With A Cup of Coffee, Please

Past faces

"I hope I'm dressed enough for the occasion?" laughed Raine nervously as she presented her outfit. Miya was simply astounded.

Opposite to the long skirt Miya first saw her in, Raine was wearing high-waisted black denim shorts with striped knee socks. She wore a gray crop top with a dark red hoodie that sagged around her wrists. Additionally, the boots she wore put her nearly at the same eye level as Miya, who was taller than Raine by 5 inches.

"A-Ah yeah, yes, it's enough," she stuttered while turning away. "So, whaddya' think of tall Raine?" she joked, appearing in front of the blushing girl. "It's...cool," she plainly said, earning a groan from Raine. "Aw come on, surely you have better words than that. It's my first time wearing this, y'know?" she replied.

"You look very charming..." she trailed off, surprising Raine. With a smile on her face, she decided to tease the blushing girl. "Sorry, what was that-" she started, only to be cut off by the crowd beginning to move. "W-We better get going if we wanna enjoy the exhibition," said Miya, changing the subject. "Yeah, let's," smiled Raine. 

The hall was filled with people. The dense and noisy crowd made it hard for the two to stay close together, and prevented the two from easily talking to one another. "Stay close behind me, ok?" shouted Raine to Miya, who was slowly, but surely, being separated from her friend. 

Miya felt uncomfortable in crowds, the density of them felt suffocating. Panicking, she called out to Raine to get her to wait. To her luck, Raine's head spun around to see her being held back and decided to wait for her.

"Let's stick closer together this time, alright?" teased Raine as Miya caught up. With a deep breath, Miya regained her composure. "So what do you wanna look at first?" asked Raine as she walked closer in front of Miya. "I'll follow your lead."

The two entered an area featuring countless sculptures of people in a variety of poses. "Wow, look at the attention to detail to that!" exclaimed Raine as she pointed out to the small scar on the shoulder of a sculpture. "Hmm... who's he?" asked Miya.

"The one and only Asyan Bolt, who gained fame for his remarkable sub-nine 100 meter dash? Doesn't ring a bell?"

"Oh, uncle Asyan. No wonder he looked familiar."

The statement bothered Raine. "U-Uncle? How can you call him uncle? He's barely hit 30!" rebutted Raine. "He acted like my uncle whenever we met at parties," she explained with a hint of embarrassment. "Y-You know him personally?" she said, taken aback. Miya simply nodded. "C'mon, let's go to a new area," she said.

The two walked through the other areas, stopping to observe and give their own takes on the displays. Miya slowly began to simply enjoy her time with Raine, letting go of her worries. Raine noticed the tension in Miya loosen, making her smile.

"Wow, that is one quick hour," Raine remarked as they took a seat on a bench. "Well, we still have time before this ends," replied Miya as she glanced at her watch, displaying the time as 4:53. "7 more minutes huh," thought Miya, feeling her mood go down.

"Well, let's go look at the last area!" exclaimed Raine as she stretched her legs. "What is it about?" asked Miya as she stood up. "It's called 'Light In The Dark', and it's about his passion, or something," explained Raine.

As the two began to walk to the last area, a surge of visitors began to flow from the sides, crowding the area once more. "Oh God, here they come," sighed Raine, whereas Miya began to feel uneasy. In a short moment, they found themselves in the middle of a crowd again.

"Raine, wait!" shouted Miya, which unfortunately went unheard. Her head began to spin, her breath quickening. "Fuck, not now, not here," she thought as she tried to get her breathing under control.