The Stress

Dawn groaned and blindly reached out, searching the bed for a source of warmth that wasn’t there. When Dawn finally registered that fact, which took long enough that she’d have been embarrassed had she been more awake, she withheld a groan and poked her head out from under her blanket. She spotted her target in front of the wardrobe. With her target acquired, Dawn pounced.

Eliza let out a yelp of surprise as Dawn draped herself over Eliza. Even though they were both standing, Dawn tried her best to cuddle up close to Eliza. “You’re warm,” she muttered, closing her eyes and trying her best to go back to sleep.

Eliza sighed and started trying to pry herself free from Dawn’s grip. When she couldn’t move Dawn’s arms, Eliza tried to duck out of her grip instead. Dawn just ducked down with Eliza. That was better for her because she was able to pull herself and Eliza down to sit on the floor instead of standing awkwardly. Eliza made one last valiant effort to escape Dawn’s grip. It didn’t work.

“Dawn,” Eliza said gently. “Now is not the time for cuddling.”

Dawn just hummed and rested her head on Eliza’s shoulder.

“I have work today.”

Dawn readjusted herself so her legs weren’t at an awkward angle.

“So do you!”

Dawn sighed in contentment. She was comfortably seated and, more importantly, had her warm girlfriend(!) in her arms. She quickly started drifting off to sleep again.

Eliza let out a sigh of her own, though this one didn’t contain an ounce of contentment. Well, maybe one ounce. Dawn couldn’t really judge it that well considering she was only barely awake, and that was fading fast. What she could judge was the way Eliza twisted in her arms to face her. She could especially judge how Eliza leaned in to kiss her.

Dawn’s eyes snapped open and her grip on Eliza loosened. Eliza smirked and darted back, easily escaping Dawn’s new grip. Eliza looked at Dawn with a proud smile as she stood up.

“That wasn’t fair,” Dawn grumbled as she stood up.

“All’s fair in love and war,” Eliza countered.

“But was that love or was it war?”

“Yes.”

897

Eliza was proud of a few different things in her life. Thanks to some gentle and nearly constant encouragement from Dawn she was on the path to being proud of her artwork instead of being ashamed for indulging in a ‘silly waste of time.’ Eliza was especially proud of how, after a number of close calls, she’d managed to get the girl. However, she was quickly discovering another talent that she should be proud of. Eliza was capable of spending hours on end not punching people who were so fixated on acquiring mediocre caffeine at exorbitant prices that they forgot to show any basic decency towards others.

Getting a job had seemed like a good idea at the time. And, at the good times, it still seemed like a good idea. When the customers remembered that Eliza was a human and should be treated as such, for example. Fortunately, that was the common consensus among customers. Unfortunately, those people that didn’t do so were memorable. In all honesty, Eliza would have preferred to not be working at the cafe at all, but she didn’t have much choice in the matter. It was one of the only places that was willing to work around her classes. The only other place was the bookstore across the street, and Eliza definitely couldn’t work there. If she did, she wouldn’t get any work done whatsoever.

Every now and then there were moments when the cafe was empty. That didn’t mean any of the employees got to rest. Eliza was tasked with putting up some decorations for… something or other. The manager hadn’t actually said what for. All Eliza knew was that they were red and pink and there were a lot of them. That was fine. It gave Eliza something to do.

While Eliza was hanging the decorations, her coworker was cleaning some of the equipment. Naturally, as two people who were bored out of their minds while doing menial labor are wont to do, they talked to fill the time.

“In conclusion,” Maria said professionally at the conclusion of her speech, “the bigger the slinky, the better the slinky.”

Eliza finished centering the vase holding a bouquet of heart shaped roses before answering. “But wouldn’t the material matter more than the size?” Eliza grabbed a poster and a couple tacks to hang it up behind the counter. “And what about the shape? What impact does that have on the slinky?”

Eliza pushed a tack through one of the top corners of the poster. Before she could get the second one done, Maria spoke up. “Could you take the register for a minute?”

