A couple days passed by after Irene’s first encounter with headphones girl. During some of those days the red haired girl made a few appearances. Sometimes she stayed for hours, sometimes she just passed through and got a coffee to go and sometimes she just didn’t show up.

Those were the worst days. Not that this girl was slowly becoming the reason for Irene to be looking forward to going to work. Wanting to go to work to look at someone is still creepy, Irene.  She kept having to remind herself.

It was mid-week again which meant it was super quiet in the shop again, but this time it also meant Irene was on register. Her boss knew she wasn’t exactly a people person so was kind enough to give her shifts during the quiet hours. Irene liked to think she had a small soft spot for her, which she was willing to abuse if it meant getting her out working the busy weekends.

Irene hoped headphones girl would show up today. She spent the whole morning dealing with customers trying to prepare for her visit. The fake smile, the loud (well, loud for her) voice full of confidence. Honestly, in her eyes this was what people would make montages out of.

She was ready. She was gonna do this.

Around mid-afternoon the familiar jingle of the bell above the door rang and Irene’s eyes shot up to see who entered. Not that she was keen. And sure enough, the red haired beauty walked into the shop and up to the counter.

Irene watched as she walked to the front and took note of all the small details. It was like she was walking in slow motion, the slow sway of her hips, the way her shirt was tucked into the front of her jeans, her hair tied up in a messy ponytail, the white headphones hung around her neck, the small smile she directed at Irene as she approached her. Irene wanted to remember it all, imprint it on the front of her brain.

Oh no, she thought, I’ve got it bad don’t I?

But there was no time to dwell on headphones girls appearance anymore because she was standing right there. And she was smiling at Irene expectantly. This was it.

“Hey again,” she said with her familiar cheery voice “Caramel Macchiato please.”

Irene nodded. And looked headphones girl straight in the eyes. Now or never. Do or die. Deep breath.

“Can I take a name please?”

Headphones girl looked at her, then looked around a little.

“....I’m the only one ordering?” She said with a hint of confusion.

Oh. It’s the afternoon in the middle of the week. Looking around Irene could probably count the number of customers on one hand. Oh.

“O-oh...yeah...r-right. I- um...it’s procedure?” Irene mentally slapped herself.

Procedure? Who follows procedure for taking a coffee order?! Is there even such a thing?

Headphones girl was suddenly smirking, as if she knew something. Headphones girl leaned forward a little, still smirking,

“Riiiiiiiight, procedure. It’s Wendy, but you know, if you wanted to know my name you could have just asked,” she said with a wink.

And oh God, Irene’s been caught.

The wink Headphones gir- Wendy just sent her way would’ve made Irene’s heart race and her face blush. That is if she wasn’t already the colour of a tomato due to the fact she’s been caught red handed awkwardly asking for a cute girls name in the lamest way possible.

Irene ducks her head and spins around to make the coffee and hopefully evaporate off the spot if she’s lucky.

But Irene was never really a lucky girl.

And so when she turned around to give Wendy her drink, she was still there. And she was still  smirking at her.

When Irene placed the drink on the counter for Wendy, a neatly folded $5 bill slid over her way.

“$3.49… I know,” Wendy smiled, “Thanks for the coffee…” she leaned forward a little, squinting at something, her name tag, “...Irene.”

Irene swears, she swears, if it were possible for a human being to physically melt, she would be on the floor in a puddle right now.

Wendy shoots her another wink and walks off to go sit in her usual spot. Meanwhile, Irene is still standing there, glasses slightly steamed up (which is totally to do with the coffee around her and not the temperature of her face), flustered as all heck because,

Holy , she knows my name.

Wendy stays in her seat for a while, headphones on and working furiously. She then gets a call, and quickly gets up to leave, muttering something about meeting someone, somewhere, for something. As Wendy walks out of the door, so does Irene’s reason for wanting to be at work today.

Her shift soon ends and Irene heads home. It’s later, when she’s sat at her desk doing a small bit of work for her lit project while replaying the days events in her head, with a smile on her face. It’s then she realises, that for the first time in a while, she can’t wait for work tomorrow.

~~

The following days all follow a similar set of events. One of the workers in the shop is off for a few days so Irene is behind the counter more than she’d like but Wendy has been showing up a lot more frequently than before. Their conversation still never really