The first time Gigi saw her, she brightened her day completely. Every day, Gigi would miserably stand behind the coffee counter, trying her best not to butcher customer names as she scribbled them down with the golden Posca pen provided to her. On the all-too-common occasion that she had a whiny, disrespectful customer, she’d purposely dramatically misspell their name. For young children, she would draw little hearts or stars on the I’s and J’s and sketch a small picture, like of a sailboat and anchor, for example. But often, when a pretty girl came in, she’d do the same. With this girl, she did exactly that.
It was chucking it down with rain on a Tuesday evening, rush hour had passed, and now the coffee shop was quiet. Gigi and her co-worker for the day, Heidi, would make brief conversation whilst brewing drinks, but the two of them were too exhausted to continue the usual banter they’d begin at the start of their shifts. It was just half an hour before closing and most of the tables were empty aside from a couple that had been studying together since midday in the corner. The room was dim and the ambient jazz playlist Heidi had switched on at the beginning of the day had now met its end, so the place was silent. Heidi took to sweeping the floorboards whilst Gigi dealt with the final few takeaway orders of her shift.
And then she stormed in.
Gigi was unsure whether or not the girl meant to stumble into the cafe because the increasing winds outside made her believe that she was unintentionally blown in. Her hair was a tangled mess under her dripping yellow raincoat hood, and her quaint blue umbrella was inside out with a few of its wires bent and broken. She dragged her drenched appearance to the counter and exhaled, as if she was trying not to take her visible frustration out onto an innocent barista.
“My umbrella broke,” the girl said, pursing her lips.
Gigi held back a chuckle. “I can see that.”
The barista watched as the girl cracked a small smile, pulling back her hood and allowing Gigi to get a good look at her face. She was beautiful; like her freckled face should be on a silver screen for the world to see. Her smudged makeup and tangled curls made her look like a character out of an indie movie, and Gigi wondered if she was hallucinating or if she should ask for this girl’s order already.
“What can I get you?” she finally said.
“Uh, do you have anything that can warm up my stomach and also keep me energized for the three miles I have left to walk until I reach home?”
Gigi pondered for a moment, trying to choose a drink that matched this girl’s aura whilst giving her what she had requested.
“A spiced flat white, maybe? That’s one of my personal favourites when I want to warm up.”
The girl’s beautiful hazel eyes lit up and she nodded. “Yeah, that sounds perfect!”
“Can I get a name?” the barista began, picking up the golden pen and popping the lip off with her teeth.
“Oh! It’s Cr--”
“Gobble me, swallow me, drip down the side of me, quick, jump out 'fore you let it get inside of me…”
Both of their jaws went agape and the barista’s eyes scanned for the source of the song, until she saw the reddening of the girl in front of her’s cheeks as she pulled her phone from her pocket, declining the call.
There was a tense pause, the two of them in complete silence as the customer aggressively forced her phone back in its place in her coat pocket, not forgetting to silence it before doing so. Gigi interrupted the quietness by bursting into fits of laughter that she tried impossibly hard to contain but eventually she had no choice but to slip up.
“Oh my God,” she said between giggles, cupping a hand over her mouth as she tried to calm herself down.
Her laughter seemed contagious, because now the girl was laughing too, between frantic apologies.
“That is so humiliating I cannot believe that just happened!” the girl groaned playfully before picking up where she left off, “What I was trying to say before Megan Thee Stallion rudely interrupted me was that my name is Crystal.”
Gigi couldn’t think of a more perfect name for an already perfect girl. She scribbled the name down, looping the Y and L, before surrounding the name in small stars and scribbling a little flower under. Whilst she prepared her drink, Gigi hoped that Crystal would assume she did such a thing to all customer’s cups.
She took extra care making sure the drink was perfect and reached just the tip of the cup, giving the girl a satisfactory amount of coffee whilst also minimising spillage possibilities. She screwed on the plastic lid and placed it on the counter, calling out Crystal’s name and watching with a grin as the girl padded over.
Crystal grabbed the paper cup and sighed with contentment at the feeling of the warmth against her cold palms. She lifted it to her lips and took a loud sip that would usually piss Gigi off to her core, but instead made her breathing stop in her chest.
“It’s perfect. Thank you so much!” the girl winked, paying for her drink with card whilst also tipping a five-dollar note into the tip jar - five dollars being almost double the price of the initial drink. Crystal must’ve read her name tag, cause she tossed the note into the jar that read Gigi in purple capital letters, before leaving without another word.
Part of Gigi wanted to chase after her, but she was in a professional setting and wasn’t willing to give a customer her number. The customer came into the store in a vulnerable state and was just being nice to Gigi - the barista was overthinking it. As she and Heidi closed the store up, she prayed to whatever deity was above to please let Crystal return on her next shift.
And oh boy, did she return.
It was the next morning and Gigi was waiting for her shift to start behind the counter whilst Heidi and her other co-worker, Brita, worked through the many customers’ orders. Usually, while on her break, Gigi would mess around with the cinnamon shaker, trying to make little shapes in the white froth for future orders. That day was no different.
It was early in the morning, she was bored, and she was trying to master an image of a dove carrying an olive branch with the cinnamon when a familiar face entered.
The Gods must have listened to her prayers, because in stormed Crystal, looking slightly more well-kept than the previous evening. The weather was still, so there was no rain to mess up and tangle Crystal’s hair. Instead, it was over her shoulders in perfect golden ringlets, framing her face. Gigi suddenly felt insecure with her modest brunette pin curled bob, but she still didn’t hesitate to push past Brita and be the one to take the girl’s order, despite being on break.
