notes: written for the teen wolf micro bang. can be found on ao3 w/ the accompanying picspam made by raisealittlehale on tumblr.
Allison trudged into the coffee shop, practically dragging her boots across the floor as she made her way to the counter. She was exhausted and was never going to put off a ten page paper until she had no choice but to stay up until three am finishing it ever again.
Ever again for the next two weeks until her Romanticism paper was due at least.
The line in the shop was blessedly short and Allison only had to wait behind two other equally dead looking college students before she was at the counter. The barista smiled at her and Allison suddenly felt like she was staring into the sun. To say the girl was pretty was an understatement, all dark eyes and equally dark hair that hung in waves around her shoulders. Her name tag read "Kira." Allison tried not to stare.
"What can I get you this morning?" she asked and Allison wanted to resent her chipper tone (it was eight in the morning, no one was supposed to be happy that early) but she couldn't. It was hard to resent a beautiful girl who was about to give her coffee.
"A large pumpkin spice latte," she said after a moment. "Soy milk, if you have it."
"Coming right up!" the girl -Kira- said, smiling before turning to fill her order.
Allison struggled between wanting to watch Kira work and eyeing the case of pastries next to her. She hadn't been hungry when she'd left her room but looking at the muffins seemed to have woken up her stomach. She was debating between coffee cake and the lemon poppy when Kira set the latte down in front of her.
"Anything else?" She was smiling at her again and despite not having any caffeine in her system, Allison found the energy to smile back.
"Yeah, could I get a coffee cake muffin?"
"Absolutely!" Kira busied herself getting the muffin and Allison looked down at the drink in front of her. The cinnamon that was usually sprinkled onto the foam had been made into a heart. She blinked and then glanced between the coffee and Kira who was now ringing up her order.
"That'll be four sixty seven," she said, pushing the muffin bag towards her.
Allison blinked again. "What? That can't be right, the latte alone is almost four dollars."
Kira grinned. "I know, I gave you my employee discount. You look like you could use a break."
"Oh no, you didn't have to do that, I can't-" Allison started but Kira held her hand up to stop her.
"Really, it's fine. If you give me your name we can call it even." Even as she said it Allison could see the blush spreading over her cheeks. She looked determined though, despite her apparent nerves. Allison could admire her bravery.
"Allison," she replied after a moment, handing over her debit card to pay. Kira slid it through the reader and handed it back before replying.
"Allison," she repeated and the sound of her name on the other girls lips made her insides do something funny. "Pretty. I'm Kira, but you probably already knew that." She motioned to her nametag with a nervous laugh.
They looked at each other for a moment and Allison wished that she could sit down at one of the tables and keep the girl company, talk to her and maybe take her for lunch. But she had a paper to turn in and a lecture to get to.
"I'll see you around Kira," she said, smiling and grabbing her breakfast off the counter.
"Have a nice day!" Kira called after her.
It wasn't until Allison had sat down in the lecture hall that she opened the muffin bag. A napkin had been stuck inside and when she pulled it out she found a string of digits scrawled across it -a phone number.
She grinned into her latte. Perhaps sometimes late night paper writing and early morning alarms weren't all bad.