forum Romance in the Real World [Closed]

Started December 12, 2021 by @emilyevewrites group

tune

Selene arched a delicate eyebrow as she watched Eve hesitate, her smile only growing. "I'm usually not one for second guessing many of my spontaneous decisions. I'm gonna stick with trusting you won't poison me or put in something undrinkable." She reassured, gaze shifting from focusing on Eve to finally noticing the girl who had been moving around her serving drinks and attending other customer needs, who now was hovering over Eve's shoulder.
Selene pressed a hand over her chest and gave and little waist bow, cheeks flushing pink at the compliment. "Thank you, see Eve? Even your co-worker…" Selene took a peek at the name tag on the girl's apron, "Jenny thinks its a good idea." She gave a soft laugh, seeing Eve blush and finding it incredibly cute for such a confident woman to suddenly become flustered and so soft spoken over her simple request.
Selene leaned in a bit and lowered her voice "about the drink? no. I'm a stickler for the simpler things in life, including how I order my everyday coffee." She admitted. "But it can't hurt for one morning to go with something different, been trying a few new things this week it seems so why not add my coffee order into the mix? Go ahead and put in any order you want. If I really don't like it, i'm sure my brother will drink it and I'll just order my latte." She held Eve's gaze for a few moments before take a bit of a step back so she couldn't see the order surprise.

Bea snickered off to the side, and it was all Eve could do to keep her composure together and not smack the girl in the arm again. “I’ll make sure Eve doesn’t put anything unsavory in your drink,” she remarked.

Eve almost immediately shot her a side eye glare. “Like hell you will,” she muttered, tapping on her tablet to input the drink she was planning on making.

“Oooh, possessive, are we?” Bea cooed, and at once, Eve realized she’d been baited. A brilliant blush appeared on her face. Jenny giggled too for a second before hurrying to deliver drinks around the restaurant.

She listened to Selene’s mini rant and with a start, she realized that the woman was unknowingly describing her. But unlike Eve, Selene was bold enough to reach out of her comfort zone and try new things. It made Eve’s stomach tighten, but she also felt relieved. She didn’t quite understand the reason though.

Finally, Eve submitted the drink. “Don’t worry about paying, this one is on the house,” she murmured before reaching for a medium sized cup. Teasing her, Bea reached for the same cup and glanced at the monitor to check what drink Eve had input. The taller women, however, slapped her hand away and gave her a look before walking back to make the drink herself.

With her boss out of the way, Bea leaned slightly over the counter and smirked. “So what’s your name? Or else I’m just gonna call you, Mysterious Girl Who Shamelessly Flirts With My Boss.”

Selene's smile only grew more as Eve and her co-worker Bea bickered, or more, Bea teased and Eve seemed to try and not fire the girl on the spot, all of which Selene found very entertaining. Selene immediately blushed and shifted slightly when Bea mentioned Eve to be possessive over the order. Selene didn't necessarily agree, or at least thats what she told herself. Eve was the one who had put the order in, it made sense that she would the drink, it didn't have much to do that it was Selene's drink or not. But then again she did like the idea Eve taking up the responsibility instead of letting the other barista's handle the drink.
SHe glanced up, wanting to argue again that she didn't mind paying but Evev had already started on the drink. She stood there for a few moments, wondering if she could convince Bea or Jenny to accept the payment for the drink but she somehow knew they would either refuse or Eve would intervene. So instead she gave a ten dollar tip and stepped off to the side to wait for her drink.
She glanced over at Bea and smiled, raising his hands in defense. "flirting? who said I was flirting? I was simply putting in an order with your boss." She explained with a knowing grin. "Though I do like the idea of being known as the mysterious girl here." she laughed and gave a bit of a dramatic cursy, "My name is Selene." she introduced, nodding to where her broher still sat, seemingly waiting for Kai to arrive. "Thats my sibling Joey. We own the bookshop across the street." She explained.

