Chapter Text
The few customers present at the cafe were respectful and minding their own business, sunlight filtered in pleasantly through the windows, and relaxing music played softly over the speakers. Overall, it was a nice, slow day at work.
Chiara sat back in her chair at the register, cracking open a book and inhaling the warm scent of coffee. It was a good day, she decided. All the customers so far had been polite, all the machines were working correctly, and most importantly, it was quiet.
She let a small, content smile rest on her face as she flipped a page, tilting her head side-to-side slightly to the music. Being the only worker that day turned out to be not that bad! However, the peace didn’t last long.
The door slammed open suddenly, the bell attached to it ringing out loudly. A woman stood in the doorway, breathing heavily, as if she had run all the way there. She was wearing an almost comically large backpack, and at least five massive textbooks were in her arms. Due to her lack of available hands, she had kicked the door open, Chiara assumed, putting her book down to observe.
As soon as the woman stepped inside, one of the textbooks she was carrying fell and hit the floor with a loud bam.
Chiara watched, eyebrows raised, as the woman began to bend down to pick up the textbook, causing the rest of the books she was carrying to topple from her arms onto the floor.
There was a beat of silence as the woman stared at the textbooks on the floor, before dropping her backpack next to the pile on the floor and stomping loudly (though it may have just been her platform boots) to the register.
As she studied the menu, Chiara got the chance to get a good look at her.
She seemed to be around Chiara’s age, maybe a year younger but she was definitely taller. Those thigh-high platforms definitely weren’t helping the height difference. Chiara would be intimidated if it weren’t for the comical scene she made as she entered the cafe. Her hair was long, spiky, and an entrancing silver color Chiara had never seen before.
But this woman’s eyes… wow. Her eyelashes were long and the same color as her hair, meaning it was probably natural. They, along with her pale skin with barely visible freckles on her nose and cheeks, only brought out the striking scarlet color of her irises. They’re gorgeous, Chiara thought absentmindedly. She’s gorgeous.
Whatever trance Chiara was in was harshly shattered as the woman began to speak. Loudly. It wasn’t as if she was yelling, but her voice just seemed to be naturally loud and screechy.
Along with that, she had a rather irritating German accent. It wasn’t the fact that it was German that made it irritating really, but it definitely didn’t help.
“Hello! Can I get uhhhh… can I get a regular cappuccino please? Ooh, and one of those biscuit things? No, make it two! Those look good. Or should I get one of those– no, that’s enough. Hmmm… or should I…?”
How long is this going to take? Chiara sighed internally.
“…No yeah, I think that’s it!”
After the woman finished her wildly disorganized order, she shot an extremely stupid looking, crooked smile at Chiara. Maybe it was meant to be polite or something, but any form of attraction Chiara had possibly felt for her had already melted turned into irritation.
The Italian sighed and entered in the order.
“Swipe your card when it tells you to. What’s the name?”
The woman showed no reaction. Instead she continued staring at Chiara with that stupid, annoying smile on her face. Chiara was growing impatient. She cleared her throat, and the woman suddenly snapped out of it, taking out her card and swiping it.
“Oh, sorry. Name’s Julchen!” The German woman smiled again, causing a wave of annoyance to course through Chiara once again. She would be way more attractive if she was more dignified, she thought, scowling. Wait, what?
“Pick your stuff off the floor. People could trip over it when they walk inside,” she said flatly. Julchen nodded quickly, giving two thumbs-up.
“Oh. Ja. Yes. Sorry about that. I’m an engineering student, and I got finals coming up, so I gotta study, you know! …And stuff. Yep,” she rambled, waving her hands around as she talked. “Yes. I’ll pick my stuff up now. Mhm. Thank you.” She turned on her heels and went over to transfer her fallen items to an empty table.
Chiara, a bit shaken at the interaction, began to make the order. She had never seen this woman before, the cafe was small so most of the customers were regulars. Based on the information Julchen had spouted out a few moments before, she was probably only coming here to study, and once finals were over she likely wouldn’t come back.
Chiara was a bit torn on whether that idea made her happy or sad, but she decided on happy when she remembered how her peace was rudely disrupted.
After a little bit, Chiara finished making the drink and began to bag the pastries from the order, sneaking glances at Julchen as she did so. The woman seemed to be deep in concentration, her eyebrows furrowed as she diligently wrote in a notebook.
