Buy You a Coffee

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"I want to buy you a coffee!" Zoe blurted at the handsome young man. An unknowing spectator might very well assume it was a shy girl finally working out the courage to approach the handsome young man. Zoe certainly looked the part: dressed as she was in apparel that seemed to scream "cute, shy girl," from the skirt with patched leggings to her flowing shirt. François Laffont also looked the part quite well: tall, dark, handsome. The place around them worked perfectly well too: the pleasant, modestly occupied coffee shop.

Except that those in the know would have recognized two of Bellefonte's more "prominent" homosexual figures: shy poet-photographer Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe and outgoing blogger and popular figure Francois Laffont. Were Hollywood to attempt to cast for people of "alternate lifestyle" it probably would've loved these two.

So why was Zoe approaching Franck now? "I just, ah, your.... blog," Zoe offered, flushing. "I, um, I've been... I posted there once and, just, well, reading it's been.. helpful. I'd like to pay you back a bit for that.... if I can."

[François Laffont]

Franck could just sense it. His colleague, smiling at his expense. Or maybe it was at the girl’s. Either way, he was rather amused by the situation. Franck was about to be labelled a ladies’ man around here, with the amount of girls coming to the coffee shop to get one from him. And he didn’t do anything about it. That was just the proof that a friendly smile can work as well as a nice pair of breasts.

Although there was something different about this girl. He might not have talked to her really, at least if he did it was nothing significant, but he knew who he was. And she could not be one of those girls getting a crush on him because he was so tall, so handsome and so charming. She was Zoe Walder... Waller.... the Lesbian Pikachu. So, obviously, when she blurted out she wanted to buy him a coffee, he knew better than think she suddenly turned into guys. At the utmost improbability that she did, he certainly had not started a liking for girls. That was still an odd way to bring it up though and Franck had a soft chuckle at that.

She mentioned his blog and that piqued his interest. He remembered she once replied to an entry he made. He was surprised though to hear it had been helpful. Sure, he made it for that purpose, but he spent so much time living a social life that he tended to neglect it and felt as though it was the case of everybody else. He was glad to hear differently.

“Come on, Romeo, covering up for ya,” the other employee said, still finding this pretty amusing. Franck blushed slightly at this. Maybe it was a good thing he never told them he was gay. He turned his head towards Zoe. “And what will you be having?” he asked her. She claimed she wanted to buy him a coffee, she said nothing of herself but he assumed he would not be the only one drinking. He knew he’d take only a coffee, the plainest possible. It would feel like robbing her of her money if he picked the fanciest one on sale. That didn’t mean she could not get it for herself.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The teasing from the clerk had Zoe flushing too. Should she say something? Or maybe Franck didn't want these people to know he was "out" or something? But he'd been so bold and so he surely---

Oh, he'd asked her a question. Zoe looked to Franck for a few seconds, realizing that she'd totally missed whatever it was he'd just said. She slid her eyes just behind him, where the amused clerk still stood. Said employee gestured toward the menu, mouthing the word "drink." Zoe quickly mouthed a "thank you" before looking back to Franck. "I'll be having my usual," she said, then, a bit later, "which is, um, one of--" she took a step forward, "one of those light frozen fruit drinks with a few shots for energy and creativity?" She flushed, realizing that this meant that she'd gone into a coffee shop for something other than coffee. She did get coffee from time to time, but it was generally so... so heavy that she'd much rather have the sweeter choice.

"What about you?" she asked, looking expectantly at Franck, then at the employee. "I'm buying for him," she said, pointing, trying to nod in as assertive a manner as she could manage.

[François Laffont]

Franck wouldn’t mind explaining he was gay to this other guy. It could be best but Franck also didn’t want to make his sexuality the first thing people saw about him. They didn’t need to know he was gay or that she was and that nothing more than a friendly conversation could ever happen between them. Their opinion on this mattered very little to Franck. He knew the truth, she knew it, this was between them, the rest didn’t matter. What mattered however was to know what she wanted to drink.