“Sure,” Eliza said absently, not looking at either Maria or the register or anything that wasn’t the poster she was hanging. She carefully rotated it, trying to get it perfectly level before the second tack went in. Before she could, the little bell above the door jingled as someone walked in. Eliza barely kept from sighing as she abandoned the poster. The poster spun around so it was very lopsided. Whatever, she could fix it after helping the next customer. Eliza turned and saw just who it was that had walked through the door. It was simultaneously the best person she could have asked for and the worst customer she could have asked for.

“Hey cutie,” Dawn said as she leaned against the counter.

“Dawn!” Eliza nearly shouted and scrambled over to the counter. “What are you doing here?”

Dawn just shrugged. “I’m on break. Figured I’d come check out the cute barista.”

Eliza blushed. She still hadn’t gotten used to Dawn calling her cute. Or pretty. Or beautiful. Or, that one time she’d been a little delirious from a slight case of the flu, a ‘walking, talking, kissing carbonated beverage.’ Eliza hoped she’d never get used to it. That way it would always feel special.

Eliza cleared her throat. “And?” she prompted. “What do you think?”

Dawn didn’t answer. Instead, the alarm in her phone started ringing. Very loudly. She scrambled to grab her phone and turn the alarm off. She let out a sigh when she finally managed it. She straightened up and smirked at Eliza. “I’ll let you know tomorrow.” With that proclamation, Dawn spun around and marched back out of the cafe and, presumably, went back to work.

When Dawn was out of sight, Eliza turned and got back to hanging up the poster. She straightened it and finally got around to actually reading what it said. It was an advertisement for the Valentine’s special. That made sense. Valentine’s Day was right around the corner, after all.

Eliza finished hanging the poster before that thought caught up with her. Valentine’s Day was right around the corner. That wasn’t such a big deal. Right?

Saturday, February 2nd

12 days until Valentine’s Day

It was a big deal.

897

Saturday, February 2nd

12 days until Valentine’s Day

Dawn was disappointed. No, disappointed wasn’t a strong enough word. When she had the time and motivation she’d create a new word that essentially meant super-ultra-mega-disappointed. But that would come later. Now, she was just wallowing in super-ultra-mega-despair (another word she later created).

Dawn knew that she wouldn’t get much time with Eliza. Her break only lasted half an hour, and almost all that time was dedicated to walking to and from the cafe. No, it was obvious going in that the time wouldn’t be very alluring. But it hadn’t needed to be. Dawn’s plan didn’t require a lot of time. She just needed to properly budget what time she did have. Which she failed at. Because she was flirting. Which she didn’t fail at.

It wasn’t even that Dawn’s plan was all that complicated. She would just go in, order something, and give a single letter as her name. Then she’d do the same the next day. And the next. And every day that Eliza was working until The Day arrived. The letters would obviously spell out a message. Dawn had planned for the message to start that day, but that clearly hadn’t been the case. Fortunately the message was only eight letters long, so she had a few days of buffer time. But it still wasn’t ideal. But it could still work.

Dawn sighed at just how much effort was going into this grand and over the top gesture. Not to say that Dawn didn’t like grand and over the top gestures. She loved them and loved making them for Eliza. But that was always because she wanted to. Not this time. This time it was because of societal conventions and the pressure to do so. She didn’t like that. She didn’t like being told when she should be romantic. She should be able to choose that for herself. But she didn’t exactly get a say in the matter this time. And that was fine! Eliza would love it! And that made it all worth it in Dawn’s book. But her point still stood.

Dawn hated Valentine’s Day.

897

Sunday, February 3rd

11 days until Valentine’s Day

It was official.

Eliza did Not Like Valentine’s Day. She did Not Like Valentine’s Day so much that Not Like was always capitalized. That was The Rule.

When Eliza had first seen that poster she had quickly realized that it was a big deal. She just hadn’t realized just how big a deal it really was.

Eliza had very little experience with Valentine’s Day. Everything she knew came from fiction, and she discarded that knowledge almost immediately. Fiction always oversold things. Fiction portrayed the planning for Valentine’s Day as several weeks of non-stop stress and planning for an event that would, realistically, only last a few hours. Surely it wasn’t as hard as it was portrayed to be.

Eliza was wrong.

Fiction didn’t oversell things.

It undersold it.

