Iris stumbled onto the sidewalk as she headed to the coffee shop late that afternoon. Yawning, she stopped and tried to compose herself.
She's had a pretty rough day, getting into fights for no reason and at the same time trying to find a job. It was impossible to find work around here, since nobody seemed to think that a small, teenage Native American girl would be capable of anything. Iris needed the money badly, but they were all acting like a bunch of little kids, and nobody wanted to hire her.
Iris sighed and pulled out a few crumpled dollar bills from her pocket. Oh, good. She had enough with her for a cup of coffee. Maybe that would make her feel better. Iris then opened the door to the tiny store and walked briskly over to the counter.
"Um, hi," Iris greeted. "Can I get a small espresso, please?"
The woman at the counter nodded and quickly put Iris's order together. She placed the cup on the counter and gave Iris a bright smile. "There you go. That'll be $2.26, please."
Iris grinned and placed her money on the counter, then stopped. She counted it again, then looked up in dismay when she realized she was twenty cents short.
"Um, I uh, don't have enough money right now..." she stammered. "Do you think I can take the coffee and pay the rest later?"
The cashier frowned. "Sorry, miss, but you can't have the coffee unless you pay for it completely..."
Iris looked at the woman in horror. That coffee was the one good thing that would have happened to her all day, and now she wasn't even going to get it?
"But it's only twenty cents!" Iris complained. "Come on, I'll give it to you tomorrow!"
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but our policy states that-"
"But that's so not fair!"
"Excuse me," a voice suddenly interrupted them. Iris turned to see a rather handsome young man standing beside her, holding his own cup of coffee and smiling politely.
"Maybe I can help," the teenage boy said, and briskly placed a couple of coins on the counter. "Will that cover it?"
Iris stared at the boy with her mouth hanging open.
The cashier looked relieved. "Yes, thank you." She then turned to Iris and finally gave her the espresso. "There you go, ma'am. Enjoy."
"Th-thank you," Iris replied. She gladly took the coffee and turned to see the young man walking away.
Iris ran up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn around and smile. "Oh. Hi there."
"H-hi..." Iris greeted the handsome stranger. "I just...wanted to thank you for helping me back there."
"it was no problem, really." He paused for moment, then gestured to a nearby table. "Would you like to sit down?"
Iris blushed a little. "Eh? Oh, sure!"
The two of them sat down and sipped their drinks silently for a moment. Iris happily drank a few gulps of her espresso, feeling the warm liquid flow into her small body and soothe her. After a second, she looked up at the stranger once more.
"You, uh...probably thought I was acting like a baby, huh? Yelling at the cashier like that..."
"Nah, don't worry about it," he said. "Oh, by the way, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Cilan."
Iris grinned goofily and shook his hand. "I'm Iris."
"Nice to meet you, Iris. do you...come here often?"
Iris shook her head. "No. I've only been in town a couple of days, trying to find a job..." she sighed. "I had a pretty rough day today. Nobody wanted to hire me."
Cilan looked at her sadly. "How come?"
Iris scoffed. "Because I'm a girl and I'm black," she replied bitterly.
Cilan nearly choked on his coffee. "Oh, uh...a-are you sure that's the reason?"
"Yes! They just don't think I'm capable of anything!"
Cilan nodded and looked at the ground. "I'm really sorry about that," he told her. "It's a shame that there are still people like that in the world."
Iris layed her head down on the table sadly. "Yeah, and 'm the one who has to pay for it. It's not fair." she paused and looked up at him. "You wouldn't happen to know of a place looking to hire, would you?"
"No, but..." Cilan put a hand on his chin and looked up thoughtfully. "Well, the restaurant where I work sometimes needs a little extra help..."
Iris perked up. "Really?"
Cilan grinned. "Yeah. A lot of our part-time workers might leave over the summer, so if a job opens up, I can let you know."
Iris grinned at him with glee. "Th-that would be great! Thanks so much! H-here, I'll give you my phone number so you can reach me later..."
She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled her number down before handing it to Cilan.
Cilan smiled and tucked the paper in his pocket. "Alright then. I'll call you if anything comes up."
"Thank you so much!" Iris cried again. "You've been such a big help to me today, Cilan. I don't know how I can repay you!"
"Don't worry about, it's the least I can do," he replied with a sweet smile. "You seem like a pretty nice girl, Iris."
Iris felt her face go hot and tried to hide it behind her cup of coffee.
Cilan stood up. "Anyway, I kinda have to get going..." he held out a hand once more. "It was nice talking to you, Iris. I'll see you around sometime?"
Iris stood up eagerly and shook his hand again. "You bet! Be sure to call me, ok?"
"Absolutely. Good luck, Iris!"
"Thanks again, Cilan!"
Iris wistfully watched him go and smiled happily down at the cup of coffee in her hands.
Maybe today wasn't such a bad day after all.
A/N: Wow, look at that. My first Pokemon fanfic and it's Wishfulshipping of all things. XDD That's unexpected.
Anyway, hope you liked! Please review, fave, and all that good stuff, and hopefully I'll be writing some more substantial Pokemon fics in the future. XD