Chapter Text
“Can I get you anything else?” Casey asked the blonde sitting alone in the corner. She looked familiar, but Casey couldn’t place her. She guessed she’d seen her around campus, but when she took a closer look at the other girl’s pile of textbooks, she realized she was another law student.
The blonde checked her mug and frowned. “Another Americano, please,” she said, looking distressed at the fact that she was out of coffee.
“Of course,” Casey said. “I don’t want to pry, but are you enjoying Antitrust?”
“Enjoy is a relative term,” the blonde said.
Casey chuckled. “Of course. I’ll go get your Americano,” she said, excusing herself. When she came back, the blonde had shut the textbook she had been looking at earlier — it looked like she was also in a criminal class — and had cracked open the text for the aforementioned antitrust class.
“Here’s your drink,” Casey said, setting the mug down.
“Thanks,” the blonde mumbled, clearly already deep into her reading.
She didn’t leave for another two and a half hours, but she left a good tip, so Casey couldn’t complain.
*
The mysterious blonde showed up three more times over the next couple weeks, and Casey wondered why she studied at the cafe as opposed to … well, anywhere else. While there never was a lineup out the door, it was loud most of the time, with large groups, a noisy kitchen, and constant foot traffic. The blonde seemed unbothered, however, and continued to study.
The fifth time Casey saw her, it was only the second time she had sat in her section. Today, she was deep in Law and Neuroscience.
“Better or worse than Antitrust?” Casey asked.
Alex looked up and smiled briefly. “Way better. I’m only taking that for my parents’ sake,” she said. “You’re in law, too, I assume.”
Casey nodded. “Yeah. I’m Casey.”
“Alex Cabot,” the blonde said, and it clicked for Casey then. Alex Cabot had something of a reputation at the school; crazy smart, and from crazy money. She looked pretty normal to Casey though, in faded jeans and a crewneck sweatshirt.
“Nice to meet you,” Casey said, trying to give no indication that Alex’s reputation preceded her. “Another Americano?”
“Please,” Alex said, looking grateful.
*
They went through this routine for the rest of term, Alex studying and Casey supplying Alex with an obscene amount of caffeine. Casey tried not to bother Alex with too many questions, but on the off chance she had more than one, however, Alex was more than happy to answer. They were forming a bit of a friendship, saying hi to each other on campus whenever they bumped into each other, and Casey found Alex in her section of the cafe more and more frequently.
It was coming to the end of term, and Alex was getting increasingly stressed. She was downing coffee at a rate Casey hadn’t seen before. “Am I going to need to make you a decaf?” Casey asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you drink this much coffee before.”
Alex glared at her, as if the suggestion offended her personally. “If you do, I will personally write a complaint card,” she threatened, though they both knew it was in jest.
“Hey, I need this job!” Casey protested. “Fine, fine. More caffeine, coming right up.”
Alex ended up staying until closing time, and Casey had to be the one to kick her out. “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Casey said with a straight face.
Alex sighed, shoving a stack of papers into a folder. “Please, no,” she said, even though she was packing up. “I’m not ready for Taxation.”
“I’m sure you are,” Casey said, knowing that the exam was coming up tomorrow. “But this is your last exam, you’ll be done with law school forever.”
“True,” Alex conceded. She stopped packing up to look at Casey. “Hey, If I don’t see you, good luck on the rest of your exams.”
“Thanks, Alex. You’re going to crush it tomorrow,” Casey replied.
“A girl can hope,” Alex said, and then she left the cafe with one last wave, Casey not expecting to see her again.
*
Casey did end up seeing her, though. Casey’s friends had dragged her to a bar a couple nights later, insisting that having a drink at home did not constitute celebrating the end of exams. Casey rarely went out, usually alternating between working, working out and class, but after more than a few drinks, she had to admit she was having a good time.
“Casey!”
Casey turned at the voice and found a very smiley Alex Cabot approaching her. Casey didn’t think she’d ever seen Alex smile this widely, and she figured that Alex had really cut loose, given that she had finished her last law school exam.
“Hi, Alex,” Casey grinned back. “Good to see Taxation didn’t kill you.”
“No way, I killed it,” Alex said. “Can I buy you a drink?”
Casey shrugged, now suddenly aware that her friends were watching them with interest. “Sure,” she said. Alex strolled off to the bar, but before Casey could follow her, Casey felt her one of her friends grab her shoulder.
“Oh my god, Alex Cabot is buying you a drink!”
Casey wrenched her arm out of her grip. “She’s just being nice.”
“She’s only been sitting in your section all term!”
Casey rolled her eyes. “It’s just a drink.”