Eliza had no idea what to plan. And, even if she did, she wouldn’t know how to plan it. Should she go with a surprise? What if Dawn had her own surprise in place? Then the two surprises would clash and ruin everything. And even if by some miracle that didn’t happen, there was still no guarantee that Dawn would even like the surprise. The surprise that Eliza hadn’t figured out.

One thing that was definitely hindering the whole process was that Eliza really didn’t see the point. From what she could tell, Valentine’s Day was a day that people in relationships set aside to show their partners that they cared about them in one way or another. But why? Why only one day a year? If you loved someone, shouldn’t you show that every day? The whole thing just didn’t make sense to her.

So yeah, Eliza lacked the motivation to plan out a Valentine’s Day surprise. A surprise that might go horribly wrong depending on what Dawn may or may not have planned. A surprise that Dawn may not even like. A surprise that Eliza didn’t even have figured out.

Eliza sighed and slumped down against the counter for a moment.

It was official.

Eliza did Not Like Valentine’s Day

897

Sunday, February 3rd

11 days until Valentine’s Day

Just because Dawn hated Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean she wasn’t going to go all out. Because of course she was. It was for her girlfriend(!). Why wouldn’t she go all out? She would. Even if she hated it. Because it was for Eliza. There was just one minor flaw with Dawn’s plan.

She didn’t have one. Not for The Day itself. She had her little coffee puzzle that she was trying to implement, but that wasn’t really a Valentine’s Day level thing. Well, it could be if Eliza was working on The Day, but she already knew that she wouldn’t be. She had The Day off. By a funnily intentional coincidence so did Dawn. Dawn just didn’t know what they would be doing.

The obvious answer would be to ask Eliza what, if anything, she’d like to do on The Day. But Dawn had discarded that idea almost as soon as she came up with it. What kind of girlfriend would she be if she couldn’t plan one little surprise on her own? Well, not exactly a little surprise, but the sentiment still stood.

It felt wrong to admit it, but Dawn was starting to miss Pic. That was crazy, though. Pic was Eliza and Eliza was her girlfriend(!). How could Dawn be missing her? Sure, it was nice to have someone to talk to that, in her mind, wasn’t the girl she was interested in. That way she could ask for advice on how to go about things without tipping off Eliza. But she couldn’t do that now because Pic was Eliza. And Dawn didn’t exactly know anyone else. Which was a grenade that was best left with the pin in it for now. She could focus on her unhealthily small social circle after she came up with a plan to sweep Eliza off her feet. And then implemented said plan, because she should only focus on one thing at a time.

Dawn opened the door to the cafe and forcibly shoved all her thoughts aside. Once again she was on her break. Once again she was visiting Eliza at work. Once again she had a very short time to actually do so. That was fine. She only needed to order something, give a name, and then leave. She could do this.

Eliza stepped out of the back room and walked up to stand behind the register. Scratch that, Dawn could not do this. Eliza was too distracting. Her hair was tied back. Eliza never tied her hair up. She hated it. And yet she had to do so at work. Dawn couldn’t actually complain about that. She loved the way Eliza looked with her hair up like that. That being said, she also loved the way Eliza looked with her hair down. Really, she just loved-

Dawn was pulled out of her thoughts by her alarm going off. She groaned and fumbled for her phone. Once she managed to extricate it from her pocket and turn off the alarm she looked back up at Eliza. Eliza just smiled softly and gestured for Dawn to get back to work. And then she blew Dawn a kiss. Dawn enjoyed that far more than she should have.

897

Monday, February 4th

10 days until Valentine’s Day

Eliza didn’t get as many days off work as she would have liked. It was an unfortunate side effect of working at a place that was very understaffed. Aside from Maria and the manager Kenny, Eliza had never even met another coworker of hers. She would have been convinced they didn’t exist if it wasn’t for the fact that she did indeed have days where she didn’t need to work. There had to be someone who was working when she wasn’t, right?

Eliza shook her head. It was her day off. She wasn’t going to think about work on her day off. She was going to think about something else. Something that was only tangentially related to Valentine’s Day. That tangential relation was mainly just an excuse that Eliza could use to justify what she was about to do. Not that she needed another one. Dawn had given her the perfect excuse. Twice.

