"Hey, Neil Armstrong" Valerie teased, flicking her mass of thick black curls over her shoulder and pulling out her pen from behind her ear. "Where are your friends"
Danny grinned up at the pretty, brown skinned girl, "Oh well, Sam and Tuck are both busy today, so I'm flying solo." Thank goodness, otherwise I probably wouldn't have come today, and I certainly wouldn't do what I'm about to do, he added mentally, with a slight chuckle.
She met his smile with one of her own, her teal eyes crinkling at the corners, "So, did you want the usual Vanilla Bean Frappe with caramel drizzle?"
He blushed and scratched at the back of his neck, "Umm, well actually, I think I wanna try something different today." He paused, tapping his chin thoughtfully before turning to her with a playful grin, "Got any suggestions?"
"Hmmm...I really like the Hibiscus Iced Tea with lemon" she replied after a moment of introspection.
Danny nodded his head sagely. "Alright, I'll have two of those", he replied with mock seriousness.
The wild haired girl had to suppress a laugh as she tilted her head, glancing at him curiously, "Someone's awfully thirsty today"
"Well one of them is for this girl...", he fiddled with his napkin and avoided her gaze. "I'm uhhh, planning on asking her out today and I figured I outta buy her a drink, to be gentlemanly y'know?"
Valerie felt a knot form in her stomach at his words, but she pushed them down and gave him a wide grin that didn't quite reach her eyes, "Good for you, Danny! Whose the lucky lady?"
His face flushed beet red and he avoided her gaze, "Just...a friend." he replied nonchalantly.
"Well, I hope everything works out for you" Valerie said, her tone clipped. "I better get back to work, these drinks aren't gonna make themselves."
She turned and walked briskly away, leaving behind the sweet strawberry scent of her conditioner. Danny stared at her retreating figure, Gosh she's beautiful...what am I doing!? She's out of my league, she's gonna think I'm a huge loser...
His thoughts drifted to the conversation he'd had a few days prior with his friends, the last time they'd all come to Casper's Coffee, their favorite local coffee shop;
"Danny? Hello, earth to Danny!" Tucker had said, waving a hand in front of his best friends face.
"Huh...oh, uh sorry Tuck" Danny sighed, tearing his eyes away from his favorite barista and her curve hugging uniform.
"Jeez, Danny, get your head outta the clouds would ya?" scoffed Sam, taking a sip of her black coffee as she rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, guys, it's just...I really like Valerie...maybe I should ask her out?" he said, his tone unsure.
"Umm, you don't even know her Danny—you've only known her for like a month" Sam muttered, judgement seeping through her tone.
"I know...that's why I wanna ask her out. So I can get to know her!" Danny replied defensively.
"I don't know dude, Valerie's wayyyy out of your league" Tucker teased, a mock sympathetic look on his face. "Besides doesn't that break some sort of unwritten barista-customer rule? I mean what if she's not interested—then we can never come back here."
"No way! This is the only shop that sells vegan, sustainable, cruelty free arabian black coffee! I am not missing out on my favorite coffee because you wanted to hit on a girl!" Sam raged, giving Danny a pointed glare.
"Thanks for believing in me, guys." Danny muttered dryly.
He'd ignored their advice and come here alone, so he could ask her out. But now that he was here, he felt doubts filling his head. What if Sam and Tuck were right and she thinks I'm weird. I'm never gonna be able to show my face here again...Sam and Tuck would kill me-
He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts as a smooth brown hand set two dark pink drinks on the table in front of him. He looked up to find a pair of warm teal eyes looking down at him, she smiled as she reached down placing a sweet smelling, flaky pastry in front of him. Danny's blue eyes gazed up at her questioningly.
"It's on the house" Valerie said casually, twisting a lock of her long hair, "As a good luck, for your date y'know?"
"Oh, ummm thanks, Val. That's really sweet of you" he replied, swallowing nervously.
"No problem, Danny". She turned to walk away before she paused and seemed to hesitate for a moment. Finally, she turned and smiled at him shyly, "You're a really sweet guy Danny, I hope your friend sees that."
Her compliment caused Danny's throat to dry and he licked his lips nervously, fighting back a blush. Before he could say anything back, she had already turned and walked away to help other customers.
Danny gazed affectionately between Valerie and the delicious buttery crusted pastry. He picked at his napkin for a moment, before pulling out a pen and scribbling something onto the napkin. He looked over the napkin once before straightening up the extra drink and tucking the napkin near the edge of the treat were it was clearly visible along with a tip. With a final look at the table, he grabbed his things and headed out the door.
.
.
Valerie had seen him leave and glanced at his table curiously, the drink and pastry were both neatly arranged on the table. 'I didn't see a girl come in? Maybe he changed his mind and chickened out?' Valerie shook her head, 'No, Danny doesn't seem like the type to chicken out once he'd set his mind to something... Maybe he'd been stood up?'Valerie fumed at the thought,'Who would stand Danny up! He was a great guy and anyone would be lucky to date him-'
Valerie paused, 'Why am I even thinking about this... It's not any of my business who Danny wants to date. We're barely even friends...' Though if she were completely honest with herself, she wouldn't mind being more than Danny's friend. She banished those thoughts and continued her work.
She finished up the rest of her tables and once the coffee shop had emptied, wandered over to Danny's table, were his things still lay neatly arranged. Something caught her eye and she looked down to see a napkin with her name scribbled on it. Her curiosity piqued and she grabbed the napkin and read;
Hey Val,
I know we don't really know each other too well.
I was thinking we could fix that-
Dinner? Or a movie?
Call me: 555-353-4789
Danny
She smiled at the note, chewing on her bottom lip as she reread it. She looked at the drink and pastry laid on the table and glanced back at the note, flipping it over, she saw more writing;
P.S. Enjoy the sweets for a super sweet girl :)
Valerie laughed and rolled her eyes, 'Wow, Danny, such a way with words'.
.
.
Once at home, Valerie headed straight to her room and pulled out the napkin, smiling to herself before pulling out her cellphone and dialing Danny's number.
"Hey Danny? I uhh...I got your note..."