Beep.
"I can't believe this place!"
Beep.
"I mean, the line is going halfway down aisle one and you're the only guy here?"
Beep.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not mad at you or anything."
Beep.
"I'm just angry that a system like this even exists!"
Beep. A box of cookies was shakily added to the growing pile of checked out food and the cashier behind the seemingly endless four foot conveyor belt of groceries was sweating uncomfortably. His unsure hands reached for the bag of oranges and carefully put them on the scale. The customer was always right, and he was overworked. Eight cashier stands and his was the only one open when there were at least fifteen people in line to check out. He wondered where his coworkers were and allowed himself a sigh when he remembered their habit of hanging out in the stockroom during peak hours. He hated this job and if it weren't for the fact that it was only him and his sister at-
"You know, I would love to speak to a manager today!"
His thoughts were cut off by the irate pink-haired lady in front of him. Her face was flush with frustration, puffing out her slender cheeks. Her sparkling blue eyes were crashing into the whites more like whirlpools than the ocean, telling the stories of unsung problems. She wasn't old, but she definitely had a few years on his sister. If she wasn't so angry she would look very pretty.
"I-I'm sorry, Miss," he stuttered, trying hard to focus on his task without getting into any sort of confrontation. Beep.
"Oh, don't get me wrong…" she leaned down really close to get a look at his name tag. He stiffened as he placed the bananas on the scale. He learned at his various jobs that if you don't move the customers scrutinize you more, but nervous habits are hard to break. It didn't help that she was so pretty and when she bent forward like that he could see straight down her- "…Kouta. I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at society!"
He shot his gaze to the moving belt of food and grabbed the melon that stopped right in front of his outstretched hand. At the corner of his eye he caught the next customer in line giving him a knowing smirk. When would this end? How much food was this lady buying?
"I come out to my local grocery store first thing in the morning," It was noon, "Wearing my damn pajamas figuring that nobody would be here," That explained the tank top, short shorts, and messy hair, "Only to wait in line for years while my poor tummy growls itself to death!" Her shoulders slumped and she tucked some hair behind her ear. "It isn't your fault, Kouta. In fact, the way you're handling this, you should be the manager! I bet you'd do a better job than the asshole who lets the line for check out get this long!"
"Is there a problem, Miss?"
Kouta turned to the husky female voice behind him with a deadpan stare. The crossed arms, tapping foot, and unrelenting glare confirmed his fears that the manager was indeed standing behind him for that entire rant. Beep. That package of spaghetti was the last item in pink-hair-angry-woman's pile. She didn't even notice since she was too busy eyeing up the target of her wrath. She crossed her own arms with a snort.
"Yeah, I do have a problem, you cheap huss-mmggrhh!" Kouta sighed in relief as the next customer in line covered pink-hair's mouth before she could find herself banned from the store. The saviour gave Kouta a wink that seemed to match her earlier smirk and began rubbing pink-hair's shoulder.
"Hey, Sweetheart," she cooed gently. "Calm down and pay for your groceries." Her teal hair was possibly the longest Kouta had ever seen and the way one of her twintails coiled around the side of pink-hair gave off the illusion of a blanket. Her face was softer than the other customer's, with rounder eyes that matched her hair in colour and more naturally round cheeks. Her button nose was almost offset by the full lips whose smile seemed like it could never be unfurled.
Pink-hair shook off the hand and exhaled very deeply before reaching into her back pocket and flashing Kouta a credit card. He set up the sale and motioned for her to swipe, noticing that she refused to look to his left. A good thing too, since his boss had possibly the cockiest grin he had ever seen her sport.
Teal-hair started loading the goods into Pink's cart without removing a comforting hand from her back. "Let's just get you home and run you a nice bath, hmm? Get you lunch and you can forget all of this even happened?"
Pink shot her a curious look but nodded her head and signed where Kouta signalled. With her groceries paid for and safely loaded she allowed Teal to lead her to the automatic double doors. Everyone watched them leave, waiting for something else irregular to happen. Just waiting for absolutely anything to snap them out of this weird fairytale and bring them back to-
Pink gave the manager a particularly rude hand gesture as she pushed her cart out the doors, Teal chuckling airily as she rubbed her companion's shoulder gently.
"Bitch," his manager spat as she returned the symbol and went off, leaving Kouta to once again deal with the line as the only cashier. With a dejected sigh he reached for the nearest item. Beep. He looked up to see the next customer waiting with a full cart and a confused shrug. The conveyor was filled with groceries and an empty cart sat next to it. He looked from the groceries, to the cart, to the door, to the groceries again before quickly darting to the entrance. He searched for a spot of teal in the parking lot and yelled in her general direction.