Bea snickered. "I said you were flirting. And if that wasn't flirting, then I don't know what is," she retorted, briefly acknowledging the knowing grin with a wink of her own. "All I know is that I've never ever seen Eve get that worked up before. So let me tell you, girlie, you're something."

She grinned at the curtsy and glanced over her shoulder to see Eve watching them. The woman gave Bea a look, to which Bea only shrugged in response before turning back to the girl, who had introduced herself as Selene. Her eyes darted to Joey, then back as the girl continued talking.

Mischief sparked in Bea's expression. "The bookshop across the street, huh? Well, when you've been working around Eve as long as I have, you learn stuff about her. Mainly that she doesn't get this flustered with someone who just walked through the door. I'm assuming you two have met before? Please tell me she's been in your bookshop. She writes, do you know that? Her own novels. But she has yet to let another soul read them. She's so private. Oh, and she's definitely not obsessed with romance books." Another quick wink. "I've seen her blushing like hell while reading them, so I'm assuming it's not all PG rated, you know what I mean?"

"All I am is a friend if I'm lucky enough to be considered that." she replied, shaking her head at the barista, trying to dispell any claims of them being anything more because there wasn't anything more. Sure they flirted if you could even call it that but Selene thought that was relatively normal when getting to know someone so long as they were comfortable with it…right? She nodded slightly, though now more aware of the girl's intentions. She could see why all of Eve's employees ot along so well now.
She was genuinely surprised to find out Eve usually didn't act like this around most people, but couldn't really figure out why when it was her in particular that caused the reaction. Selene didn't consider herself as a stand out person by any means. She just tried to be nice to everyone and live the life she wanted with her siblings. Then again she had never outwardly tried to pursue a relationship, platonic or otherwise quite the same way as she was with Eve. "sort of, I only met her a few days ago. before that I guess I never really considered stopping into All City despite it being right across the street. I invited her over the same day we met to see the bookshop. And yes, I'm aware she writes but I don't know about what, really." She admitted, slightly distracted as she watched Eve make her drink, drying to decifer what she was putting, not because she thought sh wouldn't like it but because she was intrigued, and she'd be lying if she didn't like watching Eve in her element, confident and efficient. She was so caught up in watching Eve that she barely heard what Bea said but eventually it registered, to Selene's detriment, a bit late. "What?" Her eyes widened and her cheeks bloomed with red immediately. She cleared her throat and looked away immediately. she cleared her throat and nodded, "I assume yes, she is an adult after all. Well, not assume but-" Selene waved a hand in the air, trying to gather her thoughts but finding it difficult as her thoughts seemed to be wanting to go elsewhere. She took a deep breath and nodded "we all have our preferences, and thats perfectly fine." She reassured. Selene liked romance herself, more into the cheesy cliche romances rather than the more adult smutty ones but on occassion she'd indulge a night of reading outside her comfort zone.
She playfully glared at Bea, and shook her head again, trying her best to keep a laugh from bubbling up. "I'll keep that in mind for the next time she drops by." She noted, already going through a mental list of romance books she knew were on the adult side.

Bea smirked to herself at that. “Yeah, okay,” she replied coyly. There was definitely some “more than friends” action going on between the two, whether Selene or Eve would admit it or not. Hell, Eve never would admit it on her own. She definitely struggled with romantic relationships, that was for sure.

Bea hadn’t known Eve as long as some other employees, like Katherine, but she wasn’t completely new to the scene either, like Jenny. But she’d been around long enough to at least witness Eve’s last relationship. A guy named Peter. He’d basically used her for her money, then broke up with her when she stopped letting him spend whatever he wanted on her card.

The worse part was that she had been desperately in love with him, so she pleaded to win him back. He’d slept with her, stolen her credit card, then left again. Eve managed to lock her card before he could actually use it, but the emotional damage had already been done. She’d been miserable for weeks.

