golden

anastasia / 24 florist virgo

[anastasiaaporter]

axel:

“ah, i’m from cork too!” axel said and smiled brightly at the woman. “kind of a typical story though, i feel like i heard that one a hundred times over. though i did bump into a mate from cork down in vegas, she went to uni, hated it, and decided to become a stripper. said it was the best decision she’d ever made. which i can’t blame her because i mean, she’s in vegas, making thousands of dollars every week. if i knew i had it in me, i’d be wrapped around a pole too.” he said and laughed.

“that’s amazing!  what are the odds of that, two cork babies here at mocha.”  anastasia listened as the man spoke, “definitely don’t think the whole stripper thing would work for me.  but picturing one of us trying to hold ourselves up on a pole is hysterical!”  she laughed.  

[anastasiaaporter]

ray:

“ maybe when i’m old & rich, i’ll dress like this every day. but right now, i’ll stick to my more  toned down closet. ” she laughed gently, fingers tapping absentmindedly against the side of her coffee cup as she held it. “ it was okay. not entirely my cup of tea, but it had some elements of fun. ” rayanne shrugged, not wanting to give too much away. “ oh, it really is. i’m glad i only live a couple of blocks away. ”

“i guess my theory was always that if it keeps you up all night, it must be a good time.  but then again, i’ve never been to an event that requires such formal attire,” anastasia laughed.  she felt that the woman was reserved, so didn’t want to push too far.  “same here, my shop is around the corner so i’m here maybe more than i should be.  the egg sandwich is delicious.”  

[anastasiaaporter]

ainsley:

ainsley was pretty pleased with the number of cupcakes she’d been able to give away to strangers, but there was still over half the cupcakes left in her car. still, it was a good way for her to get her name out there and meet people which she didn’t do much of with her business. nevertheless, there she stood, smiling and giving her same schpeel as a new face approached. ❝ well, i’m happy to be of service but i’m no angel. ❞ she giggles. ❝ of course, anything else ? you’re welcome to take some for the road, too ! ❞

“i think you’re definitely an angel.  the cupcake angel!”  anastasia said as she peeled back the paper on one of the cupcakes and took a bite.  “oh my god,” she muttered through a full mouth, “this is amazing.  i think this is the best cupcake i’ve ever had.”  she finished chewing, and took a small box of red velvet cupcakes from the girl’s hand.  “do you have a shop or something, because i’ll definitely become a regular.”  

[anastasiaaporter]

simon:

“Oh wow, yeah I couldn’t imagine. My mom and grandma both live just outside of Chicago and I already find it hard enough to stay in contact,” he sympathized. If they were that far they’d probably never talk. “I don’t know if it was me I’d probably go with just vanilla or chocolate, something simple like that so you can let the cookie still shine, you know?” He suggested. There was such a thing as over indulgence though he wasn’t one to speak on it trying to buy an entire cake for himself in celebration of nothing. 

“we’ve had some rough patches, but i do try to call at least once a week.  i usually go home for the holidays too, when i can,” anastasia explained.  “that’s true.  back home we usually have them on wafers, but i know that it’s very american to do a classic chipwich.”  she looked down at the cake he was holding, and suddenly wondered why he was buying it.  “what occasion is the cake for?  anything exciting?”

[anastasiaaporter]

michael:

@anastasiaaporter​

“i’m going to be honest with you—this is the ugliest bouquet i’ve ever seen in my life. i’m sorry, but why was i allowed to assemble this myself? these flowers are ready to die. they hate this. i am torturing these poor flowers.” he shook his head. “i’m never diy-ing anything again.”

anastasia looked over at the bundle of flowers the man had collected.  it didn’t look bad, but it definitely was a little mismatched.  she laughed at his comments,” don’t worry, the flowers cant feel pain from being arranged.  i promise we’ll make them feel better.”  she pulled the flowers out of the arrangement, and separated them by type.  “see the problem is that they’re mismatched and there are too many of one type.  why dont you go grab some more of these roses?”  anastasia instructed.  

[anastasiaaporter]

nate:

@anastasiaaporter​

it was still early, but already it had been a day. the coffee shop was packed, they were understaffed, and nate was dealing with everything on his own until the shift change at 2:30… that thankfully was now just minutes away. “chocolate chip mocha frap double whipped for anastasia!” he called out, and as soon as he saw the girl, it totally clicked that he’d gotten her order wrong. “you did not order a chocolate chip mocha frap double whipped, did ya?” he sighed. “i can’t. i quit. i give up.” he took off his apron, told the other barista to fix her drink, and clocked out, going to the other side of the counter with a deep frustrated sigh. “i hate it here.”

anastasia was waiting by the pick up counter at mocha, needing her dirty chai a little more than usual.  she watched as a very nervous looking barista frantically moved between drinks, blending this and pouring that.  she tried to pick out which drink was hers, but eventually gave up and resorted to scrolling through her twitter feed.  her ears perked up at the mention of her name, but she was confused when he read out a chocolate chip mocha frap double whipped, which was definitely not what she’d ordered.  she wasn’t in too much of a rush, and didn’t want to make the man feel any more defeated then he seemed to be.  “i can’t believe that’s a real drink!  unfortunately it isn’t mine, though.”  anastasia smiled sympathetically.  “no, no, don’t quit!  they need you now more than ever!  i’ve heard that chai lattes are some of the easiest drinks to make, all you need is a shot of espresso and i’ll be good to go.”  she tried giving her best classic american football movie pep talk to lift his spirits, but wasn’t sure if it had worked.  