"Miss, you forgot to buy your groceries!"
"What is he yelling about?"
"Who cares, I'm Miku," Teal put a bag of groceries in the trunk and stuck out her hand.
Pink set down her bag and looked at the offered hand for a moment, admiring the shade of teal nail polish. In fact, everything about this girl was teal from the soles of her running shoes to the tips of her hair. She had a loose fitting teal blouse on with the hint of a teal bra-strap running tightly over her shoulder. Her skinny jeans were more of a blue but it was close enough. Her mind couldn't stop itself from wondering about the garment she couldn't see and whether it was-
Miku's hand waved in the air for a second and Pink flushed from embarrassment before quickly taking the hand and shaking it. "I'm Luka, nice to meet you."
"Absolutely wonderful to meet you," Miku cheered, lifting another bag from the cart and putting it in the trunk. "It isn't every day I get a new friend!"
"New friend?" Luka asked with a tilt of the head. "We just met."
"Are you saying you aren't my friend?" Miku countered with a smirk.
"Well, no, I wouldn't say that," Luka conceded. She leaned in to put the last grocery bag in the only empty spot in the small trunk. When she came up she smiled. "You might have saved me from a lawsuit so I guess we're good friends already." Miku smiled even brighter in return, tilting her head so she could look the taller woman in the eyes. Luka stared, enjoying the energy that this girl radiated until she was pulled out of it by a shift of teal eyes. Her own blue followed the gaze straight into the apex of her ample cleavage. A blush dusting her beautiful features, she grabbed the deep collar of her shirt and pulled it up as high as it would go.
Miku coughed. "So what are you doing today?"
"I thought you were giving me a bath and feeding me lunch?" Luka fought off an even deeper blush as she tried to sound cool.
Miku laughed, loud and clear, the awkwardness of a few seconds ago burned into nothing by the sweet, sweet, tones of her happy noise. Luka relaxed and slammed the trunk of her car shut.
"Well, I'm not sure about the bath since we just met and you don't seem like that kind of girl, but I could treat you to lunch," she offered with a wink of a teal eye.
Luka stared at the burger in front of her. Cheese was drooping off the edges of the bun and lettuce was spilled all over the burger's wrapping as if whoever made it got lettuce everywhere except for on top of the meat. The fries were spilled onto the tray next to it in a way where she couldn't tell if they actually filled the little package or spilled them to make it look like they were filled. A cardboard cup with a large 'M' on it was placed in front of her.
"There's your drink!" Luka's new friend announced, round cheeks glowing with joy. "I hope you like root beer."
"Thanks," Luka replied. She wasn't sure why she expected more for lunch than fast food but she couldn't help but be disappointed. "I actually love root beer, it's my favourite."
The smaller girl mimed the action of writing something on a notepad. "Good to know!"
"Are you always like this, Miku?"
Teal twin-tails bounced with a tilt of the head. "I think so. Is that a problem?"
"No!" Luka corrected quickly, holding her hands up awkwardly. "It's, uh, good. I'm glad."
"Great!" Miku cheered before digging in to her own burger. Luka watched her eat, not sure what to say. She picked up her own cheeseburger and took a bite. It was tasty, but she couldn't quite shake the craving for pasta and a glass of wine.
"So, what's your story, Luka?" Miku asked, putting down her food and smiling satisfactorily.
"My story isn't interesting, certainly far from a bestseller," Luka quipped.
"I would buy it," Miku answered honestly.
Luka giggled. Then she choked on her food. She grabbed her root beer as fast as she could and took a long sip out of the straw. She couldn't remember the last time she giggled. She fought off a blush and wasn't shocked to see her new friend looking even more smug.
"You're wasting your money, but thanks anyways," Luka began. "I'm a teacher. High school. Mainly English, but I've been known to cover history and civic studies courses."
"Wow, that's cool!" Miku beamed. Luka couldn't tell if she was serious or not. "You don't really strike me as a teacher though."
Luka frowned. "Why not?"
"Weeeelll," Miku drawled. She sipped at her drink then winked across the table. "You're very sexy. I figured you to be a model or an aspiring musician or something."
Luka's face burned. She hadn't been openly complimented like that by a stranger that wasn't under eighteen in years. She opened and closed her mouth helplessly, trying really hard to find even a simple 'thank you' in her memory banks.
"I never knew teachers wore shorts that deliciously short, or cussed out managers at the grocery store."