Eliza adjusted her jacket, one of the flaps had folded in on itself, and stepped through the door. Eliza swiftly walked through the store. She wasn’t looking for anything specifically. Rather, she was looking for a specific someone.

Eliza walked past aisle after aisle, only sparing a glance down each one. Until, of course, she found who she was looking for. Dawn was crouched down by one of the shelves, restocking and resorting books. Most importantly, she hadn’t noticed Eliza. Eliza walked up to Dawn, taking care to keep her steps as quiet as possible. But she also had to rush to get to Dawn before she looked up and saw Eliza. It was a delicate balance. But balance it she did.

“Excuse me?” Eliza said, reaching out to tap Dawn on the shoulder. “Miss?”

Dawn immediately dropped what she was doing (not literally. She would never literally intentionally drop a book unless absolutely necessary) and jumped to her feet. She expertly pivoted her body mid-jump so that she landed facing Eliza.

“Hi,” Dawn said, her voice laced with both surprise and delight.

“Hello,” Eliza replied. She very carefully kept her voice friendly but otherwise neutral. “I’m here to get a gift for my girlfriend, but I’m not exactly sure what to get her. Could you maybe help me with that?” Eliza didn’t need to try and force herself to sound nervous because she was nervous. She didn’t think what she was doing was weird and she didn’t think Dawn would think it was weird. She just had to hope she was right on both counts.

To her credit, Dawn didn’t miss a beat. She automatically, almost instinctively, responded. Eliza hoped it was because Dawn was playing along and not actually an instinctual response. Only time would tell.

“Of course,” Dawn said magnanimously. “Can you tell me what this gift is for?”

“No reason,” Eliza said truthfully. The purpose of this trip was to ascertain something Dawn may or may not be interested in, and then get something else as a red herring. A further red herring would come when Eliza gave the gift that very night. “Just a random gift on a random day for no apparent reason.”

Dawn hummed thoughtfully. “Why don’t you tell me about this girlfriend of yours. Spare no detail when waxing poetic.”

So it didn’t take time very long to tell. Eliza wasn’t going to complain. And Dawn definitely wasn’t. Not if she wanted Eliza to ‘wax poetic’ about her. Eliza wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but she could take a guess.

“She’s very cuddly,” Eliza began. “Normally that’s fine. More than fine, really. But every now and then she’ll choose an… inopportune time for it.” Dawn’s face fell at Eliza’s words. Eliza couldn’t let that stand. “But I don’t mind it. To escape, all I need to do is kiss her, and I will take any and every opportunity to kiss her.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “And I think she knows this. I think she does it on purpose because she knows I’ll kiss her.”

“Sounds like a smart girl,” Dawn said approvingly.

“She is,” Eliza said dreamily.

“She has to be,” Dawn pointed out. “She’s dating you.”

“And I’m dating her.” Eliza cleared her throat and forced herself to stop thinking of Dawn so she could think of Dawn. It made sense in her head. “She’s incredibly determined. If she sets her mind to something she will follow it through no matter what. Whenever she does she gets this adorable look of concentration on her face.

“She’s very… animalistic. A lot of the time she acts exactly like I’d expect a cat to. Ever since I pointed that out to her she’s been doing it more. I can’t tell if it’s just a coincidence or if she’s doing it because she knows I like it.”

“I’m guessing it’s the second one,” Dawn suggested. “Maybe now that she’s more aware of her repressed feline tendencies she plays them up because she knows you’ll like it. She seems caring enough for that.”

“She is caring,” Eliza said. “The most caring person I’ve ever met. In big ways and in small ways. When I have a nightmare she’ll hold me and listen to my fumbling explanation. After a hard day of work she’ll spend the evening pampering me. She won’t hesitate to hold my hand and distract me from my own thoughts. Every day she’ll ask me how my day was, even though the answer is the same on most days. Even if she was with me all day. Every night she’ll ask how my day was. She’ll care.”

“That sounds like one of your favorite things about her,” Dawn said in a tight voice. A quick inspection showed that she was close to tears. Not that Eliza had a leg to stand on.

“No,” Eliza decided. “It’s not one of my favorite things because I don’t have favorites. That makes it sound like some parts are better than others. I love every part of her equally. The good and the bad. Because, well, they’re a part of you.”