When she looked behind his shoulder, he turned and the guy pretended he did nothing at all, even looking up as if it was not suspicious at all. That allowed him from missing Zoe thanking him but that was not a big deal. He smiled, a little amused by her choice of words. He was about to ask Zoe what was her ‘usual’. He had not been working here long enough to know exactly what she was having all the time. They must have been missing each other if she came here often.

He nodded when she described what she was having. “Sure. Which one?” It might be good to know which fruit drink she wanted, unless she was not all that picky in her choice. She insisted she’d be buying for him too, telling the other employee before Franck could even protest. “I’ll just have a coffee. You make her pay while I make them?” he asked the other guy who nodded and took Franck’s place while the French boy poured himself a cup and was ready to prepare Zoe as soon as he knew exactly which one she’d be having. Then he supposed he would take his break now. It was not like he was going anywhere away from the coffee shop so should there be an emergency, he’d be there. Even if he doubted there would be. But it was Franck, he just had to believe it can and make sure he was ready to help should it happen.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe pointed as Franck asked, realizing that she almost felt a bit of star-envy or something as Franck talked to her. She'd already moved forward, getting out the card with her overlong name on it. This she slid over to the smiling barrista with a flush of her own. Zoe stood there for a moment, watching them dial up the order and moving to prepare it.

"So, ah," she looked over at Franck. "You, like the coffee?" She flushed, bringing a hand up to tuck up some hair. "I do to, sometimes, but, well, it's, ah, just... too warm for it?" Zoe had to wince as she said this, really feeling like she'd come up with a completely lame excuse that just wasn't going to work. She fell silent, looking at the counter for a bit, even reaching for a napkin to sort of play with for a bit. Maybe she shouldn't have even approached him to begin with, if she was just going to be an awkward, uncommunicative mess.

[François Laffont]

Franck got something from Zoe for a moment that made him pause but he shook it off quite easily as he left to prepare the drinks. Besides, with the guy still amused by his side, it was hard for him to be affected or react to anything else than that. “You don’t have to make her so flustered, she’s just a friend,” he told him, perhaps loud enough for Zoe to hear, of that he was not entirely sure. The mumbled “Does she know that?” he got in return might not have been as audible to her. Franck shook his head at that and shrugged, figuring he wouldn’t be able to convince him that whatever girl he might have drank a coffee with during his break were all just friends of his. He had a lot of lady friends it seemed, and they were all pretty good looking.

“I do,” he answered her before chuckling and adding “But I think I put too much sugar in mine for anyone else to enjoy it.” Sometimes, Franck could have quite the sweet tooth. The bitter taste of this dark brew threw him off otherwise. He didn’t care if for some that looked more like sugared coffee than coffee with sugar. He didn’t ask for them to drink it for him. “There are cold ones too, but I do prefer iced tea when it’s very warm,” he said, not really sure he was meant to comment on that one or not.

She did become awfully nervous of unsure of herself after that though and Franck felt sorry of it. He grabbed both drinks and moved across the counter to reach her. “Here,” he said as he handed her the drink she ordered. “Let’s find a table, shall we?” And he gave her a smile, hoping it would give her back the will she had when she told him she wanted to buy him a coffee.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Friends? Already? Zoe flushed at that, feeling like Franck was just being nice. They'd met once or twice, and there was the online exchanges, but that hardly struck her as the sort of thing that would make someone call you "friend" so quickly. "I've also got a girlfriend!" she said, almost too loud at the barrista, giving him a semi-confident nod. Right, just because she was around someone popular and handsome and well-liked who she respected and looked up to didn't mean that she had to act all... Zoe.

... great, now even she was thinking of her name as an adjective. Go her.

And Franck talked about iced coffees and so forth, again showing just how sweet he was. She gave him a nervous smile, trying to take another breath and hoping that she didn't accidentally blurt something foolish again. Though she had this feeling that Franck would've gone along with it anyway.

