Chapter 5 #2
“Dark shit,” Kass said. “Earthy notes—anything that makes me feel like I’m drinking dirt. Floral is okay, too. Hazelnuts. Girls with purple hair.”
His eyes widened, gaze slowly panning up from the specials board to her now-rosy face.
“I’m sorry,” he said. A purple ombre was shimmering in Dani’s mind, the exact match to her braid.
“I have no idea why I would say that, except that it’s true, apparently.
” His look of horror intensified, as did the color.
He was so mortified that it set her at ease. She didn’t bother to stifle her giggle. “It’s okay,” she told him, patting the counter in lieu of patting him. “I think I’ve got the perfect roast for you. One of my favorites.”
Dani turned away to get the coffee going and to give him a moment to recover. She felt bad for him, but not bad enough to reveal the truth and send him running in the opposite direction.
She had just started steeping the grinds for the French press when the door-ghost announced another influx of late-nighters. Normally, brisk business would be a cause for rejoicing, but tonight she resented the interruption. It gratified her to sense the disappointment radiating off Kass as well.
“Want me to put a repellent charm on the door?” he asked hopefully.
“Not the worst idea. I don’t think the ghost would appreciate it, though.” She smiled her apology and gave him his coffee as the new customers floated over. “I’ll come visit whenever I get a moment, promise.”
But she never got that moment. More and more students trickled in over the next few hours, forcing Dani to occupy the role she was paid for, and actually rather enjoyed.
She fell into the flow of tamping the grounds, pulling shots, coaxing a rosetta.
Customers chatted with her about their put-off assignments and bungled star charts as they waited for their drinks, and Dani felt good.
She felt needed, an intrinsic part of a process.
She liked Kass being there, too—liked knowing he could see her in her element.
She would have been lying if she said she wasn’t trying to show off a little.
All her anxieties of the day—her meeting with Silva, the upcoming interview with OneiroLabs—were drowned out by the happy static of his proximity.
She caught Kass’s eye every few minutes or so, sometimes looking away in embarrassment, sometimes holding his gaze with a crackle of electricity and a smile.
It was half past one when she finally wrapped up and could collapse at Kass’s table, coffee-splattered and worn out. It took her a minute to notice that he was packing up his stuff.
“Leaving already?” she said, shooting for a teasing tone instead of the chagrin she was really feeling.
“Only because I have to.” He was letting her hear the regret in his voice on purpose, based on the absence of color in her mind.
“My professor only takes quartz copies, and I left my pad at home. I’m old-fashioned in that I like to write by hand, which then forces me to type everything up afterward. ”
“I get that,” Dani said. “Gives you a chance to edit when you’re typing.”
“Exactly. I would have done it here, if I hadn’t forgotten my pad.” He stopped packing for a second. “You were fun to watch up there, you know. It looked like you were having a good time.”
“I was,” Dani said. “I always do.”
“I think that’s cool.”
“Thanks, but it’s really not.”
“You get down on yourself a lot, huh?”
Dani shifted in her seat, feeling uncomfortably seen. A silvery blue fell across her mind like a pale shadow.
“Sorry,” Kass said swiftly. “I wasn’t trying to—”
“No, no, it’s fine,” she said. “Doesn’t everyone low-key hate themselves at this age?”
“Probably. I know I certainly do. Just for different reasons, I guess.”
They smiled at each other, commiserating, for a long moment.
“Anyway,” he said eventually, and she jerked back, brushing invisible crumbs off her apron. “I should get going, if I want to meet the deadline.”
“And I should probably finish my reading,” Dani concurred. “I’m starting to think you might be a bad influence.”
Kass chuckled as he zipped up his backpack and stood.
She rose with him, observing their near equivalency in height.
As she gave an awkward little wave, about to shuffle back to her position behind the counter, he said, “Hey—so, uh, it’s kind of my birthday on Friday.
I’m having a party at my place. Would you maybe wanna come? ”
“Halloween is your birthday?” Dani repeated incredulously. He nodded. “You’re a Scorpio?”
That elicited a laugh from him, a bright vocal applause. “Guilty as charged. I hope that won’t stop you from coming. You can bring a friend, if you want.”
“Is it a Halloween party?”
“Not officially,” he said with a touch of weariness. “But if you have your birthday on Halloween, it always ends up turning into a Halloween party. Come in costume, don’t come in costume, I’ll be happy to see you either way.”
“I’m actually off on Friday night,” she said. Was she really about to agree to go to a party? A social event at which she knew next to no one—on Halloween, no less? It boggled the mind. “I can look past the Scorpio thing for one night—since it’s your birthday and all.”
“Cool. Great.” He looked like he really did think it was cool and great. “Write down your quartzID for me? I’ll send you the address.” He dug in his backpack for a piece of paper and pencil, then handed both to her. “It starts at eight, but I doubt anyone will be there till nine.”
“Hot tip,” Dani said, scribbling down her QID and passing the materials back. “Thanks.” To their right, the ghost yowled as the door admitted a couple holding hands.
“That’s my cue.” Kass slung his backpack over one shoulder. “I’ll message you later, okay?”
“Okay,” she said happily. “Have a nice night.”
Dani returned to the register, watching him as he bounced past the window and out of sight. She realized he hadn’t said whether he’d be back at the café again this week, and felt a sag of disappointment at the possibility of not seeing him for three days.
Friday, she reassured herself as she turned her attention to the customers in front of her. At his party. If she could work up the courage to attend.