Maybe she does have a serious side after all… Chiara thought. She paused for a moment, before shaking her head incredulously. For god’s sake, she doesn’t even know this woman! They’ve had a singular conversation, if ordering at a cafe even counted as one at all! Who is Chiara to judge this stranger’s personality?
That distressing train of thought led Chiara to grow even more irritated than she already was. She felt her face heating up in embarrassment at herself. Get yourself together!
She huffed out an annoyed sigh as she set the order on the counter. However, before she could call out the name, Julchen, who seemed to have noticed Chiara with her order, shot up from her table and rushed over without hesitation. She took her drink and pastries, beginning another rant without even giving Chiara room to speak. How rude!
“Thank you, thank you so much. I literally–” she took a hasty sip of her drink, “–have not eaten ALL morning. Like, I usually study at the library and then get food nearby, but for some reason it was CLOSED and I always pass by this place so I thought, hey, why not? Woah, this is REALLY good, I should definitely come back here. Anyways, thank you…”
Julchen trailed off expectantly. Chiara gave her a blank stare before realizing- oh, she’s asking for my name.
“…Chiara. I have a name badge on,” she said dryly, pointing to said name badge on her uniform. Julchen nodded enthusiastically, suddenly not even making eye contact with Chiara.
“Yes! …Yes. Well! I’m going to continue my work. Goodbye, Chiara. Wait. No, not goodbye, I’m literally just going to that table over there– you know what I mean. Do you know what I mean?”
Chiara blinked.
“ …Okay. Bye.” Julchen turned away quickly, returning to her workplace without missing a beat.
Chiara was, again, quite rattled at the interaction. That woman really needs to think before she speaks. She’s even making me confused! She needs to work on her manners, too. Did nobody teach her about eye contact?
Chiara thought for a moment, before suddenly coming to a realization.
…
That girl was totally staring at my boobs.
After a second of flustered contemplation, she craned her neck to take another peek at Julchen, only to find that the German was already looking her way. Chiara felt her face flush as Julchen waved and grinned while not even noticing her pen falling off the table.
A bit panicked, Chiara ducked her head and picked up her book again. However, she could not take her thoughts of that strange, strange woman.
.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ ⋅. 𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ ⋅ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ ⋅
Julchen hummed along to the music blasting through her headphones as she walked. Despite the overcast skies and freezingly damp air, she couldn’t help but feel warm inside. Yesterday might have been the best day ever, after all! Who knew a simple break of routine could change the course of her life forever?
Julchen was convinced that the moment she laid her eyes on that ethereal, gorgeous, heavenly, beautiful woman, her life would never be the same. So, she decided, today she would come back to that cafe to see her now-favorite barista Chiara again! Their barely-one conversation was only the start of their great true love!
…Okay that sounded kind of creepy. Julchen just wanted to get to know her at the most! That’s it. It’s not like anything would probably come of it, anyway…
As the German neared the cafe, she got a giddy feeling in her heart– Come on! Get yourself together, Jul!!
Soon, she stood in front of the door. She held her textbooks tight in her arms (to ensure yesterday’s embarrassing fiasco wouldn’t happen again, of course) and shoved the door open with her foot.
The bell on the door jingled at her entrance, and she quickly went to set her belongings on the nearest table. Not too quickly though, she had to be cool and collected and mysterious… yep!! There weren’t too many people there, maybe a bit more than yesterday, but she didn’t want to make a disturbance in the peace!
And finally, the moment she had been waiting for! She took off her headphones and grinned. Trying to seem casual and nonchalant, she sauntered over to see– …not Chiara.
She tried not to let the disappointment show in her face… who knows if she succeeded though!
It was a slightly older woman with brown hair a bit lighter than Chiara’s tied up in a bun. She had kind green eyes and a friendly smile on her face as she acknowledged Julchen. According to her nametag, her name was Isabel.
Trying to maintain her quickly fading enthusiasm, Julchen ordered and paid, thanking Isabel as she began to walk dejectedly back to her table. That was, until the back door behind the counter opened and–
“I got it Isabel, you can go on break now,” said an Italian-accented voice, sweet as honey. Julchen whipped around mid-step at the familiar voice, stumbling a bit and almost falling over. Thankfully she didn’t, that would be pretty embarrassing and definitely not-awesome.