[anastasiaaporter]

axel:

well this was pure luck. what were his chances of bumping into a fellow irishman? truly, he didn’t think there were that many true irish people out in these parts of the world, but hey, the more you know right. “that’s because you haven’t seen me at mocha.” axel replied with a soft laugh to follow afterwards. “i just needed a change of scenery. decided that, if anything, i could check out that giant bean that everyone talks about and then i’ll be outta town again.” he joked. “what are you doing around here then? long way from ireland, innit?”

“yes, the bean!  a chicago must-see,” anastasia smiled.  “you know the classic american dream story, irish girl leaves home in cork to start uni in the states only to not finish school and then work at a flower shop!”  she was being more open than usual, feeling some comfort of home from meeting the man.  “what can you do.  they do say that uni isn’t for everyone.”  

[anastasiaaporter]

axel:

“bloody hell.” axel mumbled to himself, but loud enough for the person behind him to hear what he was saying. patting down his jacket, the irishman was acting as if he was looking for his wallet, though he knew he’d left it at home. he was just trying to get a cup of joe, maybe a conversation, and this was just part of the plan. who wasn’t going to want to help out the innocent and new guy with the pretty face and accent to match? “seems i’ve left my damn wallet at my place. i swear, i’ve been all over with this movin’ in and gettin’ settled bit.” because of course, who wouldn’t feel sorry for someone like that? who wouldn’t want to buy this poor sod a cup of coffee? at least that’s what axel was hoping. “you can go ahead yeah. maybe i can get this stupid apple pay to actually work with me damn card.”

anastasia was standing on line at mocha, foot tapping to the beat of her music. there were only 30 minutes before she had to get to the store and open, but considering her boss didn’t leave his house, she wasn’t too worried about making it in on time.  the line seemed to be moving impossibly slow, so anastasia began to get a little nervous about making it in time for the order pickup she had to have ready.  she noticed the man standing in front of her begin to look around, so she took one of her earbuds out.  “of course, anything for a fellow irishman,” she smiled.  anastasia placed her order with the barista and paid for both coffees. “so, what are you doing around here?  i’m not sure i’ve seen you at mocha before.” 

[anastasiaaporter]

ainsley:

❝ look, i know what people say about taking food from strangers but i was supposed to have an order of five hundred cupcakes go out for a big company event and they cancelled. basically what i’m saying is, do you want some cupcakes ? ❞ she rambled on and on to the person she’d managed to stop by the entrance of mocha. ❝ there’s a variety of flavours; chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, salted caramel, you name it. ❞

anastasia was walking toward mocha for her lunch break, and she was feeling more run down than usual.  it had been a rough day at the flower shop, and she was still recovering from the bridezilla who had screamed at her over her stock of roses.  she was playing a podcast in her headphones, hoping to take her mind off of things, when she noticed a girl standing outside of mocha with what seemed like a million cupcakes.  anastasia listened as the girl explained.  “you must be the cupcake angel because i really needed this today,” she laughed.  “stress eating at its finest!  could i have one of the red velvet ones please?”  

[anastasiaaporter]

simon:

“What’s the time difference?” Simon asked. He could make a guess based off her accent but he didn’t want to be presumptive. Simon looked a little closer at the cake it still had two days on it before it’s sell by date so it would sure last as long as it’d take him to finish it. Simon eyeballed the cookies. “I mean that’s just a steal so I’d say go for it. You could even freeze them and make ice cream sandwiches if you really wanted,” Simon offered. He would’ve been tempted by the cookies himself if he didn’t get free ones from work all the time. 

“it’s around 6 or 7 hours difference between here and ireland,” anastasia explained, “so it’s pretty hard to keep in touch a lot of the time.”  she looked down at her phone, wondering if she should give her parents a call soon.  “i don’t even know how you thought of that!  that’s such a good idea,” she smiled.  “the question now is what kind of ice cream do i put between them?”  

[anastasiaaporter]

ray:

“ thanks, doll. ” rayanne smiled at the girl, sitting down once she had cleared some space for her. “ oh, well this isn’t my everyday attire. as much as i would love to strut around chicago like this for the rest of my life, it’s incredibly impractical. ” she chuckled, shaking her head. “ actually, i attended an event last night & the need for a decent cup of coffee outweighed the need to go home & change first. ”

anastasia listened as the girl explained.  “either way, i would’ve been very impressed if it was your everyday attire.”  she took another sip of her drink.  “must’ve been a good event if you were out all night.  mocha is the best way to wake up after a long night out, though.”

