I'm ready to die.
That was the first thought that came into Peridot's head as she stared at the prompt on her glaringly bright computer screen again.
MLA Format 1500-2000 words.
And even worse,
Due 6:09AM, November 11.
The rustic guitar music that filled the coffee shop did little to calm her as she slid her thumb over the power button on the side of her smartphone, triggering the dim display.
7:58 PM.
That's okay, she thought. I've got like a day…
Date: November 10.
Shit.
Peridot drummed her fingers against the little cafe table she sat at, trailing her index finger on the grooves in the wood. Taking her junior seminar on Shakespeare seemed like a good idea when she enrolled, but now she was beginning to regret it. She was a college junior, pursuing her major in engineering, but her university required a certain number of liberal arts classes to graduate.
Peridot read the prompt one last time before shaking her head and running one hand through her coarse bleached hair. She really needed some coffee, especially if she was going to have to bullshit her way through an essay.
Lapis Lazuli, Peridot's regular barista, stood in front of the cash register, waiting impatiently for her customer to finish her ridiculously long order, her face a mask of pain. The woman before her was wearing oversized Prada sunglasses and toting a rather large white Gucci bag, which was as horrifyingly clean and bright as her close-fitting tennis whites. Beside her, there were two little boys running around her ankles, screaming about whether the were going to watch Power Rangers or Spongebob when they got home. Lapis had told Peridot she only took up this job for the health care benefits, and if there wasn't also Spotify Premium, she would've quit by now.
As she wrote the woman's name on the cup, not really caring how many vowels there were in 'Mackleighlay', she felt a finger annoyingly poke her in the back. She turned, and was assaulted by a mass of thick hair inches from her face. If looks could kill, the girl would be dead by now.
"What are you doing here, you never take the morning shift." Lapis said flatly, looking back and rolling her eyes at the retreating mom's back before slowly turning to face her coworker, Amethyst again.
"I just needed the extra hours, but Lapis," she said as she ducked them both behind the coffee bar, eyes barely peeking over the top.
"Who," She asked, gesturing out to the customers, "is that?"
Lapis just stared back at her blankly.
"Way to be specific." She said sarcastically as she hoisted herself up and trudged back to the register, followed by Amethyst whose voice had dropped to a whisper.
"The one with the computer" She pointed over in the general direction of Peridot, quickly drawing back.
Lapis looked like she could hurl herself off of a cliff, but she tended to look like that at work anyway. Today though, it was mostly Amethyst.
"Amethyst," she said icily, "we have free wifi. Everyone has a laptop."
Amethyst furrowed her eyebrows, visibly irritated.
"The cute one, with the fluffy white hair and the green shirt, THAT ONE." Her voice had risen back above speaking level at this point, and she let out a sigh as she ran her hand through her hair.
Lapis let out a tiny smirk before speaking, clearly amused. "That's Peridot, Amethyst. She's in here at like 6:00 a.m. or some crazy shit every morning, and she just sits there until 12 and works. One coffee, no bathroom breaks, just work."
Amethyst just grinned back cheekily, a glazed look in her eyes as she rearranged some spice shakers.
"What if I like talked to her Lapis, gave her my number or something?" Her mouth said 'smug' but her eyes said 'desperate' as she spoke.
Lapis just turned back to the register and punched something in halfheartedly.
"Do whatever you want, just don't get it near me you animal" She brushed her bangs back and groaned before moving on to the next customer, an elderly man getting a lemonade.
"Thanks Lapis," Amethyst said sarcastically, going to prepare one of the orders left out behind the bar. She smiled to herself as she poured coffee into a cardboard cup, thinking to herself.
I can do this.
"That'll be $2.75. And your name for the cup?"
Peridot didn't even have to name her order, Lapis already knew. She uncapped a sharpie, waiting for the other to respond, even though they did this almost every day. Company policy maybe, she thought to herself.
"Peridot?"
Lapis walked over to the back, tiredly, as Peridot gazed at the shop. The walls were a creamy beige, with rustic paintings of French decolletage, loaves of bread and old movie posters and all that, adorning the walls. Along the entrance were displays of coffee cups and diffusers for sale, and the windows were lined, inside the shop and out, with cafe tables, one of which had her laptop and papers strewn across it.
She looked back to Lapis, who held a cup under the steady stream of coffee coming from the brewer, watching it fill up slowly with unnecessary intensity, but Peridot suspected she was just exhausted. She always seemed to be exhausted.
Almost at that exact moment, a whirlwind of purple hair assaulted Lapis, causing her to jump and almost spill the coffee. She swore as she clutched the cup, her nails digging into the sides as she glared at her attacker.
"I'll finish making it," said the frantic barista in a breathless voice.
Lapis almost seemed to be debating whether or not to say something while placing the hot cup in the girl's already warm hands, but decided against it as she let out a dejected sigh. Her phone vibrated, signaling the end of her shift, and she smiled halfheartedly at a broken mug next to the cash register. She untied her apron and walked out the back, not even bothering to hang it up as she left out the back door.
Peridot gazed at the barista who had taken over for Lapis. Her heart skipped a few beats as she looked at her, unaware that she was staring. The woman was dancing around behind the coffee counter fixing up the drink like she was having the time of her life, and Peridot was enraptured.
Her nametag read Amethyst in scrappy purple lettering. Amethyst had warm caramel skin and large dark eyes, with a spray of freckles on her nose and cheeks. Peridot suspected they were around the same height, but the other girl was curvier, with thick thighs, what seemed to be faint stretch marks peeking out of her shorts, and full lips painted a purple color. To top it off, she had the longest and thickest hair Peridot had ever seen on anyone her age, and it was all dyed an almost white lavender.
"Here's your coffee, have a nice day," heard Peridot as she almost dropped the warm drink unsuspectingly thrust into her hands. Her face turned a deep shade of vermillion as she realized she'd been staring at the girl behind the counter for the entire time she'd been in line, and had been holding it up. As she headed back to her table, Peridot could've sworn Amethyst winked at her as she went to help the next customer. Peridot lifted the steaming cup to her lips, but her eyes caught her name scribbled on the cup, or at least, what was under it.
A phone number.
