Chapter 2
“Your orders,” the barista placed two dark coffees and cream puffs down on the table before walking off.
“You ordered the same thing as me?” Toga asked, looking at the items in front of Camie.
Camie nodded, smiling shyly, “I wanted to see what it tasted like.”
“It’s really good, you won’t regret it,” Toga gushed, “I promise.”
Camie scooped a huge amount of cream and stirred it into her coffee and brought it to her lips as Toga watched her with anticipation. “So?” Toga asked after Camie had put the cup back down.
“It’s actually creamier than I expected.”
Toga giggled and Camie found herself smiling at the sound, “See, I told you its good.” The girl then proceeded to do the same. While Toga was munching happily on her cream puff, Camie glanced at her occasionally.
Her mind had being filled with nothing but blonde hair and golden honey eyes since yesterday afternoon. She had spent most of the night tossing and turning, thoughts swimming around in her head.
Is it possible to like two people at once? How fast can someone fall in love? Love? No, it’s too soon to start thinking about love... but she couldn’t deny that she was drawn to the pretty girl. What should she do about this newly developed feeling? Pursue it? Would Toga think of her as weird? Maybe she should take it slow. First start off as friends and then maybe just maybe she’d muster up the courage to take it further? Wait wait wait, wasn’t this all too fast? Was she getting ahead of herself? No, she definitely WAS getting ahead of herself.
“Did I mess some cream on my face?” Toga interrupted Camie’s inner debate.
Camie realised she had gone from glancing at Toga to staring. “No! Sorry...uh...” Camie tried to find an excuse quickly but her mind had gone blank. “Aquarium!” she exclaimed.
“Aquarium?” Toga questioned taken aback slightly.
Camie flushed, she had said the first thing that came to mind. “Um...no. Er...would you like to go to the aquarium with me tomorrow?”
“On a school day?” Toga smiled, glancing at Camie out of the corner of her eye.
Embarrassment washed over Camie in a shade of red, “No... um we can go this weekend?”
“I’d love to,” Toga perked up flashing her signature grin.
“Really?” Camie’s eyes widened in surprise as her heart pounded against her chest.
Toga giggled, “Yes. What time do you want to meet?”
“Uh...10am?”
“Sounds great, I’ll be waiting at the entrance the day after tomorrow.”
With that Toga stood up, saying she had to get home to complete her homework and skipped off leaving Camie to sit and ponder over what she had just managed to do...no what she had just managed to accomplish.
The next day Camie arrived at the coffee shop to find that her usual seat was taken by two men. She walked up to the counter and ordered before choosing to sit somewhere in sight of the door so that Toga could see her when she walked in. Her order arrived before Toga did. After she had finished the coffee and cream puff, she ordered another drink and took out her homework. The usual barista arrived and still no Toga.
“Your friend not coming today?” the barista spoke up after setting the latte down.
Camie shook her head, “Doesn’t seem like it.”
“Do you mind if I sit for a bit?” the barista asked, pointing at the chair across from Camie.
Camie shook her head and couldn’t help but think that if this was last week she would have been ecstatic but since her mind was preoccupied with Toga she didn’t think much of it.
“It’s not really my place to say this,” the barista started off as she took a seat, “but I don’t think she’ll be coming back here.”
The sentence snapped Camie out of her thoughts, “What do you mean?” Camie flinched internally as she heard the almost accusing tone to her voice. Since when was she so aggressive when she spoke?
“Someone that bubbly doesn’t stick around for long.”
Camie’s eyes narrowed slightly as the barista continued, “It looks to me as if she must have gotten bored and left.”
“Who are you to say something like that? Are you saying I chased her away?”
“No!” the barista was quick to wave her hands around in front of her while shaking her head. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like that.”
“Well it sounds to me as if you’re saying that I bored her.”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that I promise. I only meant that she seemed like someone who doesn’t stick around for long.”
Camie started to pack up her things in order to leave, “I’ll believe that when I see it for myself.”
She walked out, leaving her untouched latte at the table with the girl. Footsteps rushed up from behind her. She turned, hoping to see a blonde beauty behind her. Disappointment welled up from the pit of her stomach when she found that the barista had followed her out.
“What now?”
“I just don’t think that girl is a good person to be hanging out with,” the barista spoke up, “I just wanted to warn you.”
Camie sighed in irritation, “Yeah? Why not?”
“Yesterday after she left...” the barista started and trailed off. She looked like she was debating whether or not it was her place to say what came next.
“If you’re just wasting my time, don’t bother,” Camie made to turn but was stopped again.
“I had finished my shift and when I left I saw her walk into one of the side alleys.”
“Is that all?” Camie all but snapped.
The barista shook her head while looking at the floor, “She met up with some people. They didn’t look like good people.”
Camie felt the anger rise within her and glared at the girl. Without another word Camie turned away from the girl and left. The barista called after her but Camie just walked faster.