Back again, everyone, with a new chapter!
Apologies for the wait, but I'm still getting back into the swing of writing. And I don't want to risk becoming drained by forcing myself to churn out a new chapter once a week, especially when I've already got so much going on in my life right now. So hopefully you guys can sit tight whilst I produce these chapters in my own time.
Anywho, onto the adorableness!
The monotonous beeping of Steff's alarm clock blared throughout the bedroom.
Her eyelids fluttering open, the 18 year old skunk slowly reached across to her bedside table and shut the alarm off. Taking note of the glowing green 7:00am on the clock's digital face, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and tossed off the covers with a yawn. After hoisting herself out of bed, Steff slowly made her way over to her window and pulled up the blinds. Squinting at first, her eyes gradually adjusted to the Saturday morning light peeking over the distant buildings.
Letting out a blissful sigh, Steff grabbed her glasses next to her alarm clock, along with her neatly folded clothes from her chair in the corner. She then made her way out the door and down the hall for a nice relaxing shower.
Two floors below stood her parents' quaint little café, aptly named Brewtiful. Before graduating last year, Steff had chosen to go into work with her family's business rather than attend college. While she mainly held the position of waitress, she and her parents rotated their jobs regularly, between waiting tables, working the cash register and preparing the food and drinks. While perfectly adept at all three of those duties, Steff liked working as the café's waitress in particular, thanks to the one-on-one talks with each customer she got to have.
After ten minutes had passed, Steff emerged from the bathroom with her pyjamas tucked under her arms. She now wore her blue summer dress with lily patterns, a shining pair of silver shoes and her glasses. After returning her pyjamas to the spot under her pillow, the skunk began descending the stairs to the kitchen on the first floor, the sweet aroma of breakfast wafting into her nose.
But midway down, she stopped in her tracks to admire a portrait hanging on the wall. Steff's fingers lovingly grazed the photo of Grandma Julie, smiling at the camera in her signature blue dress.
A week from tomorrow, it would officially be the tenth anniversary of her passing. Even with how much time had gone by, Steff still missed her greatly. While happy with her job and all the people she got to meet, deep down, the skunk still dreamt of pursuing a music career and being as elegant of a singer as she had been. Alas there were no open positions in any local bands or choirs for her to fill, so she instead settled for singing to herself, be it in the shower, her bedroom or under her breath during work hours.
With a tiny sigh, Steff continued down the stairs and walked into the kitchen, the whiff of breakfast hitting her at full force.
"Morning, Moms!" She said brightly. Her skunk and porcupine parents both turned to look at her with smiles. Cassie had just taken her seat at the table, clad in an emerald chiffon top with white leggings. Meanwhile Andrea, in a brilliant dress decorated with different shades of orange stripes, had just finished placing the last freshly-made waffle onto the third plate.
"Morning, Steff!" The porcupine replied, setting her wife's waffles with diced strawberries in front of her. "You're just in time for breakfast." While her mama cleaned her steamed-up glasses on her dress, Steff took her seat. A moment later, Andrea placed her daughter's own freshly-made breakfast before her.
"Sweet! Thanks, Mama!" the skunk said, gazing hungrily at her waffles decorated with blueberries. As she began to eat, Cassie reached over to pick up the coffee pot in the table's centre.
"Coffee?" She asked, gesturing to Steff's empty cup.
"Yes please!" came the reply. Once everyone's beverage had been poured, they all happily dug into their breakfast.
"Hey, Mom, do you need a hand with baking the chocolate fudge cake before opening?" Steff asked, swallowing a mouthful of waffle.
"Thanks, sweetheart, but I think I should be okay." Cassie took a sip of her coffee before continuing. "Could you restock the lemon bars though? They've been selling really well this week."
"Sure thing." Steff said with a nod. "I think we still have some extras in the fridge."
"Those were a really good addition to the menu, Steff." Andrea added, smiling as she added some extra syrup to her plate.
"Well after I found the recipe online, I couldn't not suggest it." Her daughter replied, shrugging modestly.
After the three of them had finished breakfast, cleaned up and given their teeth a good brush, Steff and Andrea made their way down to the ground floor whilst Cassie made a start on the chocolate fudge cake. Inhaling a deep breath through her nose, Steff took in the sight of their charming little café. With its baby blue painted walls, pristine oval bar and ten tables evenly spaced out along the walls and windows, it was no surprise that this establishment was the go-to refreshment spot for this side of Calatonia. Whilst her mama prepared the cash register and gave the tables one last polish, Steff went to the backroom where the fridge was to retrieve more lemon bars for the cake display cabinet.
Once the cake had been baked and all three Pearces had tied on their work aprons, Cassie went over to the now-unlocked door and, counting down the seconds for her watch to hit nine o'clock, promptly flipped over the CLOSED sign.
Brewtiful was open for business.
Though it took a while to build up, the cafe was alive with bustle after an hour. Over half the tables were filled while three more customers were stood in line at the bar. This time around, Steff was on waitress duty whilst Cassie and Andrea were behind the bar, preparing the nourishment and working the cash register respectively.
