She's playing it cool but she's lying
Rio was fucking exhausted. And anxious. And insanely behind on schoolwork.
She was in desperate need of a good night's sleep (or just a solid five hours), but caffeine would have to suffice for now. Her incomplete schoolwork was piling up to the point that it was absolutely overwhelming, but her motivation was lacking, so, in a desperate attempt to get herself to actually get shit done, Rio decided she needed the age-old solution to student burnout: coffee. Which is how she found herself stumbling into a random café on a Saturday morning, a bag full of overdue assignments weighing down her shoulder and a one-track mind.
A one-track mind that was immediately derailed when she laid eyes on the barista. She was gorgeous - long dark hair, startling blue eyes and an arrogant and aloof aura that would otherwise piss Rio off to no end, but somehow seemed to work - and Rio’s brain went blank, sans the word wow bouncing around her (otherwise empty) skull.
She found herself unable to stop staring as the elderly lady in front of her placed her order. The barista looked to be maybe a year or two older than Rio and, though she had never before thought she had a type, Rio knew if anyone ever asked again she would have to describe this girl. The way her hair was somehow perfectly messy, the way she smirked rather than smiling, the way her fingers wrapped around the mug she handed to the customer, the way she shamelessly rolled her eyes at the elderly lady’s request for something stupid, the way-
‘Hey, what can I get you?’ Said the barista, startling Rio out of her daze.
‘Uh,’ Rio started, finding words sticky in her throat with the full focus of bright blue eyes on her, ‘black coffee, please.’
The girl smirked, as if to say ‘of course, should’ve guessed’ as she tapped at the till and Rio managed to drag her eyes away from the other girl's face long enough to read her name tag.
‘Anything else?’ The girl, Agatha, asked, raising a perfect eyebrow and looking at her expectantly, a hint of amusement in her eyes and Rio felt strangely like she knew exactly how hopelessly gay her thoughts were.
‘Um, no thanks,’ Rio stuttered out, finding herself wishing she had bothered a bit more with her outfit, or her makeup, so that maybe the barista might find her at least a fraction as attractive as Rio found her.
Rio had never seen herself as conventionally hot, but she knew she was memorable, even if it were only because of her startlingly intense eyes and (according to Lillia) off-putting aura, which was something she had every intention of using right now.
Rio managed to get through the rest of the transaction without stumbling over her words again or otherwise embarrassing herself. She even executed a rather pointed amount of eye contact - making sure her tired eyes were wide open - and a subtle brush of her fingers against Agatha's as she took her coffee mug, causing a rather smug smile to tug at her lips as she walked to a small table in the corner of the café.
Even if Agatha didn’t think she was attractive, she was going to remember her. Probably for being weird, but that’s a win to Rio.
As she settled into her chair, Rio began to pull work out of her worn shoulder bag, laying all the various pieces of paper on the table in order of how overdue they were, cringing at the half-written essay from four months ago before deciding to just throw that one in the bin. By the time her bag was empty, there was barely enough room for Rio to actually work, but she shoved a few things around and picked up her pen anyway.
She started with a two-week overdue psychology paper which, thankfully, was already about halfway done. Leaning heavily on the support of google, it was only about ten minutes before she could move on to her pile of late English essays, two of which went straight in the bin.
However, the pleasant ambiance of the café soon became far too comforting for Rio's tired mind and even the caffeine in her veins couldn't combat the warm toned wallpaper and the softness of the armchair she had claimed. Combined with the effort it had taken to complete the few pieces of work she managed to finish and the dim orange lighting, Rio found her eyes becoming far too heavy.
Her fatal mistake was putting down her pen. As soon as the biro was laying on the coffee table and Rio was free to move her hands to support her head she was basically dead to the world, the only thing tying her to the mortal realm being the slightly too fast beating of her heart.
—
Rio slept for three hours.
When she woke up, it took her far too long to remember where she was. If her coffee cup hadn’t been sitting on the table she probably would have assumed she had fallen asleep at the library. Again.
Looking at her watch, Rio sighed: it was almost 4pm.
Mumbling various profanities under her breath (both in English and Spanish) she began collecting her papers and cramming them haphazardly into her bag. She was reaching for the last pile when she noticed something next to her empty mug. Frowning slightly, she reached over her remaining schoolwork to find one of the cafe’s chocolate muffins wrapped neatly in a napkin on top of what, upon first inspection, looked like a rouge page of her work but, when she looked closer, was most definitely not in her handwriting. It was a note.
You look like you could use a snack. Hope you like chocolate, sweetie. X - Agatha
P.S, I promise it's not poisoned
Holy shit.
Rio looked around frantically, searching for the brunette, but the only people left in the café were an older male barista with badly bleached hair and a few old ladies drinking what Rio assumed was some crappy weak tea.
Accepting that the older girl had probably finished her shift, Rio shoved the rest of her stuff into her bag, picked up the muffin and folded the note carefully into her pocket before walking out of the café, her thoughts consumed by a gorgeous, and apparently really quite kind, brunette.
On the walk home, Rio unwrapped the muffin and broke a piece off. Briefly, as the chocolate hit the tip of her tongue, she was hit by the intrusive worry that maybe the muffin really was poisoned, but she quickly pushed that thought aside at the realisation of how fucking good it tasted. She really wouldn't mind if it was though; dying from a delicious muffin poisoned by a hot girl would be a pretty cool way to go.
She didn't die.
In fact, she made it the whole way home, cooked herself dinner, showered, fell asleep and woke up the next morning very much alive.
Very much alive, and very much thinking about a hot barista named Agatha.
Thinking about her so much that Rio considered just going back to the café and hoping that the other girl was on shift, but she isn’t that obsessive (she totally is) and her bed is just so warm that she really can’t be bothered to get out of it (that bit is true).
Instead, she decided to try and find Agatha on social media, which is a much more acceptable form of stalking and requires little to no movement.
And, apparently, very little effort as all Rio does is type ‘Agath’ into the search bar before the barista's account shows up, jumping out to her as she immediately recognises the girl from her profile picture, which she looks absolutely gorgeous in. Grinning, Rio clicks on the profile, revealing that it is private.
Rio’s smile drops.
‘Fuck.’
If she clicked on the follow button Agatha would know she had actively searched for her account after they barely spoke, but she might follow Rio back. Or she would find her creepy and block her. Or she just wouldn’t remember her at all and ignore the request.
Fuck it, Rio thinks, its worth the risk.
She clicks follow.