Luka coughed to regain composure. "She deserved it."
"No doubt," Miku agreed with a nod. "You were so cute though, all flustered and grumpy."
"Thanks," Luka finally said stiffly. She chewed the moment over with her cheeseburger then decided to change the focus of the conversation. "What do you do, Miku?"
"Nothing," Miku shrugged.
"Seriously?"
"Nothing as cool as you. I just work at the local Wal-Mart. Late shifts most of the time since they pay me more for them. I earn enough to live."
"Are you going to school?"
Miku shook her head. "Graduated last year. Honours in Political Science, I have a fancy degree and everything. The issue is that I don't want to become a lawyer and there isn't much else for me to do with my major right now."
"You just have to keep looking, there are always options," Luka assured.
"My Dad offered me a job, I just don't feel like going back home to take it."
"You moved here?" Luka pressed.
"Yep! I moved here for school and decided to stay. It's a nice place, plus there's that cute girl with the pink hair I always see at the grocery store."
Luka smiled uneasily. "I moved here too. Over ten years ago now. It feels more like home than my old town."
"I know what that's like!" Miku agreed. "I mean, I've only been here for six years but I have a sign hanging over my door reminding me that home is where the heart is, and my heart is definitely somewhere between my apartment and across this table."
Luka relaxed a bit in her chair, the awkward aura of meeting someone new fading faster and faster. Miku was someone she could be good friends with. Really good friends.
"How old are you, Luka?" Miku pried.
Luka frowned gravely. "Didn't someone ever tell you to never ask a girl her age?"
"I'm just wondering," Miku explained, holding her hands up defensively. "I mean, you aren't old. You can't be more than thirty."
Luka felt a searing pain in her chest. She grit her teeth and tried not to growl her words. "I'm twenty-seven..."
"Whoops." Miku looked down and rubbed the back of her head. She finished the last bite of her burger before daring to continue. "I'm twenty-four."
"Is that supposed to make me feel less old?"
Miku shifted in her seat and frowned. "No, but you aren't far off or anything. Nothing wrong with the age twenty-seven, as far as I can tell. Sorry."
"It's okay," Luka sighed. "You just really feel your age when you spend your days filled in a class of youth."
"I bet the girls admire you. You have an adult beauty that no teenager could ever dream of replicating."
Luka sat up straight in her hard plastic chair. She didn't want to believe her hunch but she did just meet this girl. First impressions could be deceiving. "Are you making fun of me?"
"What?" Miku squeaked, jumping in her spot. "Why would you think that?"
"You keep mentioning my looks; calling me beautiful," Luka accused.
"But that's because you are beautiful!" Miku explained. "I just want to make sure you know that I think so."
Luka's lips twisted, unsure. "Why?"
"Well, I want to give you a good first date so that we can go on another one."
"Date?" Luka repeated, crooking an eyebrow.
"Yeah, we're on a date," Miku confirmed with a nod of the head.
"Oh, okay," Luka acknowledged. She was in the middle of chewing her next bite of cheeseburger when it hit her. "Date!?" she yelled, bits of food flying out of her slackening maw.
"You know, romantic intentions and all that. I think we'll make a good couple, Luka. I should probably wait until we're leaving but now seems like a good time to ask; want to go out again sometime?"
"A date!?" Luka repeated, even louder. Heads turned to the noise and she sunk in her seat. "We're both girls, Miku," Luka argued much quieter.
Miku starting laughing. A full, hearty laugh. Luka usually would have found it endearing if she wasn't in such a need for an explanation.
"Oh man, that was good," Miku said, rubbing a tear from her eyes. "You don't care if we're both girls."
"Why do you say that?" Luka pouted.
Miku smirked. "Weeelll, at the grocery store, that kid at the counter was eyeing your cleavage like a glass of water in the Sahara and you didn't even notice. In the parking lot, I snuck one measly look at your wonderful chest and you decided that your shirt's plunging neckline should be higher."
"That doesn't mean anything," Luka argued, feeling all at once relieved, elated, scared, and angry.
"Yes it does, you were paying attention to my body language. You're interested in me."
"Wow, confident assumption there."
"You think I'm gorgeous," Miku stated.
Luka shut her lips tight. She couldn't deny it, Miku was amazingly beautiful. Her slender features and unpronounced curves were the exact kind of things that caught her eye in magazines, on the streets, on television. Miku was her type…if she ever decided she wanted to pursue those kinds of feelings.