The speaker was, without a doubt, Chiara, like an angel sent down from heaven. Her rich brown curls framed her tanned face dotted with barely visible freckles that made Julchen wish she could see them up close. Chiara’s lashes– flawless, accentuating her bright hazel eyes. Her furrowed brows and vaguely annoyed expression were just so cute! And gosh, even from afar, Julchen could just tell Chiara smelled good too! She absentmindedly wondered what scents Chiara would like… Is this creepy?
Isabel patted Chiara on the shoulder and left out the back door, saying something in what sounded like Spanish to the younger woman. Chiara groaned and shook her head, muttering to herself. Meanwhile, Julchen simply stood there gawking for a good 5 seconds before Chiara, who was busy reading the order, noticed her.
“Can I help you?” Chiara asked annoyedly, before seeming to realise that she was speaking to a customer. “Oh, it’s you. Welcome back… I guess. I’ll be getting your order together shortly,” she said, a hint of– awkwardness? suspicion?– in her voice.
Julchen nodded enthusiastically, turning around to dutifully return to her table. But yet again, it was as if she couldn’t tear herself away from this barista. As Chiara began preparing the drink, Julchen marched back to the counter, leaning against it nonchalantly.
“...What is it?” Chiara asked, not even turning to look at the German woman. However, Julchen did not let it phase her.
“Soooooo. How long have you been working here?” she asked casually, playing with her hair. I probably look so cool right now. Is she falling in love yet?
(Meanwhile Chiara was just thinking about what this stupid girl was even trying to do. Was she flirting or was she genuinely trying to embarrass herself? However, Chiara decided to humor her. Not because she was ever so slightly interested in this weirdo though. Never.)
“Hm. Almost two years now, I suppose. This is my older sister’s cafe, and I started working here after graduating high school.”
Julchen nodded thoughtfully.
“Ah, I see, I see. You in school?”
“What is this, an interrogation?” Chiara muttered, probably not thinking Julchen could hear.
“Hey! I’m just trying to make small talk!” she exclaimed. Chiara scoffed and handed Julchen her order.
“You suck at small talk. Aren’t you supposed to be studying for your quantum physics final or whatever you do?”
“It’s actually mechanical engineering–”
“Yeah yeah, smart sounding stuff. Are you sure you want to have a conversation with a non-intelligent human being such as myself?”
Huh?? Julchen shook her head rapidly.
“Wh– huh? No– I’m not– That’s not what I’m saying! I didn’t say anything! Do you always assume the worst of people when they first meet them?” She stumbled over her words, waving her hands around as she did so.
“I’m actually not that smart– I mean people tell me I’m dense and stupid and totally not socially aware all the time yaknow! You’re probably smarter than me in a million different ways, I mean I don’t know you, but you definitely have something that you’re insanely good at unlike me, like I’m literally miss I-have-no-natural-talents here, haha!” Julchen rambled, face growing hotter and hotter by the second.
Internally, all she could do was scream. What the hell am I saying?? Ugh, this is why I shouldn’t be allowed around totally gorgeous women, my ability to speak or even think nearly disappears… OH MEIN GOTT SHUT THE HELL UP!!!
Julchen snapped her mouth shut, face burning in embarrassment. This might be the most pathetic she has ever been in her whole life. Yeah, I’m never coming back to this place no matter how good the coffee is here… she’s probably so weirded out…
But instead, as Julchen stared down at her feet in shame, she heard a small, amused chuckle come from the woman on the other side of the counter. Julchen looked up to see Chiara covering her mouth with her hand as she laughed quietly.
(That might have been the most beautiful sight Julchen had ever laid her eyes on.)
“Yeah, I’m starting to believe you,” Chiara snickered, sliding Julchen’s order over to her. “You were totally rambling like an idiot. I bet you have an awful singing voice too, so you’re right on that!”
“How did you kn– I mean my singing voice is wonderful! Well, I’m usually the one playing the music, but I can sing just fine!” Julchen retorted, though she didn’t have it in herself to feel offended. Knowing she made Chiara laugh (despite the way she managed it) was enough to bring a smile to her face. Oh my god, she can sing too? How could she tell I can’t?
"Yeah, sure, German. You said you play music? What instrument?”
Julchen smirked as she took her drink.
“What is this, an interrogation?” she shot back over her shoulder as she walked back to the table. “I gotta study now, ask me tomorrow!”
I am definitely coming back tomorrow.