The woman really did have an amazing voice, Sally considered again. She told Ainsley that Saturday would be perfect. Ainsley told her the name of the bar and they agreed on a time.
When the call ended, Sally looked at the device and shrugged.
One drink.
Chapter 11
Nope! Way too much!
Amy shimmied out of the dress she had just put on in her bedroom. It was one of her favorites, a flirty blue number with a flared hem. It fit her perfectly, showed off her legs and with the right bra it even flattered her bustline. But it was too much…too fancy. It was perfect for a proper date out to dinner or dancing but she was meeting Jillian at La Vida Mocha, a laid-back and chill coffeeshop. Also…was this a date?
Amy seemed to think so. There was no doubting the chemistry her and Jillian practically oozed the other day during the podcast, and there was no doubting the flirting she and Jillian had engaged in either. In fact, many of the people who had commented on the interview even made mention of it. And even though Amy had made the invitation to coffee sound like it was merely a way of thanking Jillian for appearing on her show, she was certain that Jillian had cottoned on to the fact that that was just pretense.
Okay, so…a real date. This meant she must make an effort appearance-wise while also keeping her outfit laid-back and chill, La Vida Mocha style.
In another twenty minutes Amy was almost ready to go, dressed in black skinny jeans that were fashionably ripped at the knees and a simple lilac tee. She accessorized with a few bangles on her right arm and a colorful beaded necklace she had bought during a trip to Spain a few years ago.
Deciding on her footwear, however, required additional consideration. She wanted to go with a nice pair of high heels, wanting to add a classy and sexy finishing touch to the outfit but, again, she worried it would be too much. The operative words were laid-back and casual. So, after further debate, she went with one of her favorite pairs of lace ballet flats. She examined the final result in the full-length mirror in her bedroom.
Ready! Shit, and running late!
Grabbing her Michael Kors tote purse from where she had left it on her make-up table, Amy checked that it contained her car keys, tossed her phone inside as well as the lipstick she was wearing in case she needed to touch it up and fifteen seconds later she was out the door.
The traffic gods were kind to her and she made it to La Vida Mocha at ten minutes to four o’clock, which was perfect. It meant she had plenty of time to find a table for her and Jillian, hopefully one near the window so they could people-watch. Amy loved people-watching and she hoped Jillian did too. Pulling into the parking lot behind the coffeeshop, she wondered if any of the cars already parked belonged to Jillian. The Jeep she knew was Vanessa’s and that Volkswagen she knew belonged to Chloë. What kind of car did Jillian drive? There was a Mercedes convertible, black and sleek, parked near a lamppost, that Amy could imagine a bestselling author tooling around town in. But it seemed too flash for Jillian. And she was positive the red Camaro must belong to some guy trying compensate for certain shortcomings.
Parking her own car, Amy shook her head, chiding herself. She knew next to nothing about Jillian. For all she knew, Jillian liked flashy cars and maybe even muscle cars. She reminded herself that she needed to not be starstruck on this date, that she needed to take the time to get to know Jillian and find out things about her—like what kind of car she drives.
Stepping into La Vida Mocha a few moments later, Amy stopped and did a quick scan of the customers already inside. Thanks to the lessening of Covid restrictions in California due to the rise of vaccinations and other measures, places like La Vida Mocha were starting to see the kind of patronage they had in the Before Times. This evening, La Vida Mocha was busy and there was a pleasant hubbub of conversation inside providing an accompaniment to the down-tempo electronic music Vanes
sa always enjoyed playing over the sound system. Amy quickly determined that Jillian’s wasn’t among the faces already here and she also quickly determined that there were only two tables currently unoccupied, including one by the window!
She hurried over to it in order to claim it.
Yay! Choice seat!
But after a minute, she bit her bottom lip, feeling self-conscious. Her usual routine when coming into La Vida Mocha was to head to the counter and immediately order her favorite drink, the one Vanessa named after her, the Amy’s Jet Fuel, and then find a seat. Of course, her usual routine also involved coming into La Vida Mocha alone. The only exceptions were when she was with Rachel but on those occasions, they typically got their coffee to go. Amy had never met a date here and she quite frankly didn’t know what to do. She didn’t like occupying a seat in the coffeeshop without actually having any coffee in front of her to drink. She suddenly felt certain that perhaps Vanessa was glaring at her from behind the counter, wondering why Amy’s ass was taking up valuable seating real estate when Amy hadn’t bothered to buy anything yet. She also suddenly felt certain that other customers were whispering about her; things like, “Look at that freak sitting there without any coffee!” or “What does she think this is, a bus stop?”
Should she order a drink for herself? But what happens when Jillian arrives in—Amy checked her watch—four minutes? She didn’t want Jillian feeling like she had to buy her own coffee; after all, Amy had invited her! Amy wanted to be the one who treated. But getting up from the table to go get Jillian’s coffee right after Jillian arrived seemed awkward in Amy’s mind; so did standing in line with Jillian and then ordering only one coffee.
Argh! Stop it!
Amy knew she was letting her anxiety about being on a date get the best of her. She also knew that she’d be feeling this anxiety no matter the woman she was meeting for the date, but the fact that she was meeting Jillian Ashley was making the anxiety that much worse.
“Hey, Amy!”
Amy looked up to see Chloë, the coffeeshop’s manager standing next to her table. She was wearing a cute polka dot face mask and the dots were the same color as her pixie-cut platinum blonde hair.
“Hey, Chloë!” Amy said, at first relieved to be distracted from her thoughts. She liked Chloë a lot. In fact, she was hoping that Chloë and her girlfriend would one day be guests on her podcast because their relationship—which not only involved an age gap but also a first-time lesbian—would be perfect for her series of episodes on real-life lesfic tropes.
But then, Amy’s mind couldn’t help but wonder if Vanessa had instructed Chloë to come ask Amy why she was sitting here without any coffee.
“Um…I hope you don’t mind,” Amy began, “but I haven’t ordered anything yet because I’m waiting for someone.”
Chloë waved it off.
“Dude, you’re fine,” she said, making Amy feel a lot better. “By the way, I always tell Vanessa that we should put a sign on this table which says ‘Reserved for Amy’ because you, like, always sit here!”
Amy laughed. In her nervousness, she hadn’t realized that this was, in fact, the table she usually snagged when she came to La Vida Mocha.