Dawn didn’t say anything immediately. She just stared at Eliza with a strange look on her face. Eliza started fidgeting in place. Had she gone too far with that last statement? She probably had. She shouldn’t have used the word love. Not because it was untrue or an overstatement. Because it was too far too fast. Eliza had definitely gone too far. She had to make it right. She had to fix things before it was too late.

“Is there anyone behind me?” Dawn asked, completely derailing Eliza’s thoughts in the process.

Eliza frowned but dutifully leaned to the side to look past Dawn. The aisle was empty. “No one,” Eliza said.

“Good,” Dawn muttered. She stepped forward and pulled Eliza into a kiss. Eliza instinctively wrapped her arms around Dawn to hold her close. This kiss was much fiercer than any they’d shared before. Not that either of them minded.

897

Tuesday, February 5th

9 days until Valentine’s Day

Dawn was supposed to be at work. She always was on Tuesdays. And this was a Tuesday. Not a special Tuesday either. Just a normal, average Tuesday that Dawn should have been at work on. It wasn’t that Dawn just had a random Tuesday off for no reason, either. She had been scheduled to work that day. If anyone were to be asked if Dawn was supposed to be at work they’d say yes. The only person who’d say no would be her manager. He had ‘requested’ that Dawn not come in. He had also ‘requested’ that she leave work early the day before. Dawn was supposed to be serving a punishment. Something about the fantasy section not being the place to, in her manager’s words, “waste time making out with your girlfriend, Hampton.”

Dawn could kinda see what he was getting at.

Although, she wouldn’t call it a waste of time. In Dawn’s opinion it had been time well spent. And she’d made that clear when she walked out of the store with her head held high and her arm around Eliza’s shoulders. And, judging by the wink and high five her coworker Amelia had given her as they walked by, she wasn’t the only one who thought so.

Dawn’s extra day off was supposed to be a punishment. But she was having trouble seeing it as one. If anything, the whole thing was a blessing and an opportunity. Dawn whistled a song to herself and strutted through the door to the cafe. After all, turnabout is fair play. Although, technically speaking, Eliza visiting her had been the turnabout. But Dawn had an all-too-rare opportunity to visit Eliza at work without having to leave a minute later, so she didn’t really care about being technical. All she cared about was that there was nobody in line, and thus no one keeping her from the cute barista.

“I was wondering when you’d get here,” Eliza commented when Dawn walked up to the counter.

“When?” Dawn repeated. “You say that like you knew I was coming.”

“Didn’t I?” Eliza asked with a mysterious smile.

Dawn hummed and leaned against the counter. “I suppose this didn’t exactly come out of nowhere.”

“Not exactly.”

Dawn opened her mouth to say something witty. She didn’t say it, however. It was happening again. She came with a plan, a very simple thing that she needed to do, and she was getting distracted. And this time she didn’t even have the excuse of running out of time to fall back on. Just a very cute and very distracting barista. Dawn cleared her throat. “I should probably order something.”

“Probably,” Eliza agreed.

Dawn nodded. “Just a cappuccino, please.” Not what she had intended to order, but, in her defense, she had panicked! Eliza looked unfairly good in a uniform! And she was right there! It was frankly a miracle that Dawn’s order was something that was on the menu.

“Name?” Eliza asked, obviously more out of habit than anything. That was good. That was what Dawn had been counting on.

“I.”

Eliza, who had already put the pen to the cup, looked up at Dawn. “Eye?” she asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

“I,” Dawn affirmed. “Like the letter.”

Eliza hummed and wrote the ‘name’ down. She then began making Dawn’s drink. While she did so, the bell above the door rang. That was exactly what Dawn wanted. With someone else coming in, she had the perfect excuse to move away from the counter. It would be rude of her to hold up the line. And Eliza wouldn’t begrudge her for moving from the counter to let the next customer order. And, more importantly, Eliza would be distracted by helping the next customer.

