Chapter Text
Rio ignores her alarm. She hears it, thinks it’s Saturday, and goes back to sleep. It’s Monday. She wakes up only when her phone starts blaring some random terrible song she set as her ringtone for her best friend, Alice.
She whimpers and picks up her phone reluctantly as she blinks a few times to adjust her eyes to the light shining through her window. Her eyes shoot open when she realizes just how much light there is and just how bright it is.
“Rio Vidal, where the fuck are you?” Alice screams through the phone way louder than she needed to. There’s loud commotion going on in the background of the call, and it is only then does Rio realize what happened- or what she did. She slept in, on a Monday, and the worst part? On a work day, too.
With one look to the top of her phone and a long stream of cuss words, she hangs up the phone. She throws on some random clothes she finds on the floor that she hopes are clean- they pass the smell test- and she sprints to the bathroom to brush her teeth, not caring to do anything with her hair except run her fingers through it with water.
Rio lives in a one bedroom apartment with half a kitchen and a bathroom. It’s incredibly small and also somehow incredibly expensive. She calls it home somehow. Maybe it’s because she decorated it well enough to make it a little less ugly and hopeless. With flower paintings, green wallpaper, and some dark wood accents. Or maybe it’s because it’s the only home she has. She bought it last year when she graduated college and she hasn’t moved since then, even if she should’ve.
Once she finishes with that she finds her way out the door and into her car to drive (way above the speed limit) to work. She works at a cute little coffee shop next to a large shopping center, and it would be even cuter, she thinks, if there weren't so many people in it all the fucking time. It’s called “Cedar Coffee” and it’s always busy. Always.
She parks her car really messily, completely ignoring the lines, and she basically sprints into the shop. It’s immediately obvious the morning rush has ended and thank god for that, but her coworkers are giving her harsh looks for not only being late but also because she had left them hanging by not helping in the morning.
The first person she sees is Jennifer, their assistant manager and Alice’s hot-shot girlfriend. She cares too much about their reputation, the look of the shop, and is a perfectionist when it comes to making coffee. Rio doesn’t know what Alice sees in that woman- Jen’s got a mouth on her, truthfully. Speaking of Alice, right as Rio steps into the shop she basically sprints up and shoves Rio’s apron over her head, the company uniform, (something Jen made them wear, of course) and she helps Rio tie it in the back with her one free hand.
As Rio finds her way to the counter she looks around the shop. Most of the people are sitting alone at their tables, phone in hand, coffee forgotten. The occasional person has a laptop or a tablet out and is typing away. She’s noticed that people tend to come to the shop for the free wifi instead of the actual coffee.
It smells vaguely like a vanilla candle and cleaning supplies. You get used to it after a while of wiping down tables. Someone always manages to spill coffee, leave crumbs of food, or just do something dumb and shitty that forces the employees to clean up after them. The worst part of the day is when that happens because Rio’s usually the one who has to clean it up. Awesome.
On a lighter note, There’s some soft Christmas music playing in the background- Rio’s playlist, she finds, and it’s a soft melody she forgets the name of but hums along to as she serves the customers in line.
After an uneventful half-an-hour of taking people’s orders and mispronouncing their names, half on purpose and half for fun, her favorite customer comes in. Her entrance is signaled by the ring of the bright yellow bell they have hanging above the door. It was something that was Alice’s idea at the beginning of December and honestly, Rio hates it. It’s annoying.
What she doesn’t hate, however, is the super rich and very gorgeous regular that comes in every day at 10:30 am sharp. Never a minute before or a minute later.
Today, she’s wearing a short sleeve dark purple button up with a notched collar and high-waisted black pants that offer little to the imagination. Additionally, she has a small sleek silver wristwatch that fits her wrist perfectly and her usual locket necklace on as accessories. She always finds a way to implement that locket somewhere. (Not that Rio was watching her that closely, or looking for it.)
Her black heels click-clacking against the tile floor as she walks oh-so-confidently over to the counter was Rio’s favorite sound to hear in the morning.
She clears her throat, toying with her wrinkly shirt. “Hey, Agatha. Morning.”
Agatha looks her up and down in a way that makes Rio’s skin crawl. The older woman’s gaze never fails to make her shiver- it’s just so.. searching? Demanding? Hot? She didn’t even know.
“You look like shit.” She says as she meets Rio’s eyes, blue clashing with brown. “My usual, please.”
Rio chuckles at her statement and nods at her second, putting the numbers into the cash register. She can hear some homeless person begging Jennifer for the bathroom key again. Every single day.
Rio smiles, “Your total is $7.52. Do you want anything else? We have new Christmas drinks available.”
