Before I could finish my sentence, the barista behind the counter, with pink and purple hair and about a hundred facial piercings, called out, “Next, please.”
Leo stepped forward, and I arrived beside him in time to hear his order. “— iced Americano, please.”
“And can I get a regular iced matcha latte?” I added. “Thanks.”
After the barista typed the order into the tablet and gestured at the card reader, I put my debit card down. Only when we moved off to the side where people waited for their drinks did I notice Leo staring at me.
“You didn’t have to pay for me,” he said, a hint of alarm in his eyes.
My skin warmed. “Sorry, I should’ve asked. I figured it would’ve been easier to order together.”
Now that I thought about it, I didn’t know why he was so shocked. Had he never been taken out on a date before?
“Shit, now I sound ungrateful,” Leo said in a hurry. “Thank you. Really.” He gave me a grin.
I couldn’t help but smile back, my shoulders relaxing. When I woke up this morning, all I hoped for was that my date with Fine wouldn’t be completely awkward. But Leo was…nice.
“There are dog cafes, you know,” Leo said.
I blinked. “Pardon?”
“There are dog cafes,” he repeated. “You know how you said it’d be impossible for there to be dog cafes? There are some in Melbourne. My friend told me about them.”
“No way,” I said. “Wouldn’t they run around, all hyper-active and knocking things over?”
“My friend mentioned that all the puppies are really small, so I don’t think they’d be able to cause that much damage.”
I dug out my phone. “What’s the name?” I asked.
“If you search up puppy cafe…yeah, that’s the one.” Leo leaned in close to point at a website on my phone screen. He smelled like clean linen, and I managed not to react visibly to his closeness as I clicked on the website link.
While it loaded, the barista called out our order. “I’ll grab it,” Leo said.
He returned a few seconds later with two drinks. After passing me mine, we stepped out of the cafe, standing in the shade, out of the sun. Autumn had only officially begun a few weeks ago, so the sky was still bright and hot.
Leo took a sip of his drink and sighed. “That hits the spot.”
I took a sip of mine, relishing the faint sweetness and matcha flavour. I flicked my eyes up to see Leo watching me. “Do you want some?” I asked, taking my mouth off the straw and offering the drink to him.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“You’re not sick, are you?”
“No, but I’m still a stranger.” He took the drink anyway, and I watched his lips wrap around the straw before quickly averting my eyes.
Mind out of the gutter, Edwin.
“That’s good,” he said, holding the drink out as if to study the light green contents. “It doesn’t have the hit of coffee, but…it’s yummy.”
I pushed down a laugh because I’d never heard anyone over the age of ten use the word “yummy.”
He handed me my drink back. “I’d offer you some of mine, but you don’t like coffee.”
“No. But thank you anyway.” I pulled my phone out again, returning to the site I’d been loading before. “Is this the one you were talking about?”
“Yeah, that’s it!” Leo leaned in close and scrolled through the page. “There are snacks you can buy to feed the doggies, and my friend mentioned the entrance fee includes a drink. Oh! That’s the puppy my friend sent me a picture of, isn’t he so cute?”
“Do you want to go?” I asked.
