Page 71 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
Dani knew she should make an excuse, say she was too busy to see him this week. But gods, he was adorable, and his presence was a balm to the gaping wound of her anxiety, even when it was also more than half the cause.
“Yeah,” she said, not giving herself permission to second-guess. “Of course. I’m working tomorrow and Monday night, so… Tuesday?”
“I’ll clear my schedule,” he said with a gentlemanly air. “It’s milady’s choice of activities this time. Just tell me when and where to be.”
“You certainly know how to put someone on the spot,” Dani said, before calling out the white mocha she’d just made. “No, no, it’s fine,” she laughed when he started to apologize. “I’m just teasing. Have you ever been to the OS building?”
“No, actually. Only admired it from afar.”
“There’s an open gaze at the observatory there on Tuesday. Let’s meet at eight,” she said. “I hope it doesn’t rain, but if it does, we’ll figure something else out on the fly.”
“Perfect,” Kass said. He lifted a hand to greet Joel, who side-eyed him curiously as he brought over some more cups for Dani to start on. “Yeah, uh, I guess I better stop bugging you. I might be in here on Monday, but if I don’t see you, Tuesday, yeah?”
“Tuesday, yeah,” she repeated. “Oh. Did you want a drink? On the house.”
“Nah, I think I’m overcaffeinated enough for tonight, but thanks.Have fun slinging lattes.” He donned his mittens once more—gods, he was cute for wearing mittens instead of gloves—and headed for the door, waving one last time before he disappeared into the night.
Tuesday it is, then, Dani thought with a deep sigh.I have until Tuesday to decide what to do.
Twenty-Six
Tuesday dawned clear and cold, sharp as a vampire bite. The last two days had brought Dani no closer to a solution than she was to the moons of Jupiter. She liked Kass. A lot. She didn’t want to hurt him. But she wanted to help stop OneiroLabs, too, and she needed the money. If she didn’t get it, and her scholarship review went south, she’d have to leave the Leap behind—and Kass along with it.
Fortuitously for her, Silva had messaged the group on Sunday to postpone their usual meeting; Katya needed more time to work her technical wizardries, and Silva didn’t have assignments ready for them yet.
That was fine by Dani. She needed a break from all of it, and more time to figure out how she was going to proceed.One last date, she told herself. And then she’d make up her mind on how to move forward. It was selfish, but she needed to feel that magic between them one more time, to cherish the memory if it was the last she’d get to have of it.
Because Dani knew that one way or another, what she had with Kass was about to change forever. She just wanted one last date before it all came crashing down.
After class, she headed back to the apartment to get ready. This time, there were none of the butterflies of their first date’s preparations, only a solemn resignation as she went through the motions. McKenna was out getting dinner with Oliver, with strict instructions not to mention this whole catastrophe. Oliver knew Dani was dating someone, but they didn’t know it was Lukas Gianakos Jr., and Dani wanted to keep it that way. She couldn’t let anyone on the team know.
She blistered herself with a hot shower, scrubbed her pores clean with an exfoliating stone, and picked out an outfit on her own: a black skater dress with a turquoise drop-shoulder sweater on top. She kept her makeup simple, her hair in its usual braid. One look in the mirror showed herself for who she was: a sad, soft girl who’d gotten in over her head.
One last date.
Then she’d face the music.
It was a chilly, achingly clear night, the rare kind perfect for an open gaze. Kass wasn’t at the OS building when she got there, so Dani parked herself on the front steps and took the amethyst pendulum from around her neck. She hadn’t used it for its intended purpose in a long time.
She closed her eyes and let her consciousness reach out toward the crystal. She didn’t have the sense of detail and connection that geomancers did, couldn’t see the energetic anatomy of the stone as precisely as they could, but she could feel its gentle, curious vibration and its response to her metaphysical touch, inviting her to ask a question.
North for yes, south for no, she established.Is my name Dani?
The pendulum swung right, a stout north.
Am I going to get all A’s on my finals?She wasn’t surprised when the crystal reversed direction with decisiveness.
Should I tell Kass the truth?This time, the pendulum wobbled between north and south.
“Find out anything good?” Kass’s voice cut short the oncoming wave of foreboding. Dani’s eyes flew open to see him, handsome as ever in his peacoat, standing with his hands in his pockets and a faint smile on his face.
She wasn’t ready for the onslaught of emotions that hit her like a piano dropping from the sky: instinctive joy just at the sight of him, all the usual nerves that came with being near her crush—did shelook cute enough? Was she doing something weird with her face?—but also frozen, weighted dread.
This was going to be harder than she’d imagined, and she’d imagined it being pretty damn hard.
“Not really,” she finally responded.
“Mind if I have a go?”
