I sit in my seat, slowly swishing my spoon in the cup. I look at the girl across from me, and she gives my a soft smile. Jaden has her own cup in her hand, and slowly sips her hot chocolate. I would usually chug the vanilla bean latte in front of me, but this whole setup has me quite nervous.
I clear my throat. "I didn't know you did this kind of stuff," I comment, not liking how awkward I sound.
"Dating girls or going on blind dates?" she chuckles, moving a brown curl away from her eye.
"Well, both, really. I just didn't expect..." I trail off, blushing. I really couldn't have approached this situation in a worse way.
"Don't worry about it, Micka. I get it, even my friends were surprised when I told them I wanted to date." She stares into her cup, smirking slightly, possibly even shyly. Unlike me, she seems more of the calm type. I chuckle slightly and dramatically roll my eyes.
We're in some of each other's classes, but we don't know each other well. Her short and curly hair has caught my eyes quite a few times though, I admit. Her green eyes seem to shine brightly in contrast with her dark complexion. I pull my eyes back to my coffee to keep from staring.
I take a deep breath, trying to regain my confidence. "It's just, you always seem so concerned over your studies, ya? I didn't think you would try to make room for a relationship or dating. And I guess for the gay thing, no one can really predict that." I say, proud that my voice didn't crack.
"Well, we don't know each other that well, so that's expected. My grades are actually quite mediocre, so don't worry about it. FYI, I totally didn't think you were gay either," Jaden says, not-so-subtly glaring at my rainbow wristband. I'm actually quite proud of it. To most people it's a pretty bracelet, and to anyone that needs to know it, well, hints at certain things. Or at least raises the chance of getting asked about it? Whatever, a girl can hope.
Getting increasingly more comfortable, I narrow my eyes at her in mock suspicion. I don't really believe her. "Alright, what's mediocre to you? If you're like any of those smart friends of yours, I can't really trust your judgement."
"Hey, one of those 'smart friends' is mutual, and set us up! I wouldn't be so fast to dismiss our judgement," she smirks at me, and I playfully roll my eyes. This girl, her aura is just so relaxing and playful. It's so rare for me to get this comfortable in a first time meeting with a stranger- well, a sufficiently distant classmate.
"Let's see... My marks average in the high eighties to low nineties," she sheepishly admits.
I groan, feeling the urge to bang my head on the table. "Those. Are. Not. Mediocre," I sigh in exasperation. "At least you don't talk smart."
"I, Queen Syan the 24th, doth dare disagree. The wisdom that doth cometh from mine mouth is but a blessing unto thine ears. Hmph." She ends by snootily raising her nose. I laugh at her expression more than her words, but it's the thought that counts.
She sticks out her tongue at me and takes another sip of her drink.
"Do you come here often?" Great, Micka, that totally isn't cliche. Do people even ask that on dates?
"Hmm, you could say I feel comfortable around here. Sometimes my friends and I meet here to talk or study. I mostly come along for the studying part. There's a kind of warm atmosphere here, you know?" She takes a glance outside, It's late fall, and the tree across the street is almost bare. It did feel quite cozy coming in here.
"Ya, it's relaxing.I totally get chatting here. I come here with Derren sometimes. The drinks are really sweet here, so I end up stopping by after school anyways." I smile and she turns back to me.
"You and Derren really are close then?" she asks.
I snort and lift an eyebrow at her. "You'd have to be close to that girl to let her put you on a blind date. She can get a bit too, let's say, enthusiastic at times. I can never really tell what goes on behind her 'mischievous planning' face."
"Ah, well, she's a fun person to be around," Jaden says, but I feel as if she ended the thought too abruptly. There was something there, even between the lines.
We sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, just drinking. I try to discern some underlying meaning in the sentence, searching for some way her smart brain could have warped the words.
"She's not gay, is she?" I ask abruptly. Jaden's eyes widen a bit, and she splutters. She stares at me for a moment, probably processing what I just said.
"What? No, where'd you get that from?" She said coughing quietly.
"Just- no- whatever. I thought something was weird and I went for it. I tend to do that sometimes, talk before I think. Sorry..." I murmur, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"It's fine, I like your kind of people. People who talk before they think tend to be more honest, or at least they don't have enough time to lie as much." Her voice takes a bitter tone at the end. Though I'm sure she meant it as a compliment a weird silence ends up filling up the space between us.
I sip on my drink, staring none too obviously at Jaden.
"DId you just go through a break-up?" She splutters at that and her eyes widen in surprise. Her eyebrows start to furrow and she gives me a look that I guess to mean "What even?"
"Okay, sorry, that was going too far. I really need to dial it back..." I try to laugh it off but even to me it sounds fake and nervous.
"It's that obvious, huh? I had a fight with a friend... I don't really wanna talk about it."
"Yeah, for sure, for sure," the words clumsily fall out as I try to salvage a situation that I think I almost ruined. It's probably obvious but I'm not that great at reading the mood.
She takes out her phone and stares at the screen. "Look, I gotta go," she sighs. "Have a nice day, Micka." She stands up and starts to move out of the booth. I start panicking, trying to think of a way to save this, I don't even know if she'll agree to a second date.
"Wait!" She stops and turns to me. "Can I at least give you my number?" I start sputtering again before I can stop myself. "I'm sorry it's just I don't have an insta and I don't use snapchat because streaks seem counterintuitive, I mean the points don't even get you anything..." I ramble on and relax a bit when Jaden starts laughing.
"Okay, okay, chill. Here, I'll give you mine too. And if you decide to get instagram just send me your username." We exchange phones and I type my number out into the contact info box. We give each other back our phones.
"Goodbye!" I shout, garnering a few of the surrounding people's attention and sinking in on myself in embarrassment. She smiles and waves at me as she leaves the cafe.
I finish my latte and can't seem to stop the hope bubbling up in my chest. Maybe things will go right for once.
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AN: Hey! I really like these two girls so tell me if you want more of them! I might expand this into a full story.
