hi! welcome to the combined force that is the two brains of two best friends who each have wonderful stories and characters and chaos. together, we bring out even more of all of these lovely qualities in each other! on this account, you will see stories that @apocalypsewriters (eve) and @pagesofcursive (briar) have written separately and together!
if you’ve read our writing and want more, we have so many original stories that we can’t wait to share! and if you like our characters, self indulgent (and wonderful) tropes, and alternate universes, then this is the perfect place to be <3
Progress, if slow, is being made!! College caught up with both of us, but here’s a snippet from a fun scene in the calm before the first storm!
For whatever reason Dawn had made a connection. For whatever reason she liked Athena. That was what Athena confirmed over a late night conversation with Violetta. Upon hearing about this, Violetta urged her to take action. On what grounds Vi thought something would happen, Athena was clueless. Nevertheless, she was willing to try. After all, Athena likes Dawn, too.
Insecurity nagging at her, Athena watched Dawn’s face closely as she quipped back, predictably. “Hmm, probably,” Dawn said. Her fingers drummed against the table. Her expression was guarded. She shifted her weight. “What place would you suggest.”
There! An opportunity. Athena pretended to improvise the plan she had laid out the night before. “Well, I know a nice Italian place. It’s called Pasqualli’s and it’s just down the road from here. You’re free Friday nights, right?”
It wasn’t a question. Athena knew Dawn’s schedule. It hadn’t taken long to figure out given its uniformity and Athena’s penchant for patterns.
“No, my social calendar is completely booked,” snarked Dawn. She smirked. “That’s why I’m sitting here watching you work. I assume I’ll be paying.” She tilted her head towards the pitifully empty tip jar. Despite the rush, customers had been stingy.
Athena scoffed, “I’m a working woman! I can pay for myself. Unless you’re offering, in which case we’ll discuss there at 7pm.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Dawn said. Nodding curtly, she straightened up. She took out her wallet and fished out two crisp $20s and dropped them onto the table. “A tip for your uncommonly good service today.”
Progress, if slow, is being made!! College caught up with both of us, but here’s a snippet from a fun scene in the calm before the first storm!
For whatever reason Dawn had made a connection. For whatever reason she liked Athena. That was what Athena confirmed over a late night conversation with Violetta. Upon hearing about this, Violetta urged her to take action. On what grounds Vi thought something would happen, Athena was clueless. Nevertheless, she was willing to try. After all, Athena likes Dawn, too.
Insecurity nagging at her, Athena watched Dawn’s face closely as she quipped back, predictably. “Hmm, probably,” Dawn said. Her fingers drummed against the table. Her expression was guarded. She shifted her weight. “What place would you suggest.”
There! An opportunity. Athena pretended to improvise the plan she had laid out the night before. “Well, I know a nice Italian place. It’s called Pasqualli’s and it’s just down the road from here. You’re free Friday nights, right?”
It wasn’t a question. Athena knew Dawn’s schedule. It hadn’t taken long to figure out given its uniformity and Athena’s penchant for patterns.
“No, my social calendar is completely booked,” snarked Dawn. She smirked. “That’s why I’m sitting here watching you work. I assume I’ll be paying.” She tilted her head towards the pitifully empty tip jar. Despite the rush, customers had been stingy.
Athena scoffed, “I’m a working woman! I can pay for myself. Unless you’re offering, in which case we’ll discuss there at 7pm.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Dawn said. Nodding curtly, she straightened up. She took out her wallet and fished out two crisp $20s and dropped them onto the table. “A tip for your uncommonly good service today.”
Welcome welcome to the announcement of a big official change in the world of Bitter & Sweet. The character formally known as Bella will now be known as Athena
To celebrate, here are some incorrect quotes featuring our two lovely protagonists!
Athena: Do you take constructive criticism? Dawn: Not without crying
Dawn, to Athena: Well, one of us has to be wrong and it’s not going to be me.
hello welcome to part three <3 here are parts one and two (because context,, is essential)
fun fact: this is titled in my google docs as “dawn experiences one (1) emotion and hates every second”
~~~
The rest of the day passed by in a blur. There were days when her internship at City Hall felt worth her time, with the very air buzzing around her with something important. With an uncle as an important politician in the city, Dawn had a front row seat to the shaping of new laws and policies, and she could learn from the very best of the best as her uncle maneuvered his way through the government.
But the rest of the days were tedious, filled with paperwork and pointless notes on meetings from the second she walked into the building to the moment she left, and today was one of those days.
As she found herself in the third meeting of the day, listening to someone drone on and on about budget cuts and other inane things, Dawn wished she had a moment of peace to figure out what her feelings meant. But no reprieve came, and so she found herself counting down the minutes of the day.
When the clock hit five o’clock, she jumped out of her seat and walked the few blocks to her uncle’s mansion.
