I opened the door to the coffee shop, the smell of coffee beans and the sound of latte machines working overtime immediately hit me.
"NutmegCafé: Come for the Drinks, Stay for the Atmosphere," I muttered reading the sign hanging behind the counter, "pretty accurate seeing how your drinks suck."
I looked around the café in order to get a gist of the situation I was in. It was a Tuesday afternoon, so the shop was relatively quiet, only about a handful of people inside; most of the customers were sitting outside enjoying the sunny weather. I checked my watch and saw that it was almost 3:30, meaning I had about 30 minutes before the 4 o clock rush of customers from the university a few blocks down came in. If I was going to make my move, it would be best to do it while it was still nice and calm.
"Excuse me, but could you please move?" I felt someone gently tap my shoulder. I turned around and saw a woman looking up at me. She was young, dark skinned, green eyes and with very curly hair that barely reached her shoulders. She was wearing a low cut blue dress that hugged her curves tightly and reached just over her knees, alongside a pair of white gloves and knee high boots.
"Sorry," I stepped to the side and allowed her to walk up to the counter where she began trying to get the barista's attention. Despite myself I couldn't help seizing her up from behind; her toned legs seemed to go on forever, and the way the back of her dress clung to her ass made it look like the fabric was about to burst open.
"Not bad..." I muttered to myself.
Suddenly I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, cutting into my thoughts. I reached in and pulled up the screen, expecting a text or maybe even a dropped call. However, something else entirely popped up: a small baby blue arrow flashing on the screen and apparently pointing in front of me.
"What the—"
"Looks like you have your first target," I turned to see Kyu standing next to me grinning from ear to ear.
"Kyu?! What are you doing here?!" I whispered furiously. Before she could answer I grabbed her arm and pulled her outside the coffee shop and around the corner where no one could see us.
"Well aren't you being forward? But, like I said, I don't screw while I'm on the clock."
"What the hell are you doing?! You can't just walk outside like that!"
"Why not?"
"Because you still have your wings on! Also, pants are pretty much the norm for outwear, not whatever the hell this is," I said gesturing at her pink nightie ensemble.
"Relax dude, I'm only here to check out your progress. After what happened at the apartment I was afraid that you might have another panic attack in the middle of the shop; and trust me when I say that it's nearly impossible to recover from that sort of public humiliation. So, being the generous fairy that I am, I decided to pop up and help, making sure that it's nothing from smooth sailing from here on out."
"Oh yeah because if there's anything that's going to help me right now it's a pink, half naked fairy following me arounf while I try to pick up women. It's not like that could be seen just a bit suspicious to, oh I don't know, LITERALLY ANYONE WITH A FUNCTIONING BRAIN CELL!"
"Geez you need to relax," Kyu rolled her eyes, "nothing bad is going to happen. Here, I'll prove it to you," she began fluttering her wings and flying off towards the café patio.
"Kyu! Kyu!" I whispered trying to get her to stop to no avail. She floated towards one of the tables where there were two men talking while drinking from two large Styrofoam coffee cups. Giving me a sly wink Kyu dropped down and plopped on the middle of the table, crossing her legs and leading back on her hands while pushing her chest upwards, giving anyone who looked at her general direction a more than generous view.
And yet the two men sitting at the table didn't even acknowledge her.
Confused I kept watching as she eventually laid down on the table and stretched her body as much as she could. She looked up at one of the men and pretended to blow him a kiss while at the same time she stretched her leg right in front of the other man, inches away from his face.
Nothing.
Giggling she got up and fluttered off the table, making sure to float pass as many people as possible only for them to not even look up or showing any signs of noticing her.
"What. The. Fuck," I said to myself.
"See? What did I tell you? Nobody can see me, so you don't have to worry about me making a scene; you should be more worried about the fact that you might have caused a scene when you suddenly ran out the shop like you did."
"But...how?"
"No one else can see me but you; after all I'm just a figment of your imagination. Plot twist!" She said in a singsong voice while playfully poking my nose.