“Gigi! I’m so glad to see you!” the girl simpered, the corners of her eyes creasing with the intense width of her smile.
“Did you get home safe last night?” asked the barista, trying to ignore Brita’s piercing gaze.
“Yeah! The rain was a little less heavy and I had a great bath when I got home. Also, can I please have the vanilla iced latte with oat milk, please? It’s warmer outside today.”
“Of course!”
The brunette scribbled down Crystal’s name, looping the Y and L once again before opting to draw a small cactus beside the name, as quick as she could without holding up the line. She was glad the girl asked for such a drink, because it was one of her favourites to make. She crushed the bag of ice against the counter corner, flexing her muscles in hope that Crystal would watch, impressed.
She placed Crystal’s drink on the counter and called out her name. The blonde sipped the drink and told Gigi how much she enjoyed it, before waving her off and leaving.
“I have so many questions,” Brita whispered in her ear before continuing on with her job. Gigi slid back on to her stool to make the most of the last two minutes of her break with a flushed face.
No one could’ve prepared her for the events of the rest of her shift.
Crystal had first come in at ten in the morning that day, not long after the shop’s opening. Everything was dandy up until lunchtime, with no rude customers yet that day and no spillages. And then the clock hit twelve-thirty, and Gigi’s eyes caught an abundance of bouncing blonde curls entering yet again.
If Gigi wasn’t so head over heels, she’d notice how weird it was for Crystal to enter twice in such a short period of time. She was happy to make the girl’s drink - yet another coffee - and compliment her a couple of times, but it wasn’t until Crystal left that Heidi pointed out how strange it was.
But Gigi started to worry when Crystal came in for even more coffee. Not one more, but two more times that day. She welcomed the girl with the same amount of enthusiasm that she had shown the last three times, but she couldn’t help but have a growing concern over this girl’s sleeping schedule and health.
Five coffees in twenty-four hours were bound to be horrible for the blonde’s health and wellbeing, and Gigi started to worry that she was allowing this girl to have a terrible coffee addiction. Perhaps Crystal had gone to another cafe before Gigi’s and purchased five coffees a day from there until they stopped serving her caffeine so now she had to move elsewhere.
Gigi had such a newfound sense of caringness for her new friend and she thought she was far too pretty to be hurting her own body that much everyday.
So, that Friday, when Crystal entered the store for her thirteenth coffee from the cafe that week, Gigi decided to confront her.
“Crystal, as much as I adore seeing you walk into this store several times a day, I’m concerned about the amount of coffee you have been drinking. I stayed up super late doing all this research and too much caffeine can lead to high blood pressure, abnormal heartbeat, dizziness and even contributes to heart disease. I really don’t want it to seem like I’m forcing you to switch up your life choices cause it’s your life 100%, but I care about you and I don’t wanna see you hurt yourself! And don't even get me started on what it does to your teeth,” she rambled, and fortunately, the store was almost empty with no one queued behind Crystal.
She watched as the look in Crystal’s bright eyes faded slightly, and grew afraid that perhaps she had brought up a sensitive topic for the blonde.
Though her anxieties were washed away when Crystal’s eyes softened and she let out a few nervous giggles.
“Oh my Goodness, I’m so sorry for worrying you. I really want to give you an explanation but it’s so embarrassing I-” she cupped a tanned hand over her mouth, but Gigi was eager to find out what she was hiding.
“My break is literally about to start. Come round to the back and you can tell me whatever it is away from everyone else. I’m sure it isn’t as embarrassing as doing late-night research for a practical stranger’s health despite it not having anything to do with you,” said the brunette sheepishly, showing Crystal how to get past the counter.
The blonde slipped into the back where Gigi was and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Please don’t be embarrassed. I’m flattered that you care so much, but you really didn’t need to. You see, the truth is- well, the truth is-”
The girl trailed off and Gigi found herself getting frustrated.
“Well, spit it out then.”
“The truth is, I literally don’t even like coffee. Most of the coffees you have given me, I’ve given to the group of homeless people outside. The only coffee I actually drank was the one you gave me that first night,” she explained, leaving Gigi completely and utterly lost and confused.
”Huh? Then why did you come here like a million times a day?”
“You are denser than I thought,” Crystal chuckled nervously, “It’s because I wanted to see you. You are like the warmest, most model-like person I have ever seen. I literally want to be around you all the time, your presence makes me so happy and I love the little drawings you draw on my cup even though they get increasingly stupider every time. I’m sorry if I misread everything and I sound like a complete obsessive stalker right now but-”
Gigi yanked her into the back room where all the spare coffee beans were kept, away from the eyes of her co-workers and other customers, and pinned Crystal against the door, bringing their faces extremely close.
“I want to kiss you so bad right now please please let me kiss you,” Gigi begged, her perfect nose brushing against Crystal’s freckle-dusted one.
The blonde nodded enthusiastically, tipping her lips up to meet Gigi’s in a tender, affectionate kiss that left a feeling neither one of them had ever experienced before. It lasted a few seconds, Crystal’s hands lifting up to cup each side of the brunette’s chiselled jawline, before Gigi eventually pulled back to breathe.
“I was gonna give you my number on the first night after WAP started blasting from your stupid iPhone 5 but I was too scared to be unprofessional,” she admitted, earning a boop on the nose from Crystal.
“I’m pretty sure golden sketches of sailboats and flowers aren’t professional either but, I don’t know. I’m unemployed. I don’t have time for a job. M’ too busy looking after this WAP.”
“Shut up.”