Upon walking through the large double doors, Dawn went straight up to her room and collapsed dramatically onto her bed. Everything else crumbled away as she stared blankly up at the ceiling. There were so many things, even in her room, that Dawn had taken for granted or nerve noticed at all. But now little details stood out so vividly in her vision, from the golden gilding on the edge of her fan to the painted gray tiles that lined the roof. Sighing, she stretched out across her silk comforter. She closed her eyes in an attempt to shut out the world, but the sight of Bella appeared before her as her mind clouded over with thoughts of the infuriating and sarcastic barista.
hello welcome to part three <3 here are parts one and two (because context,, is essential)
fun fact: this is titled in my google docs as “dawn experiences one (1) emotion and hates every second”
~~~
The rest of the day passed by in a blur. There were days when her internship at City Hall felt worth her time, with the very air buzzing around her with something important. With an uncle as an important politician in the city, Dawn had a front row seat to the shaping of new laws and policies, and she could learn from the very best of the best as her uncle maneuvered his way through the government.
But the rest of the days were tedious, filled with paperwork and pointless notes on meetings from the second she walked into the building to the moment she left, and today was one of those days.
As she found herself in the third meeting of the day, listening to someone drone on and on about budget cuts and other inane things, Dawn wished she had a moment of peace to figure out what her feelings meant. But no reprieve came, and so she found herself counting down the minutes of the day.
When the clock hit five o’clock, she jumped out of her seat and walked the few blocks to her uncle’s mansion.
Upon walking through the large double doors, Dawn went straight up to her room and collapsed dramatically onto her bed. Everything else crumbled away as she stared blankly up at the ceiling. There were so many things, even in her room, that Dawn had taken for granted or nerve noticed at all. But now little details stood out so vividly in her vision, from the golden gilding on the edge of her fan to the painted gray tiles that lined the roof. Sighing, she stretched out across her silk comforter. She closed her eyes in an attempt to shut out the world, but the sight of Bella appeared before her as her mind clouded over with thoughts of the infuriating and sarcastic barista.
The thoughts persisted, even as Dawn willed herself to think about something else, anything else. But her mind refused to cooperate, and so she ended up staring at nothing and poring over each tiny detail of their conversation, from the constant snark to the friendly teasing to the way it felt like a light had been switched on at the thought of meeting wits with someone who seemed to enjoy her. Someone who Dawn herself enjoyed.
That morning, it had dawned on her that Bella could be her first true friend, and, since then, something had taken root in her, some long buried desire for friendship.
Maybe what she had found in that coffee shop was something Dawn had been looking for since her lonely childhood. True friendship had always eluded her, since all her life had been spent around children who had been raised with the same ideals as her, the same drive to climb ever upwards. Maybe her life would have been more simple if she could have settled for the surface friendships and shifting alliances of the social elite, but Dawn had always wanted more.
It seemed to come so easily to everyone else, but handling the emotional aspect of people had never been one of Dawn’s strong suits. Her uncle hadn’t raised her that way.
Her thoughts drifted to her cousin, Nyx, and to all of the love and friends that she had found. Why couldn’t it be the same for Dawn? Didn’t she deserve the same things?
She sat up with a groan, resting her head in her hands. Instead of coming to any conclusions about what her next course of action should be, all Dawn was left with was a head tangled with confusing emotions and an incessant craving for the same coffee Bella had made her earlier in the day.
How annoying.
But Dawn still left her room to make herself a good cup of coffee, if only to prove to herself that she could.
The kitchen was located on the first floor of the mansion, down a winding staircase and tucked between the ballroom and the second library. Most people who visited the mansion got horribly lost in what they viewed as a confusing maze filled with twisting hallways and too many rooms and staircases. And they were right to think that, of course; there were hundreds of ways to lose all sense of direction in the similar looking hallways, but Dawn knew the mansion like the back of her hand. She had grown up within these walls, had learned to walk within these very rooms.
She reached the kitchen in a matter of minutes, but her precious solitude was broken as soon as Dawn stepped through the doors. Her insufferable cousin, Nyx, and her sugar sweet girlfriend, Juni, were standing near the oven, the ingredients of dinner scattered across the counter. The sound of their easy laughter filled the air, and they looked so in love as Nyx gently tucked a stray curl behind Juni’s ear.
It made her sick.
Dawn stalked over to her coffee machine, which no one else in the house was allowed to touch, noting with no small amount of joy how the lightness floating in the air bled away at her entrance. As she grabbed a mug from the top shelf of the cabinet, using the counter to boost her up the extra inch, Dawn could practically feel the concerned looks Nyx and Juni were exchanging. They were probably formatting some sort of plan without a word. Typical.
Like clockwork, Juni broke the silence. “Dawn, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” Dawn said, setting her favorite coffee mug into the machine. A gentle whirring noise filled the air as the process started, the familiar sound a comfort to her. Upon seeing the matching unconvinced looks, she sighed sharply, leaning against the counter and crossing her arms. “What’s with the faces?”
Nyx turned her attention back to chopping the red peppers, wiping the expression from her face. The cousins were both well practiced in the art of pretending. “Well,” she said, “you don’t seem fine.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Juni questioned, tilting her head.
