Just Another First Day
Emma’s Point of View
My name is Emma Swan and it’s another early morning at work, at least there is free coffee. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and my customers usually make it better. I have been a shift supervisor at Starbucks for three years and all of my best friends work there. We have a lot of fun together, but the sad thing is that they do not really know me. I keep a lot of things to myself and they all have kind of accepted that about me. I finally completed all of my morning tasks with my opening barista Ruby and we are bracing ourselves for the morning rush. Today is the first day of class at the College of Charleston and we are directly across the street from campus, so all of the students and professors get their coffee from here.
I am working on my plan for the day when my best friend David walks in and gives me a hug. “Hey Ems, you look deep in thought.” I take a moment and savor the hug. David is the love of my life, but not like that. He is gay and is dating a wonderful man named Robin Hood. “Hey Honey bunches of Oats” I reply. “I am just trying to figure out the best deployment for the day. Mrs. Lucas (her real name is Lu, but when we are annoyed with her, we call her by her full name.) did not give us much to work with today.” David looks at what I have so far and agrees with my assessment. “Sometimes, I think Lu is trying to see how far you can push you, Em.” I just hummed in response because I have thought that several times. I put him on bar and slide Rubes over to register. I think this will be a good day.
Two hours later
I was wrong. Today is horrible and the students are just pushing my buttons. A lot of people are complaining their drinks are not right and I think they are just doing it to get free drinks for their friends. Everyone knows Starbucks will let you have both if we get it wrong. As I was trying to get things sorted out with the customers, I look up at the door and the most beautiful human being I have ever seen has entered my store.
I don’t know who she is, but she taken all of the oxygen out of my body. All of sudden nothing mattered, but her. The customer who was shouting at me faded into the distance. I could not breathe and I want to know her. She looked to be about 5’5, but she has on killer heels that put her at about 5’7. She has gorgeous raven hair, dark brown eyes, and the perfect amount of olive tint to her skin. Oh god, her lips are plump and are the color of red delicious apples. All I can imagine is running my tongue around those lips and sucking on them. She is a damn goddess and I think she knows it. She took a short look around and saw how long the line was then she started to walk out. Then she saw me staring and she winked at me then I started to choke because I could not breathe. She smirked at me and walked out the door. At that one action, my stomach dropped and all of the butterflies in the world rushed in to my abdomen. All of sudden, David’s hand is waving in front of my face. “Earth to Emma.” I blink and I realize where I am. I go back to putting out fires, but my thoughts go back to her.
We finally get all of the customers out the door and every time the doors opens, I can do nothing, but hope it’s her. Every time, I am let down. David notices this and pulls me to the back. “What’s up Ems? Why are you so distracted?” I look at him for a second and wonder if this is safe to talk about this with him. Should I tell him that I think I am in lust with a woman I saw for five seconds? Here’s the thing, no one knows I am gay. I just broke up with a guy named Killian, in fact he works with me. It is really awkward. I dated girls in college, but I was too ashamed to do it out in the open. I have spent years trying to pretend like I am not gay, but I am realizing it’s too hard to hide from. Also, this mystery woman is the first person who has caught my attention since my ex Lilly in college.
“David, I need to tell you something that I have not told anyone ever.” David looks at me and nods. “David, I am a lesbian and I have been able to ignore my feelings for the most part. Then today this woman walks in and she blew my mind. I swear she is sex on a stick and I cannot stop thinking about her.” David blinks for a second and then wraps me in a big hug. “Ems, you know I love you right? Also, this explains everything with Killian because you always looked so unhappy. I thought it was because he wore you down so much to get you to date him. Then I thought you stayed because he looks hot in leather pants, but you never seemed to appreciate those enough. You being gay makes me love you even more.” I chuckle and sigh, a feeling of relief washes over me. All of a sudden, I realize I feel better than I have in years.
David releases me from the hug and whispers in my ear, “I’m going to help you get your girl.” Then I have tears in my eyes and I look at him “I knew there was a reason why you’re the love of my life.” I give him a wink and he chuckles. I swat his arm, “get back to work,” I joke.
Regina’s Point of View:
Today is my first day as a professor at the College of Charleston. I finished my doctorate in political science at Harvard in May. I know, it would have been far more prestigious to teach somewhere else, but I am track to be chair here if I teach for two years. Plus, they have agreed to give me the research budget I asked for as well. I am currently at the top of the field in scholarly work on the Electoral College, which is in high demand after this year’s election. Fuck 2016. My first class went by pretty well even though everyone was still asleep. I felt bad for them because it is an 8 a.m. on a Monday morning is entirely unfortunate, but I couldn’t show them that. It was a little fun to scare them, but I will loosen up before the semester is up because I learned as a teacher assistant that you have to start out a hard ass.
I started the walk across campus to my office when I notice there is a Starbucks across the street. Hey, my students aren’t the only ones who hate 8 a.m. classes. I walk in and there is a line to the door. I do not have time for to wait because my office hours start in ten minutes and I was taking a risk by stopping to begin with. I look around to see if there anyway for me to get my caffeine fix and there is not. I start to turn to leave and I notice someone staring at me from behind the bar. I look at her and there is a beautiful blonde behind the counter being yelled at by some dumb college student. I look her up and down with the ease of a professional and notice her name tag says ‘Emma.’ She looks to be about 5’7 and her lips are perfect, pink and plump. All I can imagine is biting those lips and kissing them until they match my dark red lipstick. She has the palest skin to the point that she is almost translucent. She is an angel and I do the only thing I can do. I wink at her and it looks like she starts to choke a little. I give her a smirk and walk out the door. I am definitely coming back after my office hours to introduce myself to Em-ma.
I chuckle a little bit as I walk away because it has been a long time since someone has caught my attention and I think I am going to have fun with this Emma girl.