Food Courting

Chapter 19: Two Go

The next day, they had leftovers—then again the day after. As self-conscious as Cora was about forcing Farron to eat the same meal over and over again, Farron didn't seem to mind too much, although they did end up making a spicier version for the third day.

"Are you working tomorrow?" Farron asked as they scraped their dish clean of the residual porridge and chili oil.

Cora, in the middle of chugging water to cool her burning mouth, took a few seconds to answer. "Yeah. Why?"

"Let's go on a field trip during our lunch, get a little change in scenery," Farron said, then chuckled at Cora's widening eyes. "Relax, coffee cake. We won't stray too far from your precious Cool Beans. We'll just go around the mall. I'll make lunch for us and everything."

That was still too far for Cora's liking. A few years ago, Cora had just started her lunch break when the Spilled Milk incident happened: one barista tripped over a kink in the non-slip mat, then fell into the other as they were steaming milk. Crying had been involved, but less over the lost dairy and more for the sustained injuries—a twisted ankle and minor burns—along with the growing crowd in front of the registers. As the only able-bodied Cool Bean left, Cora hadn't hesitated to jump back in, handling the constant stream of customers until backup arrived two hours later. That day went down in the store's history, at least for the two weeks her official Certificate of Caffeination was posted in the backroom.

If something like that happened again, Cora had to be ready. Sure, last time her reward was an embellished sheet of printer paper, but the next time? It could be a promotion.

"But..." How was Cora going to condense such a thrilling tale into the last five minutes of their lunch break? "The milk..."

Farron furrowed their brows. "Milk?"

"It's..." Cora had to stay near the store in case they needed her help...right? So why couldn't she bring herself to say that? "Is that really okay? You're the assistant manager, aren't you? What if something happens and you're not nearby to help?"

"My team can survive half an hour without me. Unless..." Farron's gaze drifted down to their empty dish, "you don't want to?"

"It's not that!" Cora blurted out, but she couldn't say anything else, even as Farron waited for her to elaborate.

"It's...no pressure or anything," Farron said, continuing to scrap their already clean dish with their spoon. "We can just have lunch here, if you want. This is fun too...right?"

With Farron's uncharacteristic hesitation, Cora followed suit. Their lunches were fun—a fact that Cora could never have predicted a few weeks ago. To her, the mid-shift break was supposed to have one crucial purpose: energizing herself to power through the rest of the day. But what if it could be more?

She recalled riding on Farron's motorcycle and how she had been hesitant about doing something so daring. She also remembered her terror and the ache in her legs, but she had been proud of herself for the attempt. Maybe that wasn't the only thing she had been missing. Maybe there were other risks she needed to take.

Besides, it's not like strolling around the mall was as dangerous as speeding down a dark road with her feet inches from asphalt.

Cora sat up straight and nodded. "Alright. Tomorrow. We're doing it."

Farron's head snapped up, their eyes wide. "Wait, what?"

After taking a moment to mentally replay her words, Cora felt her face warm. "I meant let's do your idea! Tomorrow. Your lunch idea. Not...you know..."

While Cora's heart raced, and her mind debated between elaborating further or holding her tongue, Farron grinned.

"Alright, let's do it." Their smile widened with Cora's eyes. "Hope you're ready for a workout."