“No,” Dawn said sharply. “I mean, unless you’ve discovered a way to understand what other people are feeling. If so, please let me know right away.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she stared pointedly at the coffee dripping into the mug,
“What do you mean?” Juni’s voice was filled with softness, something Dawn didn’t hear much of. She didn’t like it.
“I mean,” she said, closing her eyes for a brief second as she mentally weighed how much to tell them. “There’s a barista who made me coffee today, and I just don’t know how she feels about me.”
“How do you want her to feel about you?” Nyx asked, her voice carefully detached.
Dawn stayed quiet as she wondered how she could possibly answer that without giving too much away. The whirring noise of the machine died away as the machine shut off, leaving the air silent as Dawn pulled her filled cup of coffee towards her.
Her cousin took the silence as an answer. “If you want her to like you, then-”
“I don’t want her to like me,” Dawn snapped. “I- oh, this is so dumb.” Her voice softened as she poured the oat milk into her coffee. “I just want her to like me. Nothing more than that.”
“Well, sometimes,” Nyx said, “the best way to figure out someone else’s feelings is to tell them your own.”
“It worked with me,” Juni said, nudging Nyx playfully, which prompted a genuine laugh.
Dawn thought for a moment, and then raised her finished cup of coffee into the air as a half-hearted farewell. “Thanks,” she mumbled. As Dawn headed back to her room, she mulled over the advice.
Maybe Nyx had a point, in spite of the deep divide between the cousins. Maybe if Dawn told Bella that she viewed her as a friend, then Bella would agree. Or, worse, she could shut down Dawn’s proposal of friendship, but even then the matter would come to an end. She could just avoid that coffee shop in the future and ignore the pain that came with rejection. At least then Dawn would know where they stood.
She set her cup onto her desk when she arrived in her room. It was ridiculous to get worked up over a single meeting, over a single short conversation. Dawn knew that. She resolved to keep Nyx and Juni’s advice in mind, but it was important to not blow things out of proportion.
It was just one conversation, nothing more, nothing less.
So Dawn would go to the coffee store as soon as it opened to wait for Bella’s shift, and she would take it from there. It wasn’t being desperate, or needy, or overeager— Dawn was just being practical. There would be no need to stew in her feelings for another day by missing the shift. She would decide a course of action based on how the interaction went.
And if Dawn had to ignore the way parts of their conversation kept replaying in her head over and over again like the only movie playing at a movie theater in some rural town, then she would. Dawn had gotten good at ignoring things.
She took a sip of the coffee once it cooled, but it didn’t compare to the one Bella had made earlier that day. Shit.
~~~
thank you for reading!! <3 i hope you enjoyed, and there will be more content very soon (if all goes to plan)
i,,, loved writing this so much
this was written by @pagesofcursive, and betaed by @cloverfieldswrites and @apocalypsewriters
taglist (reach out if you want to be added): @arbys-haunted-turnover, @writing-is-a-martial-art, @cloverfieldswrites, @feywhisper <3
The floral tiles blurred as Bella zoned out while washing up, gliding the sponge over the clear glass one, three, ten times. Her thoughts scrambled over each other, vying desperately for her attention. She set the cup down on the counter, and then absentmindedly picked it back up again, continuing the mindless movement of the sponge across the already spotless glass.
“Bella. Bella. You good mate?” The voice broke through the clouds in her mind, and Bella started, the cup almost slipping between her fingers.
She shook her head to clear the last of the thoughts that clung to her like cobwebs, and then she turned toward Bee, who looked at her with a slightly wary expression. “What?”
“Hun, you’ve been staring into space for like, five minutes. You’re normally always on top of it,” said Apollo, his voice coming from the other side of the cafe where he was wiping tables out of sight.
Bella’s cheeks heated, and she said, “Oh. Right. Sorry.”
“It’s no worries,” Bee said, their voice reassuring as they plucked the glass from her sudsy hands and dried it off. “Have you got something on your mind?”
Bella grabbed another cup to do something with her hands, knocking a few others down in the dirty haphazard stack. The sponge squeaked in protest as she dragged it along the inside of the glass, but she barely registered the sound. Every other thought seemed to be of her - when she leaned against the counter, matching Bella quip for quip, word for word. The way her eyes flashed with something as she had said the modified drink was “good enough.” The self-assured, pure arrogance that radiated off her every movement. It was infuriating.
Only Bee’s athleticism saved the cup from being smashed to pieces as Bella pelted it vaguely in their direction for drying purposes.
“Bella?” Bee said, slowly drying the glass.
“What?” snapped Bella, glaring at the new dirty glass in her hand.
Apollo laughed, his footsteps light as he moved to the next table, now in the line of sight of the two doing the dishes. “There’s definitely something bothering you. Spill,” he said, his eyes gleaming at the prospect of gossip.
She groaned, wondering how to avoid the question before realizing that her co-workers were relentless. “It’s nothing,” Bella said sharply. “Just… the customer from earlier.” She shrugged, somehow scrubbing the dirty glass harder.
“You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that,” said Bee drily.
“I know exactly who she means,” Apollo said, smirking. “The one she was flirting with.”
