her eyes now, Nat dissolves into little heart-shaped spots of mist and floats away in the breeze of Lottie’s mind. She hasn’t absorbed her yet, hasn’t memorized the path of her eyes, her scent. She isn’t so deeply ingrained into Lottie that she can already see her every move before she makes it. Nat’s still a mystery to her, but she can admit that it only makes her more attractive.
She’s never felt this much for someone before, not romantically, not for someone she doesn’t know very well.
hi nat! this is natalie. the customer. thank you for giving me your number, sorry i was an idiot about it haha. i was thinking maybe we could hang out sometime? outside of your job. i kinda wanna see you wearing a shirt that isnt yellow and black with that lil bee on it. lmk what you think? - natalie <3
She’s signing her text. She is signing . Her text . Jeez.
It is a true miracle that Laura Lee isn’t home to see Lottie right now, because even a girl as kind as Laura Lee could not possibly refrain from laughing at Lottie. Finger hovering over her phone screen’s ‘Send’ button, jaw clenched, lips curled, eyes squeezed tightly shut.
Spurred on by thoughts of bleach-blonde hair, smokey blue eyes, and a certain teasing smile, she presses the button.
And screams, shoving her head down into her pillows.
She hears the notification that indicates her message has sent. Pants into her pillow. Kicks her feet against her mattress a few times for good measure.
She lies there on her bed, watching the area of her comforter around her phone. Is Nat the type of girl to text back right away? Does she check her phone often? Probably not. She seems too cool. She either doesn’t check her phone frequently, or she ignores messages for a few hours to seem cool and detached. Yeah, that makes sense.
Buzz.
FUCK.
Lottie leaps to her phone and unlocks it before she can think about it too hard. She sees the notification from ‘nat <3’ and freezes, suddenly anxious. What if she replied so quickly because she was saying no, telling Lottie to fuck off and never come into Yellowjackets again like a fucking creep?
Buzz.
Two texts??? Does Nat have any idea what she’s doing to Lottie right now? The torture her poor heart is going through? Pounding at the speed of light.
Already wincing, prepared for pain, Lottie peeks at her phone.
5:48 pm
nat <3
hey that bee has grown on me he is just buzz buzz buzzing minding his own business
5:49 pm
i get that tho. you busy this weekend? i wont wear my work clothes ;)
She slams her phone back down onto the bed. Dear god, this girl is going to give her heart palpitations.
She lies on her bed sweating, thinking she may die from perspiration.
Buzz.
Dear god, what now?
nat <3 has changed ***-***-**** ’s name to natalie <3
She forgot that Nat could see what Lottie had her contact labeled as.
Figuring she’d better say something before Nat gets the wrong idea, Lottie starts twiddling her fingers and sits up, brainstorming.
5:52 pm
natalie <3
yeah i suppose the bee is a LITTLE cute. esp when its on your shirt :))
i am free this weekend!! my roommate is going home for the weekend do you want to come over to mine?
5:53 pm
nat <3
oooh arent you forward? i like it. what time?
5:53 pm
natalie <3
uhhhhhhh does 3 on saturday work for you?
5:53 pm
nat <3
ill be there matthews
5:54 pm
natalie <3
scatorccio
5:55 pm
nat <3
huh
5:55 pm
natalie <3
nothing you just said my last name so i wanted to say yours
5:56 pm
nat <3
“say”
5:56 pm
natalie <3
hm suddenly i have plans this saturday at 3
5:56 pm
nat <3
noooo hang out with me
im sorry :((
5:57 pm
natalie <3
oh my bad just remembered that the plans are with you. hah silly me
5:57 pm
nat <3
>:(
you played me
5:57 pm
natalie <3
only a little? your response was very cute
5:58 pm
nat <3
im not cute
5:58 pm
natalie <3
sure you arent. see you saturday?
5:59 pm
nat <3
yeah yeah whatever
6:00 pm
natalie <3
love you too!!
Nat stands outside the door of the address Natalie sent her, scrolling through their older texts for reassurance. Natalie was flirting with her, right? She had to be flirting with her. She called Nat ‘cute’. That is textbook flirting. Also, she had a heart emoticon in Nat’s contact before she ever even texted her.