"Oh great, so I am insane; that's great to know..."
She laughed and punched my arm playfully, "nah relax, I'm just fucking with you. The truth is I can make myself visible to whomever I want, and right now I'm only visible to you. Also, no one else but you can hear what I say; that being said, people can still hear and see everything you do that is directed to me, so be discreet unless you want people to think you are some sort of lunatic."
"Okay fine, noted. Now can you explain to me what is going on with my phone please?" I said gesturing to the still blinking arrow.
"Well remember that app that I installed on your device?"
"You mean the stalker app?"
"Not exactly what I would call it, but yeah whatever. One of its main features is that is can locate girls that respond to the four core traits in the nearby vicinity."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember, girls react to different traits in different ways. Some react to certain traits more than others; talent, flirtation, romance and sexuality are just the ones with a broader scope of women who react to them. What the huniebee does is locate girls who will react the most to one of the four traits. Like maybe she's into talented guys, or maybe she's just really thirsty for some dick. You get the point."
"Okay, so which trait will that girl react to the most?"
She shrugged, "don't know, and until you enter her phone number into the program it won't be able to tell you either; right now it can only detect that she'll react to one of the four, just not which one specifically."
"So basically your telling me that my phone can point to me to girls with whom I will have the best chance with based on everything you've taught me?"
"So you're going to use the stalker app or what?" she grinned.
"Well, I mean, if it's going to work on its own, I might as well not let not go to waste," I coughed nervously.
"Riiight. Anyway you should consider yourself lucky that the huniebee picked that fine thing for your first test run. Did you see her? Mmmm mmmm, I love me some dark chocolate; I'll have whatever she was having, if you know what I'm saying?"
"Wow, so racist," I said raising my eyebrows.
"Oh put a sock in it. Now get in there and talk to her before she gets away; and don't worry, I'll be with you to make sure you don't fuck up."
"Thanks," I took a deep breathe and walked out of the alley and into the coffee shop again.
"Excuse me, miss!"
"Yeah?"
The girl from before was leaning over the counter with her arm in the air, She was currently talking to one of the baristas, a young girl with short twilight blue hair and glasses who had her shop apron off and hanging from her arm.
"I've been here for a while now, I'm still waiting to be helped."
"Oh...yeeeeaah. So my shift just ended. I'm pretty much out the door already," she blue haired girl said unapologetically pointing at the employee door behind her, "I think someone else should be in any minute."
"I'm just looking to get a cappuccino; it will only take a couple seconds," the curly haired woman said patiently.
"I mean...it's more than a second. Soooo," the barista inched closer to the door behind her.
"Are you serious?"
"I should have left over fifteen minutes ago, okay? I'm done. Someone else will take care of your double frappe latte or whatever," the girl responded impatiently before turning around and leaving through the door.
"Wow...okay?" The girl sighed putting her arm down and leaning on the counter.
"Oy, this is perfect," Kyu elbowed my stomach, "now is your chance to go talk to her. Considering what just went down, she's probably a little pissed off."
"How is that a good thing?" I whispered.
"Because it gives you that chance to brighten her day, thus giving you a good start. You gotta try and get on her good side; open with something safe, something she probably wants to hear. Now go get her tiger."
All right, I can do this...deep breath...deep breath...
"Don't hyperventilate, it makes you seem creepy. Just calm the fuck down."
"Right, sorry."
I walked up to the woman, who had her forehead on her hand and let out another tired sighed, "sometimes I hate this place so much..."
Seeing an opportunity and stood next to her and leaned my back on the counter, "man customer service these days right?"
"Hmmm?" She looked up, "oh, you're that guy from earlier."
"Yeah sorry about that. I would have been sitting down if one of these baristas actually cared about doing their job."
"I know right? It's ridiculous; and can you believe how they treat their customers? The nerve of some people," she shook her head.
"Honestly if it wasn't for the affordable coffee I would have gone back to Starbucks," I lied.
"I know exactly how you feel; it's impossible to keep a coffee habit with their prices. I mean 3 dollars for a Grande regular coffee? I wouldn't be able to afford my rent with those prices."
