"You're late." Charlie sipped her coffee. No doubt it was an extra one that someone gave back and she didn't want to throw it away.
Alison placed a light pink box on the counter and opened it. Charlie's eyes zeroed in on the cupcake sitting smack dab in the middle. Salted caramel. Her favorite. Her stomach emitted a low rumble of approval. She'd been so caught up at the register she hadn't eaten since she got there.
"Consider it my olive branch for being late." She pushed the box toward Charlie.
"That's the closest thing to an apology you're ever gonna get." Olivia said as she took a seat at the counter.
Instead of arguing with her, she poked at the cupcake with suspicion. "Did you poison it?"
"Nah, I was in a rush. Maybe next time."
"Hilarious. Netflix should give you a standup special." She plucked the cupcake from the box and examined it more closely for signs of tampering.
"I know." Alison oozed cockiness. "It's one of my many wonderful attributes."
Olivia fought an eye roll.
Charlie laughed. "You know? I think Satan must've been distracted the day he created you and poured a little too much obnoxiousness into you."
"I'm Satan's hellspawn now?"
Charlie nodded and tasted the frosting.
"I thought I was a succubus."
Olivia cut in. "Where were you? I called you all morning."
"I uh..." Alison quickly glanced at Charlie, then back at Olivia. "I slept in."
Charlie remained quiet. Not wanting to know the truth.
"How did you know salted caramel is my favorite?" She squinted at a tiny black mark on the cupcake wrapper. A mere scratch from an errant marker, or proof of poison? Hmmm...
"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Everytime you're not drinking that almond milk crap, you're inhaling a caramel mocha the size of your head."
Okay, fair point. Her love for all things caramel-almond-flavored wasn't exactly a secret.
"Keep it up and you'll get diabetes," she added. "All that sugar can't be good for you."
"So you're feeding me more sugar in the hopes I'll become diabetic." She put the cupcake back in the box and placed both her hands on the counter. "I knew you had nefarious intentions."
Alison sighed and pinched her brow. "Charlie, eat the damn cupcake."
"I still don't understand the succubus joke." Olivia said.
Charlie stifled a grin. She peeled back the wrapper and took a small bite. Warm, delicious sweetness burst onto her tongue and she couldn't hold back a soft moan of appreciation. Alison watched while she ate, her expression giving way to something Charlie couldn't identify.
Self-consciousness pricked at her skin. "What?"
"Nothing," the blonde smiled. Olivia chuckled beside her.
Charlie looked between them both. "It is poisoned, isn't it?"
"Charlie, you have frosting all over your face." Diego cut in and handed her a napkin.
The two girls finally gave in and laughed.
"Ha ha, funny." Said Charlie.
She took some of the frosting in one finger and smeared it over Olivia and Alison before they could get out of the way. And suddenly the counter became a battlefield of cupcake and frosting. Before they destroyed the entire counter, Diego cut in and took the cupcake from Charlie.
He pointed at Charlie with a stern look. "You're not supposed to be here and," then he pointed at Alison, "you're late."
Alison threw her hands up and went to the bathroom to get cleaned up.
"Where are you going, Charlie?"
Diego smiled. "She has a date."
Olivia's eyebrows shot up at that but before she could speak, Charlie took off her apron and handed it to Diego muttering that she'll be back before happy hour and left.
Matthew had insisted it was time for Charlie to go out on a date. She had been acting strange lately and ever since he introduced her and Jackson he had been dying to get to know her more. So, Charlie agreed. Not, that it had anything to do with Alison and wanting to forget about the kiss.
---
Outside the coffee shop after lunch, Jackson seems as shy as she was. Toeing the pavement with his hands in his pockets. Okay, maybe not as shy. He can make eye contact without blushing. He's the "oh, isn't he sweet" kind of shy and he insisted on walking her back to the coffee shop since it was getting late. He was nice. Non-threatening. Safe. Lunch was only mildly awkward, wine made it better but maybe she had had a little too much to ease off the nerves. It didn't matter because the date was a raging success in the relative terms of Charlie's dating life. But it's the end of it and this was the part she hated.
