short stories - marina / stefinelle

Memories - Stefinelle

(Stefania's POV)         
AN: this one's sad sad
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Stefania stepped up to the stand in the front of the room.

"I'll always love Danielle, no matter what. That's one thing that'll never change. Everything about her, her smile, her laugh, her puppy-dog eyes. From early on, she knew I could never resist those. I remember when I had first met her, I had absolutely no clue as to who she was. She was just the blonde that had walked into the coffee shop, and I was just the barista. Ever since that first time she had come in at least on my shift, she had always been there during my shifts multiple times a week. I would look forward to seeing her. It only took a few times of her stopping by to memorize her coffee order, just the way she liked it," she took a deep breath in, trying so hard not to cry.

"We would always talk to each other, for as long as we could. Short conversation if there was someone behind her, and way longer basically until someone else came in if there wasn't. One day after a few weeks, she came in per usual, I was the barista behind the counter per usual, that's until she slipped me a piece of paper. I took it of course, and put it in my apron mouthing to her that I'd read it on my break later that day. I got to my break that day and went to the 'bathroom', opening the piece of paper she slipped me. Her phone number. Never did I think that we would go over that barista / customer. Sure, I was attracted to her, but never did I think that she liked me back like that. I instantly saved it to my phone and went back to work, texting her after I got home from my shift. I'll never forget the conversation---

S: hey, it's stefania :)
D: hey, i was wondering if you'd contact me.
S: i couldn't not, you know. it's been weeks of whatever arrangement we have.
D: i had to take the risk, cause being told no is better than never and wondering.
S: true.

Then there was the time right after when we had first started dating, and I had always wanted to take her out on a picnic in this secluded spot I had found when I was a teenager. When we both had a weekend free, I had prepared everything that a picnic required, besides the food. She didn't have any plans, well she did, she just didn't know it. Then the next day, Sunday, I had told her to wear that summer dress she loves. There was obviously a reason behind as to why I had wanted her to wear it, and of course she was skeptical. My excuse was that I wanted to take a walk in the park that was near our house, I didn't want to waste the weekend away. Seeing how excited and persistent I seemed about this, she went and got changed. That's when I snuck the food, basket, and blanket out into the car. Luckily, I got back into the house before she was done changing. When she came back in, I was just walking towards the pass through of our kitchen, where our keys were for the car. Once I grabbed those, we got into the car and headed for my secret spot. I had never taken her there before, so least to say she was overly confused.

"Where are you taking me? I thought we were going to the park?"
"Oh ya right, the park, I might've bluffed a little, whoops."
"So where are we going then?"
"It's for you to find out and for me to know."

When we pulled into the short road that took you to the spot, it did look like a road that you wouldn't go on, not voluntarily at the least. But when you got to the end, it was so worth it. She was so shocked when I got to the end of the road and pulled out to this little patch of space that I used as parking. When you got out, you could see this huge lake in the middle, surrounded by grass and trees. Instructing her to close her eyes before she could see the lake, that's when I got everything out of the trunk and set up closer to the lake as fast as I could. Multiple times, she asked me what I was doing. She was always that way, curious, she always wanted to know what was going on. That was one of my favorite things about her.