"Well that and I doubt you would escape baristas like that one in Starbucks; I guess the job just attracts unpleasant people."
"No trust me, that's just her. I've had to deal with her before, and she always has that same crap attitude. I mean really, is a cup of coffee so much to ask? Sooo sorry to inconvenience you by asking you to do something that in part of your job."
"You're doing great dude, keep it up. She's loosening up," Kyu gave me a thumbs up.
"Have you been waiting here long too?" She asked.
"Little bit. Though to be honest I was also waiting for a chance to talk to you so it paid off," I said cautiously.
"Me?" She blinked surprised getting off the counter, "Why? You see something you like?"
"A few things, yes," I went a little stronger smiling at her.
"Well I gotta give you credit, that's pretty brave. You don't here that often enough," she smiled back her cheeks turning slightly pink, "so is that your technique? Hitting on girls at the coffee shop? Don't tell me your one of those guys that just goes to places like this to hit on women."
Crap, what do I say? If I say yes she might think I'm a sleaze, but if I say no it's going to get awkward. Think...think...think!
"When in doubt, try to be funny. 4/5 times it's a great way to break the ice and slip out of a tight situation" I heard Kyu's voice ring inside my head.
Got it!
"I just do whatever the magic fairy that follows me around tells me," I shrugged pointing my thumb at a startled Kyu.
"Dude! What the fuck are you doing!? That's not—"
Kyu was cut off by Lola laughing, "okay, now that one I know I've never heard before. I'll give you points for creativity. Tell you what big shot, you caught me in a good mood. Or rather, you put me in a good mood.I normally don't give in so easily, but if we get our coffee any time this century, I might seriously consider continuing this conversation with you."
"How about we make it more interesting? If I can get us both coffee in the next five minutes, we sit down and see where this goes," I said.
"My, you're really being forward putting yourself out there; I like it. Okay then, I'll take that bet. I'll get a table and wait for five minutes; and I hope you don't disappoint."
"I rarely do."
"We will see. Make mine a cappuccino with extra cream please?" She reached in her purse for some money.
"Oh no, no, no, please. My treat. In insist," I waved her off.
"My, my confident and a gentleman? You're off to a good start big guy," she grabbed her phone and looked at the screen, "your five minutes star...now. Good luck!" She winked before going off to find a table.
"Duuuuude you did it!" Kyu clapped excitedly.
"Not now, on the clock," I whispered turning around signaling one of the baristas, a teenager who had just come in the employee door, "hey you, come here for a minute."
The teenager came over, his face covered acne and giving me an "I would rather be anywhere but here" look, "what do you want?"
"How would you like to make 100$?"
He snorted, "If I could I wouldn't be working here now would—" his eyes went wide when I pulled a 100 dollar bill from my wallet and held it up to him.
"This will be you tip if you get me a cappuccino with extra cream to drink here and one regular dark coffee to go in the next five minutes."
"Dude are you serious?"
"Now it's four minutes."
"Yes sir!" He scurried off to get the order.
"That was awesome! You are on FIYAH!" Kyu laughed.
"Thanks. Now give me some sugar," I said holding out my hand.
"You got it playa!" She slapped my hand.
"No I mean literally, pass my some sugar packets. The coffee here sucks."
"Oh right. My bad," she handed me some sugar packets just as the barista came back with my order, "well looks like you have everything under control here, so I'll just be heading back to he apartment. That Spice TV special is not going to watch itself. Ciao!" She chirped before disappearing with a small puff of pink smoke.
"Thank you. This is for the coffee," I gave the barista a ten, "keep the change. And this is for you," I slid the hundred over the counter.
"Dude this is so cool! You rock man!"
"Don't mention it," I grabbed both coffees and scanned for Lola and saw her sitting next to the window checking herself with a small foldable mirror. I took a deep breath and walked over her, causing her to put the mirror away in her purse and smile at me.