"If you're uncomfortable we could talk somewhere else, Luka. I know we haven't known each other long but I really like you and I want you to give dating me a shot."
Pursue it she didn't, but romance sure was doing a good job of kicking her doors in. Luka wanted to cheer, but her body wouldn't let her.
"To be honest with you, Miku, I'm a little shocked. I'm not saying no to anything but this is a lot to take in. Also, I would like to go somewhere else because I can't believe you took me to a god damned McDonald's on our first date."
"Don't act like you don't love the fries here," Miku countered. "Anyways, that sounded like a yes to me."
"Yes to what?"
"Being my girlfriend."
"Hold on a minute!" Luka yelled, planting her hands firmly on the table. "I didn't agree to that."
Miku narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the woman across the table. A flash of teal as they shot open. "Luka, have you never dated anyone before?"
"O-of course I have!" she lied.
Miku gave her a very specific look, the kind that says 'seriously?' without having to open your mouth.
"Maybe I haven't," Luka corrected. "I mean, I turn down guys and, uh, nobody has ever noticed that I'm..."
"A homosexual?" Miku offered.
"Interested in members of the same sex sounds a bit better," Luka whispered.
Miku shrugged. "Sounds the same to me. I thought it was pretty obvious, but that might have just been me projecting. I was really really hoping you were gay."
"I never said I was."
"You just did not even thirty seconds ago. Also, if you weren't gay, a woman as beautiful as you would be married by now."
"Now I feel old again," Luka complained.
"Then let me make you feel young," Miku pressed, reaching over and taking Luka's hands in her own.
The action was foreign and slightly uncomfortable to Luka, but it was enough. Enough to tease her about everything she has missed. The girl who felt like she's lived a long life already realized that she might have skipped over something important; the twenty-seven year old woman felt the touch of another in her hands and melted.
She was making a scene in a public place for the second time that day, openly weeping in the middle of a fast food restaurant while bystanders watched fascinated and Miku pulled her into an embrace she didn't know she needed. Luka nuzzled her tear stained face into Miku's shoulder, covering herself in the shroud of teal the twintails on her cheek seemed to create. Miku hugged her and rubbed her back gently, not moving any other part of her body until Luka took deep breaths and calmed herself down.
"Are you okay, Luka?"
Miku frowned as Luka's deep breaths quickly turned into light chuckling. "No, not really," she answered. She pulled herself up off of Miku's shoulder and directed her puffy red eyes right at Miku's wide and clear pair. "How could I ever be alright when you took me to a fucking McDonald's on our first date?"
Miku seemed to switch on like a spotlight, a contagious smile festering on her innocent young face. Without letting go of Luka she bounced forward but awkwardly stopped herself by pushing on Luka a bit. The taller girl pulled Miku closer to keep her balance and stop them from toppling over.
"Sorry," Miku apologized with a smile. Luka couldn't tell which of the few recent things she was apologizing for. Maybe all of them. "Come with me."
Miku pulled out of the mutual embrace and grabbed Luka's arm. The teacher managed to snap out of her stupor quick enough not to be pulled to the floor and jumped after the energetic girl, letting herself be whisked out the doors and to the back of the parking lot where her beat up old sedan was parked.
"What are you doing?" Luka asked, suddenly remembering the half eaten hamburger still on the table she realized she actually did care about.
"Hold still." Miku commanded and Luka obliged, even when those delicate features got really close to her own and she felt strange pressure on her face. A wet and light pressure. On her lips.
Oh.
OH.
Before Luka had time to completely register it, the kiss was over and Miku was pulling her blushing face away from the horrified and dark red complexion of Luka Megurine. Miku bit her lip apprehensively.
"Was that bad?"
"NO." Luka yelled. "I mean, I uh, I-"
"Wish you could have been more ready and alert for your first kiss?"
"Actually, yes, that's-"and then Luka was even more mortified. She admitted it was her first kiss.
Miku shrugged and chuckled. "Don't feel bad, mine was stolen like that too. I'll just have to kiss you a bunch of times until you get used to it!"
"Wait, wha-"
And then she did.
AN
Hey, how you doing? Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this and I hope you're ready for more. This is going to be three parts with the possibility of more coming down the line. I wish I could tell you that feedback would make me want to write more but to be honest with you it would only happen if I feel like doing it.
That said, I would really enjoy hearing from people who read this. Drop me a PM or a review with your thoughts, I love criticism. Thank you!
PS: Yes, that was a shameless cameo of a character from another franchise in the beginning and there will be more as the story goes on. The most obvious one will be in chapter three...