“Far out, really?” Bee said, gently placing the towel over Bella’s frantic hands, stilling them.
“No, it- yes. Wait, what?” Bella sputtered, pulling her hands free from the towel. She continued washing at a frenzied pace, miraculously never dropping anything despite her clumsy movements. “We weren’t flirting,” she insisted. “She just really… pissed me off.”
“Right,” said Apollo, his voice teasing. “Definitely not flirting. Definitely not obvious enough for anyone to see. Even me, who normally doesn’t understand flirting enough to pick up on it.”
Bee swung an arm around Bella’s shoulders. “It’s okay. We all have to grow up someday,” they said, mock seriousness in their voice.
She rolled her eyes good-naturedly, glad to be back in slightly more familiar territory. Bella had known steadfast, sporty Bee and dramatic, confident Apollo for months, while she’d only met Dawn today. “Says who?” she asked, slipping into easy banter with her friends. “What would you define as grown-up?”
“You’re changing the subject. And deflecting,” Apollo added. “Normally you have a better defense.” He winked at Bee, a smirk on his face. “Maybe you’re coming down with something.”
Relinquishing their hold on Bella, they strode over to meet Apollo at the entrance to the back. “Oh, I know. The L word,” Bee said.
Apollo stuck his finger up in the air in exaggerated revelation. “Leprosy,” he announced, and Bella sighed at the elaborate farce the two were doing.
“No, no,” said Bee, biting their lip to hold back giggles. “Four letters.”
Apollo grinned as he sauntered over to Bella, poking his finger in her chest. “Lice,” he said, his voice triumphant.
“Oh my god, did you just quote Ice Age?” Bella said, swatting Apollo’s hand away. “Oh my god, did I just recognize an Ice Age quote? I- Never mind.” She crossed her arms. “You both know I’m not interested in romance. Nothing significant has ever come from something like this before.”
Much to her frustration, Apollo laughed and herded her back towards the sink where she hurriedly washed the last glass. “Yeah, we know. We’re just teasing. You should hear Bee and Parker,” he said. “They both pick on me about that all the time. ‘Oh, that was such a good kiss I’d almost think you were in love with me,’ or ‘Wow, Apollo, from the way you ogled that boy I’d almost be worried you caught feelings for him.’”
Bee snickered, obviously very proud of themself.
“It was the costume!” he protested. “I’ve been helping out the costume department and gained an appreciation for good costumes. The stitching on his outfit was admirable, that’s all,” said Apollo heatedly. “But, Bella, we’re just having a bit of fun. We don’t mean it. We respect your identity, don’t worry.” He sighed, gazing off into the distance as if remembering something dramatic from long ago. “You do not want to hear about the crisis I had in high school.”
“Again,” added Bella, raising an eyebrow.
Apollo stuck his tongue out at her.
“You’re sure you don’t want help with this?” Bee asked, surprisingly sincere. “I’ve seen you around Karens and customers like that before, and you did not act like that.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Bella said adamantly. “Dawn was just another annoying customer.”
Apollo bumped Bella, making her drop the towel she was drying her hands with onto the floor. “Right. That’s why you remember her name.”
“Oh, you shut up,” Bella lightheartedly shot back, throwing the towel back into place. “You know I have a good memory.”
“Uh-huh,” Apollo said, but he didn’t sound convinced, which she ignored.
“Let’s just close up shop,” said Bella briskly. “With any luck, I annoyed her enough to not come back.”
Of course, that was not the case.
~~~
I hope you all enjoyed part 2!! It was a blast to write with the added bonus of all three characters using different pronouns. As this was Bella's pov, @apocalypsewriters wrote this, and @pagesofcursive betaed ofc. Apollo and Bee will be recurring characters, so if you enjoyed them, they'll both be back! Especially since they come from another one of our shared works. and Apollo was the one to take the register in part 1.
- mod eve
Hopefully you're as excited as I am for what's to come! Maybe some incorrect quotes, ask games, who knows! Until then, happy reading!!
taglist (reach out if you want to be added): @arbys-haunted-turnover, @writing-is-a-martial-art, @cloverfieldswriting <3
Dawn paused outside the popular coffee shop, glancing through the window to see a long line twisting from the register to the door. She shifted her weight from one leg to another, mentally weighing whether waiting for over twenty minutes for coffee would be worth it, but, after double- and triple-checking the name of the coffee shop and the very high reviews, Dawn decided that she could give it a chance. A single chance to do well, she reasoned, or else she would leave a scathing review.
A bell jingled when Dawn swung open the door, the noise lost in the low din of the people clustered in the store. As she reluctantly stepped reluctantly into line, she took in the wonderful aroma of the rich coffee. Twenty-two long minutes crept by as the line inched forward. To pass the time, Dawn alternated between checking her phone and silently judging those around her.
Dawn was in the middle of thinking about how much she hated the man next to her for talking loudly about a rash on his cell phone when her thoughts were interrupted.
“Next customer!” the barista irritably called, tapping on the touch screen in front of her.
