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Vi runs her order over in her head as she waits in line. One iced coffee and a single shot oat milk latte. She taps her fingers restlessly against her thigh. The coffee shop isn’t particularly busy, but a quick glance around tells Vi that there’s a new barista at the register learning the ropes, so the line is taking longer than usual.
When it gets to Vi’s turn to order, the new barista greets her with a bright smile.
“Hi, what can I get for you today?”
Returning the smile Vi recites, “One iced coffee and a single shot oat milk latte, please,” She pulls out her wallet.
“Gotcha,” The barista taps a few buttons on a tablet. “And will the latte be hot or iced?” She asks.
“Oh, iced, sorry,” Vi answers, giving her a sheepish smile.
“Not a problem,” The barista taps a few more buttons, and then curses softly under her breath, very clearly backspacing something. “Sorry,” She laughs a bit. “I’m still getting the hang of this thing.”
“No sweat,” Vi assures, “You’re new, right? These things take time.”
The barista looks up at Vi and studies her. Vi watches her eyes travel from the tattoo on her cheek to the one peeking around her neck to the ones twisting around her forearms. She tries to look unassuming, knowing some people can be intimidated by her stature.
“If all the regulars are like you, I think I’ll enjoy my time here,” The barista finally says.
“The crowd’s good people,” Vi smiles, “You’ll love it.”
The barista hums. “I’ll get that order started for you…” She looks up in question. “Six?”
“Vi,” Vi clarifies. “Short for Violet.”
“Well, Vi, it’s on the house,” The barista smiles. “For being so welcoming. I’ll call your name when it’s ready.”
Vi startles, “Oh, you really don’t have to do that. I wasn’t trying to—,” She waves her hand in the air before pulling out her card.
The barista holds up a hand, already moving away. “I insist. Besides, you come here all the time, right? You’ll make it up, I’m sure,” She smirks.
Vi huffs and shakes her head, smiling. “If I can’t argue with that, then you can’t argue with this,” She takes a ten dollar bill and drops it in the tip jar.
The barista laughs. “Thank you,” She says.
Vi flashes the barista one final grin before walking over to the pickup counter to wait for her order. She leans against a wall and pulls out her phone, navigating to her messages.
Cait <3
just ordered
be home soon
12:15 pm
😘
12:17 pm
“Order for Vi!”
Vi looks up and pushes off the wall, slipping her phone back into her pocket. The barista smiles at her and pushes two drinks across the counter.
“One ice coffee and an iced latte with oat milk?” The barista twists the cups a bit.
“That’s right,” Vi says, grabbing two sleeves from a tray. She slips the drinks into their respective sleeves and picks them up. “Thank you again,” She glances down at the barista’s name tag. “Lexi,” Vi nods. “See ya next time.”
The barista beams. “See you next time!”
.
.
.
Vi balances the drinks on top of each other as she maneuvers her keys into her hands. Successfully unlocking the front door, she shouts into the apartment, “Baby, I’m home!” She drops her keys into a bowl and kicks the door closed with her heel before toeing off her shoes.
Vi takes hold of the second drink again, meandering down the entryway. “Caity-cat?”
“In the living room!” She hears Caitlyn answer.
Vi rounds the corner into their living room to find Caitlyn sitting on the floor with Mel and Jayce in front of a pile of puzzle pieces.
Vi grins. “Hey guys! I didn’t realize you were dropping by— I’d have grabbed something for you, too,” She wriggles her coffee in the air.
Mel waves her hand. “Don’t you worry about that, Vi, we didn’t know we were coming either.”
“We were at the farmers market this morning,” Jayce explains, throwing his arm over Mel’s shoulders. “It’s so close by, and it’s been such a busy week. We thought it’d be nice to pay you both a visit.”
Caitlyn stands and walks over, taking her drink from Vi. “How was it?” She asks. “Not too busy, I hope?” She leans in to give Vi a peck on the cheek.
Vi turns her head at the last second to catch Caitlyn’s lips in a proper kiss. She pulls back and winks when Caitlyn clicks her tongue admonishingly.
