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Heather Chandler hates her job.
The only reason she’s working there is because there are barely any other jobs and the pay to hours ration ain’t half bad.
But, god, she hates her job. Her boss was a dick and the people, dear god, the people were another breed of annoying. The coffee is either too hot or too cold or too strong or, god forbid, it tasted too much like coffee. Some were insistent on flirting even though it is her literal job to be nice to them, some were nice and tipped well; most students were good, they gave her empathetic looks when some asshole gives her shit, and she wishes she could give as good as she gets but she actually needs this job because her landlord is being an asshole – she knows that the dent in the wall predates her time in the apartment but he would not hear it, she wishes she could stab him with a selection of her high heels.
There is a silver lining of working with her roommates, but between Mac’s consistent cheeriness and Duke’s inability to smile on most days meant that she has to take till duty because customers hate it when your server can’t stop talking but also hate it when they don’t talk at all. And till duty is the worst, she cheeks hurt slightly from smiling and if one more man in a suit tries to flirt with her one more time, she will do something which will lead to her getting incarcerated, or at least will get her in trouble with her boss. She looks at the clock and can’t believe that it’s only half nine, thankfully though, it signals the end of the morning rush and she can finally breathe properly.
“What time did you come in last night Mac?” Duke asks, cleaning the machine. It’s the usual conversation of who Mac’s flavour of the week is, it tends to remind Heather of how single she is or at least how long it’s been since she’s gotten laid.
“Who’s to say I came home at all?” she says, knowing the exact effect that it will have on her and Duke. Now that is news, she normally comes home at around 4am, quiet as a mouse, ready to tell her and Duke about her fantastic or lacklustre night. But not coming home all together? That means that she either enjoyed the company of the random person she slept with or they actually wore her out, which is practically impossible – and she’s been on runs with Mac, she knows the girl has stamina.
“Okay so they’re an improvement on Kurt Kelly?”
“Everyone’s an improvement on Kurt Kelly.” She says, she always had a particular dislike for the man, which was increased by his treatment of her oldest friend. Plus he was a complete no show in the bedroom, if you got what she meant. Mac sighs a bit wistfully at this unknown person.
“Yeah, she’s just, so amazing. She’s so funny and so charming and, oh my god, she makes the best pancakes in the world.”
“Hey, I take offence to that.”
“Don’t worry Duke, your pancakes are still up there.”
“Maybe it’s just the company that makes them better.”
The conversation gets cut short by a woman almost stumbling into the shop. She has shoulder length brown hair and a hideous blue scarf but their eyes meets and, fuck, she wants a girlfriend really, really bad. She feels ridiculous, just staring at this woman while she looks around the shop. She has a pair of jeans and a long coat that looks kinda ratty but she somehow makes it work.
“Hey, can I just get a latte?” She says, chewing on her lip in a way that she really shouldn’t find adorable.
“Yes, of course, anything for our customers.” She can’t believe she said that, when has she said that? Ever? The answer is never. She can hear Duke stifling giggles while Mac gets going on the coffee. The woman looks slightly confused at Heather’s words and she never wished for the floor to swallow her up more than in that moment.
“Do you want anything else?” She finally asks when she’s finally able to string a sentence together.
“Uh, could I have an almond croissant please? Oh and could it be to go?” Mac gives a thumbs up while Duke is still trying to catch her breath at her misfortune at being able to talk to pretty girls.
“Yes, that’ll be $4.35 please.” And this part goes smoothly because she is looking at the cash register and not at the woman’s eyes which look like melted chocolate or some shit like that and she can’t stop looking without making a complete fool of herself. The woman leaves with a steaming latte, almond bun and a small smile on her face and Heather turns to face the music of her two best friends.
“Not a word.” She says, feeling her face go red.
--
The woman becomes a regular after that, always after the morning rush, always tipping quite nicely and she always makes Heather trip up on her words or act like an idiot. Mac’s ‘unknown woman’ turns out to be a woman called Jane and is actually rather nice, she even looked quite scared when Heather and Duke threatened her life if she hurt Mac, so she gets to stay in her book, although she is watching her with hawk-like eyes because Mac is looking happier than she normally is and this woman best not jeopardise that. The woman who makes her trip over her words starts to become a regular, and she can’t help but get excited for that time at just past ten am where she comes in and gets slightly more upset than she deserves to considering that she doesn't know her at all.
Sometimes she stays and reads, every time she does it’s a different book, she looks so invested in it at times that Heather wonders if there would be any way to bring her out of her reverie. She bites her nails as she reads, sometimes she smiles and it’s so small but shows so much joy and- Heather stop pining after the woman for god’s sake, she doesn’t even know if she’s straight, although the amount of cuffed jeans she wears into the shop does give Heather the idea that she might not be. Heather wants to know what she does, her interests, why she read three of the Harry Potter books in the wrong order then read a Camus book the next week, she’s just, wants to know so badly.