Dawn stepped up to the counter, scowling. “It’s about time,” she said, disdain dripping from her voice. “I’ll have a mocha pumpkin latte made with oat milk, four shots of espresso, and two packs of brown sugar on the side. That is,” Dawn said, eyeing the line that extended back to the door, “if you can manage something like that with the operation you seem to be running here.”
The barista let out a sharp sigh, exasperation written on her face. “Well, this is more complicated than what most of my co-workers can deal with,” she said, then muttered something beneath her breath before turning away and beckoning to one of the others behind the counter. “Come take over the register while I deal with this nightmare of an order, won’t you?”
“No problem, hun,” the other barista said with a winning smile. As he started to greet the next customer warmly, the first barista walked over to the machine to begin making the intricate coffee.
Dawn followed along, tilting her head to the side to watch with the precision of a hawk. She noticed the way the barista handled the glass, her movements relaxed in a self-assured way that spoke at great length of her experience. Dawn glanced at the nametag in curiosity before focusing her attention again on the skilled hands making the coffee. Bella.
The barista, Bella, glanced up from making the coffee, looking mildly taken off guard by Dawn’s complete attention. “Based on your tone earlier,” she said, “it’s safe to assume you’ve been dissatisfied by the customer service here?”
Dawn let out a dry laugh. “If I sound the least bit satisfied, then clearly I’ve done something terribly wrong.”
“There’s nothing anyone could have done about the line,” Bella said, annoyance lacing her voice. “You did choose to come here of your own free will, I assume. If anything, you should be grateful for a line like this, as it is a mark of a good product.” As she spoke, Bella never missed a beat in her work, which almost impressed Dawn.
Almost.
“If you have such a good product, then why can’t you hire more people to make the lines move faster?” she questioned. “But I apologize that having them hire an overworked, tired girl doesn’t fill me with confidence that I’m about to purchase a reliable product.”
Bella aggressively slammed the cup down as she reached for another ingredient; her mouth pressed into a thin line. “I apologize for my demeanor being less than friendly when interacting with you, but you have come to me- to us- to make your drink. Which,” she said, “by the way, I am more than qualified to do.” She shuddered slightly, the drink sloshing as she said, “I’m sure my many, many years of experience have given me the skills needed to make a superior cup of coffee when compared to your over-engineered machine at home. I can assure you that I deliver a more than reliable product that will make anything else pale in comparison- fuck!” Bella broke off her tirade, yanking her hand away from the boiling hot water and pressing it onto the cool counter.
Dawn raised her eyebrows in slight concern but mostly in derision. “Maybe the reason behind the extremely long lines is your mouth, so maybe a little less talking, a lot more coffee?”
A look of anger flashed across Bella’s face, but she bit her tongue. She took a moment to compose herself, and then carefully said, “Right away.”
“Right away… ma’am?” Dawn prompted, relishing in the moment, taking her frustration about the long lines out on the girl who dared to rant about her talent, who seemed to be looking down on Dawn.
The barista did not respond verbally. Instead of breaking into another angry monologue at the barbed sentence, Bella simply flipped her off before storming into the back, and Dawn’s jaw dropped in shock, anger blooming within her chest. How dare that rude barista have the sheer audacity to stand up to her, to make such a crude gesture?
But beyond the initial shock and anger, another emotion rose within her. As she waited for Bella to return, Dawn stood by the counter, tapping her painted fingernails on the mahogany, her mind whirling. It might have been a rude and obscene gesture, but part of Dawn respected it. No one had ever been bold enough to stand up to her before, not like that. Not in such an interesting way.
To her surprise, the conversation with Bella hadn’t made her mad at all, not beyond flashes of kneejerk emotion and the irritation of the entire situation. In fact, it felt less like an exchange of insults and more of a crossing of wits. Were they just playing a game?
“You’re not allergic to anything, are you?” The voice snapped Dawn out of her thoughts and back to the moment, where Bella was holding a jug of milk, waiting for an answer. The curt words and the look of annoyance on Bella’s face seemed real, but Dawn wondered if they were both just having fun.
She weighed her options for a second before leaning against the counter, putting a teasing smirk on her face. “Is that a threat?” Dawn asked, playfulness creeping into her voice.
“No,” Bella said bluntly. Was there something else in her expression? “I’m just trying not to lose my job or the patronage of such a treasured customer. So?” She gestured with the jug of milk, her hand never lifting from the label. “Are you allergic to anything?”
“Bad manners,” Dawn said snidely, “which is the reason this interaction is going so poorly. But, otherwise, no.”
Bella nodded in response, then continued making the coffee. They stood there in silence for a moment as she poured the milk into the cup, and then Bella asked, “Do you normally insult the innocent and unsuspecting minimum wage workers who have the absolute pleasure of running into you, or am I just special?”
A thrill ran through Dawn at the sarcastic question. “I wouldn’t say you were remarkable in the least,” she said, pushing down the joy in her throat at maybe finally making a friend. “But I don’t often exchange wits with someone like you.”