“It wasn’t busy at all,” Vi says, making her way to the couch. “There was this new barista, though. She’s really nice. I had a small chat with her. She comp’ed our drinks!”
Caitlyn raises an eyebrow. “Did she, now?” She settles on the couch next to Vi and sets her drink down on a coaster. The sleeve falls down a bit and she picks the drink up again to move it out of the way entirely.
Jace grins. “Score, dude!” He leans forward in his seat and holds his fist out to Vi.
“It’s awfully kind,” Mel comments, glancing at Caitlyn, who’s studying something on the side of her drink.
Vi taps her knuckles against Jayce’s. “Yeah, it was cool. I tipped her the total, though.”
“Right on,” Jayce says.
“Anyways,” Vi grabs a coaster and sets her own drink down on it. “What's this puzzle about?”
“We picked it up at the farmer’s market,” Jayce explains excitedly. He picks up the box and spins it around. “It's the bridge markets! Isn’t that neat?” He points to a booth in the image. “Look, it's Jericos!” He scoots to make room for Vi to slide onto the floor next to him.
Caitlyn takes a sip of her latte, watching Vi and Jayce chatter about the stalls they recognize as they start moving around puzzle pieces.
Mel sits down next to her and whispers, “Do you think she ever noticed?”
Caitlyn hums. She runs her thumb over a smudged phone number written on the side of the cup. “Do you think she’d question it if we never visited the shop again?”
Mel raises a brow. “A bit dramatic, no?”
“Perhaps,” Caitlyn sighs “It is one of our favorite spots,” She looks genuinely dejected at the prospect.
“She’s a regular charmer, your Violet,” Mel gives Caitlyn an inscrutable look. “You can move past this, I’m sure. As a couple. As partners.”
Caitlyn squints at Mel. “You’re teasing me.”
“I am.”
“Hmph.”
“Cait?” Vi looks up at Caitlyn from her spot on the rug. “You alright, baby?”
Gracefully, Mel gets up and moves to sit next to Jayce, who pulls her into his arms and begins explaining where they are in the puzzle.
Vi continues to look at Caitlyn, a furrow forms between her brows. “Is there something wrong with the drink? Lemme try it,” She pushes herself up to sit next to Caitlyn on the couch.
Caitlyn lets Vi take the drink from her and watches as she takes a sip. Her eyes stray to the phone number written on the side, partially covered by Vi’s pointer finger. Eventually, she finds her voice.
“The drink is fine,” Caitlyn says.
“Tastes okay to me, too,” Vi agrees. She smiles at Caitlyn, looking confused.
“Did you really not notice?” Caitltn blurts out and instantly cringes. In her peripheral, she sees Mel direct Jayce’s attention away from them.
“Notice what?” Vi looks down at the drink again. “Is it not oat? It tastes like oat.”
Caitlyn huffs. “The phone number, Violet,” she reaches out and turns the drink in Vi’s hands so that the number is facing her.
Caitlyn takes in Vi’s reaction. The way her brows shoot up, how her mouth forms into the shape of an ‘o’.
“You really didn’t know,” Caitlyn observes. Her shoulders drop, posture relaxing.
“I didn't—” Vi looks up, slightly panicked.
“It’s alright—” Caitlyn rushes to assure, but Vi continues on.
“I thought she was just being nice, Cait, I swear—”
“Violet—” Caitlyn grabs Vi’s face in her hands and squishes her cheeks a bit. “It’s fine, love, I don’t care, I promise.”
Somewhere to her right, Mel coughs. Caitlyn decidedly ignores the fact that it sounds like she says, “liar” under it.
“I didn’t know that’s what it meant when baristas offer you free drinks,” Vi mumbles. “I always put a sleeve on— man,” She squeezes her eyes shut. “I feel bad.”
Caitlyn freezes. “What?” She asks.
“What?” Vi repeats, eyes snapping open.
“This has happened before?”