“You’ve been mooning after her all term, too!”
“I have not,” Casey protested, even though it wasn’t exactly true. She’d have to be blind to not see how gorgeous Alex was, and she was always nice to Casey. Maybe she was nursing a bit of a crush, but what did it matter? It’s not like she’d have any chance with Alex anyways.
Leaving her friends, Casey joined Alex at the bar to see two tequila shots waiting for them. “You’re really letting loose,” Casey observed, taking the salt shaker from Alex.
“Enjoying my freedom while I have it,” Alex said. She licked the salt off the back of her hand, took the shot, then bit into the lime wedge delicately. Casey took her own shot, wincing as she bit into the lime. Tequila wasn’t her favorite, but she wasn’t going to turn down Alex’s offer.
“I’ll see you around,” Alex said loudly, making sure she could be heard over the loud music that started playing. With a squeeze to Casey’s upper arm, she disappeared into the crowd.
Casey found her friends on the dance floor, who were all looking at her with interest. It was clear that they had been watching her and Alex this entire time.
“She likes you!”
Casey felt herself flush, and it wasn’t from the alcohol. “It was just a shot,” she said, starting to sway with the music so she didn’t look like a total idiot standing stock-still on the dance floor. She still carried herself like a college athlete, more swagger than grace, but she could manage to stay on beat.
Much to Casey’s chagrin, no one would leave her alone about Alex. “Cabot at three o’clock,” another one of her friends said, laughing. Casey couldn’t resist a peek. Of course Alex was a good dancer, her hips swaying perfectly in time.
“Go for it. Dare you!”
“We’re not ten anymore!” Casey squawked. Her friends playfully shoved her out of their dancing circle and Casey sighed, knowing that if she didn’t try, she’d be teased all night.
Without another word, Casey walked towards Alex, praying that either the ground would swallow her whole or that Alex would get swept away from under her nose and that would be the end of that. Neither of those options happened, and before she knew it, Casey was stuck between interrupting or looking like a complete creep. Trying to make sure her face wasn’t stuck in a grimace, Casey put one hand lightly on Alex’s shoulder to get her attention.
Alex turned immediately. Her mouth was open, likely in mid-protest, but when she recognized Casey, she grinned instead.
“Dance?” was all that Casey could muster.
Alex nodded, and pulled Casey’s hands around to rest on her hips. It wasn’t too hard to find the rhythm; Casey let Alex do the work, and she followed willingly, swaying as Alex rocked in front of her, her back pressed tightly to Casey’s front.
The music shifted; Alex turned in Casey’s arms, fingers hooking into her belt loops to keep her close as they danced. “I’m glad I ran into you tonight,” Alex said over the music, her eyes flicking towards Casey’s mouth before coming back up to meet Casey’s eyes.
“Uh-huh,” Casey said dumbly, eyes stuck on Alex’s.
Alex leaned in, pausing just before her lips touched Casey’s. Casey closed the distance, barely brushing against Alex’s for a chaste kiss. It didn’t take long, though, for the kiss to deepen, suggestive enough that Casey clutched at Alex’s shirt with her fist, making sure she wasn’t going anywhere.
Casey wasn’t sure who pulled away first, but in one minute, she was blindly following Alex off the dance floor, and the next she was pinning Alex to a wall in a dark corner, kissing her again. Despite their position, Alex was very much in control of their kissing, one hand around Casey’s neck, the other on her hip.
“Want to get out of here?” Alex asked, low in Casey’s ear.
*
Casey groaned as she woke up, the sun already too bright for comfort. She turned away from the window to try and hide, but it was no use.
She was about to roll the rest of her body over and pull the pillow over her head, but she realized two things that stopped her mid-roll: one, she was naked, and two, there was someone in bed with her. When she had mustered up enough energy to roll over, she was face to face with Alex Cabot.
“Good morning,” Alex said, voice scratchy.
“Morning,” Casey groaned, unable to say much else. Trying to sit up, she groaned as it was too much effort. She settled for rolling onto her back and shielding her eyes from the light.
Casey felt the bed shift, then some rustling; she guessed Alex was trying to find her clothes. Managing to sit up on her second try, Casey pulled the sheets up to her chest. Alex was mostly dressed now, shimmying into her jeans and doing up the zipper. “Coffee?” she asked, unsure of what else to do. It’d probably take her a few minutes to drag herself to the kitchen, but she felt like she should offer.
Alex shook her head, rubbing away the smeared mascara under her eyes. “I should go,” she said. She gently kissed Casey on the forehead, then smoothed down some of her bedhead, before letting herself out.