Who Rapunzel and Paine What: Pay it forward coffee time! Where: Coffee shop When: Today Rating: G Status: Complete
July was hot, and while she was definitely used to the blazing California heat, it still stunned her how different it was to home. Or at least what she thought of as home; rocky mountains and snowy trails. Even with the sun was shining on Washington, there was a soft bite of the cool Canadian winds. Something to be missed from time to time.
Probably why she was favouring the cool drinks, still with coffee in them, because she needed some kind of fix, and the trends never really bothered her. Finding out that her drink had been paid for, by the person in front, Paine glanced behind her with a smile, “Hey, they’re doing a pay it forward thing just now,” because these little acts of kindness seemed to crop up a lot, “what’re you drinking? I’m paying.”
So why not keep it going? She read about them more than she took part in them, and it was a little up lift on the morning. The blond behind her looked like the cute kind that could do with it too.
It wasn’t that bad out, but it was hot enough. It meant that Rapunzel was going to wear shorts and a tank top to work so she didn’t melt, but pack a sweater for once she was inside the office because someone wanted to freeze them all to death. She had managed to put her hair up off her neck for the day at least with a couple quick braids and even a small flower in the back. She shivered a little as the air conditioning hit her skin the moment she walked into the shop and made her way to the line.
She let herself get lost in the menu as she tried to determine what she wanted. She had a standby, but today definitely sounded like cold drinks would be better. She had just figured out what she wanted when the girl in front of her turned around. The smile the other girl gave along with being caught off guard brought a flush of pink to Rapunzel’s cheek. “Oh?” Rapunzel had heard of this happening, but hadn’t experienced it yet, “Well, thank you. I was just going to get a passion tea lemonade. Whatever size is fine.” She wasn’t going to make the woman buy her the largest size and would be happy with whatever she had.
“Passion tea lemonade it is.” Paine was a little glad it wasn’t something too complex, just because she wasn’t that great at the triple pump, almond milk, extra foam thing that some of her classmates had been into. It seemed too fussy for a drink.
While they were making the drinks, Paine had time to stand by the collection area with the blond, “I’m Paine, by the way. I’ve never had the lemonades here, are they good?” It seemed like an okay ice breaker, something Paine was working on.
She was told she had a tendency to make friends in fleeting fashions; at clubs, in bars, on public transport. And the relationships were narrowed to those specific points of contact. Building something more than just fleeting moments, outside her former classmates, was probably going to be important going forward now.
After the woman had placed her order and paid Rapunzel made sure to fish out a ten dollar bill and hand it over to the cashier to pay for the next order or two to keep the good deed train rolling. The girl that purchased her drink made her way to the collection area and Rapunzel followed along. It was a nice gesture to do for people and Rapunzel was happy to keep it going and make someone’s day a little brighter.
“They’re really good. The lemonade adds a little something extra to the tea. Sometimes I switch up the syrup and have raspberry added in instead of the classic stuff,” Rapunzel had gotten the hack from one of the baristas and it was a rotating favorite of hers when she didn’t want coffee.
She didn’t mind the conversation. She was fairly similar to Paine in that she was basically able to make friends anywhere she went. There was something about her face that made people want to talk to her. “I’m Rapunzel, by the way. Thank you again for buying my drink.”
It was always a good thing to be reassured of the goodness in the world, with all the things on the news lately, seeing these little acts of human kindness were something entirely uplifting. Being a little bit of light in someone’s day? It had to be a warm feeling, especially for whoever started to do it that morning. “I’m not sure I can ever really give up my coffee fix,” a fact that sometimes got her in a little bit of trouble, “I’ve been known to be late for my own appointments because I need a fix of coffee.”
Maybe it was just something that she needed to keep going. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Paine.” Coffee shops had never seemed like the place to meet people, not really. It was something to smile and nod at people, but conversations weren’t a common thing for Paine.
“It’s a kinda nice idea, right? A sort of show that we haven’t completely given up on being decent human beings?” Random acts of kindness, she liked the idea.
“Well, you can still get caffeine from other things on the menu. There’s some stuff that has green tea extract or you can do tea that has caffeine. I don’t think mine has any caffeine in it, but sometimes it’s nice to drink something other than coffee,” Rapunzel pointed out with a chuckle at her last comment, “Wow, late for your own appointments due to coffee? That’s pretty bad.”
Not surprised she hadn’t bothered to introduce herself; Rapunzel was the type to talk first and introduce later. She flashed Paine another smile, “Nice to meet you, Paine. I’m Rapunzel.” She stuck her hand out for a handshake. It always felt a little old fashioned in this day in age with fist bumps and what not, but it helped Rapunzel decide what kind of person she was dealing with depending on their handshake.