Eve was normally standoffish or cold, especially to men. She had given up on the hope of genuine kindness in the world, but when Selene had approached her with the drawing, then come back to check on her and ask for her number… something had clicked inside of Eve. It was like the possibility of genuine kindness was real, and she’d found it in the form of Selene. And when the relationship had veered into flirty, it felt so natural that Eve hadn’t realized the path they were heading down until it was 2 in the morning and she was up texting the strange, beautiful girl she’d met just hours earlier.

Bea nodded at Selene’s words. Her eyebrows arched in disbelief. “Days?” she asked incredulously. “You’ve only known her for days? I would have guessed at least a week, maybe two or three. She’s so open with you,” the girl marveled. “I wonder if she’d let you read something she wrote. No one here knows what she writes, but she sits at that—” a pause to point at a specific chair “—spot every day for almost 2 hours looking around and people watching and writing.”

It didn’t take a genius to notice Selene was distracted, and it was even easier to guess why. Eve was back in the “coffee making area” blending ingredients together and squirting something along the inside of the cup. She was so focused on the drink that when she looked up and noticed Selene looking at her, she jumped slightly before refocusing on pouring vanilla syrup into the mixture she had going. As silly as it sounded since Eve was a barista, she was an expert in her field.

Bea smirked expectantly as she waited for Selene’s reaction. When it came, the barista enjoyed watching the young woman stammer over her words and put together her rationale regarding Eve’s secretive love of smut. “Justify it however you want,” she teased. “Just don’t tell her I told you.” Bea took Selene’s glare easily, miming a kiss in return. That had Eve immediately finishing the drink and beelining for the counter.

“Back so soon?” Bea chirped at Eve’s hurried arrival. She smiled innocently as expressions played across her boss’s face until she settled on a frown directed at her employee.

“You’re incredibly frustrating,” Eve muttered before turning to Selene with a softened expression and put the drink on the counter in front of her. “Would you like me to tell you what it is before or after you try it?” she asked.

Selene had never really been in a serious relationship, not in a long while. Usually most of her relationships were casual flings, a few months long but never anything Selene considered as forever sort of relationship. Her latest partner had been fine but a few months into the relationship, they had both reasoned that they were better as friends and broke it off. That seemed to be a reoccuring trend with all her romantic pursuits thought, good as parnters, better and best as friends.
Up until very recently, Selene had been fine with staying friends with past and future relationships, or at least that what she told herself every time a partner broke things off just to be friends and then pursue someone else.
Selene slowly brought her focus back to Bea and away from staring at Eve, "mhm, I didn't know she worked here until yesterday." She said, following to where Bea's pointed and nodded slightly. "its good to have a routine especially as a writer." She acknowledged, shaking her head as she looked at Bea "Oh, no. if its something private then I don't want her to feel pressured to show someone, least of all me. I'll be more happy to read her book when its published and enjoy it along with everyone else and I'd be more than proud to sell it in my store." She reassured, trying her best not to get distracted by Eve again as she continued with the drink.
"What did Eve do to deserve such torment from her baristas?" Selene asked with a laugh, "I don't know, that is a good bit information jus in case you ever make my drink wrong in the future." She winked and wrinkled her nose cutely at the air kiss, glancing up when Eve came over with the finished drink.
She looked at it with mock suspicion before picking it up carefully and taking a sniff, already smelling the vanilla at the forefront. "after, i want this to be a surprise, hopefully a good surprise." She replied, glancing over as Joey and Kai joined her at the counter. "are you fianlly ready?" Selene asked her brother, hugging Kai in greeting before finally taking her first sip of the mystery drink.

Eve’s misfortune with relationships was one for the record books. Aside from Peter, there had been countless others who abused her trust and love. Wesley, who cheated on Eve three separate within two weeks, was another one Bea was familiar with off the top of her head. The poor woman had been in denial the entire time until she had actually found him in her apartment bedding someone else on her couch. She’d broken up with him immediately, sold the couch, and moved soon after.

