Orphanage AU: Lams

Chapter 61: Sally and Peggy

There isn't enough fem slash, guys. Which might be a problem I'm contributing to because all my ships are male slash...  If you have fem slash ship prompts I probably won't get around to writing, I'd love to write them! I just have so many things I want to write, it'll take ages.

---Peggy's POV---

I hadn't gone to the coffee shop for nearly a day and a half, and even though it was a joke when John mentioned it, I did pretty much live in that corner. Jesus, my flirty self never did learn to shut up. I felt like an idiot and an asshole and such an idiot.

Couldn't I have just left Sally alone? Did I have to flirt with her? She probably thought I was playing with her or mocking her or- or- something!

After her whole ordeal with Jeffershit, I should have known better than to expect her to just accept a happily ever after. Or to be so naive as to expect one.

Especially with a flirt like me.

But how I not flirt with her? Sally and her soft voice, her quiet knowledge, endlessly working and helping and thinking about other people- not even think about herself at all- and pulling her hair behind her shoulders instinctively, then instinctively letting it fall back to cover her face like a shield. Sally with her shy smiles that shone like a diamond in the rough, Sally who's eyes rendered me helpless the moment she finally worked up the courage to let them meet my own. Sally, Sally, Sally.

How could she not know that I wasn't toying with her, that I liked her?

I needed coffee. Also, I needed to see Sally, and this was one of her volunteer shifts. Not that I'd, like, totally memorized her shift schedule or anything, I just like to study in the coffee shop. Because it smelled like (and also because Sally was there). In any case, I was going to get coffee. I was Sally-starved and decaffeinated. My need kept going in circles. Sally, Sally.

Warm, bright smile. Braids spilling over her shoulder. Sally, Sally, Sally. Talking to people with undivided attention, like you were the only person that matters in that moment. Hiding, running from Jeffershit. Breaking his knee. Sally, Sally- "Sally!"

It flew out of my mouth like a free bird the moment I spotted her behind the counter. 'Liza looked up and waved joyfully at me.

"Haven't seen you in a while have we?" she asked rhetorically, her hand already darting around to prepare my usual cup.

Sally wordlessly helped her, determinedly at her hands. Her hair swung in front of her face, but her hand paused when it moved to pull her hair back, then went back to work, leaving the curtain there. Shields were up. Oh Sally.

Realizing I hadn't said anything, I offered an over-sassed, "Miss me already?" in response to 'Liza. Somehow, I ended up saying it to Sally instead.

Her hands stilled, shaking a little over the sugar, and then she muttered something quickly to 'Liza and darted into the back rooms.

"Sally-" I started helplessly, but I doubted she heard me.

Eliza's mouth opened in surprise that I could tell was mostly fake. "Why- Peggy- Margarita Schuyler, do you have a crush?"

I couldn't take her playful teasing, or her fake surprise, or the delicious smell of hot coffee that she held out to me. I tore my eyes from the doorway in the back to the back room to look at 'Liza.

When she caught my eyes, she dropped all pretenses. And her voice. "Good god, Peggy, what did you do?"

I let out something pitifully close to whimper. "I flirted too much."