Anonymous on CuriousCat prompted: Prompt 56 : Snow and Charming " Are you flirting with me? "

She comes in every day to buy an iced mocha and an orange cranberry muffin. David knows her order by heart.

"I remember everyone's."

It's a lie. There are five other customers that slide in and say "I'll have the usual" and he cannot for the life of him remember. It doesn't matter that he works there six days a week, most of the time double shifts. His boss says that a good employee remembers these things, but he has a lot more to worry about. He's got a full course load, a sick mother he barely has time to see and a dick of an uncle that he wants to avoid like the plague.

When she walks in, however, he forgets all about that. He forgets about the stress, the homework and his dying mother. All he can see, is her. Her beautiful smile, those sparkling emerald eyes and the pixie cut that frames her face so well.

It takes him a month to learn her name. They don't ask for them in the coffee shop. It's not until he sees a bubblegum binder covered with unicorn and rainbow stickers that he spots it. At the top is one of those "Hello My Name Is" tags and it reads "Mary Margaret".

David begins using it and doodling it on her cup. If she thinks it's weird, she doesn't say anything. In fact, she doesn't say much at all to him. They smile, she blushes when he instantly remembers her order, but that's it. They don't have more to do with each other than coffee and muffins.

Then one day, she comes in with red, puffy eyes and no trace of that magic smile anywhere. It's later than when she would usually come in and she's not wearing her typical cardigan. Instead, she has on a black dress. She walks to the counter and for a moment, David is flustered. He isn't used to seeing Mary Margaret this way and it troubles him.

"The usual?" He finally asks.

Mary Margaret looks up at him as if he just pondered the meaning of life. "I…no."

"No?"

"I want…" She scans the menu. "A green tea and a brownie."

Who is he to argue?

Sometimes she would stay to study, others she took it to go. Today, she sits there for hours. She sips on her tea and barely touches her fudgy treat. David does his best not to stare as he tends to the other customers and cleans up. The hours tick by and soon, it's up to him to close up. He's subtle about it at first, sweeping the floors and putting the day-old pastries away for the homeless shelter. Then he moves onto switching the sign from open to closed. Still, Mary Margaret sits. Any other customer, he'd politely but firmly tell to get out.

David walks over and sits in front of her. The tea is gone, the brownie practically untouched. She looks up at him and frowns.

"You're closed, aren't you?"

"Technically. But, you can stay."

Mary Margaret lets out a shaky breath. "I…I buried my mother today."

David shudders. He thinks of his own mother, the doctors who want to discuss a new treatment they can't possibly afford. Even if he manages to scrape together the money, he knows hospice is the next step. He hates that Mary Margaret is going through this.

"I am so sorry."

She nods. "I…I didn't know where else to go after the funeral. I was at this reception with people hugging me and wishing me well. My father didn't even bother to show up."

"Seriously?"

"He had a business trip."

"Still, that's your mother. I assume his wife."

Mary Margaret shrugs. "Just the kind of man he is. He sent flowers for her, a necklace for me." She lets out a bitter laugh. "As if she's still alive and he missed Christmas or something. Not her fucking funeral."

"Jesus Christ."

It sounds like something his own father would've done. Seems like the fates knew that Robert had to go before Ruth. Yet, they still left him with his Uncle George.

"So…while my cousin Regina gave a toast in my mother's honor…I left. Snuck out the back door, got in my car and somehow ended up here."

"Why?"

Mary Margaret's eyebrows crinkles. "Why?"

"I mean…it's a coffee shop. Not exactly the best place to grieve."

"It's familiar. I come here every day." Mary Margaret looks around the shop. "My mother started taking me here when I was 10 years old. She loved it. She ordered green tea and a brownie." She gestures to the dishes in front of her. "This felt like more of a place to feel closer to her than the stuffy house she and my father shared."

David nods. "I guess that makes sense."

Mary Margaret wipes at her eyes. "God, I'm sorry," she mutters. "I should go…you don't want me here…"

"Yes!" David says it so urgently, it physically rattles Mary Margaret. He curses himself. "I mean…I do have to close up or my ass of a boss will see on the cameras. But…maybe we could go for a walk. We can go anywhere…so you don't have to go back home."

"You'd do that for me? You don't even know me."

"I know you iced mochas and cranberry orange muffins." Mary Margaret laughs in spite of her tears, ducking her head. "I know you have unicorn stickers on your binder. I know you're Mary Margaret and you come here every day, at least the six days I'm here. I know…I know that no one should be alone after they bury a parent."

Mary Margaret smiles at him, shaking her head. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd ask if you were hitting on me or stalking me or something. But I'm just too sad and too tired to think about that."

David grins. "Let me just finish closing up and put my apron away. There's this lake nearby that I'd love to show you."