I almost growled at my alarm when it woke me up. It took me a minute to realise that I was working today. I slowly pulled myself out of bed and took a shower.

I tugged a comb through my long blonde hair, before drying it. I frowned at my pale, tired reflection in the mirror, but didn't care to change it. I tried my hair up into a messy bun, and put on some skinny jeans, and a white t-shirt. We didn't have a uniform at work, just the aprons.

I decided to make myself some breakfast in the shop, while I was getting everything ready. So, I walked out of my apartment, lit a cigarette, and walked around to the front of the shop to unlock the door.

I still had almost an hour before I needed to open, so I took the chairs down from on top of the tables, emptied the dishwasher, and then started to make some biscuits and sandwiches. We didn't sell too much food, so there wasn't much for me to do. I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich, and my usual caramel latte, and sat at the counter while I ate.

When I finished eating, I called Rob to make sure he was up and getting ready for his date. He told me he was ready and waiting, and I could tell he was both nervous and excited. He really seemed to like Alice. After a short conversation with him, I hung up the phone and opened the shop up.

As I expected, there was no customers for a while, so I started to catch up on Game of Thrones, on my phone. Finally, I heard the bell to signal the door had opened, and we had a few customers. I served them quickly, and got back to my TV show. I heard the bell again, signalling that they were leaving, and didn't bother looking up from my screen.

"Learning how to climb from YouTube?"

The familiar voice made me jump. I looked up and saw Larissa grinning at me.

"Shut up," I replied, pouting. I paused my video.

"Well that's no way to talk to your customers. Can I speak to your manager please?" She joked.

"Sorry sweetheart, he's not here today. You'll have to just put up with my terrible customer service skills."

She smiled, and looked into my eyes, which gave me a terrible case of butterflies.

"I'll take a black coffee please," she requested.

"Don't be so boring, doc. Give me a challenge."

"What would you recommend?" She asked, and I thought about it for a moment.

"How about a jaeger bomb?" I said with a wink.

"At ten o'clock in the morning? Wow. It's no wonder you fell yesterday," she laughed.

"You're right, it's a little early. So, maybe we should go for a drink at a more acceptable time. I finish at six tonight."

She looked surprised by my proposal.

"Okay, I'm not working tomorrow so I guess I could go for a drink tonight," she replied, and I tried to stop myself from grinning. "But for now, I'll take that black coffee to go."

"Yes boss," I said, and quickly made her drink. I scribbled my phone number on a piece of paper, and handed it to her, with her drink. "See you after six, Larissa?"

"See you later, Ivy."

She left the shop, and I almost fainted. I wasn't sure how she knew my name, but I was so happy. I needed a cigarette to calm down, and the shop was empty. I smoked at the front of the shop, so I would know if any customers arrived.

The morning went by really slowly, and I was anxious to finish work. By three o'clock, there had been about five more customers, but I was once again alone in the shop. I cleaned up quickly, then went back to watching Game of Thrones.

My video was interrupted by a text message.

I quickly saved the number in my phone, and texted back.

I started to watch my show again, but she texted back almost immediately with the name of a bar I had never heard of. I googled it, and it was only a few minutes from my apartment. I text back to confirm our meeting place, then danced around the coffee shop with a huge grin on my face.

"What the hell are you doing?"

I stopped dancing, and spun around to meet Rob's judgemental glare.

"I'm going out with Larissa tonight," I smiled happily.

"Who's Larissa?" He frowned.

"The girl from the gym. Anyway, how did it go with Alice?"

"It went really good, we're going out again during the week."

He looked more excited as he told me more about his date. We talked for a couple of hours, but he didn't seem to go into too much detail. I guessed he felt awkward, because he hadn't been on a date for so long.

"Did you kiss her?" I asked, and he nodded proudly.

He couldn't seem to wipe the smile from his face, but when he saw me grinning at his excitement, he changed the subject.

"So how did you end up asking Larissa out?"

"She came in for coffee this morning, and I just asked her to go for a drink later," I responded.

"So she is into girls?" He asked.

"I think so, she was flirting with me a bit."

"I guess you'll find out tonight," Rob laughed. "I'll finish up here if you want, go get yourself ready."

I smiled gratefully, and thanked him, before I left the shop. I had yet another cigarette, before climbing the stairs to my apartment.

I read through my text conversation with Larissa again, just to make sure I wasn't imagining everything that happened, and got excited reading the messages. I thought about what Rob said, and really hoped I wasn't misreading the signs. I would feel like an idiot if it wasn't a date. I started to feel paranoid about it, and had to try and calm myself down, before I could get ready.

I felt annoyed with myself, I never got this worked up over a girl. I told myself repeatedly that it didn't matter if it was a date or not, at least I would get to see her again.

I looked at the time, and decided it was time to start getting ready. I wanted to impress Larissa, so it took me twice as long as normal to choose a dress. I settled on a tight red dress, which didn't leave a great deal to the imagination. After staring at myself in the mirror for a few minutes, wondering if it was too much, I stopped doubting myself, and got to work on my hair.

I decided to try something different, and curled my hair. I didn't have much practice with curling, but I was pleased with the outcome. After applying my usual make up, I took a selfie in the mirror, and sent it to Rob, with the caption

It was only a few seconds before I received a reply. I assumed the shop was still empty. His reply read:

I frowned at his text. He was right, it probably was too much. I looked at the time, and realised I didn't have time to change now, I didn't want to be late for meeting Larissa.

I left my apartment, and started to walk to the bar, smoking as I walked. I was growing more and more nervous as I got closer.

I went straight into the bar when I got there. I was a few minutes early, so I hoped that I would have time for a drink to calm my nerves, before Larissa arrived. But as soon as I walked in, I was met by her mesmerising smile. She was sitting on a stool, next to the bar. I smiled back at her, and walked over to greet her, trying to hide the fact that my stomach was doing somersaults.

I was in awe of her. Until that moment, I had only seen her wearing gym clothes. My eyes took in the way her black dress hugged her curves. She wasn't skinny, like the majority of girls I had dated, and I admired how confident she was with her own image. She was a little larger than me, and I had serious self confidence issues, but she looked so comfortable with her body.

Her Auburn hair wasn't tied up in the familiar ponytail, but loosely flowing over her shoulders.

"Hey," she said, as I sat next to her. "I got a couple of those jaeger bombs that you suggested."

She gestured for me to take a drink.

"Just to let you know, these are probably not the best thing to start the night with," I laughed. "But thank you."

I lifted the glass, and she followed my lead. I quickly drank the jaeger bomb, then looked up to see Larissa scrunching up her nose in reaction to the drink. It was so cute.

I felt a little better after the first drink, and got the attention of the barman, to buy us something else to drink. I decided that wine was probably the safest bet for me. Larissa asked for vodka.

He brought the drinks to us, and I tried to work out where the night was going. I didn't want to make a wrong move and scare her off.