wherever you are; a Kopal modern au oneshot

[charade]

KATELYN PERSIMMON

“Good afternoon my little biscuits! If you’re just tuning into the livestream now, today we’re celebrating hitting the five hundred thousand subscriber milestone! Huge, I know!”Katelyn smiled into her GoPro with genuine happiness. “I’m coming to you live from The Cool Bean Café in sunny California, where I’m about to start reviewing breakfast food. In particular, I’m looking forward to their honey cinnamon cortado.”

Only twenty-one and the small baking tips channel she’d started when she was seventeen had finally started to blow up. The key had been to start reviewing local eateries and bars while instaing anything she ordered.

That and a good manager.

Mr.Izar was a blessing, and had gotten her several sponsorships that had really helped. She’d even made youtube rewind last year because of that one video that went viral, that contestant on the bachelorette that had namedropped her channel on an episode, even going so far as to namedrop the title of the video itself. Her recipe for an easy pumpkin pie. Who would have thought?

“If you don’t know what a Cortado is, it’s an expresso drink mixed with milk and other yummy goodness. And I think it’s coming now!”

“One Cortado and a gluten-free Spinach, tomato and Mozzarella Panini,” a familiar voice said. “Hope you enjoy it Katelyn.”

“Yeah, thanks I—”her words caught in her throat as she turned away from her camera to see “Oh, hey Opal. I forgot you worked here too.” Stunning. Opal was stunning. They’d become fast friends over the last few months, bonding over a shared love of fine dining and good music. They’d met at a different restaurant where Opal worked; Katelyn had been filming and Opal had been a lovely guide to the menu.

They’d hung out a few times too, grabbed a coffee here, went dancing at a club there. It felt like there might be a spark of something more between them, but Katelyn was hesitant to ask. Opal had been through a lot over the last few years. Widowed at nineteen. A single mother. But a queen. Even though Katelyn could tell that she was tired, she was still lovely. Katelyn couldn’t understand how she managed to always look so radiant in spite of working eighteen hour days on the regular. And she was kicking herself for not remembering that the café was Opal’s second job. How had that slipped her mind?

Opal smiled.

“My shift just started; when I saw you, I asked Annie if I could take over your table. Have fun!” she waved at the camera, and the chatbox was immediately flooded with messages about her. Katelyn waited until Opal had left to respond.

“Hahaha, yes viewers, that’s the girl. But today is about the food, so let’s get back to it!” She reviewed as she normally did, but her mind was elsewhere. Katelyn bit her lip and looked away hurriedly when she caught Opal staring in her direction for the third time and decided to finish up the livestream, before her viewers could tell she was getting red in the face. It was maddening, that smile, and the lips that formed it. How would those lips taste, she wondered?

Like strawberries, she imagined.

Those mischievous eyes. Whatever the hell that perfume was that made Katelyn feel lightheaded. Or maybe that was just Opal’s presence. Katelyn drank some water quickly, at this rate she was going to need a cold shower pronto. “Okay, viewers, I’ve seen a ton of messages about my love life and all I have to say about that is, wish me luck, biscuits! I’ll be posting an update tomorrow!” And with that, she switched off the stream. She stared at her empty plate for a minute and tried to collect herself.

Don’t be intimidated just because she’s a couple years older. Four years is nothing. Confidence, she told herself, thinking of Mr.Izar’s advice. You’ve got this!

“All done, then?”

I don’t got this.

“Yeeeah,” Katelyn said slowly, having already put her money and the tip on the table. Opal went to clear everything away and Katelyn went to stop her hand. Their fingers brushed and Katelyn felt electrified. Did Opal feel it too?

God she hoped so.

Now or never.

"Hey, so Opal, I remembered that you said apple pie was your favorite, so I thought maybe I’d ask you to come with me to grab a piece from this great place called Paolo’s?" Idiot. That wasn’t what she meant to say at all. Katelyn bit her lip.

“Uh, what I mean is I’d like to take you out, like on a, on a date?” Katelyn cleared her throat and smiled, resting her cheek on her fist. "Let me start over. I like you. And I want to be more than just friends. Do you wanna go out after your shift? I know a bunch of places.”

For once, Opal looked more flustered than her and Katelyn’s smile widened. Whatever the answer was, she had a feeling she was going to love it.

table coding (c) ghosty