WHO:Yuffie Kisaragi & Spencer Hastings WHEN: Early November WHERE: UCI WHAT: Random coffee shop encounter WARNINGS: Low/None STATUS: Complete
Spencer was in the Cafe on campus at UC Irvine. She had some books spread in front of her, and was working diligently on an assignment for her Math General Education Requirement class. It was gruelling; she had to “show her work” and she was wondering how much more of this she could take when some guy came wandering by. He tripped on someone else’s bag strap on the ground, and toppled over, spilling a cup of hot coffee all over Spencer’s table. Luckily, the girl was able to jump out of the way before being scalded, but her assignment was soaked in thick, black mocha.
“Oh my god!” Spencer cried out, at first alarmed, but then angry at the guy who gave a quick ‘sorry’ and then bolted. “Don’t stay and help clean up or anything!” Spencer called after him. “Ass hole,” she muttered under her breath, then started scrounging for napkins to clean up this mess.
Yuffie had been there -working on stuff and careless people just elbows and shoulders all over the place. It was frustrating to say least. Grabbing a bunch of napkins from the dispenser, Yuffie skittered over to the girl with her handful, dabbing at the table and books to try and avoid ripping anything.
“Are you okay?” There was nothing worse, absolutely nothing, than getting your work drenched in liquid and almost burnt. “Jeez, this is everywhere.”
“Oh, thanks,” Spencer said. Though she was a little flustered, and upset that all her notes were now covered in coffee, she was thankful and touched that someone would come and give her a hand. Faith in humanity restored. She smiled at the other girl--a tired, frazzled smile, but genuine nonetheless--and continued dabbing at the spill with her own napkins. “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m not so sure about my notes, though.” It was for her English class. Notes on Lolita.
“Yeah,” plus side, it was books. It could’ve been a computer or tablet, and that would’ve been utterly horrifying. It was bad enough that the books might be ruined, they were expensive and Yuffie felt terrible that the girl might need to replace that too. “They might be a total lost cause on there.”
Could you dry out coffee and still be able to use them? That seemed like an important thing to know. “I really hope you weren’t nearly finished what you were doing.”
“That’s such a shame.” Spencer was frowning, but the woman was right. They seemed like they were gone for good. Then again, if she separated them carefully and hung them from a clothesline like photographs in a dark room? Maybe…
“Maybe if I put some napkins between the pages, I can get them home and dry them out…” She glanced up at the other girl again and broke into an apologetic smile. “I’m writing a paper on Lolita for my English class. I have a feeling it’s gonna be easy to write.”
“We can try that!” Yuffie was all for trying anything. Why give up when there might be a solution, right? Something might work and it was an idea. “I’ll get more.” And she’d ditch the soggy napkins she had right now. Hopping up to the counter, Yuffie grabbed someone’s attention to see if they knew what the girl had been drinking before the other guy had bumped coffee everywhere and asked for another one.
“Okay, more napkins.” She had a massive handful, probably too many, but maybe they’d need to put a few between the notes. “We can give it a go.”
“Thanks.” Spencer gave the other a smile, and then collected up all the soggy napkins to toss out. She started laying the new ones down carefully between the pages, and was a little surprised at how it seemed like it would work. The notebook was pretty trashed, but she’d probably be able to read all of her notes, and then write the paper. She wouldn’t have to take a bunch of extra time to re-write everything out. Score.
Then an employee came over and brought Spencer a new drink. On the house. Spencer was a little shocked, as she hadn’t heard the other girl order her a new one. She accepted it with more thanks, and turned to her new-best-friend-and-bringer-of-caffeine. “Did you do this?”
Yuffie shrugged a shoulder, her smile bright and genuine. “It’s poop when people ruin your work and don’t even stay to try and help out.” Yuffie would’ve gotten mad, and then she’d have gotten sad and then she might’ve gotten super upset over something that wasn’t that big a deal. And she really hated that stabby feeling when it happened.
“Besides, if you had to write out everything again, and start over, you’re gonna need the coffee.” Because starting once was bad enough, trying again with a set back like that? Oh, that was definitely poop. “I’m Yuffie, by the way. So that you aren’t taking things from strangers.” That was still a huge no-no and Yuffie was constantly reminded of that like she was five and not just turned twenty-one.
Spencer nearly snorted. “It’s poop?” She asked, unable to stop the grin from spreading across her lips. “But yes, I agree with you whole-heartedly. It’s not nice at all to do something this damaging, then run off like your tail’s on fire.”
She set the cup down and then placed the last napkin between the last page. “You’re so kind. Thank you. It’s much appreciated.” With a smile, she added, “I’m Spencer. Now neither of us is a stranger to the other.”
“Oh, Nonna hates it when I say cuss words, so I just tend to say not-so-cuss words, ‘cause it’s a habit.” Of course Nonna wasn’t really anyone related to her other than one of the older women that happened to be at one of the fairgrounds she spent a lot of time at when she was just a little thing. It stuck with her, when Nonna said not to cuss and to be polite and hold doors for people and give up seats, Nonna was old fashioned like that.
“Well, it’s nice to be nice, especially when someone’s not having a great day.” But maybe it was salvageable, and at least Spencer wouldn’t be too bummed out if she did need to re-write things, and Yuffie hoped maybe she helped with that. “I really hope your stuff isn't ruined, maybe I'll see you around!" Yuffie hated dashing off, but she sort of thought she'd helped all she could and anything else would just cause another problem.
With a wave, Yuffie grabbed her own backpack and headed out.