This turned out to be a faster pace than my stories usually are (and WAY longer than I planned, this was supposed to be a 1k word oneshot), but hopefully still enjoyable. c:

"Godfrey!"

Full, black painted lips form the name, and he's sure that if it were his, he'd love the way she says it. But his name's not Godfrey. Neither is it George, nor Gibson, or any of the other names she's given him.

Garfield comes here every morning on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays before class. Each morning he's here, so is she. A petite, angry looking girl with the tint of purple in her dark hair, eyes like deep space. He lost his breath the first time he saw her, but she just asked for his order with a challenging tilt to her eyebrow and barely looked at him again.

He scoots up to the pick up counter, familiar after months of coming here with her deliberate efforts not to know his name. His name isn't Godfrey, but he's certain this drink is his. She lingers long enough to catch his gaze, face stony and expressionless. As usual. He grins warmly at her, also as usual, hoping that one day the gesture will melt her features into a reciprocating smile. Her nose wrinkles lightly with the hint of a sneer, and she walks away to take someone else's order.

Sometimes, in fact most often, it's someone else who calls out his non-name, reading her neat script from the side of the cup. He especially likes it when she makes his drink, though, and calls out his non-name. It feels like this overwhelmingly pathetic crush on her might not be totally one-sided.

Which is ridiculous, he knows.

He never ventures into the realm of asking her out through the duration of his first semester at college, because despite the way his pulse ticks up when he sees her through the glass door before he enters, he's still kind of jaded from his high school relationship.

And, also, she seems to hate him.

When winter recess swings around, he almost plucks up the courage to tell her he'll be gone for the break. He doesn't, though, because he's sure she'd just say that she couldn't care less and he's too excited to go back home for that simple rejection to bog him down. He does wonder through the weeks, however, if she misses him and her little name game. Probably not. Garfield's an optimist, but he's not delusional. The longest sentence she's ever uttered to him was "we're out of soy milk, is almond okay?"

Bummed as he is to be away from his routine coffee and name butchering, second semester still starts all too soon. The winter recess is much longer than it was in high school, but perhaps that's what's spoiled him. He has a long few weeks with his adoptive parents, but then suddenly, just when he's beginning to get comfortable at home again, he has to go back. His time at home with family and friends also serves as a rude reminder that he's kind of lonely at school. It's been hard to make friends here, for some reason. On the brightside, he gets to see his barista again.

She calls him Gary on his first day back, which he wants to be mad about, just once, because his name really isn't that hard, but all he can do is grin like a dope and take his misnamed coffee, as usual. She smirks at him, which he takes to be a step in the right direction. It's… kind of close to a smile. Right?

Sitting at a small corner table with one other vacant chair, he eventually notices that the three employees behind the counter all have name badges on their aprons, the new plastic tags reflecting tauntingly under the muted lights hanging from the ceiling. He can't believe he didn't notice them earlier, when he was close enough to have discovered his barista's name. None of them had name tags last semester. He spent enough time wishing they did to know that much.

Sipping through his coffee is torturous, and it's not even because of the module he's clicking through on his tiny little laptop. He glances over at the counter enough times for each of the employees to notice and give him weird looks. His barista stops in the middle of spiraling a tower of whipped cream on a drink when she catches his stare for the third time, squinting so hard her eyes nearly disappear. He grimaces and ducks his head into his computer screen. Gosh, he wants to know her name.

On his way out, Garfield swings out of the way to toss his cup in the trash by the counter, subjecting himself to another squinty glare just so that he can read her name tag. Raven. It suits her, and as many times as he imagined learning her name and then greeting her every day with a butchered version of it, he can't bring himself to do it. He likes her name. Exactly as it is.

From then on he comes in with a bright smile, leaning his hands onto the counter and edging into her personal bubble. They have a type of skit running. Every day is similar, though not word for word. He thought the three word sentences were great, but their new mini conversations leave him absolutely giddy.

He'll start with her name and a little small talk, easing gently into the conversation. "Hey, Raven. Lovely weather we're having."

"I prefer the rain. What can I get you?"

It's not always the weather, but it's always something trivial meant purely to lengthen his word count, and she always responds in a similarly contradictory manner. Never once has he stumbled upon a subject that she has something agreeable to contribute.

"Hmm… any seasonal recommendations?" If he's craving something other than his usual.

"I like the longjing tea."

He doesn't much like tea, and he thinks she knows that, because she always suggests some kind of tea and then stares him down like it's a challenge of some sort.

"Sounds great, I'll have one of those."

"Name?"

Oh, she knows it. She knows his name, and he knows it, and she knows that, and they both just know everything. "Garfield."

A few minutes later he's pushing open the coffee shop doors, sipping on hot plant water made for Gariland.

It's only a week after being named Gariland that his RA and quick best friend Victor introduces him to his classmate Kori, a transfer student from some country he's never heard of. The peart redhead and Vic are assigned partners, working together on a project for their history gen ed, but Victor and Gar take to her quickly as a friend. Shortly after that, she introduces them to her boyfriend, Richard, and by the end of the month, the four of them are a strange but strangely compatible group of friends.