Still, she worries. A little that she got the location wrong and that she’s not standing outside Natalie’s dorm building, but she’s worried more that Natalie doesn’t feel for her Nat way Nat feels for her. She isn’t quite 100% sure exactly what those feelings Nat does have for Natalie are, but she’s working on it. It’s scary. She’s gotten as far as knowing that she most likely has a dreaded crush on her. She definitely wouldn't mind kissing her. In fact, she would like it a lot. A lot a lot.
She checks her phone again. It’s only been a minute since she texted ‘Outside your building :))’ but still.
What if Natalie isn’t actually home? What if she forgot? Maybe she wasn’t kidding and she did have other plans Saturday at three. Shit, it was three, wasn’t it?
She checks her phone. 2:58. Huh. She’s never early to anything. Amazing what Natalie’s bringing out of her. Manners. Arbitrary politeness rules she used to dismiss.
Now here she is. Two whole fucking minutes early.
The door opens, Natalie on the other side. She smiles when she sees Nat, opening the door wide enough for her to come inside.
“Hey.”
Nat steps up onto the ledge. “Hi.”
Natalie switches the hands she’s using to hold the door open, brushing past Nat’s head and barely skimming her hair. When the hand lands on the door, it’s as if she’s leaned up against a wall Nat’s leaning on. Their bodies face each other, faces inches away from each other. Nat studies Natalie’s adorable deer-in-the-headlights expression. While she looks surprised, Nat would like to think that she doesn’t look upset.
Natalie steps back, wiping her hands off on her skirt, letting out a long breath.
Nat watches, biting her lip, her own heart skipping a beat.
“Well. Wanna come upstairs?”
Nat isn’t sure what she expected from Natalie’s dorm, but it feels right. She doesn’t have to ask, she can just tell that the bed with the soft green blankets and nature photos pinned up around it is Natalie’s. Besides, the other bed has a huge crucifix next to it, and that doesn’t really seem like Natalie’s style.
Natalie plops down on the green bed like it’s the most natural thing in the world, and Nat feels her heart swell. At being correct at her guess, or because it’s adorable, she can’t tell.
“You can sit down,” Natalie says, patting the spot next to her on her bed.
Nat swallows and lowers herself down. Their thighs touch when she sits, the sensation burning through her fishnets and shooting up her spine. She shivers.
“So… Nat.” Natalie fixes her gaze on the floor. “I kind of… want to tell you something. Something important.”
Nat’s heart thunders. What is this, a confession? Of a crush? That’s what she would hope, but Natalie won’t look her in the eye right now, and why wouldn't she want to look Nat in the eye while she confessed a crush?
“I’ve kind of… been lying to you.”
“What?” She scoots away from Natalie on the bed. “About what?”
Natalie fiddles with her hands, rocking back and forth. “My name,” she spits out, like the words have been trying to get out of her mouth since she first opened the door to her dorm. “My name isn’t Natalie. I didn’t plan on lying to you, I swear, it just… you were there, and it happened. I panicked.”
“What is your name, then?” Normally this is the part of a conversation when Nat runs, but honestly? She’s interested. And, okay, maybe she likes Natalie… or whatever her name is enough to hear her out. A little.
Not-Natalie swallows and looks at her hands.
“Lottie. And I don’t have a twin. It’s just me.”
“Woah, you’re not a fucking twin? Hold on.” Nat shifts, tucking one leg beneath her to sit facing this Lottie .
“ That ’s the part of this story you’re struggling with?”
“Hold on.” Nat holds her head with her hands. “Hold on, I followed ‘Natalie Matthews’ on instagram and she followed me back.”
Natalie-Lottie winces. “About that…”
Nat nearly shouts. “Did you make a fake instagram account?”
Grimacing, the girl sitting next to Nat nods.
Nat splutters. “Why the fuck did you do that? What is this to you, like a sick fucking joke?”
“No!” She cries. “No. It’s not a joke, Nat.”