Vi hesitates, realizing her mistake. “…No?”
“It has!” Caitlyn gasps, releasing Vi’s face. “At the same shop?”
“Eh,” Vi grimaces. “Most of the shops, the first few times I would pick stuff up for us.”
“Most—” Caitlyn buries her face in her hands, collapsing onto the back of the couch. “Janna give me strength,” She mutters into her palms.
“What’s got you two so distracted?” Jayce calls over to them. “We’re about to put together Jerico’s.”
Mel leans over and whispers something to Jayce. Similarly to Vi, his lips form a little ‘o’ shape in realization.
Jayce looks at Vi sympathetically. “Oh, bud, really?”
Vi fidgets. “I thought they were just being—”
“Being nice, yes,” Caitlyn finishes for her, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It doesn’t change the fact that all those baristas were flirting with you,” She huffs. “Don’t they see that you always get two drinks? Not to mention the fact that I’m usually with you as well. The gall—” She gets up and grabs a notepad from the side table. “We must make a list, Violet. We will not be returning to these establishments,” Caitlyn punctuates her statement by staring expectedly at Vi.
“Woah, Cait, I don’t think that’s necessary—” Vi holds out her hands and looks to Mel and Jayce for assistance.
“Yeah,” Jayce jumps in “If you go to new places, then it’s just gonna happen more, right?” He looks at Vi for confirmation. “They won’t know you’re together. It’ll just give you more reasons to be jealous.”
Mel and Vi both wince at Jayce’s choice of words.
Caitlyn scoffs and crosses her arms, “I am not—” She leans forward, pointing a finger at Jayce. “I am not jealous of some unobservant, unprofessional—” She cuts herself off, inhaling and exhaling sharply through her nose.
The room itself holds its breath for a few moments before a snort of laughter pierces the silence.
Vi slaps a hand over her mouth, but the mirth in her eyes is unmistakable.
Caitlyn's shoulders creep up towards her ears, but before she can even take in a breath to speak, Jayce is joining Vi.
The two burst into a giggle fit, leaving Caitlyn floundering for the reason. She looks at Mel, who only shakes her head and smiles indulgently.
Vi brings her hand down, revealing a grin that pulls at the scar on her upper lip. “You are jealous! Aww, Cait,” Vi reaches out for Caitlyn’s hand.
Caitlyn's face flushes red to the very tips of her ears, but she laces their fingers together nonetheless. “That’s absurd—” She denies. “I trust you implicitly. I have no reason to feel jealous of a few baristas making moves on you,” She sniffs. “You’re handsomely attractive and very charming. I’d have done the same.”
“Ah—” Vi laughs a bit, a light dusting of pink settles across her cheeks.
Jayce stands. “It’s okay to be a little jealous, sprout,” He moves to rest a hand on Caitlyn’s shoulder, but her scathing glare has him course-correcting.
“Not that you are, of course,” Mel chimes in with her all-knowing smile.
“Right,” Caitlyn mumbles. She feels a tug on her arm.
Vi looks up at Caitlyn and scootches down to the floor, pulling her girlfriend along. “Let’s get back to the puzzle, yeah? Forget about the coffee place. Come with me next time and we’ll…I dunno— make out in front of them to really hammer in the point.”
The corners of Caitlyn’s mouth twitch up in a small smile as she allows herself to be maneuvered. “We will do no such thing,” She says.
Jayce settles back down next to Mel and shares a fond look with her.
“Not even a little bit?” Vi continues, undeterred. “One kiss. No— three.”
“Two,” Caitlyn counters, knocking her shoulder against Vi’s. “One for each drink we will be paying full price for,” She holds eye contact, waiting for Vi’s answer.
Vi grins, a challenge sparkles in her eyes. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Kiramman.”
“Fantastic,” Caitlyn responds, smirking a bit.
“Alright,” Jayce claps his hands, drawing everyone’s attention. “Here are the groups we have so far…”
The two couples spend the rest of the afternoon putting together the puzzle. Two drinks sit forgotten on a side table.