"Good morning, Andrea." said a chimp, walking up to the bar with a friendly grin.
"Nice to see you, Lewis." The porcupine smiled back at the familiar patron. "What'll it be today?"
"Could I get a cappuccino with a slice of lemon drizzle for table nine?"
"Alright then, that'll be $4.98. Take your seat and we'll bring it over in a few minutes." She replied as he swiftly paid with his card. Lewis nodded in gratitude before making his way back to his table.
"Did you catch that, honey?" Andrea asked, looking at her skunk wife over her shoulder.
"Sure did." Cassie responded, placing two freshly-brewed cups on a tray. "Steff, table five's order is ready!" In the blink of an eye, her daughter was already in front of her.
"Got it, Mom!" The skunk said, taking the tray and weaving through the café. Over in the corner of the window, she brought it over to an elderly tortoise and crocodile sitting across from each other.
"Alright, that's two mocha lattes with one slice of sponge cake and one lemon bar." said Steff, gently placing each item in front of them.
"Such service." The tortoise beamed. "Thank you very much, young lady."
"No problem, ma'am." Steff replied, smoothing out her apron. "Just call me if you both need anything else." As she turned to walk back to the bar, she noticed a rhino in a vibrant checkered shirt leave the front of the line to take a seat.
"Hey, Mr. Richardson!" She called over, catching his attention. "You're wearing my favourite shirt, I see. How's the hubby doing?"
"Very well, thank you, Steff!" came the reply. "We're celebrating our fifth anniversary next week!"
"Wow, congrats! Give him my regards!" The skunk called, making her way back to the bar just in time to pick up the next order.
As she began to carry the tray toward the table directly in the window, the image of Mr. Richardson and his husband crept into her mind. Slowly the vision morphed into two different people sitting in their place.
Her and a certain porcupine from her high school years.
Since graduating, Steff couldn't help pining once in a while over what might have been, had she not taken so long to try asking Ash out. The two of them had unfortunately lost touch since the porcupine had left after junior year. Wherever Ash was now, if she was still together with that Lance guy, Steff hoped she was doing alright.
"Hey, waitress, is our order coming or what?"
Snapping out of her stupor, the skunk shook her head and looked to where the gruff voice had come from. Taking notice of the snake and wolf sitting in the window, Steff realised she had stopped a couple feet from their table, their order on her tray starting to grow cold.
"Um, right, right, sorry." she stammered, clearing her throat as she quickly brought over the pair's coffee. "H-Here's yours, Marc. And there's yours, Sam. Again, really sorry about that." Flashing a sheepish grin, she turned on her heel and darted back to the bar, just as Cassie had finished brewing the next order.
"Steff, got an order for table ni…"
"On it, Mom!"
Ash was careful not to let the train screeching to a stop shake her too much, lest her quills accidentally prick anyone near her.
Today was the first day of her new job at Tunes Through Time, a quaint little music store near the other end of Calatonia. The journey for the interview had been quite a trek but it had been worth it for the manager shaking her hand afterward and asking if she could start Saturday. Compared to her last job at Roc's supermarket where she had been callously made redundant by her gloomy boss, this friendly attitude toward her was practically a godsend.
On her way out the door, as it was his day off from the electronics store at the mall, she had wished Lance good luck with adding the final touches to his song. With his lyrical prowess and the number of gigs they'd scored already, she was certain his song would blow the bar owner's mind at their audition tomorrow.
Since developing her love of rock at a very young age from her divorced dad, Ash's relationship with her mother hadn't been the smoothest. It had only gotten worse when she entered her relationship with Lance, with her mother constantly deriding him as a bad influence whereas Ash was certain of their future together as a rock duo. Their crumbling bond finally reached its zenith when she chose to leave high school after her junior year. The porcupine had since become emancipated, leading to her and Lance renting their own apartment and working day jobs in-between gigs to pay half the rent each. She and her mother hadn't seen nor spoken a word to each other since. Frankly, Ash wasn't sure if things would ever be okay between them again.
Taking in a breath, Ash basked in the afternoon sun as she strolled down the sidewalk, past the many shops and food places abuzz with customers. She fished her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen, just to be sure that she was making good time for her shift.
At that moment, a fluffy black and white tail shot across her path and directly into her face.
"Whoa, watch it!" she cried out, just managing to retain her balance as the tail's owner quickly stood up from the table she was cleaning.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Ash's eyes went wide at the sound of that sweet voice. She instantly identified the gawking animal before her.
A skunk. A female skunk with glasses. A friend she had lost touch with after high school by virtue of Lance's insistence that their career 'couldn't afford any distractions'.
"Ash?" The skunk practically whispered.
"Steff?"
Around noon, the hubbub of customers had died down to an extent. This gave Steff ample time to take care of cleaning off the two tables outside. The one on the right of the entrance wasn't too cluttered, only having a single empty cup. The one to the left, on the other hand, had a pair of half-empty cups and plates coated with crumbs to clear away.
Placing the items on her round tray, she noticed out of the corner of her eye a discarded napkin underneath the chair, crumbled into an untidy ball. Hoping it was the result of a breeze and not careless littering, Steff leaned down to pick it up.