Lottie says her name so tenderly. If she said it any other way, Nat probably would have turned and left right then and there. But she does say it tenderly. Soft, and gentle, like her name alone is worthy of worship. Like she’s attached Nat herself to the nickname, all her rough edges and sarcasm. Like she’s spent just as much time picturing how their lips would fit together that Nat has.
Like she hasn’t been lying about absolutely everything.
“This isn’t a joke to me, Natalie. I swear. You aren’t a joke to me. I wasn’t planning on lying to you, honest. I went in to Yellowjackets like I do everyday and you were there, and you’d never been there before. And… and you were you, and then you asked me for a name for my order, and I was just looking at you, and I saw your nametag, and I was nervous and it just came out.”
“Why didn’t you tell me after that? Before you told me you had a fucking twin?”
But her words are lacking bite now. Because, honestly? She can picture it. Panicking, reading the first name in sight. The embarrassment, doubling down. Seeing no possible way out but pushing forward, building more and more on the foundation of the lie that had seemed so harmless.
“I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how to tell you, what to say, the words to use…” Lottie trails off, and for the first time Nat can actually picture her as a Lottie and not a Natalie. It was a little weird, them having the same name. Confusing. But Lottie? She can work with Lottie. “I was scared that if I told you, I would lose you. I don’t want to lose you, Nat.”
She laughs. “Lottie, if you’d lost me, I would already be out that door.”
She hadn’t meant it very seriously–it was true–but she was trying to be lighthearted about it, but Lottie brightens like Nat’s just handed her the moon.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, that was fucked up, but… I kinda get it. I’m glad you’re telling me now, you know?”
“Yeah,” Lottie breathes, pushing herself closer to Nat. She’s staring at her, at her eyes, her face, her lips, and Nat can feel herself burning from Lottie’s incredible gaze, and for a wonderful second she thinks Lottie’s going to kiss her, but instead her eyes are covered with soft black hair and she feels arms wrapping around her, a head burrowing into her shoulder.
Oh.
Oh , this is nice.
Nat isn’t a big hugger, but she finds herself hugging Lottie back. They’ve never hugged before, but Nat’s studied her figure so much so long from across the counter that it feels familiar. Not everything has changed. Lottie has a different name, but she still looks the same. She feels exactly how Nat pictured she would. Warm, soothing. She smells of cinnamon and raspberry.
“Thank you, Nat.” Her words are muffled by Nat’s clothes, but they find her ears anyway. She squeezes Lottie tighter.
“Hey, Lot?” She doesn't really think about shortening Lottie. It just happens, the nickname flows out of her before she can think about it, born of fondness and a soft spot in her heart that is already reshaping itself for Lottie instead of Natalie.
The other girl goes stiff in her arms. Slowly, she retracts herself from Nat’s oversized t-shirt. Saying nothing, but wide brown eyes answering with a wide and clear ‘Yes?’ .
Natalie can’t help but smile at how cute she is, sitting there, slouching to make herself closer to Nat’s height, hair tousled, brown eyes blown wide open.
“Why were you so nervous when you came in that first time, huh?”
Lottie’s eyes widen even more. She looks at Nat, back straightening to her full height a few inches above Nat. Looking up to her eyes is unfamiliar-Lottie has such a uniquely specific stare-but Nat finds herself enjoying it.
“Um.” Lottie fiddles with her skirt, but she leans forward. “Well, I go into Yellowjackets every day. I know all of the staff pretty well. I’d even call Van and Tai friends. I wasn’t really expecting a new face.”
“Right.” That’s a crock of bullshit and Nat knows it. “And that alone had you so nervous you accidentally lied to me about your name and proceeded to continue to lie to me for weeks, to the point that you also told me you were a twin?”
Lottie swallows, her enchanting eyes sliding from Nat's eyes to her lips. “Well. Nat, I can’t imagine I’m the first person to tell you this, and you probably don’t want to hear it from me, but… but you’re really, really pretty.
Lottie stares at her then, just stares with those eyes, those goddamn eyes, and it’s a miracle Nat holds out for as long as she does.
“Well, you were right about part of that.”
Lottie buzzes in anticipation. Literally making the tiniest bouncing movements on the bed, the vibrations reaching and shaking Natalie.
