Cup of Roasted Coffee

5; kinda ironic

Normally at the end of a shift, Emma felt exhausted and not at all blissful. Today was a different story. She went home feeling satisfied with her day, something she hadn't been able to truthfully say for a few years(sad but true).

Pushing through the door of her apartment, she immediately threw herself onto the couch and let out a content sigh. Today was a good day, she decided.

The phone in her back pocket buzzed. Emma took it out quickly to see a text from Paul. She read the text and suddenly remembered she had an act of boldness earlier. Huh, thanks, God.

paulmatt -> emmaperk
To answer your question, yes :)

She thought about all the possible responses to that. To be fair, she didn't think they'd get this far.

emmaperk -> paulmatt
I was thinking we could go to Starbucks if you're up for it

The irony of that text doesn't hit her until after she hits send. Starbucks, of all places. Maybe she should start thinking these things through.

paulmatt -> emmaperk
Starbucks? Don't you work at its rival store?

emmaperk -> paulmatt
Even I'll admit Starbucks has better coffee than Beanies

paulmatt -> emmaperk
Starbucks it is

-♡-

It was Friday at the office. The group of five had already gone down to Beanies and back, making sure to limit their time to 10 or so minutes. Charlotte promised Emma that they would plan something so that all six of them could hang out. Emma gladly accepted their offer.

On the walk back, Ted nudged Paul. "So tomorrow's your big date, right?"

Melissa gasped. "I forgot! Paul, you should let Charlotte and I help you get ready." She looked way too excited for the proposed idea.

"Wait, wha-"

"What time is it at?" She asked, already opening her phone to make a note of when her and Charlotte should be show up to the apartment. She assumed Charlotte agreed, since the woman didn't say anything about it.

Paul sighed. Again, he didn't really know how to say no yet. You'd think by age 30 that he would. "3pm."

"We'll be there at 1 then!" Melissa typed the time into her phone and put it away afterwards, continuing her peppy walk.

-♡-

Sure enough, at 1pm, Melissa and Charlotte were standing outside Paul's apartment holding a box of sorts. They entered once the door was opened and got straight to work.

Melissa told Paul to sit at his kitchen counter while she raided his closet. Charlotte sat beside him, knowing she was a lot better than her at that sort of thing. She sighed.

"You ok, Charlotte?" Paul looked over at her, an empathetic look on his face. She sounded upset and he couldn't just let her stay that way.

"Oh, no, it's nothing really. It's jus-"

Melissa walked in with clothes in hand, interrupting Charlotte's words. They both turned their heads. "You have some nice stuff, but this would probably be best for a casual Starbucks date." She handed him a flannel top and some denim jeans. "Whatever shoes you have will be fine, too."

Paul puts his clothes(that he could've easily picked out himself) on in the bathroom and they spend their remaining time on hair. The offer of makeup was tossed at there at some point, but that was where Paul drew the line.