The Girls in the Coffee Shop

The Black Rose Cafe

In the dark interior of the Black Rose Cafe, two girls sitting at the back booth didn't draw too much attention. There was a laptop open between the two, and two styrofoam cups on either side of the grey computer. One of the girls had a round face and very pretty hazel eyes, while the other had short silver hair and mischievous green eyes. The latter stared at the barista, a very pretty woman around her age named Emma, as she danced her way through the crowded cafe tossing her luxurious blonde hair as she went and laughing politely at something a customer said. As soon as her eyes looked up towards the girls in the back corner, the silver haired girl sucked her head.

    "Dayna, just ask her for her number already," the first girl said. She swirled her coffee, as dark as her almond brown hair, around in her cup before tapping a few buttons on the computer. "You've been staring at her for long enough."

    "Shut up, Hazel," the other one muttered, her ears going bright red as she took a small sip of her vanilla bean frappe. "You're the one to talk. It took you three months to get Boy Toy's number!"

    "He has a name-it's Aidan. And I am shy, what's your excuse?" She lifted her coffee to her lips and took a swig, before her whole face puckered and she sputtered and coughed. "Dear god that is some shitty coffee!"

    "Then why would you waste five dollars on it?"

    "Because I like things to reflect how I look on the inside." She looked down at the table and swirled a droplet of spilled coffee around on the grains. "Dark and dreary."

    "You are so weird!" Dayna chuckled and shook her head. She looked at the computer screen and then nudged Hazel's hand away from the mouse. "Give me that before you screw the hell out of it. Did we decide on a gender?"

    On the screen was a brain, floating above a dark blue background. Sliders and boxes for typing commands were dominating the bottom part of the screen while in her earbud, infuriatingly cheery music hummed into Dayna's brain.

    "Male," Hazel said.

    "Of course it is." Dayna typed in the word male into the command box and pressed enter. Very little changed on screen, minus a few graphic changes in the brain's arteries and veins. "It is The Sims 7, Hazel! You can literally have anything in the world in this game and you choose male? How mainstream is that?"

    "Oh just shut up and make it for Christ's sake!"

    Dayna laughed, but before she could input anything, someone cleared their throat. Both Hazel and Dayna looked up in unison to see a second barista standing at their table.

    "Sorry to interrupt," she said in a quiet, pleasant voice, "But I was just wondering if I could get anything for a sweet couple like you. It's not very often we get openly homosexual couples in here."

    Dayna and Hazel looked at each other in surprise. Hazel's face was beat red, and Dayna burst out laughing.

    "I'm so sorry, but we aren't dating," she said, grinning up at the woman. "She's just a really close friend."

    "There's nothing wrong with being a lesbian," the barista said. For a moment, they both were silent. Dayna's eyebrows shot up and Hazel hid a small guffaw.

    "Look, Jillian," Dayna said, sitting straight in the booth and looking pointedly at the name tag on the barista. "I guess your lesbian senses were tingling, because you're right. I am so gay that I fart rainbows. No joke."

    "She's right. I have to share a bathroom with her." Hazel pursed her lips after her statement and nodded her head. Dayna slapped her arm playfully.