It wasn't easy to fake a smile.
Yet somehow Cana did it, every damn day.
She smiled when the elderly woman yelled at her because the packaging had said it would taste like strawberries but it most certainly tasted like sugar. She smiled when the kid with the tight jeans and stupid hat tried to get her number for five minutes before being shooed away by annoyed customers.
She was sure everyone could tell her smile was fake. It felt brittle, like it was cracking along the edges, but no matter how much chapstick she used she couldn't get the feeling to go away.
"You look like you're dying."
She glanced at her favorite coworker, Lucy, and felt her smile melt away.
"Oh thank gods." Her shoulders sagged from the weight of her relief and she quickly hopped out from behind the desk before someone else could come and complain to her. "I could kiss your beautiful face."
"I'd rather you didn't," Lucy said as she settled behind the desk. "You know Juvia gets jealous easy."
Cana chuckled, a smile ghosting her lips as she said her goodbyes and headed for the back. The best feeling in the world was clocking off and leaving, it was particularly good when she got to go to the bar after.
She was halfway through her second drink when someone sat down next to her.
"How do you keep your hair that color?"
The question was out of her mouth before she even realized she was looking at them. Although she supposed she wasn't really looking at them, but their hair. It was the brightest shade of blue she'd ever seen, and if she didn't know any better she'd say it was natural.
The girl glanced at her with a slight frown, clearly ready to tell her off. Something in Cana's face must've made her decide otherwise though, because she turned to face Cana instead.
"A lot of care and upkeep. I'm at the salon at least once a month."
"Oh wow." Cana might've finished her drink, she didn't really remember drinking it, but when she tried to get more all she got was ice clinking. She set the empty glass on the bar and motioned the bartender over. "Let me buy you a drink, blue bird."
The girl arched a brow, but didn't argue. Ordering her drink from the bartender when he asked. Cana thanked him, and turned to face her new drinking partner.
"I could tell you needed one."
"Oh? What gave it away?"
"Because you look dead inside."
The girl looked startled at first, like she'd been slapped without warning, but then she started laughing. The sound drowned out the white noise of the bar, and Cana found herself smiling along.
It was her first genuine smile of the day.
"I take it you also work retail?"
Cana nodded, raising her glass in salute. "Third drink of the night. Just worked a six day stretch."
"Oh my goodness, that's awful." She lifted her glass, clinking it against Cana's in a toast. "To drinking to forget the pain."
"To retail."
They both took a drink and Cana felt the alcohol burn its way down to her toes.
"I'm Levy, by the way." The girl smiled, and Cana noticed a dimple hiding in her cheek. "Although I kinda like the ring of blue bird."
"Cana." They clinked glasses again, and began talking about the horrors of their jobs.
She wasn't sure how long they talked, although she was pretty sure it was for a couple of hours at least. The bar wasn't closed, but they were practically the only patrons left. It was light a weight had lifted from her shoulders and she was floating away, and it wasn't because of the drinks.
"I can't remember the last time I smiled this much," she admitted, swirling the ice in her water. She'd switched from alcohol an hour ago, but the warm buzz was still in her cheeks.
Levy's cheeks were flushed, and Cana wondered how much of it was from the alcohol.
She hoped she might've caused some of it.
"Yeah," Levy agreed, breathing the word like a sigh. She finished off her own water and fully turned to face Cana. "Give me your phone."
"Did you just … liquid courage with water?"
"Phone!"
Cana laughed, handing it over. "No need to be so demanding."
Levy stuck a tongue out, fingers flying across the screen. She handed the phone back to Cana and slid hers out, doing something else. Cana's phone buzzed in her hand and she glanced down at it to see a new text from Levy.
"Now you have my number, and I have yours." Levy pushed away from the bar, rising to her feet with a groan. She stretched her arms over her head and smiled at Cana. "Let's hang out. Maybe get drinks again, or something more fancy like a dinner."
"Okay." Cana knew she was staring at Levy, but she couldn't quite make herself look away. She was pretty sure this cute girl was asking her on a date. "Let me know what your schedule is like and maybe we'll get lucky and have a day off together."
"If not we can always do an after work thing."
She nodded and Levy took a small step forward. With Cana sitting they were practically eye level, and for just a second Cana thought Levy was going to kiss her. But she just reached past, sliding something onto the bar behind Cana.
Levy smiled, clearly reading Cana's thoughts, and for a brief moment something warm pressed against her cheek.
"Talk to you soon."
Then she was gone, leaving Cana with a burning cheek and a fluttering stomach. She glanced at the bar, and the ten that Levy had left there. She probably expected Cana to take it, to cover some of the drinks, but Cana smiled and grabbed her bag, walking away from the bar and the money.
The bartender would just get a hefty tip.
He'd earned it.
She hummed as she exited the bar, enjoying the sobering gust of wind. She checked her phone, only then realizing she hadn't ever read the text from Levy.
The little heart emoji seemed to beam at her from the text box, and she felt the butterflies turn into a flock of birds.
She smiled the entire way home.