Before Wesley, Bea remembered something about a Kaden. He had been his own special breed of psycho, but she didn’t remember the details. Before Kaden had been Tyler, and before Tyler had been Caleb, and before Caleb… a lot more. Eve’s list of exes was long and full of stupid, heartbreaking men. In Bea’s opinion — an opinion that was shared between all the baristas who worked for All City — Eve was way out of any of their leagues. And they weren’t just saying that because Eve was their boss and friend. She’d dated some questionable creatures.

Bea’s eyebrows arched. “I really can’t believe that,” she replied with a small smile. “You two must have really hit it off.” She scoffed quietly under her breath. If only Selene knew what she was getting into with the owner of All City. “You have no idea what kind of routines she has,” the woman mumbled, half to herself.

“I was just saying,” Bea remarked casually. “I’ve asked her to read it. You know what she did? This.” She made a vulgar gesture with her middle finger and grinned. “It was all the response I expected it to be and more.”

Though Bea’s grin faltered a second at Selene’s laugh. The woman didn’t deserve any kind of torment. She was too sweet, too kind, and much too trusting. Or at least she had been. What the baristas did was distract her as best they could from the reminders of her exes. Any little jabs were well placed and intended to draw Eve’s focus away from something else, likely related to an ex of hers. Well, except for Bea. Sometimes she just enjoyed watching Eve loose her cool or turn red with embarrassment.

Her eyes widened in shock at the little remark, and she grinned. “Damn, you’re cruel,” she teased. But before she could say any more, Eve approached. The look on her face was passive, an attempt at an unreadable expression. But Bea was good with people. She knew the flirting, fake as it was on her end, had gotten under Eve’s skin more than she wanted to let on. With Eve’s extended history of being cheated on and knowing the possibility there was for these two women to become something, she instantly backed off.

Eve’s heart raced as she watched Selene mockingly look at the cup. She blinked quickly and was about to take a little step back when Bea moved over beside her. Eve eyed the other woman briefly as she felt Bea’s hand settled on her back. Keeping her here. Not able to run from what might be another-

No, Eve told herself. This is just coffee. She nodded at the response. “Alright,” she agreed. “After.” She watched as Selene took a sip of the drink. It was Eve’s personal favorite - a cold brew with her own custom vanilla sweet cream cold foam. She even added in a few extra pumps of vanilla to the cold brew after learning the Selene preferred a regular vanilla latte, and she could only pray that Selene wouldn’t hate it.

(Here’s what it looks like, minus the Starbies logo obviously lol)

"Oh hush, we were waiting for you to finish." Joey poked his sister's shoulder, gently tucking Kai against his side when he broke away from the hug and came back to Joey's side. He waved as they got in line, quietly talking amongst themselves while Selene stayed by the counter.
She nodded, waving before took a second sip for evaluation, then a third. "This is amazing, I've never thought to order cold brew before." She marvled, shaking the cup to swirl around the flavor and cream. "A lot of vanilla for sure," she observed, taking more sips. "Maybe something nutty?" She guessed, tipping her head in determination to figure out what Eve had made her. She shook her head after a while but smiled excitedly. "I don't know the rest but I'm definately ordering it again. Who knows, this might be my new regualr."
She smiled between the two, watching them for a moment and realizing that despite Eve being the boss, all the baristas took care of each other, including taking care of Eve, something Selene found comforting.
"So what is it?" she asked, turning back to Eve, "I like whats on top, the sweet foam, its good!" She drank a bit more, momentarily glancing behind her as joey and Kai sat back down to wait for their drink, meaning Selene had time to chat.

Bea watched the dynamic between the three of them. She grinned and moved over to the next register at the appropriate time to take the order of another couple who had been deciding what they wanted to get. Then, she took Joey’s and Kai’s orders so Eve could keep talking to Selene.

Eve hesitantly watched the second and third sips. She wished her heart could stop racing. Without Bea behind her for support, Eve discreetly braced herself against the counter as she listened to Selene’s guesses. Her hesitant, worried expression slowly began to turn into a soft smile. The commentary was amusing, and the girl was incredibly accurate.

“It’s a cold brew with vanilla sweet cream cold foam,” Eve answered. “I added a few extra pumps of vanilla… three I think. The sweet cream cold foam is my custom recipe.”