Dawn moved to the side and parked herself at the edge of the counter. She watched as Eliza took the customer’s order. She then turned to start making said order. Her back was to Dawn. The perfect opportunity. Dawn casually slipped behind the counter. Eliza was busy making the customer’s drink and didn’t notice Dawn moving back there. Dawn’s own drink was sitting innocently by the register. Not part of Dawn’s plan, but definitely fortuitous.

Dawn waited until Eliza and the customer had finished their transaction to strike. She had a very brief window in which to act. She had to wait until after the customer started walking away and before Eliza turned around. The customer, drink in hand, turned to leave. Dawn darted forward. She stepped behind Eliza and reached one arm out to grab her drink. She wrapped her other arm around Eliza’s waist and rested her chin on her shoulder. “‘Scuse me,” Dawn muttered.

Eliza jumped in and let out an adorable yelp in her surprise. “Dawn?!” she asked, twisting her head to look at her. “What are you doing?”

“Grabbing my drink,” Dawn said simply. With one arm still around Eliza’s waist Dawn lifted her drink to take a sip. She hummed appreciatively. “My compliments to the chef.”

“You’re not supposed to be back here,” Eliza pointed out. Even so, Dawn could feel Eliza leaning into her embrace. She didn’t even bother to hide her smirk.

“You can ask me to leave,” Dawn said smugly.

Needless to say, Dawn was not asked to leave.

897

Wednesday, February 6th

8 days until Valentine’s Day

There were a few things about her job that Eliza didn’t like. The hours could be a little much at times. She was pretty sure that she would never be able to not smell like coffee again. People would make messes of the tables and leave far too often for her liking. And, of course, there were the customers. Most were nice. Some weren’t so nice, but Eliza had gotten far too good at putting up with them. And, of course, there were the overly flirtatious who didn’t understand what rejection was. They were the most annoying, in Eliza’s opinion. Fortunately, she could get away easily enough. Just walk into the back. Unless, of course, they corner her while cleaning one of those aforementioned messes.

“No,” Eliza said again. It was the seventh time she had said it. She ignored the guy and continued cleaning. Normally she’d be a bit more articulate. Dawn was always saying that her skill at cutting someone down was to be feared and praised in equal measure. Unfortunately, the last time Eliza had done that, she’d gotten in trouble with her manager and warned that she’d be fired if she ever did it again. So she had to settle for ignoring him. Unfortunately, he was doing his best to not be ignored.

“Come on,” Adam said in what he clearly intended to be a suave voice. It was little more than a whine. “I’m not asking for much. Just one night with me. I guarantee that it’ll be the best time you’ve had.”

“No.” That would be eight. Eliza moved the last of the mess on the table to the tray she’d brought with her and turned to leave. Normally she’d wipe the table down, but there was no more obvious mess and she was prioritizing efficiency over quality.

“Why not?” Jason asked, following along behind her. “Give me one good reason.”

Eliza ignored him and slipped into the kitchen. Again she did things differently. Normally she’d just drop off the dishes to be cleaned whenever things slowed down and she had nothing better to do. Not this time. This time she took the time to clean them. And dry them. And organize them on the shelf so that it looked good and not at all like a rush job.

“Welcome back,” Matt said pathetically when Eliza walked back out. “Come to tell me you’ve changed your mind?”

“No.” Nine. Eliza stayed behind the counter. That was good. The counter was a buffer. She liked buffers. “Are you going to order something?” Across the room the bell rang as someone slipped into the room.

“I’ll take a date,” Jeremy said smugly.

“No.” Ten.

“And why not?” Stephen asked again, leaning on the counter. He was too tall for it to appear natural. It was just plain awkward.

Someone reached out and tapped James on the shoulder. He turned away from Eliza to see who it was. “Are you in line?” Dawn asked innocently.

“Nah,” Stacey said, stepping to the side. “Just planning a date,” he said, gesturing to Eliza.

Dawn hummed and stepped up to the counter. “Hey babe,” she said, leaning against the counter. When Dawn leaned against the counter it didn’t look awkward at all. It looked right. As if she belonged there. “We still on for tonight?”

“Naturally,” Eliza said with a nod. “Can I get you anything while you wait?”

“A cappuccino,” Dawn said simply. “And this time the name will be…” she trailed off, doing that thing she did where she pretended to think about something even though she already knew the answer. It was cute. “L. Just the letter.”