“There really isn’t any need to skirt around the subject,” Bella said. “It’s much easier to admit that you find me entertaining, at the very least. Watch.” She placed the almost finished coffee on the counter and made direct eye contact with Dawn. “You have been an interesting, if annoying, conversation partner, and you somehow made my shift move faster.”
The intense look in Bella’s eyes and the blunt sincerity of her words shocked Dawn into silence for a moment, causing her to miss a beat of the conversation. Her heart pounded, and not just at the anticipation of caffeine. “And you have been taking quite a long time to make my coffee, so it better be worth the wait.”
Bella rolled her eyes, putting the lid on the cup and walking toward the pick-up counter with the finished drink. “Obnoxiously long order for… someone named Dawson?” she called out, squinting her eyes in mock confusion at the name on the label.
“Dawn,” she corrected as she trailed along after Bella, but even this poor service made it hard to keep the smile from her face. Dawn grabbed the cup, delighting in the warmth against her cold hands. “Are you sure you managed to get the order right?”
“Everything went according to plan, yes,” Bella said, watching as Dawn blew on the coffee to cool it.
She took a cautious sip, but the drink tasted nothing like what she expected. It didn’t taste off, as if Bella had made a sloppy mistake, or bad, as if Bella had purposefully ruined the coffee, but it was still not right. Dawn looked up, noticing the smug look on Bella’s face. “This isn’t-”
“It’s better, isn’t it?” Bella asked, but it wasn’t really a question. The smirk on her face was proof of that.
And the horrid thing was that she was right. The order in Dawn’s hand wasn’t her own, but was instead Bella’s creation, her improvement. And it was the most wonderful taste of coffee Dawn had ever had in her life- the taste was rich and dark with just the hints of sweetness, and there was a certain flavor that tugged on her, pulling her attention. She attributed it to the milk, which could not have been oat, as she had ordered. It was better. But Dawn could never admit something like that. “Well, it isn’t dirt awful, which is good enough for a cafe like this.” With that, she swept her credit card through the reader.
“What, no tip? Hazelnut milk is a pain to get,” Bella said, shifting into her perky customer service voice. “And what about your experience today could be improved, ma’am?”
It was Dawn’s turn to roll her eyes as she fished for a dollar bill in her wallet. Finally, she pulled a bill out and flourished it. “I only have a twenty, but I’m guessing that works in your favor?” She stuffed the bill into the tip jar, and then smirked. “Next time, maybe you’d get a better tip if you followed the order.” Dawn waved with one hand, walking towards the door, but something held her back. She turned back to face Bella. “When is your next shift?”
“That is an incredibly invasive question,” Bella said, quirking an eyebrow. “But I will be here tomorrow.”
Dawn smirked. “Unrelated, but I will have to make another visit to this place. Maybe tomorrow, depending on my schedule.” And as she walked out of the coffee store into the chilly air of the street, both the coffee and the feeling within her kept Dawn warm.
~~~
thank you so much for reading! we hope you enjoy these very sarcastic characters who have finally met their match. as this was dawn's pov, it was written by @pagesofcursive, but the dialogue and plot was brainstormed by both her and @apocalypsewriters
thank you to @cloverfieldswriting and @beezlebubss for betaing!
taglist (reach out if you want to be added): @arbys-haunted-turnover, @writing-is-a-martial-art, @cloverfieldswriting <3
Dawn paused outside the popular coffee shop, glancing through the window to see a long line twisting from the register to the door. She shifted her weight from one leg to another, mentally weighing whether waiting for over twenty minutes for coffee would be worth it, but, after double- and triple-checking the name of the coffee shop and the very high reviews, Dawn decided that she could give it a chance. A single chance to do well, she reasoned, or else she would leave a scathing review.
A bell jingled when Dawn swung open the door, the noise lost in the low din of the people clustered in the store. As she reluctantly stepped reluctantly into line, she took in the wonderful aroma of the rich coffee. Twenty-two long minutes crept by as the line inched forward. To pass the time, Dawn alternated between checking her phone and silently judging those around her.
Dawn was in the middle of thinking about how much she hated the man next to her for talking loudly about a rash on his cell phone when her thoughts were interrupted.
“Next customer!” the barista irritably called, tapping on the touch screen in front of her.
Dawn stepped up to the counter, scowling. “It’s about time,” she said, disdain dripping from her voice. “I’ll have a mocha pumpkin latte made with oat milk, four shots of espresso, and two packs of brown sugar on the side. That is,” Dawn said, eyeing the line that extended back to the door, “if you can manage something like that with the operation you seem to be running here.”
The barista let out a sharp sigh, exasperation written on her face. “Well, this is more complicated than what most of my co-workers can deal with,” she said, then muttered something beneath her breath before turning away and beckoning to one of the others behind the counter. “Come take over the register while I deal with this nightmare of an order, won’t you?”
“No problem, hun,” the other barista said with a winning smile. As he started to greet the next customer warmly, the first barista walked over to the machine to begin making the intricate coffee.
