“So that means I tap this button,” Megan said to herself, tapping an icon on the register’s touchscreen. “Now you put the card in that thingy there...and now I tap this button.” She breathed a sigh of relief when a moment later the transaction approval appeared on the screen. “Yay!” She looked up at the brunette and smiled, quite pleased with herself. “You’re all set!”
“Receipt?” Vanessa whispered as she passed by to another station to continue preparing the cold brew drink.
“Oh, right! Damn!” Megan exclaimed. She looked back up at the customer. “Sorry! Do you want a receipt?”
“No, I’m good,” was the answer. The brunette gave Megan a flirty smile and her eyes were telegraphing interest. “Thanks for your help.”
Megan blushed.
“Anytime. Um...Vanessa will have your drink waiting for you over there.”
That was the last of four customers that had all come in almost back to back and Megan blew out a relieved breath.
Earlier, Vanessa had insisted it was her turn to buy lunch and so all Megan had to do was pick up the order Vanessa had called in to a salad place near the shopping mall. When she had arrived at La Vida Mocha about half an hour ago, Vanessa was finishing helping a customer and there was another one waiting, dutifully standing on one of a series of floor decals that were each placed six feet apart. When Vanessa saw Megan enter, she smiled and gestured for her to come behind the counter.
“I’ll be done in a sec,” Vanessa had told her. “Why don’t you put the food back there and I’ll come find you.”
So, Megan had waited in the back, in a room crammed with boxes, sacks of organic coffee beans, stacks of supplies and a small folding table on which sat Vanessa’s hobo purse. The hum of the huge walk-in refrigerator was the dominant noise in the confined space, kind of like being on an airplane. There was so much to touch and explore but Megan didn’t have a chance. Vanessa came in a couple of minutes later and leaned against the door frame, her eyebrow cocked.
A thrill had shot through Megan, thinking that Vanessa wanted another make-out session.
Vanessa said, “You ready for this?”
For your hands all over me and your tongue down my throat? Yes!
She bit her bottom lip seductively and purred, “I am ready for anything.”
“Good, come with me!” And Vanessa went back out to the front. Perplexed, Megan had followed and then pouted when she realized what Vanessa had in mind.
Checking her watch, Vanessa had said, “It’s a good chance we’ll get somewhat busy in about twenty minutes. Let me give you a rundown on the POS.”
“The POS?” Megan had asked.
“Yeah, this...” Vanessa tapped the device in front of her which was dominated by a large touchscreen.
Megan had frowned. “You mean the cash register?”
Vanessa laughed.
“We call it a POS in the twenty-first century, Luddite. Point of sale system.”
Thus began Megan’s tutorial, and just in time, because they had indeed gotten several customers at around noon. But now, with the flirty brunette served—who gave a little wave to Megan as she walked out with her drink—Megan finally realized that she and Vanessa hadn’t yet eaten.
“You know,” Megan said, as she watched the brunette head off, “I think you get a lot of lesbians in here. That one, for sure, and there were a couple of others my gaydar pinged on earlier.”
Laughing, Vanessa told her that back before the pandemic, La Vida Mocha had had quite a sizable lesbian and queer clientele. Her eyes narrowed. “And yet, I don’t remember seeing you in here.”
Megan shrugged. “To be honest, even if I had known this was the quote-unquote lesbian spot for coffee, that probably would’ve made me avoid it.”
Vanessa gasped in mock indignation and put a faux injured look on her face, making Megan laugh.
“You gotta understand,” Megan continued. “When I go out to draw, that’s what I want to do...draw. I want to sit somewhere that’s not my living room and focus on my art. I want to be somewhere there’s people, but I don’t want to socialize, if that makes sense—and I certainly don’t want to bother with getting hit on. That’s why I bought huge and expensive Beats headphones. They say, ‘Yes, I’m cute, but leave me alone!’”
Vanessa stepped closer. Megan’s pulse thrummed when she felt Vanessa’s hands on her hips.
“You didn’t have a problem socializing with me the first time you came in here, as I recall,” Vanessa murmured.
After licking her lips, Megan said, “No, I didn’t.”