"Wow, you actually did it?" She asked surprised checking her phone, "and with a minute to spare! How did you manage to pull it off?"
"I bribed them," I answered honestly.
"Heeey that's cheating!"
"Is it? Because last time I checked all we agreed on was that I had to get your order in five minutes of less; we never put any rules on how I had to do it," I said giving her a cheeky grin, though I could feel a nervous sweat forming on my back. Should I have lied? Am I going to come off as someone who likes to flaunt his money?
Lola was about to say something, but then stopped. Eventually she shrugged, "you know what, that's fair. I did say that all you had to do was get my coffee in five minutes. So I guess that means you win the bet."
"Does that mean I can sit down?"
"Well you are still holding my cappuccino, so I can't say no can I?" She grinned.
"Come on, I'm not an asshole; okay maybe I'm kind of an asshole, but not that kind," I pouted.
She laughed, "okay, okay I get it. Please, have a seat. I'm actually starting to enjoy your company."
"Thank you; and here you go," I placed her cappuccino in front of her before sitting down.
"You sir are a life saver," she picked up the cup and breathed in deeply before letting out a content sigh, taking a sip as a look of pure joy spread through her face, "oh man, that sure hit the spot."
"Suddenly I feel like a third wheel. Should I give you two some alone time?"
"Very funny. It's just been a long day and...eh you probably don't want to here about it," she waved me off.
"Oh come on, you can't leave me hanging like that. I want to hear more about you."
"Seriously?"
"I did take that bet with you for a chance to talk didn't I? You seem like an interesting person, and I want to get to know you better; I want to get to know the real you," I recited the words the Kyu had taught me the past few months, making them sound as sincere as possible.
She looked surprised at what I said, most likely unsure if I was being honest or just messing with her. Eventually she must have believed me because she smiled at me as she stirred her cappuccino with her spoon, "well all right. Who am I to say no to someone asking so nicely?"
Some time later
"So eventually I got tired of this old lady calling me every five minutes in order to ask me if I was sure that the guy sitting next to her wasn't an terrorist and if there was no way that she could be seated next to someone less "suspicious"; and keep in mind she was not being subtle about it, the poor man could here her every time but could do nothing but sit the and pretend he wasn't listening."
"Jesus that horrible."
"I know right? Well anyway, at one point I had had enough and I'm sure the poor man was at his limit too, so I talked to the other flight attendants and the captain and I found out that there was an available seat in first class. We usually don't move people around after takeoff, especially not from one class to the other, but I explained the situation to the captain—with the help of the other attendants who also had to deal with this old lady—so the captain said we could make an exception. So I walked up to the row where the lady was sitting and I said, "we are terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but I have some good news. The captain has allowed us to bump you up to first class as an apology for your discomfort. If you would just follow me please." And then when the old croon began getting up I said, "oh sorry ma'am, I was talking to the gentlemen next to you." The look on her face was just priceless and made the rest of the trip with her less intolerable."
"That is so awesome!" I laughed, "man I wished I was there when it happened."
"Trust me, you really don't. As satisfying as that moment was, we still had other problems including an hour delay at the runway, three crying babies, and a group of meat head frat bros who were making the most of the whole "free drinks" thing; and yet that was still one of the better flights," she sighed running her finger over her empty cappuccino cup.
"Sounds like hard work," I said finishing my own coffee.
"It is. And you know what the worst part is? People think it's easy being a flight attendant. They think all we do is push around the food cart while the pilots do all the "real" work. Yeah being a pilot is a hard job, but being an attendant is no walk in the park. We're the ones who have to deal with the hundreds of angry, irritated, impatient passengers who think that they are entitled to royal treatment because they bought a plane ticket."
"I'll admit, it does sound much more stressful than I had originally thought," I nodded, "but if that story is any indicator it seems like you've managed to find a way to deal with those stressful situations."
"I'll be honest, it's mostly thanks to coffee. I don't think I could get on with the day without my fix."
"I think you're not giving yourself enough credit."
"And I think you're laying it a bit thick, aren't you? She smirked.