“Yeah, Starbucks could never,” Bea quipped with a grin. The customer she was in the middle of taking their order frowned slightly at the distraction.

Eve’s eyes widened slightly, giving Bea a warning look. The other barista quickly went back to her job, and Jenny was hurrying through the kitchen to get all the incoming orders made.

“I’m very glad you like it,” Eve remarked, softening her tone and lowering her voice slightly. “That’s one of my personal favorites. I recommend trying it with a pump of vanilla and a pump of caramel.” She grinned knowingly and winked at Selene, like it was a big secret they were sharing.

"this is dangerously good." Selene grinned, knowing for sure she'd be ordering this again and again.
"Starbucks could and will never." She agreed, hiding a smile as she took a sip of her drink. She found it endearing how the Barista's all interacted between each other. If she had a larger staff at her own store, selene knew for a fact shed want it run similarly where of course there would be authority but there would also be a playfulness and sense of family among coworkers.
She matched Eve's gentle smile, finding it easy to do so around the other woman, not just easy but encouraging. Selene wanted to be happy when around Eve. "I'm glad I asked and you were so gracious enough to make it. I'm honestly surprised it's not on the menu." She remarked, tilting her head curiously at the suggestion of adding caramel. She was a big fan of the flavor but she could see how that would elevate the drink more. "I'll keep that in mind then for next time." She replied, her smile turning ever slightly shy.
"I gotta grab joey and Kai and head back to the shop but I'll drop by during my break." She promised, giving a small wave before heading back to the table where the pair sat.

(Hey yeah sorry… I’ve been so fucking busy, stressed, and also unmotivated, so not a good combination)

Eve blushed at the compliment on the drink. And Selene’s grin made her heart skip a beat.

She bit her lip slightly at the comment, then watched as the other girl continued to drink. She was almost frozen in place, but she didn’t want to move. She was content simply being with Selene. Imaginary scenarios began to leak into her mind… watching a movie together, sitting beside each other reading books, sharing their favorite playlists with each other…

Immediately Eve stiffened, just in time to hear Selene talking again. “I’ve been debating it,” she admitted. “But I don’t know what to call it.” All the drinks on the menu had cute little names that went with them. It was another barista, Laura, who was in charge of the chalkboards and naming the drinks. But each barista had at least one drink on the menu with a name they chose. All but Eve.

“Oh,” she murmured quietly as Selene waved and walked over to the table with her brother and his boyfriend. “Alright.” Eve hide her disappointment, and that’s when it hit her. The disappointment. She hadn’t felt like this in months. No… no no no no no…

Quickly, she turned to Bea. “I’m going to the restroom,” she said shortly. “Manage things quickly.” Then, she rushed off toward the back of the little store toward the employee bathrooms. Bea blinked and glance briefly between where Selene sat and Eve had gone.

(no worries! Let me know if you want to pause this for now in case it becomes too much, I don't mind. Hope things get easier for you!)

Selene turned to see the board of drinks as she finished off he vanilla coffee, imagining Eve's creation fitting in nicely with the other delicious sounding drinks. Katherine's mocha latte, Bea's honnied cinnamon espresso, Jenny's hazelnut dream coffee. And right beside them all Selene could see Eve's drink. Perhaps just The Eve, or something more mysterious. The Writer had a nice ring to it. She smiled softly at the thought if others enjoying Eve's drink as much as she did. Perhaps she'd even start promoting it in her bookshop with the idea that if enough people requested it, it'd be put on the menu eventually. She smiled to herself as she finished off her drink, as sad as that realization was, but now determined to get back to the store to finish setting up for the event and to come up with ideas to promote the coffee shop, even if it were just a little bit. She grabbed her bags, followed by Joey and Kai. She was going to give a farewell until later wave but saw Selene rush to the back. A bit confused and admitantly disheartened, she shook off her disappointment and instead waved to Bea, raising her empty cup in cheers and headed out to her own store for the work day ahead.