What is she supposed to do now?
Hug? Kiss? Shake hands? No, that's weird.
"I had a great time," Jackson chirps with an innocent smile on his lips. Meanwhile, Charlie is trying not to look tipsy. "We should do it again some time."
Charlie wraps her arms around herself, she'd rather not. "Yeah." She tries to pull off a nonchalant shrug, but almost loses her balance. Maybe she was a little drunk. "I'll call you."
Jackson's soft smile falls.
"Right," he said. He eyes the other side of the street, getting her message and backs away with a wave. "Have a good night, Charlie."
"You too, Jackson." She returns the awkward wave and makes her way to the coffee shop to start her late shift.
"There she is!" Diego said excitedly. "How'd it go?"
Charlie forced a smile. "It... didn't go very well."
"What didn't go very well?" Alison asked. Her high cheekbones and full lips made Charlie forget all about her horrible date. For a moment, she was silent, as if caught in a trance by her presence.
"Charlie went on a date." Diego answered proudly.
"Did she? With who?" Her voice soft and melodic, yet commanding. Charlie thought she heard something in the tone, but brushed it off.
The question filled Charlie with a mixture of delight and horror. Not sure where either of those feelings came from. "Jackson."
"Cat man?"
She nodded.
"You can do better." She said.
Charlie chuckled. "So can you."
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean."
Alison wanted to know everything about the date for some strange reason, but before she let her mouth loose, she redirected the topic. "I'm just saying, Todd wasn't much of a catch either."
Charlie gave her a look. The kind of look that made Alison nervous, maybe even the only look that made her nervous. "Tell me again, why are you suddenly interested in my dating life?"
Alison held her gaze, Charlie wondered if Alison had an answer... Hopefully not, she regretted saying that the moment it left her mouth. Before the blonde could reply Charlie disappeared to the back room to get more alcohol. The place was already getting crowded and bands would start playing any time now.
Charlie stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, trying to steady her breathing. That little conversation sent her pulse into a frenzy. She splashed some cold water on her face, hoping to clear her mind and stole two shots of tequila before returning to the bar. It was going to be a long night.
As she started to take orders, Charlie tried to focus on her customers, but her mind kept wandering to the conversation. You can do better. She had said. Todd wasn't much of a catch either. The more she thought about it, the more it annoyed her. It was none of her business. Plus if she wanted to judge someone's dating life she should start with her own, Charlie was 99% sure Alison didn't even know the name of the person she slept with the night before. Olivia came looking for her and when she called her to ask if everything was alright and Alison ignored the call, they both knew what was up. Alison had stopped fooling around and deep down Charlie liked that, but now it seems like old habits don't die. She stole a couple more shots here and there, the more she drank the easier it would be to ignore the burning feeling she felt whenever she thought about the blonde. By midnight she was stumbling over her words, and her hands were a little shaky as she poured drinks. She put on a smile and tried to make small talk with the customers. They laughed at her jokes and chatted with her. But Alison was a whole different ball game.
From across the bar, Alison kept a close eye on Charlie all night as she moved about, serving drinks to the customers and sneaking shots of tequila. Charlie seemed to be in a daze, swaying slightly as she made her way from one end of the bar to the other. Was she drunk? When Atlas got on stage things quieted down a little on orders and Alison approached Charlie behind the bar.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Alison asked, her voice steady.
Charlie looked up at her, her eyes slightly unfocused. "I'm busy."
Alison took a deep breath and put a firm hand on Charlie's small back directing her to the back room. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
Charlie looked at her, her eyes searching. "Why do you care?"
"Because you look more drunk than the guys you're serving the shots to, Charlie."
"No, I don't."
Alison held her gaze. "Yes, you do."
Charlie chuckled, her voice slurred when she spoke. "Leavemealone."
Alison blinked at her. "Charlie."