“Coming right up.” And if Eliza ‘accidentally’ forgot to charge Dawn, well, that was on her, wasn’t it?

Even after Eliza slid Dawn’s drink across the counter and into her waiting hand she didn’t leave. She stayed at the counter just talking to Eliza. Until, of course, Whitney took it upon himself to interrupt them.

“Can I help you?” Dawn asked irritably, tilting her head to glare at him as she did so.

“No,” Natalie said, shaking his head. “But I can help you.”

“Not interested.” Dawn turned her attention back to Eliza.

“Not saying yes to someone you don’t know,” Mallory said appreciatively. “That’s smart. I like smart girls.”

“So do I,” Dawn said. “Clearly, you fill neither specification.”

Dawn and Eliza continued chatting, this time completely ignoring… whatever his name was. It wasn’t important anyway. Eventually, he finally recognized the hints, indications, and billboards for what they were and left. As soon as he did, Eliza let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks for helping me,” she said gratefully.

Dawn just shrugged. “Not that you needed it.”

“I don’t need a lot,” Eliza pointed out. “But I still love it all the same.”

897

Thursday, February 7th

7 days until Valentine’s Day

Dawn was very much a planner. It was just her nature. She’d have all these complex plans and scenarios for how things might work out in her head long before necessary, and she’d have contingencies upon contingencies worked out. It was just what she did. And yet that skill only ever seemed to apply to small things. Things like grabbing a drink. Despite her best efforts, Dawn could never manage to apply this skill to more important things. Like say, just a completely random example, planning a special date for her girlfriend(!). Dawn could come up with a complex plan spanning the course of two weeks to say three simple words, and yet she couldn’t figure out a romantic and enchanting evening that would sweep Eliza off her feet.

Dawn had been trying to plan this night almost constantly for nearly a week, and all she had to show for it was the vague plan of dinner and a walk. That was nice and all, but it still left so much to be desired. Where would they go to dinner? Where would they go for a walk? Should they be done in that order? And all that wasn’t even getting into the conundrum that was the inevitable gift exchange. Dawn already knew exactly what she would be giving Eliza, but there were still a lot of questions to be answered. Should Dawn give the gift at the beginning of the night? The end? During dinner? Should she take the initiative and bring up the topic or wait for Eliza to do so?

Dawn would have groaned at her lack of progress if she could have. Perhaps fallen to her knees for an added bit of dramatic flair. But she couldn’t do either of those. Dawn was in a hurry. After a brief and unexpected sabbatical, Dawn was back at work. More specifically, she was on a break. More specifically, she was running an errand while on said break. Even more specifically, she was pushing the cafe door open and speed walking up to the thankfully empty counter.

Dawn didn’t have a lot of time to dawdle. She wasn’t exactly sure how little time she had, however. She could check her phone, but that would eat up precious seconds. Better to spend that time with Eliza. And following through on her plan.

“Cappuccino,” Dawn said without preamble. She was in a hurry, so hopefully Eliza would understand.

Eliza nodded and grabbed a cup and a pen. “Letter?” she asked simply. It was such a simple statement. One word. Six letters. And yet it said so much. It was short and to the point, implying that Eliza was aware of Dawn’s limited time and trying her best to accommodate it. But she’d said letter instead of name. She had noticed what Dawn had been up to during her last couple of visits and was playing along. It was such a simple statement, and yet it warmed Dawn’s heart.

“O.”

Eliza nodded and got to work. As soon as she turned around Dawn’s alarm went off. That was fine. Dawn had done what she’d come to do. Sure, she didn’t actually get the drink, but that had never been the goal. Eliza turned to Dawn just as she was scrambling to turn her alarm off. Dawn looked up at her sheepishly. “I have to go,” she admitted sadly. Just because she had done all she needed to do and could leave doesn’t mean she wanted to.

Eliza, being the angel that she is, just shrugged it off. “Have a good day.”

“Bye,” Dawn muttered, waving at her girlfriend(!) as she walked through the door. Once she left Dawn immediately got back to her earlier planning.