“You aren’t the first person to tell me I’m pretty.” Lottie leans forward. Nat puts a hand on Lottie’s cheek. “But I definitely wanted to hear you say it, Lot.”
Lottie’s face breaks into a grin, and she puts her own hands on Nat’s cheeks. Normally when her lovers do this, it just feels like a hand on her cheek. Not with Lottie. When Lottie puts her hands on Nat’s cheeks she could swear that she could feel Lottie's warmth traveling down to her toes, pooling at her center.
Breathing rapidly in sync, eyes darting between each other's eyes and lips, Natalie runs her thumb across Lottie’s cheek, savoring every tiny bump, pimple, and hair.
“Kiss me?”
Lottie doesn’t need to be told twice, moving her head and pulling Natalie’s lips to her. They meet somewhere in the middle with a little too much momentum, from both of them moving their own heads and pulling in the other. After a brief part of their lips as Lottie giggles at the collision, Nat pulls her head forward to bring their lips back together.
If she thought that having Lottie’s hand on her cheek was touching her soul, this is touching something else entirely. This is kissing like she’s never done it before, all hands and hair and tongue and ‘Fuck, Lot’ , but it’s other things, too. It’s comfortable, in a way that kissing new people usually isn’t, and honestly, Lottie just feels comfortable. Not boring, never boring, but not too unpredictable. She surprises Nat with nips on her neck and deep, long, kisses that will surely leave marks, and she never, not for one second, feels uncared for.
When they finally part, after what feels like an eternity, Nat doesn’t feel as though Lottie’s left her at all. Besides still being in her arms, laughing something loud, tinkly and wonderful , she can still feel the imprint of Lottie’s hands, her lips, her tongue –on her heart.
Once they’ve both stopped laughing, Lottie looks at Nat, removing her hands from Nat’s hips and putting them in her lap, fluttering her eyelashes.
“Do you forgive me?”
She leans in for a kiss, puckering her lips out exaggeratedly.
“What do you think, loser?” Nat shoves her lips away from her face.
Lottie pouts, but then their eyes meet and they’re both laughing again, and then they’re kissing again, and God , it is life changing.
“I do forgive you,” she whispers, when it’s much later and they’ve both shed their clothes in favor of each other. Lottie presses her nose against Nat’s, their foreheads still damp with sweat meeting.
Brown eyes meet blue.
“Thank you.”
Nat kisses Lottie on the forehead and nestles down, resting her head on Lottie’s chest. She falls asleep, lulled by the sound of her breathing and her steady heartbeat.
(She doesn’t wake up until three in the morning, when she wakes Lottie while she panickedly tries to find her clothes in the dark and sneak out before Lottie’s roommate gets back. Lottie explains that she texted her roommate when things started to go in the direction that they did, and Laura Lee was spending the night with her family.
Natalie had stopped fiddling with the shoelace of her discarded boot. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” Lottie had looked at her in the light of her phone’s flashlight, smiling kindly. “Come back to bed?”
“I gotta piss.”
Lottie had only nodded at that, helping Nat find her shorts and getting her at least a little bit clothed before she left for the communal bathroom. She’d softly said, “Take care,” as Nat slipped out, and the words went straight to her heart.
((Lottie had already been asleep again when she returned, but she’d nuzzled into Nat in her sleep, smiling and wrapping her arms around Nat, pulling her closer.
She had not shed a tear.))
shauna and lots
4:07 pm
shauna
sooooo how’s it going???
4:32 pm
lottie did nat show up?
4:33 pm
did you tell her?
4:55 pm
did it go okay?
5:33 pm
you havent texted back BUT you also havent called sobbing so im assuming its going well??? fingers crossed
6:08 pm
you told her tho right. right??
6:13 pm
lot you better be getting some right now if ur just moping sad and alone in ur dorm room im gonna >:(((((((
7:48 pm
LOTTIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
8:04 pm
natalie must be GOOD gawdamn
Laura Lee :)) & shauna
8:30 pm
Laura Lee :))
Just so you know, I’ve arranged with Lottie to spend the night at my family's home.😉😉😉
I am pretty sure it’s because Natalie is still at our dorm.