"Yes, please, I'd like that," she said. She took her drink and nodded. Zoe flushed as she turned, a hand already going up to move some hair back. "Sorry, I'm, well, I'm always like this, and you're just so---" she gestured at him with a hand, "impressive. That's why I wanted to buy you a drink. You didn't have to say we were friends back there. I appreciate it, honest, but, well, you didn't... you don't have to feel obligated or-ooh, table," she moved around not sure if she should pull up a chair or just sit down or wait for Franck or if he even wanted to sit and have coffee with her after her going all... Zoe.

[François Laffont]

With Franck, it was very simple. An acquaintance was someone he just met, very (but very) few fell in the category of people he didn’t like, and those he preferred not to call enemy or anything like that, just people he doesn’t get along well. And the rest were friends. It was simpler like that. With his nature, it was easy for him to be kind to everybody and treat them as friends, or possible friends.

He didn’t expect her to also blurt out the fact she had a girlfriend. The two men seemed surprised but Franck recovered faster and chuckled. “See? Don’t turn me into a Casanova,” he told him while giving him a little nudge on the shoulder. There had to be some embarrassment after what she said but Franck only smiled at her. No harm had been done, she didn’t need to get so flustered about this.

Franck was ready to follow her at the table of her choice, something she had plenty of. He was not really surprised to hear her say she was always like this but his eyebrows arched up in surprised at the adjective she gave him. He would have said something but she was rambling on, filling whatever silence that might come between them if she didn’t say something, anything. She must have realised what she was doing for she took notice of a table and used it as an excuse to quiet down. He walked to the table as well and sat there. “I don’t know about impressive, but thank you. I don’t think I’ve heard that one before. And don’t worry about what I said. I’m not feeling anything at all, even less obligated,” he assured her. He kept his smile on, but she was still very nervous. “Will you sit down as well? Because I’ll admit I might get a little awkward myself if I am and you’re standing next to me.”

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

And Franck came to her rescue again. Zoe couldn't help but appreciate it. Well, actually, rescue might not be the best word for it. She'd been handling herself, and it wasn't like Franck had swept in and done her fighting for her. He'd... helped, supported her. Yes, that was it, and that's all Zoe really wanted in life, wasn't it? At the end of the day?

Table now, and Zoe saw the arched eyebrow. Had she messed something up there? Oh, he didn't see himself as impressive. "Well, I just," she moved some hair, "you're on the student council with all the elites and, you don't have some fancy last name or anything. Everyone knows who you are: you can even handle Frank Cox, and she utterly terrifies me. And they don't just know you because you accidentally sent your partner to the hospital from being too... passionate." Zoe flushed, still fully believing that everyone clung to that Lesbian Pikachu idea. Yes, she recalled her art projects and her shows and the clothes thing and, well, everything.

Franck gestured for her to sit and she almost slid too much into it. "Sorry: nerves," she said, letting out another laugh. She took a sip of her drink, trying to cover and, of course, drank too much. Soon she was wincing and trying to hide that she was wincing all at the same time.

[François Laffont]

Since Franck could tell Zoe was getting embarrassed at what people, well the other clerk but he was someone, might think of this, he jumped at the occasion to help her out. He didn’t say too much because he believed it was not of their business how he lived his life and who was in it. He was pretty sure that even if he pointed out he was gay that the other people working here would find a way to turn him into Don Juan or something with all the girls that came around and he stopped to talk to. ’Do they know you’re gay? Do you?’ Yeah, he could just hear them tease him like that.

To put an end to it, he was ready to go straight to the table and chat with her. Away from the counter and the employee, he wouldn’t pick up his amusement and could focus on Zoe and what she might want to talk to him about. Something about his blog if he understood her well. If she wanted to talk about homosexuality, he had no problem with it. Just because they were probably the most famous gay people of the school didn’t mean they took it well all the time.

