Raising the Stakes; Zelink Coffee Shop AU (The Legend Of Zelda)

Chapter One

The smell of coffee was one that I could not go more than a day without embracing. Yeah, coffee was an addiction for me... one I had never failed to accommodate.

Going to a coffee shop every single day had never been a problem. Coffee was expensive, but I could get two drinks every day for a YEAR and it would still cost less than one of my father's pairs of shoes.

I sat cross-legged in a booth, leaning against the front window as I tapped away at my phone.

Ideas raged in my head, as usual, but my writing refused to cooperate. Not today. I couldn't today.

"Writer's block again?" the owner of the coffee shop, a close friend of mine, asked.

I raised my eyes to the fiery-haired woman and then dropped my hands onto the table. "Yeah, something like that," I replied softly.

"No escape from it, huh?" Urbosa replied with a smile. "Want another coffee?"

"Yes, please," I replied as I set my phone down on the table and then moved to look out the window.

What was bothering me - more than the usual writing frustrations - was that I had to move away. The only reason I was even here was to say goodbye. I just didn't know how to do it. I didn't want to do it.

My father was forcing me out to another city. They'd forced me to come live with them again - when it was convenient for them, of course - and now they were changing their minds and wanted to move me away? 

That was something I couldn't cope with. Even though I hated living in that house. Hated my father... I couldn't stand the thought of leaving Urbosa. 

My father had the last say for me, and I couldn't even argue... 

... This is what I get I suppose... for trying to be a writer... I'm supposed to take over their business not chase some dream of being a self-sustained author. He's trying to teach me a lesson so I'll come crawling back... but it won't work. 

It won't work.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as my new coffee was set in front of me. "Thank you," I said with a pained smile as I forced myself to stand.

"No prob," she replied, then frowned. "Are you leaving already?"

"Yeah... I... I can't concentrate."

She nodded. "See you tomorrow."

I bit my lip as it threatened to tremble, and then I looked away from my friend. Urbosa wasn't just my only friend, she was my best friend. Basically my sister. "...actually..."  I hesitated as I felt the tears start to well, but I shoved them down. I knew how to control myself. "You won't."

"What?"

"I'm..." I swallowed. "Moving..." I admitted, my voice dropping along with my heart. 

Urbosa's eyes started to spark with dangerous fire. "What?"

I looked down at my feet.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked, the pace of her voice increasing.

"Because... because they told me this morning and I... I just didn't know how to..."

The woman's fiery hair had a temper to match, and she was close to blowing. "Your parents can't-"

"Urbosa," I interrupted, grabbing her hands. "They already did, and I can't change that... You can't change that." I sighed, shaking my head. "It's my fault... I actually argued with him about being a writer and this is his retaliation... My punishment." I looked up her. "I... I'm sorr-"

Urbosa stepped forward and hugged me, nearly crushing my ribcage, and didn't let me finish apologizing. 

I appreciated the comfort of my best friend's arms. I smiled and wrapped my small-in-comparison free arm around her.

"I'm glad that you are standing for what you want, please don't apologize for that," she said, then brought a hand to the top of my head. "You had better text me the moment your parents turn their backs."

I smiled. "I will," I said, then fixed my attention on Urbosa's apron. Saying goodbye again felt... impossible. "See you around, Bosa." My feet felt like lead as I left the shop, and when I turned my back to the building, the sadness in my mind shifted into anger.

~*~

The following days felt like I was walking through dream-filled jello. It didn't feel quite real, even as I knew it was. My mother's fake smiles, the insistence that this was just what I needed, and my father's words as they left me to unpack by myself, cemented in my mind that I could prove him wrong. That I would prove him wrong.

But as I sat in the middle of the small apartment, boxes stacked all around me, I found myself only staring blankly at the walls. Where could I even start?

I didn't want to figure it out right then.

I didn't want to unpack.

I didn't want to write in this blank room. 

I wanted a distraction.

I wanted coffee. 

That would be the beginning of it all, I supposed, finding a new coffee shop to write in. I sure as heck wasn't going to be inspired in that apartment. 

Pretty prison, more like.

So I held onto my new determination and I left the cluttered room and locked the door behind me. I pulled out my phone and told it to take me to the nearest coffee shop, and off I started on my quest.