If you know what I mean.
Like you guys might have to get another plane ticket for that Cancun trip.
😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉
8:30 pm
shauna
hahahhaha i do know what you mean
8:30 pm
thank you Laura Lee you are the best!!!!!!!!
8:33 pm
Laura Lee :))
Anything for my roommate's best friend!
8:33 pm
shauna
aw
we can be friends too, Laura Lee
you seem really sweet and every time ive spoken to you so far its been a pleasure
8:34 pm
Laura Lee :))
Oh, really? That would be lovely!
I don’t normally text very much with people who have their auto-capitalization turned off.
Besides Lottie.
Cool people have their auto-capitalization turned off but I have not yet worked up the courage to ask Lottie how to turn mine off. The phone settings are confusing.
8:35 pm
shauna
Laura Lee i think you are so cool!! but if you want to come over to mine tmrw or sometime i can totally show you how to turn your caps off
8:36
Laura Lee :))
Oh, really? That would be lovely! I would really love that, thank you, Shauna.
8:37 pm
shauna
no problem :) see ya later
8:40 pm
Laura Lee :))
See you later!
shauna & lots
3:12 am
lots
yo
3:12 am
shauna
SPILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL OMG GIRL
3:12 am
lots
not rn
dont have a lot of time
nats in the bathroom but shes coming back
3:12 am
shauna
SHES STILL THERE????
lottie………
3:13 am
lots
yes, i did get laid, and yes, i did tell her the truth
3:13 am
shauna
HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH
3:13 am
lots
goodnight shauna
3:13 am
shauna
GOODNIGHT LOTTIE!!!!!! sleep tight
oh wait. forgot you wont be doing any sleeping……..
3:13
lots
shut the fuck up
GOODNIGHT, SHAUNA
3:14 am
shauna
goodnight, lottie
text me later, i want more details
3:14
good job with ur girl lot
/\
\/
The bell jingles as Lottie walks into Yellowjackets Smoothie Bar after her last class of the day. A familiar face stands behind the counter, smiling at her.
“Hey. Welcome to Yellowjackets, can I get a honeybee beauty with raspberry buzzing for you?”
She grins. “That would be perfect.”
Nat grins, eyeing Van and Tai, who both stand behind blenders, utterly failing to pretend that they aren’t listening in.
“For Natalie, right?”
Both of the eavesdroppers freeze.
“Yup.”
“That’ll be $6.79.”
Lottie hands over her card and tips.
They go through their interaction as normal, although Lottie can tell Nat is finding a little bit more enjoyment in their subtle, shitty flirting, as is she, now that they both know that they have the real thing.
Van and Tai scuttle around, making smoothies and shooting Lottie wide eyed looks. They would probably be more murderous if Nat didn’t seem perfectly happy.
“Honeybee with raspberry for beautiful Natalie? I mean–” Nat stumbles over her words, and Lottie really can’t tell if it’s genuine or if she’s doing it to put on a show. She decides it doesn’t matter and steps forward.
“For me?” she asks, offering a helping hand to Nat, who is still blubbering gibberish.
“Yes,” she breathes, grinning up at Lottie.
Lottie winks and takes a sip.
“Perfect. You really are a smoothie making prodigy.”
Nat laughs, and Lottie can tell that it’s genuine.
“Bye, Nat.”
She waves from behind the counter, grinning. “Bye, Natalie.”
van ! & lot !
4:23 pm
van !
what the fuck????????????
4:23 pm
nat seemed so happy when she clocked in???????????
4:23 pm
me and tai’s bets completely centered on who made the first move we didnt even consider that no moves were made???????
4:30
answer me lottie
nat <3 & lot <3
4:30 pm
lot <3
we got em
4:34 pm
nat <3
😻😻😻
4:34 pm
lot <3
natalie i fucking hate it when you react with the cat emojis
you know my feelings on the cat emojis
4:35 pm
nat <3
😿😿😿😿
love you too babey
Lottie plops down onto her bed with a sigh. She looks at her phone and takes a sip of her smoothie. A smile shines through her frown fond annoyance. Perfect.
Fucking perfect.