He chuckled as she explained what was so impressive about him. The mention of his best friend was particularly amusing. “She can be hard to handle, I give you that. You just need to try and make her focus on what you want her to focus. Or give her something else to put her attention on when she’s poking where you don’t want her to.” He had nothing to say though as she pointed out what made her famous around the school. Poor her. It must have been hard to be out like this. “People know you for more than that. You’ve done some pretty awesome things to. And despite everything the Laundry enjoyed writing about you, you didn’t let it defeat you. You could’ve hide, stop seeing people but you didn’t. And even despite what happened with your lover, you didn't use it as an excuse to shelter yourself from people. I say that’s pretty impressive.”

He smiled to her as she apologized for her nerves. “It’s ok. Don’t feel sorry about it.” The way she said it, he knew she was not apologizing because he’d pick it up, like so many others did. It was because she knew it could be hard on people to deal with her in that state. But he could take that. He only had not to let her nerves make him nervous as well.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

{sorry for the delay; for some reason this thread and another one with Zoe and your chars got lost in the shuffle; I found them when I went to archive}

Zoe had to smile and nod at the mention of Frank Cox. She'd encountered the energetic girl a few times, mostly as Frank went about insisting on getting everyone and anyone as her friend. She still thought that befriending someone like that had to count for more than what she'd managed. Though as Franck listed off what he knew, speaking so matter of factly, well, Zoe couldn't help but start to believe it. It probably helped that she'd heard such things from other people too. True, most of them happened to be friends, but, still, she'd heard it before. It wasn't altogether new.

"Thank you for that, really," she said, adding a slight shrug. "But, but we all just do what it takes. I just didn't want to shrivel up or anything," she played with her frozen drink, moving around the cooler bits. "It's just... hard some times," she added a shrug before gesturing at Franck. "Which is why I think you're so... impressive. You always seem to be just so... together." Zoe shrugged. "oh, and your blog! I follow it quite religiously. It makes me wish I could do something like that."

She smiled and looked down at her drink again, this time playing with the rim.

[François Laffont]

Frank was a rollercoaster. Luckily for Franck, he usually hit the highs with her. It was hard for her to drop down and when that happened, if she made him sad because of her sadness, it only made him want to hug her even more. And since a simple hug was often enough to make her feel better, it never lasted long. No, it was more an enthusiasm beyond measure that he got, making him grin until he got cramps to his cheeks and giving him the desire to bounce around. All things he could easily do around Frank. And if anyone found him ridiculous while it happened, they could all shrug it off saying ‘that’s Frank’. She had a power of her own, other than the ability to eat anything.

He sensed the gratitude from Zoe and it made him smile. He could be very emotional at times, especially when an emotion was strong or touched him particularly. It was the case there. “I mean it,” he assured her with a nod as she thanked him. “I think you’re like me. You overestimate what others do and undervalue yourself. It’s good to be humble but I guess it doesn’t hurt to like yourself once in a while.” he then realise how this could have a double meaning. He spent too much time with Casper and Jasper, he started to notice those things. He was a little shocked. “I didn’t mean... you know what I meant.” It was his turn to be awkward and embarrassed. He might even have blushed a little.

He nodded as she talked, letting her finish before he would say anything, waiting a little between every pause to make sure she said everything before he could talk. He smiled as she mentioned his blog. “I’m glad it helped you. I was not sure if people read it. I mean, I know they did, they show it and some wrote things and all but I was not sure it helped anyone. I often feel like I should write more but I always hesitate. I’m not sure my story can really help others, you know?” Everyone lived a different story after all, just because it worked or not for him didn’t mean t would have the same effect. Was hearing how he fell in love with a friend really helping? He was not sure. “It’s good that you did not let it get to you too much. Of course it would have, but you preferred to face it.” He frowned as a thought crossed his mind. “You’re a lot stronger than what some people think.”

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe smiled as Franck continued. The outlining, the comparison, it just made a lot of sense to her. It probably didn't hurt that Zoe had heard it all before, or at least heard variations on the theme. Like yourself, respect what you do, realize that you had value. Hadn't she essentially been saying that to people for over a year now? Yet she still couldn't quite internalize it like she knew she really should.