Charlie stumbled as she walked past Alison to head back outside, her eyes half closed. "I want to be alone."
There was a hard knot at the center of her stomach and Alison found herself trying to breathe around it. The beginning of a thought tickled at the edge of her mind, wanting to resolve itself into a full-blown realization, but she pushed it aside, she couldn't afford to give her energy to anything but the issue at hand and that was Charlie.
She took another hard, long breath and stopped Charlie in her tracks. "Come on, we have to get you sobered up before anyone notices," Alison finally replied.
"I said, I want to be alone."
"Why are you being so difficult?"
"Because..." She stumbled forward, Alison's hand gripped the brunette's arm firmly, once Charlie regained her balance, dark eyes found Alison's and a chill ran down her spine. "Have I ever told you your eyes are very pretty?" she asked.
"No, you haven't. Come on, sit here, I'll get you some water."
The brunette smirked, she knew it was the alcohol that had given her all that confidence and it felt good to be in control for once. "They really are. Funny thing is they change color."
"Charlie," Alison gaped at her. "You're not making any sense."
"I'm telling you the truth."
Alison laughed. "About my eyes?"
"About how beautiful I think you are."
Alison's smile dropped.
Charlie took a step closer.
"Charlie stop, you're drunk and you might say something you regret."
She could feel the heat from Alison's body, so unfamiliar she wanted to drown in it until she knew it like the back of her hand. "Like you regret kissing me at the party? Because you were pretty drunk then."
"I," Alison stuttered. "We already talked about that. It was a mistake."
"Was it?" She said and leaned closer.
Alison suddenly had trouble swallowing.
Charlie leaned in slowly. She did it so slowly that Alison could have stopped her a million times before their lips touched. But she didn't.
Then Charlie's lips brushed against hers. It was a whisper of a touch, so tentative, so light, she wasn't sure she'd felt it at all. Before she knew what she was doing she stretched her arms and around the brunette's waist while Charlie's hands knotted in her hair and the kiss stopped being gentle and became fierce, all in a single moment. Alison's mind was buzzing with questions, but she was too afraid to cut the moment short to ask any of them. Charlie's hands slid down her spine - Alison felt the hard press of the girl's palms against her shoulder blades and then she pulled away, gently disengaging herself, drawing her hands away and stepping back. For a moment Alison thought she might fall, as if something essential had been torn away from her, a leg or an arm.
"Why did you do that?" Said the blonde, she sounded calm, but her chest was rising and falling fast.
Charlie shrugged. "Because I wanted to."
Alison stared at her for a moment, unable to believe that she could have such a simple answer to what was such a complicated question. She knew that Charlie's inhibitions were very low, so did that mean deep down she wanted to kiss her? Olivia used to say that being drunk makes you do what you already want to do while sober, was this the case?
Finally, she blurted out. "You can't do that."
Charlie smiled slowly. "But I did."
"We're friends, Charlie. Friends aren't supposed to kiss."
"True," she allowed, "I guess it was another mistake, then."
"I don't like you." Alison added.
"That's what you've been telling me," the brunette said. "I'll have to take your word for it, because it wasn't particularly apparent a few seconds ago."
Alison's blood rushed through her head, she didn't like the feeling of someone else being in control and said the only thing she thought could give it back to her. "Instead of fooling around with me, you should experiment with someone who actually likes you."
"Oh? And who might that be?"
"Emma."
She turned around and went back to the bar. Little did she know her night was still not over. Charlie walked back out, still processing the information. She didn't have much time though because she spotted two familiar faces staring back at her at the bar. Matthew and Emma were there.
"Hey, Charlie!" The boy said.
Emma gave a hug and asked if she was free already. She couldn't process anything though, the taste of Alison still on her lips and her words floating freely in her mind. Did Emma have feelings for her?
"Do you want something to drink?" Emma asked.
She didn't, but she wasn't fully herself and without asking Diego she simply took her apron off and decided it was time to hang out with her friends. "Whatever you guys are having."