[anastasiaaporter]

ira:

ira glanced up, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips “good to know I’m not the only person struck down by the affliction of clumsiness,” he laughed, turning back to shuffle his papers away from the coffee puddle on the table “thanks very much for the offer, but I think the damage is done-”

“you’d be surprised.  if you sit in here long enough, you’d probably see ten people in one day spill their drink.  it just reminds me of in college when i’d see people drop the dunkin they just bought right on the sidewalk outside the lecture halls,” anastasia laughed.  “are you sure?  is there any way you can salvage them?”

[anastasiaaporter]

simon:

While his go to coffee order was a black iced cold brew Americano it definitely didn’t mean that Simon didn’t have a sweet tooth. He just preferred to eat his sugar as opposed to drink it (with the exclusion of Dr. Pepper). Simon already had a basket full of various quick meals and snacks when he stumbled into the bakery section of the grocery store. He picked up one of their sheet cakes marked 50% off perusable because it looked like it’d rattled around in the container quite a bit. She wasn’t the prettiest girl on the block but he did love a good deal. 

“How long does cake stay good in the refrigerator? You can freeze leftovers of it right and they stay good indefinitely? Like if you don’t finish it by then,” Simon asked the person also perusing the clearance baked goods. Not that Simon had to worry about cake going bad on him. The little 6″ cake would be lucky to last the end of the week. 

anastasia was standing in the bakery section of the grocery store, debating about whether or not she should get the box of cookies that as marked as clearance.  she definitely didn’t need a family size box of cookies, but how could she give them up for only $4.  she looked up at the guy standing next to her holding a large cake.  “i wish i knew, but i’m the worst with that kind of stuff.  i’m always having to call my mom and ask, which isn’t very convenient with the time difference,” she laughed.  “i think you should be okay, though.  do you think i should get these cookies?” anastasia asked.  

[anastasiaaporter]

ira:

the table was entirely too small for the task ira was asking of it, but he just couldn’t face the mountain of papers he somehow had to sift through without some form of a proper caffeine fix. so there he found himself, perched awkwardly at a corner table in mocha, which always seemed to be busy, alternating between taking sips of his sweet, sweet saviour, and brandishing around a red marker as he slowly made his way through paper after paper on the the process of photosynthesis. 

“christ on a bike,” he groaned softly to himself, once he noticed the watermark stain left in the top corner of what was once a white sheet of paper “now was that absolutely necessary-”

anastasia sat comfortably in a large arm chair at mocha, sipping her iced chai and taking bites out of her sandwich.  sitting in mocha, scrolling through her phone, and people watching was her favorite kind of lunch break.  she was anticipating a large delivery later in the day, and was glad for a minute to rest.  she noticed a man sitting at a cramped corner table now covered in papers.  anastasia watched as he cursed under his breath.  “did the paper get wet?  i hate when that happens.  i think i have an extra napkin in my pocket if you need it,” she said through a mouthful of sandwich.

[dailywomen]

[anastasiaaporter]

dean:

“ BRUISER! what are you doing ? no. ” letting his dog run free in the park was a terrible idea and dean should have know so but yet, there weren’t many people around at the hour and for a second he gave in to the thought. the pitbull terrier isn’t aggressive, not at all, but with work he hasn’t gone out with him in awhile and the dog has a lot of energy to burn … and doesn’t really know boundaries. dean’s attention turns away for a split second and the pet is running towards someone. “ bruiser, come here. ” as soon as the dog heard him he turned around. 

anastasia enjoyed hanging out in the park, even though it was a pretty chilly day in chicago.  she hovered over a flower bed that bordered the walking path she was on, admiring the signs of early spring.  at the sound of a yell, she looked up to see an adorable, but very large dog running towards her, its owner seeming mildly alarmed.  she hesitated for a second, but put her hand out to the excited dog, right before his owner called him back.  “it’s okay!  i’ll say hi if he’s friendly,” anastasia called out to the man.  

[anastasiaaporter]

ray:

“ is this seat taken ? ” ray asked with a faint smile, gesturing to the empty seat at the table. it was unlike her to still be in her clothes from the night before, yet here was — way too overdressed for the cafe, thanks to the gala she had attended with a client. “ i promise to sit & drink my coffee quietly — no intrusion at all. ”

anastasia was focused on her computer in front of her, managing to drown out most of the noise of the coffee shop.  she turned to look as she heard a pair of heels hitting the wooden floor of the shop, and saw a woman wearing a very ornate outfit that seemed slightly out of place for the setting.  anastasia smiled at her question, “of course!  let me just move my stuff out of the way.”  she shuffled around the contents of her emptied out purse that littered the table.  “i just wanted to say that i love your outfit!  what made you come so dressed up to mocha?” she wondered.