Just in time for her tail to bump someone walking behind her.
"Whoa, watch it!"
Quickly realising her tail was sticking out into the sidewalk, the skunk jolted upright and spun around to face the voice.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..." Steff's words trailed off as she got a clear look at the person she had accidentally bumped. Her jaw dropped.
She instantly recognised those quills. That face. And especially those dazzling blue eyes.
"Ash?"
The porcupine returned her surprised stare. "Steff?"
Both their shock quickly melted into joyous laughter.
"Oh, my God!" Steff cried out, bouncing on her toes. She immediately embraced Ash in a tight hug which she gladly returned. "I can't believe it! It's so good to see you again!"
"You too! God, it's been so long!"
"I know, right?" Reluctantly pulling away from each other, Ash and Steff took a moment to calm themselves, still gazing at one another with fond smiles.
"Well..." Ash composed herself. "H-How are you?"
"Yeah, I'm doing really well." Steff cleared her throat before gesturing to her waitress apron. "Went into the Pearce family business after graduating."
The porcupine looked at her friend's uniform before glancing up at the Brewtiful sign proudly emblazoned above the café's entrance. "Oh, wow, that's cool. Are your moms doing okay?"
"Yeah, business has been going great for us, especially in the summer." Steff answered with a smile. "Sure beats college."
Looking down at Ash's own outfit, the skunk finally took in how much it had changed; rather than the bold red jacket she proudly donned in high school, she'd swapped it for a light grey shirt covered by a long-sleeved black striped shirt, topped off with three pins and two quills threaded through the front. The only ounce of red she wore now was a plaid skirt over her jeans. If Steff didn't know any better, she would have assumed that Ash was wearing Lance's clothes.
"You look... different."
"The good kinda different, I hope." Ash said with a grin, placing a hand on her hip.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely." Steff quickly replied. "So how about you?"
The porcupine nodded excitedly. "Yeah, things are going really good with me and Lance. We managed to land ourselves a couple of gigs after I left high school."
Steff smiled at the mention that Ash had continued going strong with her rock talents. Even so, her heart still sank at the fact that she was still together with Lance.
"Oh, well... that's good to hear." The skunk said, swallowing the lump in her throat before hastily changing the subject. "So what are you doing on this side of town anyway?"
"I'm on my way to my new day job actually."
Steff raised an interested eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah, I landed an interview on Thursday and I'm starting today." Ash gestured down the busy street. "It's at Tunes Through Time, that music store two blocks down."
"Oh yeah, I know the place." Steff had been to that store a couple of times when she was a toddler, the manager Ned having been a good friend of Grandma Julie's.
"Just a little something to keep me and Lance afloat in-between gigs."
"Well that's cool." Steff replied. "Got any upcoming ones?"
"We're auditioning for one tomorrow actually." said Ash, smiling eagerly. "Harry's Bar at 12:30. You wanna come along?"
The skunk almost blurted out 'yes' until the date Ash had mentioned sunk in.
"Sorry, Ash, I really wish I could," She winced. "But I'm working the full Sunday shift tomorrow."
Her eyes suddenly shot wide open as the word 'shift' jogged her memory.
"Oh, shoot, I'm supposed to be working now!" She cried, glimpsing back at the café through the window. "Sorry, I gotta get back inside before my parents wonder where I am."
"I won't keep you then." Ash nodded in understanding before glancing at the time on her phone. "I'd better go too, don't wanna be late on my first day."
"Can you text me how the audition goes tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure." The porcupine replied, handing her phone to Steff. "Here, put your number in my contacts."
The skunk wasted no time doing so. "New number." She said, promptly handing it back to her.
"Awesome." Ash pocketed the phone with a smile. "I hope we can see each other again, I'd love some more time to catch up." With that, she began making her way down the sidewalk.
"Me too, Ash." Steff called, waving to her. "Good luck at your job!"
"Thanks, Steff! See you later!" Her friend called back before continuing on her journey to the music store.
Never taking her eyes off the porcupine as she went back inside, the smile never left Steff's face for the rest of the day.
If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review explaining why. Free content thrives on interaction and feedback.
Thumbs up to any readers who noticed the Bad Guys Easter egg!
Fun fact: When I first began drafting this story and Steff's character, she was originally a porcupine with glasses and three quills hanging down on the sides of her head. Also I found the name Stephanie "Steff" Pearce quite fitting for a porcupine (Pearce, pierce, poke, quills, hehe, I'm funny).
But ultimately I decided to make her a skunk instead, so she would stand out amongst the other characters and so she wouldn't be just another porcupine OC like Jason was. And I still found her original design cute so I incorporated it into her mama Andrea, making her and Cassie an interspecies couple to boot.
Plus I adored the idea of Steff loving Ash despite the risk of getting poked by her quills and vice versa (Ash loving Steff despite the risk of her involuntarily spraying gas when she gets startled).
The movie Sing belongs to Illumination Entertainment. I only own my OC, Steff Pearce.