"Why is it not working?" I grinned.
"Weeeeell, I didn't say it WASN'T working," she smiled. Suddenly her phone began vibrating, causing her to pick it up and check it, "aw damn, I completely forgot."
"What?"
"I promised my friend I was going to meet her at the tennis court at 5. I gotta get there in five minutes," she said getting up and putting her phone in her bag.
Ah yes, the old fake messege to get out of a date. Not the first time I've seen that one. Why did I expect anything different? Now I just wasted my time and my money for nothing. Of course she would want to leave, who wouldn't? I'm still the same boring loser and nothing is going to—
"Hey," I looked up and saw her fidgeting nervously, "I...I really had a good time. I usually just grab a coffee and leave so that I don't have to deal with any of the employee here, but I actually wish I could stay longer today. Thanks for helping me through the afternoon, I needed that."
"No problem," I blinked, unsure of what was happening at the moment.
She smiled and took my styrofoam cup from my hand, pulling out a small sharpie marker from her purse and scribbling something over it., "I don't usually do this with guys I just met, but there's something different about you," when she was done she handed it back to me and a turned it around to see what she had written.
Lola 188-233-478
"Give me call. I'd like to see you again," she winked.
"Y-yeah, sure."
"Bye big guy," she waved before walking out of the coffee shop.
I sat there dumbfounded, my mind reeling with what had just happened.
That...that couldn't be real right? This is a joke...I'm being set up. This is probably a fake number, or the number to some sort of sex line, right? It has to be. I...I...huh?
...well only one way to find out.
I took out my phone and opened up the huniebee app and pressed the "add contact" link. I typed in the number written on my cup before hitting enter. After a few seconds a picture of Lola appeared with information on the side.
Lola Rembrite
Age: 24
Height: 5'7
Weight: 122 lbs
Hair color: brown
Eye color: green
Hobby: tennis
Favorite color: baby blue
Favorite drink: Cocktail, mangotini
Bra size: D cup
Most desired trait: Romance
Least Desired trait: Talent
Libido: Normal
...oh my god. It's the real deal, I stared at the screen in front of me before hastily closing the app, she gave me her number. Her actual phone number; and she wants me to call her.
I got a date...
I got a date!
"I got a date!" I laughed leaning back on my chair as relief spread through my body.
Author's note: I know I should be working on the next chapter of "To Change the Past" but I wanted to put this chapter our first. Why? Because I'm starting to regret working on this fic. See it turns out that there is a developer who is trying to get a male version of Huniepop (Hunkiepop) off the ground; and it is glorious. There are a few demo clips on YouTube and if they are any indication of what the game would be like, then I really wish I had waited until it was published so that I could have written about that instead. Seriously, type in Hunkiepop in YouTube search and click on the Kyu intro video. If you don't think Kyu is hotter as a guy than a girl, then we just see the world differently.
Anyway back to the fic. Yep, Lola is the first girl our protagonist encouters. Why? Because I said so. I know it isn't a really long chapter, but it is supposed to be the first time they meet so there wasn't much I could include. If you are thinking about leaving this fic because of this chapter, I recommend that you stay tuned for the next one; because it's going to explain one of the key elements of the game and there is going to be drama (DUN DUN DUNNNN!)
See you next time!
Edit: okay I've been getting a few messages about this so let me make it a bit clear. When I said "I regret writing this" I didn't mean it in the literal sense of "oh my god I hate this so much I don't ever want to see it again". It was a joke. It was just a humorous way of talking about Hunkiepop and how I wished to have been able to write a fic about that because I feel like it would have been more fun to write (also hot guys. Like SERIOUSLY hot) I probably should have made that a bit clearer, my bad. I'm not going to quit this fic, nor do I wish to. Like my main fic, I have it all planned out and I really want to see it through. Just keep in mind that if I do wish to terminate a fic, ANY fic, prematurely I will make it clear in the authors not by saying, "I will no longer contiue to write this fic". So unless you see that message, do not worry about me abandoning my fics. That is all.