Dawn knew that she was overreacting. Sure, her plan was a vague outline at best, but that was fine. She just needed to fill in that outline. She just needed to figure out a destination, iron out the itinerary, and then inform Eliza of the plan. Should be easy. Though, Dawn wasn’t sure what time Eliza would want to leave and/or be back by. They hadn’t actually talked about what they wanted to do for Valentine’s Day.

Wait…

Eliza and Dawn hadn’t actually talked about what they wanted to do for Valentine’s Day.

That… was probably a bad thing.

An oversight, at the very least.

But fixing it would be easy, right?

…right?

897

Friday, February 8th

6 days until Valentine’s Day

Friday was quickly becoming Eliza’s favorite day of the week. That was a new feeling. For obvious reasons, she’d never really cared about what day it was. But things were starting to change. Now that she was enrolled in an actual school as opposed to just having her assignments dropped off by whatever tutors her parents deigned to provide, Eliza could understand the fascination with Fridays. That alone wasn’t enough to make it her favorite day, however. No, what really made it her favorite was that it was the one day of the week she and Dawn always had off together. With their schedules containing the fluidity that comes from working part time they shared other days off, but Friday was the only day where it was guaranteed to happen. Eliza liked Fridays.

She and Dawn didn’t always do anything special on Fridays, however. They were almost always too burnt out from the week to do anything more than have a quiet night in. Not that there was anything wrong with a quiet night in. Eliza really enjoyed those nights, and she got the feeling that Dawn liked them too.

Dawn shifted her head on Eliza’s lap to look up at her. Eliza, having long since recognized this as a tell that Dawn wanted to talk, put her tablet aside and looked down at her.

“It’s been a while since we went on a date,” Dawn began in her false-casual tone.

“I suppose,” Eliza agreed. She personally didn’t think a week was that long, but Dawn was clearly going somewhere with this, and disagreeing would derail whatever plan she had. To be fair, she probably had a plan for if Eliza did disagree, but that would just be making things harder for Dawn for no reason at all.

“We both have this Thursday off,” Dawn said hopefully.

“I’m aware,” Eliza said, gently petting Dawn’s hair.

“Want to do something?”

“Like what?”

Eliza couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity. While she did have the beginnings of a plan for a surprise for Dawn, if Dawn said she wanted to do something else then they could just do that. And if Dawn didn’t say anything then Eliza could follow through with her surprise. It was the perfect way to subtly figure out what Eliza should do for Dawn on Valentine’s Day. Surprise her or do what she wants.

“Not sure,” Dawn said simply. “I haven’t thought about it.”

So it was decided. Dawn clearly wanted Eliza to make a plan and implement said plan. She could do that. Dawn wouldn’t have to do a thing. Eliza would take care of it.

897

Saturday, February 9th

5 days until Valentine’s Day

Dawn was in even more of a hurry than usual. As she was walking to the cafe Murphy’s Law decided to rear its head. Traffic picked up, she arrived at each crosswalk just as the walking cycle was ending, other people got in her way, et cetera. Everything went wrong, leading to Dawn running late. She would be lucky to even be able to make it to the counter, let alone order something. Fortunately for Dawn, she was dating a literal angel.

Dawn burst through the door and nearly ran up to the counter. Eliza was standing at the ready with the cup and pen in hand. Very good, as Dawn’s alarm went off as soon as she reached the counter.

“Letter?” Eliza asked as Dawn struggled to get her phone out of her pocket.

“V.”

Eliza nodded and wrote it down. She then passed the cup to Dawn. Dawn frowned, confused as to why Eliza would hand her an empty cup. Except it wasn’t empty. Dawn looked up at Eliza. Eliza just shrugged. “You always order the same thing.”

“I guess I do,” Dawn mused, taking a sip of her drink. It was very clearly freshly made. “Thank you.”

897

Sunday, February 10th

4 days until Valentine’s Day

“Letter?” Eliza asked, drink already made.

“E,” Dawn responded confidently.

897

Monday, February 11th

3 days until Valentine’s Day

“Letter?”

“Y.”

897

Tuesday, February 12th

2 days until Valentine’s Day

“Letter?”

“O.”

897

Wednesday, February 13th

1 day until Valentine’s Day

“Letter?”

“U.”