The bit where Franck stumbled had her looking up and blinking though. "What? I don't know what---" she began, her brow crinkling as she tried to figure out what Franck had to be embarrassed about. Was there something sexual or naughty in the idea of liking yourself? Zoe really couldn't help but feel like she should be picking up on this, but even as she stared at Franck, she couldn't quite figure it out.

Best that they moved onto the blog, which Franck had done anyway. Yet again Zoe found herself nodding along with him. "We're never sure if what we have to say is going to matter to anyone,' Zoe admitted, nodding and even adding a slight shrug. "I think sometimes we just get so wrapped up in what's happening to us that we forget that there's some part of us that's still human, and that we all feel bits of that sometimes. I just... I hope that I can pay it forward. I wouldn't be here if everyone hadn't helped pick me up..." Zoe looked away, smiling. "I know, it sounds like I'm talking myself down again, doesn't it? I... I do think I'm... starting to get it?" She looked back to Franck, meeting his eyes. "Get who I'm supposed to be, that is. Or at least get that maybe I'm stronger than I think?" Zoe had to shrug slightly, not sure how else to put it.

"I would love to see more content on your blog though," Zoe admitted, tucking some hair behind an ear. "If only so I can keep reading."

[François Laffont]

Of course, saying those things was easy. Putting them in practice was a lot harder. There were times when Franck found it difficult too. He didn’t mean to deny his own value but he didn’t think he was doing that much to others, mainly because it came naturally to him. If he had to go out of his ways, he’d realise it more. There were also moments when he was not totally confident of his abilities or happy about himself. Yes, even Franck sometimes doubted himself or was not comfortable with who he was. It happened.

Just like it happened that he sometimes shot himself in the foot with things he said. Zoe was not his boyfriend, everything he said would not have a sexual meaning to it for her. She didn’t get what he was apologizing for and Franck preferred to give her a sign to forget about it rather than explain how else one can ‘like’ oneself. Better not go there if she didn’t get the suggestive meaning his words might have. It would only have the two of them being embarrassed.

He listened to her, taking sips of his coffee as she talked, not interrupting her despite the many pauses. “You know, I look confident but there are times I’d rather not people know I’m gay, you know? Like, that I wished it was not a trait people would pick up like it mattered or defined me. Like here,” he said, nodding his head towards the counter he had been previously working at. “They don’t know. They don’t need to know of course and at the same time, it’s not like it really matters, but I prefer it like that. Sometimes, you want to show a side of you without another one taking all the place.”

He smiled when she admitted wanting to read more. “Then maybe I’ll post how it was when I told my father. It is kind of important, right? I never dared writing it. Mostly because pretty much everyone I told it to was very accepting. It’s like... not that I wished they’d rejected me but... it would have helped to know even those who did not fully liked it at first turned out to accept it? Or that I wonder how it can help those who have parents strongly against homosexuality.” To hear she wanted to read more though felt good. At least it seemed to help one person.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe found herself nodding along: "I sometimes feel as if I'm one of the most out people in the world,' she confessed. "It's just... because of DL and just, everything, nearly everyone knows I'm a lesbian. Then you add on the fact that I do seem to date women who happen to have a certain look..." Zoe flushed at that. Devyn and Riley both looked sexily androgynous to her eyes, while Alice had that exotic appeal that just struck her. She knew she had a type, but admitting it to someone felt different. "I just... I want to represent who I am, but, well, it's like you said. Sometimes I just wish that people could see other parts of me too."

Zoe smiled and shrugged at that, before reaching up to brush aside some hair. She had also so recently came out that sometimes she felt the opposite too. That she wanted everyone to just know and celebrate and be confident. But as she said: she hadn't much of a choice. She'd been outed by a blog, and it was either start to own that or crawl into a hole. Zoe had actually tried that latter, until people around her blocked up her hiding and forced her into the world.

The result sat across from Franck, sipping coffee and nodding along. "I still haven't told my family," she admitted, looking away for a moment. "I haven't even spoken with them since my manifestation... which oddly enough was essentially my coming out too," she had to laugh at that, knowing that the traumatic manifestation was almost a cliche at this point.