Agatha frowns. “No, Rio, you ask me this every day. I do not want your guys’ Christmas drinks.” She mumbles as she reaches for her wallet, “I swear, adding peppermint syrup into a drink is just a lame excuse to charge me more.”
Rio doesn’t say anything as she chuckles to herself. She takes Agatha’s cash (she always pays with cash) and places it in the register, delighted when their fingers brush during the exchange. She’ll be holding onto that interaction until tomorrow; it’s her only motivation to get through the day, really.
Agatha glances up from her phone to meet Rio’s eyes as she hands back the change, and she finds herself smiling. Then Rio smiles. Then they stare at each other for a minute before the bell rings at the door again and Agatha goes to find herself a table.
Rio turns around to make the coffee and she can’t stop thinking about Agatha. Okay, maybe she has a little bit of a crush on that woman. It’s the mysteriousness of it all- of Agatha, of them, of what they could be. Alice calls her delusional, but a girl’s gotta dream.
Rio decides to tease today in hopes that she knows Agatha well enough, even though she knows little to nothing about the other woman, for her to not take offense. She puts a small pump, just one, of peppermint into Agatha’s latte. She smiles to herself at her antics as she places the coffee in the pick-up spot and calls Agatha’s name.
She watches as Agatha gets up from her table to grab her coffee, nodding at Rio, and as she’s walking out, she takes a small sip of the coffee and immediately spits it out onto the ground outside. She discards it in the trashcan next to the door and sharply turns to come back inside.
Rio’s standing at the counter with her arms crossed and she’s actively trying not to laugh at the scene unraveling in front of her. There’s a sparkle in her eye as Agatha stomps back up to the register, visibly angry.
“Rio, what the fuck?” Is the first thing she says when she’s in range. “What did I say?”
Rio shrugs nonchalantly, her eyes darting to an unamused Jen who’s watching her like a hawk and shaking her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Agatha raises her eyebrows in disbelief. She scoffs and glares daggers at Rio, crossing her arms to mirror the other woman.
“You put peppermint in my coffee.”
Rio stifles a laugh and quickly clears her throat, placing her right hand over her heart apologetically. “I’m sorry. It was an accident and I didn’t think you would mind too much. Plus, what, do you hate Christmas cheer?”
Agatha inhales sharply, trying not to get too angry at the barista. She exhales slowly to allow time to compose herself. “Rio.” She manages, her voice lowering. “I hate peppermint.”
Rio gulps when she hears the drop in Agatha’s voice. She weirdly, insanely, really enjoys it. She wants Agatha to keep talking to her like that. In fact, she’d make her mad every single day this week just to hear that voice again.
She’s in the middle of opening her mouth to say something back. Something sarcastic, probably, but she’s rudely interrupted by none other than Alice as she pushes Rio out of the way to hand Agatha her normal latte order. Alice mumbles a quick apology to the older woman before grabbing Rio’s wrist and pulling her into the back room.
Rio shakes her wrist away from Alice’s grip as soon as they make it past the frame of the door, massaging the spot her best friend held way tighter than necessary. She rolls her eyes as soon as Alice starts talking- no, lecturing.
“Rio Vidal, what the hell are you doing? I understand you’re down fucking bad for that woman but please please please just do your job correctly.” She pleads, stopping to take a breath. “First you come in late, and now you’re holding up the line and making a customer’s drink wrong on purpose?”
“It was an accident, babe. Hop off.”
Alice groans, her hands meeting her face. “Bullshit.” She says through her hands, “I saw you mess it up. On purpose.”
“No you.. didn’t?” Rio tries. When Alice doesn’t let up, she sighs. “I’m sorry, okay? Please don’t tell Jen, ‘cause then she’ll tell Lillia, and it’ll be this whole big problem.”
“It is a problem, Rio! You’re letting your feelings cloud your judgement.”
Rio shifts her weight between her feet, suddenly feeling awkward. She wants nothing more than to escape this conversation, go home, crawl up in a ball, and go to sleep.
“Have you even seen this woman though, Alice?”
Alice checks her watch, eyes widening at the time and how long they’d been talking for. “Yes, Rio, she’s incredibly hot. But you don’t see me letting it affect my work, do you?”
Rio sticks her tongue out as Alice walks out of the room, yelling, “It doesn’t even count! You have a girlfriend!”
Alice either doesn’t hear it or she ignores it. Rio checks her phone, reads ‘11:45 pm’ on her lock screen, and she sighs. She knows this is gonna be an incredibly long day. She also knows that if this woman keeps coming in and flashing her that beautiful smile, she’s so unbelievably in trouble