Writer's Corner: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't had time to write in a while, but here's a new segment of Past, present, Future!
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ρ α ş τ — ρ ѓ ε ş ε η т — ғ υ т υ ѓ ε
a Terra/Aqua collection
by
P h o e b e N o i r
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S t a g e 3
"Ά ρ ŕ ơ η — ơ ƒ — Ǿ ρ ρ ŕ ε ş ş ï ơ η"
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Terra stared at the application in front of him, wondering what in the world had possessed him to actually pick up the damn piece of paper last time they were at the mall. He was desperate for a job, but was he desperate enough to apply to one of the world's largest chains of over-franchised, over-priced and over-exaggerated coffee shops? He looked up from the application to see what Aqua was looking at.
She had been at the weapons shop, admiring the different styles of swords that hung on the wall, but now she'd wandered over to another store to gaze at something on display. Whatever she was looking at must have really captivated her if it was enough to draw her away from weaponry. Heaving out a sigh, he stuffed the application back into his pocket and walked over to her. She was staring down at a necklace was made out seashells bound together in the shape of a flower. Though in Terra's opinion, it looked more like a star than anything else.
"Like it?" he asked, causing Aqua to jump. She was startled that he'd managed to walk up behind her.
Aqua shook her head at her friend. "A little," she explained, "but I've got nothing to go with it and it's ridiculously priced..." Terra could see right through it. She liked it and was trying to cover it up. She always acted this way whenever her girly side was showing.
Terra decided to say nothing on the subject and redirected her toward their original goal: obtaining sea-salt ice cream at the mall.
A week later, he put in his application to Starbucks. Three days later, he had an interview over the phone and now, a day later, he was standing behind the counter, in a horrible green apron. Memorizing the recipes was easy; it was remembering those recipes and getting them done in the span of two minutes that was the hard part. On his first day off of training, Terra managed to get five orders wrong. On his second day, he was stuck behind the register, at the beck and call of customers. But Terra found that he loved the register more than anything else. The register was heaven compared to remembering which type of syrup to use for someone's extra-whip cream, non-fat, double espresso, iced mocha tall drink. Why they name the damn small tall, I'll never know, he griped.
Of course, working at Starbucks was a secret. He didn't want Aqua or Ven to find out he was working in hell. This job was just too lame. When either of them called to hang out, he had to make up an excuse. He used every single one he could think of, including telling them that he was "already late" to knitting class and that no, sorry, he was busy washing his hair—he almost thought the last excuse was a buyable one. Since he started working at Starbucks, he couldn't get the damn coffee smell off.
Finally fed up with their friend avoiding them, Ven and Aqua stalked Terra. They got out of class early and waited in the school parking lot, scanning the horizon for him. They spotted him as he got into his car and, as surreptitiously as possible, they followed. Minutes later, they were at the mall. Barely a foot in the door, Aqua got her sudden—but typical—craving for caramel frappuccino.
"Aqua we're gonna lose him!" Ven sighed. "Just put your Starbucks addiction on hold for two minutes—"
"Come on, Ven, it's not that far and it's in the same direction—" Aqua's sentence fell short as she watched Terra take out of his backpack… a green apron with the very familiar Starbucks logo. Ven fell silent as well.
"Well... mystery solved!" he said as he placed his hands on his hips.
"Think I could bribe him into giving me the employee discount?" Aqua mused to herself, completely missing Ven smacking his palm to his forehead.
With Terra's dark, dark secret exposed, Aqua and Ven decided to go into Starbucks to tease their friend. But what they intended to be a fun day for Terra turned out to be a bad one. There was a man in front of them in line, demanding that he either get a refund or a completely new drink.
"This loser over here royally messed my up drink. I wanted SKIM milk, not FAT FREE," he yelled at the manager, who was standing next to Terra. Aqua looked on, and she swore she saw Terra's left eye start to twitch.
"Sir, I made your drink perfectly fine," Terra began, trying to defend himself.
"No, you didn't. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. Does Starbucks hire any high school dropout with a fifth grade reading level now?" To emphasize his point, the black-haired man pointed to the milk containers. "Does he even know how to read a thermometer—"
"Sir, Sir! We'll make you another drink. Can I have your name please?" the manager asked. She saw the look on Terra's face and knew he was about to deck the guy.
"The name's Vanitas, and don't screw it up this time!" he barked, moving out of the line to the side to wait for his new drink. Unbeknownst to the manager, Terra had made the man's drink absolutely right. Vanitas was just being a douche and wanted a second drink free.
Aqua, though, saw right through the entire thing. She quietly told Ven that she was heading out to the bathroom. He raised an eyebrow at her and let her go. She was only gone for like five minutes before she returned, panting.
"…What did you do?" Ven asked.
"Nothing," she told him, and for emphasis she gave him an innocent smile.
She looked and saw Vanitas was still waiting for his drink. Once he got it, he snatched it and walked off carrying the old drink and the new one. Aqua's innocent smile turned into a smirk.
"Wait for it..." she murmured, moving up to the counter to Terra. He parted his lips to ask what she and Ven were doing here (and how they found him) when a loud piercing shriek cut him off.
"WHO KEYED MY SCOOTER?"
Everyone in the cafe turned their heads to the window that faced the parking lot. There was Vanitas, staring at his customized scooter, which now looked like it had been mauled by about ten thousand keys. He had dropped both drinks on the ground. Terra looked away from the sight to face Aqua.
"...You didn't..."
"Oh I did. Now, hit me with a frappuccino, Mister Barista!"
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