Dawn followed along, tilting her head to the side to watch with the precision of a hawk. She noticed the way the barista handled the glass, her movements relaxed in a self-assured way that spoke at great length of her experience. Dawn glanced at the nametag in curiosity before focusing her attention again on the skilled hands making the coffee. Bella.
The barista, Bella, glanced up from making the coffee, looking mildly taken off guard by Dawn’s complete attention. “Based on your tone earlier,” she said, “it’s safe to assume you’ve been dissatisfied by the customer service here?”
Dawn let out a dry laugh. “If I sound the least bit satisfied, then clearly I’ve done something terribly wrong.”
“There’s nothing anyone could have done about the line,” Bella said, annoyance lacing her voice. “You did choose to come here of your own free will, I assume. If anything, you should be grateful for a line like this, as it is a mark of a good product.” As she spoke, Bella never missed a beat in her work, which almost impressed Dawn.
Almost.
“If you have such a good product, then why can’t you hire more people to make the lines move faster?” she questioned. “But I apologize that having them hire an overworked, tired girl doesn’t fill me with confidence that I’m about to purchase a reliable product.”
Bella aggressively slammed the cup down as she reached for another ingredient; her mouth pressed into a thin line. “I apologize for my demeanor being less than friendly when interacting with you, but you have come to me- to us- to make your drink. Which,” she said, “by the way, I am more than qualified to do.” She shuddered slightly, the drink sloshing as she said, “I’m sure my many, many years of experience have given me the skills needed to make a superior cup of coffee when compared to your over-engineered machine at home. I can assure you that I deliver a more than reliable product that will make anything else pale in comparison- fuck!” Bella broke off her tirade, yanking her hand away from the boiling hot water and pressing it onto the cool counter.
Dawn raised her eyebrows in slight concern but mostly in derision. “Maybe the reason behind the extremely long lines is your mouth, so maybe a little less talking, a lot more coffee?”
A look of anger flashed across Bella’s face, but she bit her tongue. She took a moment to compose herself, and then carefully said, “Right away.”
“Right away… ma’am?” Dawn prompted, relishing in the moment, taking her frustration about the long lines out on the girl who dared to rant about her talent, who seemed to be looking down on Dawn.
The barista did not respond verbally. Instead of breaking into another angry monologue at the barbed sentence, Bella simply flipped her off before storming into the back, and Dawn’s jaw dropped in shock, anger blooming within her chest. How dare that rude barista have the sheer audacity to stand up to her, to make such a crude gesture?
But beyond the initial shock and anger, another emotion rose within her. As she waited for Bella to return, Dawn stood by the counter, tapping her painted fingernails on the mahogany, her mind whirling. It might have been a rude and obscene gesture, but part of Dawn respected it. No one had ever been bold enough to stand up to her before, not like that. Not in such an interesting way.
To her surprise, the conversation with Bella hadn’t made her mad at all, not beyond flashes of kneejerk emotion and the irritation of the entire situation. In fact, it felt less like an exchange of insults and more of a crossing of wits. Were they just playing a game?
“You’re not allergic to anything, are you?” The voice snapped Dawn out of her thoughts and back to the moment, where Bella was holding a jug of milk, waiting for an answer. The curt words and the look of annoyance on Bella’s face seemed real, but Dawn wondered if they were both just having fun.
She weighed her options for a second before leaning against the counter, putting a teasing smirk on her face. “Is that a threat?” Dawn asked, playfulness creeping into her voice.
“No,” Bella said bluntly. Was there something else in her expression? “I’m just trying not to lose my job or the patronage of such a treasured customer. So?” She gestured with the jug of milk, her hand never lifting from the label. “Are you allergic to anything?”
“Bad manners,” Dawn said snidely, “which is the reason this interaction is going so poorly. But, otherwise, no.”
Bella nodded in response, then continued making the coffee. They stood there in silence for a moment as she poured the milk into the cup, and then Bella asked, “Do you normally insult the innocent and unsuspecting minimum wage workers who have the absolute pleasure of running into you, or am I just special?”
A thrill ran through Dawn at the sarcastic question. “I wouldn’t say you were remarkable in the least,” she said, pushing down the joy in her throat at maybe finally making a friend. “But I don’t often exchange wits with someone like you.”
“There really isn’t any need to skirt around the subject,” Bella said. “It’s much easier to admit that you find me entertaining, at the very least. Watch.” She placed the almost finished coffee on the counter and made direct eye contact with Dawn. “You have been an interesting, if annoying, conversation partner, and you somehow made my shift move faster.”
The intense look in Bella’s eyes and the blunt sincerity of her words shocked Dawn into silence for a moment, causing her to miss a beat of the conversation. Her heart pounded, and not just at the anticipation of caffeine. “And you have been taking quite a long time to make my coffee, so it better be worth the wait.”
Bella rolled her eyes, putting the lid on the cup and walking toward the pick-up counter with the finished drink. “Obnoxiously long order for… someone named Dawson?” she called out, squinting her eyes in mock confusion at the name on the label.
