To Hold a Twilight Rose
#1 of To Hold a Twilight Rose
Um... yeah, this is my first non-fanfic story, so it may or may not be good. Who knows, comment, tell me if you like it. And I do consider suggestions too. =)
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"Headache?"
Matt looked up from where he was sitting and smiled weakly. He massaged his temples soothingly. "Yeah. It came on fast this time."
Scott, his boss, landlord, and father figure, chuckled. "It's all the coffee you drink."
"You know I don't drink coffee." Matt said. The two did this all the time. Matt would get a headache and Scott would jokingly blame it on coffee. So what if Matt worked in a coffee shop? He never drank the stuff, not after the one time he did try it.
"I know, I know." Scott smiled and held a small bottle out to him.
Matt's eyes lit up a bit. "Yay painkillers!" He said it quietly, but with excitement. He swallowed a couple of the fast acting pills.
Matt was up and running again about five minutes later. And running was in fact the right word for it. Matt was a cheetah, and one with great balance. He ran around the shop, taking orders and filling them. Not once did he spill a drink.
Matt glanced over at the counter and watched Scott swallow a couple of those same pills.
About a year ago, Scott had almost stopped him from trying coffee. Almost. Even that one sip... Afterwards, Scott explained that he'd once made the same mistake. Collectively, cheetahs' bodies can't process coffee. Or maybe they just process it wrong. Either way, it's bad. They get headaches at least twice a week for an uncertain amount of time. Scott's first time with the condition had lasted almost a year. This was his second; he'd accidentally picked up a cup of coffee instead of his tea. Matt had an odd suspicion that he'd done it on purpose, though, just to make him feel better. But what did he know?
Matt dashed around the shop madly, taking orders. Coffee shop or not, they served pretty much every non-alcoholic drink out there. Or at least it seemed that way. The place was one of the most popular hangouts in the city for furs older than 20.
Matt stopped suddenly, seeing a fur he didn't recognize. To put it bluntly, he was intoxicated by the fur's looks. About his age, which was rare, he looked to be mostly wolf, but with some fox in him too. He had beautiful silver and black fur. It was relatively long, and his soft-looking tail was pulled into his lap. His long black headfur was worn down, and went just past his shoulders. He was thin, but muscled, and had striking violet eyes. He was wearing a purple v-neck tee shirt and fitted black jeans.
The folf chuckled. "Hello there."
That snapped Matt back to reality. "I-I'm sorry, I was just..."
"Checking me out?" He smiled.
"What? No, no, I..." Matt found he couldn't lie to him.
"Don't worry about it. If I were to get angry at you for checking me out I'd be a hypocrite."
"W-what do you mean?" Matt was getting a bit confused.
"I was looking you over too. You're not so bad yourself, you look cute. Especially with that uniform." Matt blushed. He was referring to the white polo, khaki pants, black apron and matching visor. "It's even better when you blush."
That just made him blush more. "You like it? It's not a uniform... I just think it looks formal enough to be presentable..."
"I like it..." the folf said softly. "I really do."
"Thanks..." He'd never really gotten a compliment before. "Oh! What did you want, uh..."
"Twilight."
"What did you want Twilight?"
"Originally, I was going to get some jasmine tea, but now..." The folf wilted a bit, slightly embarrassed.
"What?" Matt raised an eyebrow.
"Now I just want to ask you if you'd like to come to my place tonight... would you?"
One of Matt's ears twitched. A friend? "I... I would like that..."
"Okay..." Twilight looked at Matt's nametag. "Okay, Matt. I'll pick you up. When do you get done?"
"Um, 8."
"Okay kitty. I'll see you then." Twilight got up and walked out, and Matt watched him go. He looked at the clock.
Damn. An hour and a half to go...