The woman comes in with a friend soon, another woman with a half purple death hawk and an unwarranted jealousy creeps up in her. The woman with purple hair makes the other woman laugh, it’s one of those laughs which is even funnier than the joke, it has chortles and snorts and it so dorky, yet she can’t help but love it. When they come up to the counter, she tries to push jealousy’s ugly head down and just do her damn job because she are a goddamned professional in this job that she hates.
“The usual?” She asks in a subconscious way to prove to this purple haired stranger that she knows the woman who she doesn’t even know the name of.
“Usual? How often do you come here Veronica?” Her name’s Veronica, it fits so well, it works perfectly with her, she doesn’t know how to describe it, it just does. Veronica elbows the other woman and smiles at Heather.
“Yes please Heather,” Oh yes, that’s a new thing, she’s started calling Heather by her name because ‘I like to thank people personally, besides you guys make damn good coffee.’ And every time it makes her heart soar.
The other woman orders and everything passes like it normally does except that Veronica, she can’t get over how much that name fits her, is smiling even wider and laughing over some story that the purple haired girl is telling. They end up staying in and she can’t help but almost stare at them the entire time, hoping that they aren’t together, hoping that they’re just friends and, really this is pathetic Heather. Or at least she thinks it is until she overhears:
“Come on, ask her out, it’s been forever since you and JD broke up,”
“Betty! Shut up, do you want the whole damn coffee shop to hear?”
Thank you Betty, is all she thinks for the rest of the day, thank you so much for telling her this vital information; she’s not straight and she’s single. She even smiles without her face hurting, and she doesn’t even think about maiming any flirting customers. Until she thinks the statement through and remembers that Betty told her to ask someone out, someone who most likely isn’t her.
Ugh, she hates having crushes, they make her shitty job simultaneously better and worse.
--
She thinks that she’s over her crush when she doesn’t show up for a week.
Sure, she’s bummed the first few days, but then her mood gets better once she realises that she’s almost over her ridiculous crush. Although, according to Duke and Mac, her mood hasn’t improved, she’s just gotten better at repressing those ‘gross, gooey-ass feelings about Veronica’, a direct quote from Duke, and to that she laughed because Veronica isn’t interested in her, so she should stop pining after her.
But then she walks in, a lot later than she normally does, the sun has set because it’s goddamn winter and Veronica comes stumbling in, her scarf even higher than it normally is. She looks at the clock and sees that it’s five minutes before closing and, thankfully for her, Mac and Duke went home early because it’s a Wednesday so she has to lock up.
“It’s little late for coffee don’t you think.” Because she’s cool, she’s able to talk to the girl that she can’t stop thinking about without being weird – even though she has been for most of their interactions, including that time where she made her laugh because a kid fell over and she said ‘then perish’ under her breath and Veronica clearly got the reference and laughed and then she made it weird by being weird and Veronica starts speaking.
“You know I don’t like coffee.” She starts and Heather is so confused, disregarding this week, she’s been coming daily for nearly a month, getting a latte every single time, what does she mean she doesn’t like coffee? Veronica takes of her scarf to reveal the rest of her face and, jesus, she’s just so cute.
“Then wh-“
“Because I, uh, wow this is harder than I thought it was going to be.” Now Heather’s even more confused, why is Veronica acting like she’s going to break up with her?
“You okay?”
“Yeah I just, I don’t like coffee, but I ordered the first thing I could see on the board because the barista here is just, so, hot.”
Well, that’s a shocker.
“So I came the next day, and I got flustered again so I ordered the same, and then it became my ‘usual’” She does cute little bunny ears and almost knocks herself in the face with the scarf that her left hand is holding. “And I liked the way that you would smile and say, ‘the usual?’ And, ah, I’m rambling so I just wanna say, do you wanna go on a date with me?”
Heather feels a smile come across her face, it’s not one that makes her face hurt and it’s a natural one for the first time in ages. She realises that she hasn’t answered in a while and that’s probably why Veronica is chewing on her lip like she did on her first day.
“I get off in five, if you wanna wait?” She says, slightly bashfully, and Veronica face relaxes into one of those smiles that sets off butterflies in her stomach.
“Yeah that’s be great.”
“I would offer you coffee but…”
Veronica let’s out a laugh that makes her let out a few chuckles and, god, she is pretty sure she’s already falling.
(Don’t tell anyone, but she already has.)