Page 11 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
“There’s coffee in the kitchenette for you.”
“Bless you,” Dani said. She bent toward the mirror on the wall, her image partially blocked by the books, birth charts, and tarot decks piled on the desk below.Woof.She grabbed her brush and went to town on her tangles.
“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” McKenna said. “Not since the game.”
Dani was about to protest when she realized it was true. On work nights she usually got home when McKenna was sleeping, and her 8:00A.M.folk divination class on Mondays meant she was gone before her roommate had even woken.
“Huh,” Dani said. “I guess not.”
“What was your deal that night? You were acting really weird. Weirder than normal, I mean.”
“My deal was—is—Silva,” Dani said, bending over to brush her hair from the underside. “She picked up on our vibe right away. I was worried she’d figure out we were cheating.”
“So that’s why you ran out of there like a banshee from a barn,” McKenna said. “And we’ve been over this. It’s not cheating if it’s your natural-born talent.”
“Sounds like semantics to me,” Dani said. “Either way, I was right. Silva could tell something hinky was going on. She cornered me in the library yesterday and basically forced me to agree to meet with her this afternoon. Kenz, I’m really freaked out,” she said once she was upright again, turning to her friend. “She basically said she came to the game so she could find people with special skills, but wouldn’t say why.”
McKenna finally set her sketchbook aside, frowning. “That does sound rather shady,” she said. “She’s a visiting professor, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. I had her for a few sessions in Intro to Oneiromancy,” Dani said. “I don’t see a way out. She could bust our game in a heartbeat, and—well, you know.”
“I know,” McKenna said gently. “But I think it’s okay to just talk to her. It’s probably totally boring, like studying the dreams of spiders or something.”
“I’ll be thrilled if it’s the dreams of spiders,” Dani said. “Spiders are chill. They make way more sense than weird-ass professors who jump scare you in the library.” Without thinking, she added, “Or boys that say one thing and do another.”
She blinked, realizing what she’d said—her own power didn’t work on herself, but that didn’t mean she was immune to blurting something by accident once in a while. Hoping the comment would go unnoticed, she turned back to her desk, but McKenna had the hearing of a bat and no interest in letting anything slide.
“What was that now?” she asked. “Something about boys?”
“Buses,” Dani said, starting a braid in her hair. “I said buses. They’re never on time, you know?”
But the image of Kass came into her mind, and even though he hadn’t turned up last night, Dani smiled involuntarily. McKenna caught her eye in the mirror and read the damning evidence scrawled all over her face.
“Danica!” she said in the tone of a scandalized mom. “You don’t even take the bus, babe. Are you smiling about aperson?”
“No. Yes. Maybe! Fuck.” Dani abandoned the half-finished braid and buried her beet-red face in her hands. “Don’t look at me right now.”
McKenna laughed: a melodious, husky, ancient-goddess sound. Up in his nest, Gingerbread flapped his wings and squawked. “I’ve never seen you have a crush before. Come on, Dani.” McKenna scooted forward eagerly on her bed. “Warm my cold fairy heart with tales of your mortal romance.”
Dani lifted her head at that, spluttering. “You’re just as mortal as I am.”
“That’s offensive,” the other girl said seriously, then laughed again. “Go on, then, tell me!”
Dani paused for one flushed moment before she burst into an uncensored, giddy smile. “Okay, fine, his name is Kass and he came to Quarter Cast the other night to study, and we started talking and he’s smart and funny andsofucking cute.”
“Did you make out?”
“What? No.” Her embarrassed laugh came out as a snort. “I was at work.”
“I wouldn’t have let such a trifling detail stop me,” McKenna said airily. “So, when are you going to see him again?”
At that, Dani’s face fell, along with all the butterflies in her stomach. “I don’t know,” she said, and flopped onto the edge of McKenna’s bed. “He said he was going to come back last night but never showed.”
“He probably got caught up with something.” When Dani didn’t respond, McKenna leaned over and shook her by the knee. “I’m serious, don’t read into it. He might have already had plans he forgot about! Mark my words, he’ll turn up again. If he knows what’s good for him, that is.”
Dani couldn’t help but laugh at McKenna’s evil grin, punctuated by a supportive caw from Gingerbread. “You’re probably right.”
“Probably?” her friend said, putting a hand to her offended heart. “I think you meanalways. I amalwaysright, babe. Now go get your coffee and don’t worry about him for one more second. You have enough on your mind without inventing more things to cram in there.”
