Of Coffee And Tea - Elorcan
Summary: An Elorcan Coffee Shop AU where Lorcan has no idea how to act around girls - or ask Elide out.
@lorcanswife This is for you, Reagan!! I was your KOA Fic Swap partner! I had so much fun writing this fic and I really hope you’ll like it. I hadn’t written anything in months, tho, and this is my first attempt at Elorcan, so I’m really sorry if it’s too out of character or anything. But I really hope you’ll like it <3
@bookofmirth @rayonfrozenwings
Putting his glass back on the table, Lorcan couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He loved his friends, even though he’d never admit it. Even so, they sometimes annoyed the hell out of him and he wanted nothing more than to make them all disappear.
“I can’t see how my love life is any of your business.”
“It has to be someone’s business, since you’re obviously not doing anything about it!” Fenrys exclaimed. “You go to the same coffee shop every morning. You even wake up early just to catch that girl’s shift.”
“Who said it had anything to do with her shift?” Lorcan tried to defend himself, but there was no point and he knew it, too. He had barely spoken to Elide in the month he had gone to said shop, but she was already haunting his mind whenever and wherever he went.
“You don’t even drink coffee.” Rowan said. “You buy tea.” His voice sounded bored, but all of them knew that wasn’t the case. You couldn’t hate the cheesy dramas and be in love with the drama goddess after all.
“Also, you know I saw her last week, right?” The goddess herself joined the conversation. Lorcan sighed, already tired. Aelin smiled her mischievous smile. “That girl is hot. Really hot. I won’t leave you alone until you at least ask her out.”
The words left his mouth before he could think.
“I already did.”
…
He hadn’t.
For the past month he had learned her name, her schedule and had tried talking to her multiple times, but always failed.
Lorcan has never been a flatterer. He wasn’t exactly used to being nice to people.
So he sure as hell had lied to Aelin that night. He hadn’t asked Elide out. Hell, he hadn’t even talked to her, except to buy his coffee. He was about to change that, though. And today was the day.
After teasing the hell out of him the night before, his friends insisted they’d meat Elide, so Lorcan had to act fast.
Because of that, when he entered the coffee shop the following morning, he was terrified. The scent surrounding him would usually calm him- with the hours he’d spent there, he had not only grown accustomed to it, but it had started to sooth him, to make him feel at home- but not today. Just one glimpse of that raven hair, those onyx eyes and her peachy lips… Oh, he was totally screwed.
The few meters to the counter felt like eternity.
The shop was almost empty this early, so he didn’t have to wait to order. This time, he couldn’t decide if that was a good or a bad thing.
“Morning,” he greeted when he finally reached the wooden counter. There was less than a meter between him and Elide now.
“Good morning,” the girl smiled, looking at him. The way she tilted her head to meet his eyes reminded him how much shorter she was. “Black tea and dark chocolate muffin, right?”
He nodded nervously. The fact that she remembered his order always made him feel a bit excited.
Elide turned around with her back to Lorcan and prepared his order. With her attention somewhere else, he let his gaze wander up and down her body. Her curves, her fair skin, the midnight hair, flowing down her back… Gods, she was beautiful.
When she was ready, Elide turned around on her heels, holding the cup of tea in one hand and the muffin in the other. She places both things on the counter between them.
“That’ll be 4.50 dollars for you,” she said.
Lorcan pulled a 5 dollar bill out of his pocket and gave it to her.
Now is the moment. Now is your chance.
“Bye, thank you,” was all he said before heading to the exit.
If his friends could see him, they’d probably laugh at him. He really was a hopeless case.
Everybody in high school respected him to the point, where he had to wonder whether they weren’t actually afraid of him. The case with his current job wasn’t much different. He had always been strong and fought for whatever he had to achieve. People often tried to avoid him, as if his very own existence screamed he was mightier than them. Scary, even.
So why was that person unable to ask a pretty girl out?
Why couldn’t he even talk to her?
No, he wouldn’t let himself become a coward. And so, he repeated those words as he faced Elide again.
“Pretend to be my girlfriend.”
The words left his mouth before he could think and sounded more like an order than a request.
Elide laughed in return, crossing her arms.
“Right, because I’d do that for someone, who can’t even ask a simple question, but has to act like my master.”
“One sentence and you already think you know me, huh?”
“You’ve been stalking me for a month now and that’s how you try to win me over?” Elide clicked her tongue. She sounded more annoyed than anything, but her eyes gleamed with amusement.
Not only was she the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, but she had the nerve to tease him of all people. Interesting.
“I know you’re smart, but are you sure that messing around is your best option?”
“How did you manage to both compliment me and threaten me in once sentence? That really is some talent.”
Lorcan sighed met her eyes in silence, never looking back. He still waited for her to answer his first question. Elide held his gaze proudly, as if proving a point. When he realized she wasn’t going to say anything, he shook his head a little.
“Why did I get myself into?” he wasn’t complaining, though. Not even one bit. Because not only was Elide beautiful, she teased him with that pretty smile of hers, that told him he better prepare himself. This was going to be fun.
He assumed she was good at reading people, too. She spoke so freely around him, teasing and making fun of him, not caring that she was still working and he was his client. But it wasn’t a careless move- he had seen her being so careful and polite to a woman a few days ago, who had come just to bicker. She had worn a judging look on her face and not for a second stopped complaining about the shop and the way Elide was doing her job. That woman seemed harmless, way more than he did, but Elide had known she was sincere in her anger and disappointment, so she had acted the best way she could.
Around him was different, though. It didn’t matter that he was so much taller than her, or that he could beat her in a second if he wanted to. It wasn’t that she didn’t see him as strong and powerful. She just knew he wasn’t going to use it to his advantage.
She really was an interesting girl.
“You have the looks, so is your attitude the reason you’d never been asked out?” Elide asked in a second. She bit her bottom lip, as if trying not to laugh.
“What..?” Lorcan furrowed his brow in confusion.
“You look like someone who’d make all the high school girl fall all over the place,” she explained, “but you are worse in asking girls out than the four-year-old boy who came here two weeks ago and asked me to marry him.”
“Does this mean you told him yes and, now that you’re a married woman, you’re saying no to me?
“In fact, I did agree to him, but I haven’t seen him afterwards, so we still haven’t announced the wedding.” She shrugged and looked down at her hand- or more precisely, at her ring finger- and pretended to actually wear a ring. “But you keep making assumptions. I still haven’t given you an answer.”
Elide clicked her tongue and a second of silence followed.
“I will not pretend to be your girlfriend.” She told him. “But I’m free tonight if you’re eager to try and erase that ‘pretend part’.