“Every once and a while the world surprises you with some human kindness,” Rapunzel tried to find the good in life every day, but even she knew it wasn’t feasible to live with your heads in the clouds.
“That’s all true, but I’m a very lazy coffee drinker.” And a bit of an addict, there was that too. Not that Paine minded it, she didn’t get shakes or anything without it, it just made it easier to deal with people if she had some caffeine. Like a crutch. “I once stood in line for ten minutes and was fifteen minutes late for class and barely blinked.” Because the coffee had to come first.
Paine just smirked, gripping Rapunzel’s hand for a shake with a soft but firm grip, trying to ignore the callouses and grooves on her hand from her craft. “I hear that more people meet in coffee shops these days than anywhere else.” Which made sense, really, it wasn’t like people were really going out other places as often, at least not where they’d talk.
Fleeting capacities for kindness, it seemed to be the only thing the world could run on right now. “Maybe the every once in a while will start being a little more common.” Might be the only thing to get all of them through the next decade or so. “But it is refreshing to know there are still good people in the world.”
Rapunzel would let her have her point with the lazy coffee drinking. Although waiting in line for that long and being late could totally be prevented if she had a coffee maker in her house, but Rapunzel wasn’t there to judge. She was just surprised someone that addicted wouldn’t just cut out the middle man coffee shop. Rapunzel herself mainly went to coffee shops when she needed a pick up and didn’t want to bother going all the way home. “You’re definitely addicted,” Rapunzel commented with a teasing tone.
Calluses and grooves were something Rapunzel was used to because she had her own. They came and went depending upon if she was doing more digital work or working with pencils or paint brushes. “It wouldn’t surprise me, actually. It’s also probably a top first date destination.” There was something easy about being in a coffee shop that you could just relax and be yourself instead of trying too hard over a formal dining restaurant.
“One can hope,” she answered honestly. She just wanted good things in the world and it was painful to see all the hurt and suffering people were put through. She didn’t understand why the world was like this, but there wasn’t a whole lot she could do about it. The voice of the barista broke through her thoughts when their drinks were put on the end of the bar for pick up.
Her definite addiction wasn’t in question, and by and large, Paine was okay with it. It messed with her sleep patterns, but having cats did that too. She worked through the occasional spells of insomnia and used the coffee as a motivator for creating something when needed.
“People still do that? Coffee shop dates I mean?” Paine couldn’t say for sure the last time she’d been on an actual date, it wasn’t really her scene. She’d maybe done it a little her first year of college, but quickly grew dispassionate about the whole thing. “My last date took me to watch him play football. No word of a lie.” That was what she got for entertaining a jock, “I think I left ten minutes in.”
With their drinks ready, and no real reason to carry on the conversation, since Paine had gotten her drink to go for a reason, she tried to work out if asking for Rapunzel’s number was weird.
“Oh definitely. I actually came to the coffee shop on what I thought was a project meeting and the girl apparently thought it was a date, so it turned into a really awkward coffee shop date,” Rapunzel explained with a soft chuckle. It had been awkward and the relationship only lasted a few months after that, “And he made you watch him play football? Yikes. Especially if you’re not really a fan of that sport in general. I had one guy back in high school who asked me to mini golf with him like 3 dates in a row. It got old really fast.” There had been a lot of weird dates in her past, especially when you tried to date people who were also artsy. She had been to a lot of weird performance art events.
Rapunzel had her drink and moved to take the lid off of it before handing it out to Paine, “Did you want to try it?”
Okay, so that was cute, the whole misunderstanding thing, not the awkward date thing. Paine couldn’t do with awkward dating at all. It was bad enough when she was asked out on dates they both knew were dates. “Oh, did you guys at least work on the project?” Because that would be awkward to work around.
“Yeah, for a while, and I don’t do well standing outside for long,” she had very sensitive eyes, and pale skin that burned too easily, “So I do like to know when that might be a thing.” And if sports would be involved, because unless it was a fun sport? No. “Mini golf is fun maybe once, but three times? Consecutively? That sounds like a guy who can’t think of date ideas.” Seriously, they had the internet, they could Google that stuff.
“Um, sure, if you don’t mind.” Why not try something different, something a little new. So she took a small sip to Rapunzel’s drink, “That’s really refreshing.”
“Yeah, we ended up getting an A on the project, thankfully. We dated for a bit after, but I made sure we didn’t have any other coffee dates,” Rapunzel explained with a laugh. Their relationship had been short lived, especially after the class was complete and they didn’t have to spend all that time together working on the project.