“Dawn,” she corrected as she trailed along after Bella, but even this poor service made it hard to keep the smile from her face. Dawn grabbed the cup, delighting in the warmth against her cold hands. “Are you sure you managed to get the order right?”
“Everything went according to plan, yes,” Bella said, watching as Dawn blew on the coffee to cool it.
She took a cautious sip, but the drink tasted nothing like what she expected. It didn’t taste off, as if Bella had made a sloppy mistake, or bad, as if Bella had purposefully ruined the coffee, but it was still not right. Dawn looked up, noticing the smug look on Bella’s face. “This isn’t-”
“It’s better, isn’t it?” Bella asked, but it wasn’t really a question. The smirk on her face was proof of that.
And the horrid thing was that she was right. The order in Dawn’s hand wasn’t her own, but was instead Bella’s creation, her improvement. And it was the most wonderful taste of coffee Dawn had ever had in her life- the taste was rich and dark with just the hints of sweetness, and there was a certain flavor that tugged on her, pulling her attention. She attributed it to the milk, which could not have been oat, as she had ordered. It was better. But Dawn could never admit something like that. “Well, it isn’t dirt awful, which is good enough for a cafe like this.” With that, she swept her credit card through the reader.
“What, no tip? Hazelnut milk is a pain to get,” Bella said, shifting into her perky customer service voice. “And what about your experience today could be improved, ma’am?”
It was Dawn’s turn to roll her eyes as she fished for a dollar bill in her wallet. Finally, she pulled a bill out and flourished it. “I only have a twenty, but I’m guessing that works in your favor?” She stuffed the bill into the tip jar, and then smirked. “Next time, maybe you’d get a better tip if you followed the order.” Dawn waved with one hand, walking towards the door, but something held her back. She turned back to face Bella. “When is your next shift?”
“That is an incredibly invasive question,” Bella said, quirking an eyebrow. “But I will be here tomorrow.”
Dawn smirked. “Unrelated, but I will have to make another visit to this place. Maybe tomorrow, depending on my schedule.” And as she walked out of the coffee store into the chilly air of the street, both the coffee and the feeling within her kept Dawn warm.
~~~
thank you so much for reading! we hope you enjoy these very sarcastic characters who have finally met their match. as this was dawn's pov, it was written by @pagesofcursive, but the dialogue and plot was brainstormed by both her and @apocalypsewriters
thank you to @cloverfieldswriting and @beezlebubss for betaing!
taglist (reach out if you want to be added): @arbys-haunted-turnover, @writing-is-a-martial-art, @cloverfieldswriting <3
tropes: rivals to friends to qpr; sarcastic people meeting their match
premise:
In the hopes of using the kind of coffee making skills one can only earn at a wasted internship, Bella finds herself working in a coffee shop to pay off her student debt. Pay is average, her coworkers are nice enough, the hours are flexible for studying, the customers are frustrating, and the days are mundane. But things become a lot more interesting after a certain annoying customer walks into the shop and won’t get out of Bella’s head.
Dawn, the aforementioned challenging customer, did not walk into the coffee shop to find a friend, seeing as she’s almost given up on that for herself. But the barista behind the counter is sarcastic and doesn’t hold back, and Dawn finds herself intrigued, although she should probably just post a bad review and leave it at that. She finds herself going back, again and again. Thus, a friendship is born.
we hope you enjoy these characters and this dynamic as much as we do <3 stay tuned for the first part!
tropes: rivals to friends to qpr; sarcastic people meeting their match
premise:
In the hopes of using the kind of coffee making skills one can only earn at a wasted internship, Bella finds herself working in a coffee shop to pay off her student debt. Pay is average, her coworkers are nice enough, the hours are flexible for studying, the customers are frustrating, and the days are mundane. But things become a lot more interesting after a certain annoying customer walks into the shop and won’t get out of Bella’s head.
Dawn, the aforementioned challenging customer, did not walk into the coffee shop to find a friend, seeing as she’s almost given up on that for herself. But the barista behind the counter is sarcastic and doesn’t hold back, and Dawn finds herself intrigued, although she should probably just post a bad review and leave it at that. She finds herself going back, again and again. Thus, a friendship is born.
we hope you enjoy these characters and this dynamic as much as we do <3 stay tuned for the first part!
tropes: rivals to friends to qpr; sarcastic people meeting their match
premise:
In the hopes of using the kind of coffee making skills one can only earn at a wasted internship, Bella finds herself working in a coffee shop to pay off her student debt. Pay is average, her coworkers are nice enough, the hours are flexible for studying, the customers are frustrating, and the days are mundane. But things become a lot more interesting after a certain annoying customer walks into the shop and won’t get out of Bella’s head.
Dawn, the aforementioned challenging customer, did not walk into the coffee shop to find a friend, seeing as she’s almost given up on that for herself. But the barista behind the counter is sarcastic and doesn’t hold back, and Dawn finds herself intrigued, although she should probably just post a bad review and leave it at that. She finds herself going back, again and again. Thus, a friendship is born.
we hope you enjoy these characters and this dynamic as much as we do <3 stay tuned for the first part!