“Yeah, that was back in high school when no one had a very good idea of how to figure out proper dates. He was a smart kid, but a wee bit socially awkward, so maybe that was the only thing he could think of,” Rapunzel hadn’t minded it, but three dates had been more than enough for her, “But man, I haven’t thought about that kid in a long time.”
“Right? Refreshing and it’s a really nice flavor,” she pointed out with a smile when Paine acknowledged that her drink was good. She felt pleased that someone else agreed with her about it.
Good grades probably made for an ease of dating through or after a project, although it likely wouldn’t have worked in Paine’s class at college since everyone was so eccentrically creative in their own little ways. It was fine, really, she didn’t exactly judge the other girls, she was a little envious of certain drawing styles but that was about the extent of it.
High school dating was a complex condition too; she knew she was awkward as hell in high school, so a comfortable place to take someone, especially someone you liked, was probably just what the guy had been going for. “Thank god high school is over though,” that wasn’t something Paine would ever want to repeat.
“It sorta feels like a hot day drink,” Paine wasn’t the sort who liked to drink water, but she knew that hydrating with coffee wasn’t always the best idea, and she should look for something else too. A lemonade that was refreshing and cooling would be good to know about, and frankly, it felt like an opening. “So, maybe you should give me your number, and the next time I’m craving something refreshing I could give you a call?”
God, that was an awkward come on.
"I don't think anyone could ever pay me enough to go back and relive those days," Rapunzel agreed. Her high school experience hadn't been horrible, but it was definitely far from normal. She realized once she moved away for college that she liked this environment a lot better. She had come into herself and was enjoying life outside of Eugene.
Then Paine asked for her number under the guise of was probably supposed to sound like wanting drink recommendations and she couldn't help but let out a giggle at the immediate sexual turn it took in her head and her cheeks took on a rosy hue. "I know you mean a drink, but I am going to pretend you could be craving me," Rapunzel gave Paine a large smile as she reached over to grab a drink sleeve. Hopefully she didn't completely destroy the girl's thought process with that comment.
She grabbed a pen from her purse, jotted down her name and number, and drew a couple flowers on it before handing it over, "Want me to walk out with you?"
Paine had to press her fingers into her own temple, her cheeks flushing all the same as she worked out exactly what she said, but, well… “I mean, I’m not opposed to you taking it either way.” It didn’t seem like Rapunzel minded the accidental double entendre. So Paine wasn’t going to apologise for it.
“Yeah, lets.” She checked the sleeve that Rapunzel gave her, smirking at the little flowers and how cute it was, carefully pocketing the number. “Do you have a long day ahead of you?” She was trying to work out when would be a good time to text, since Rapunzel was fairly open about it all.
"Good," Rapunzel replied with a soft chuckle. It was amusing to watch someone work out the unintended double entendre and at least Paine seemed cool with it. So far this was turning out to be a good day! Thank you to the random person who started the paying give back.
"Not too long. Just need to get a couple work things done, but should have my whole night open," she left the comment hanging as they walked to the door and pushed through to the outside. If Paine wanted to text, call, or see her tonight it was open for her to take. She didn't mind any methods of communication, but she would definitely be awaiting Paine contacting her at some point tonight.
Paine didn’t think she was reading too much into Rapunzel’s words to assume that if she text later the blond would be willing to meet up or just hang out somewhere for a while. So she was sure she’d take the time to do exactly that.
“Then I’m sure we’ll talk later,” because even if it just wound up being a night to stay in but make plans, Paine could see it working out in the long run. “I tend to cut myself off around about four or I’ll work all the way through the night, and that’s not helpful.” Least of all when she lost daylight and didn’t notice. Squint stitches were not cute.
Outside, with the sunlight and the morning laid out ahead, Paine waited to check what direction Rapunzel was going.
That comment about working all night made Rapunzel laugh because she did the same thing quite often, "I know how that goes. So many times in college when I had a roommate they would have to drag me out of the room and force me to go eat."
"But I really look forward to hearing from you. Thank you again for the drink," Rapunzel was blushing just a little. She hadn't expected her day to go this way, but she was pleasantly surprised, "My car is just over this way." She gave a nod towards the left.
Workaholics tended to just be exactly like that, but it was somewhat comforting to know that if she did text sometime in the future at a weird time it might not be too late after normal hours. “Eating is exceptionally important, it’s good they managed to keep you up with that.” Wasn’t that was roommates were for though?
“You’re welcome, so, have a great day and I’ll text you later?” Paine was headed in the opposite direction, so she took a few steps to the right, giving a small wave at Rapunzel before she got her shit together and started on her way to her appointment.