The next day, they had leftovers—then again the day after. As self-conscious as Cora was about forcing Farron to eat the same meal over and over again, Farron didn't seem to mind too much, although they did end up making a spicier version for the third day.

"Are you working tomorrow?" Farron asked as they scraped their dish clean of the residual porridge and chili oil.

Cora, in the middle of chugging water to cool her burning mouth, took a few seconds to answer. "Yeah. Why?"

"Let's go on a field trip during our lunch, get a little change in scenery," Farron said, then chuckled at Cora's widening eyes. "Relax, coffee cake. We won't stray too far from your precious Cool Beans. We'll just go around the mall. I'll make lunch for us and everything."

That was still too far for Cora's liking. A few years ago, Cora had just started her lunch break when the Spilled Milk incident happened: one barista tripped over a kink in the non-slip mat, then fell into the other as they were steaming milk. Crying had been involved, but less over the lost dairy and more for the sustained injuries—a twisted ankle and minor burns—along with the growing crowd in front of the registers. As the only able-bodied Cool Bean left, Cora hadn't hesitated to jump back in, handling the constant stream of customers until backup arrived two hours later. That day went down in the store's history, at least for the two weeks her official Certificate of Caffeination was posted in the backroom.

If something like that happened again, Cora had to be ready. Sure, last time her reward was an embellished sheet of printer paper, but the next time? It could be a promotion.

"But..." How was Cora going to condense such a thrilling tale into the last five minutes of their lunch break? "The milk..."

Farron furrowed their brows. "Milk?"

"It's..." Cora had to stay near the store in case they needed her help...right? So why couldn't she bring herself to say that? "Is that really okay? You're the assistant manager, aren't you? What if something happens and you're not nearby to help?"

"My team can survive half an hour without me. Unless..." Farron's gaze drifted down to their empty dish, "you don't want to?"

"It's not that!" Cora blurted out, but she couldn't say anything else, even as Farron waited for her to elaborate.

"It's...no pressure or anything," Farron said, continuing to scrap their already clean dish with their spoon. "We can just have lunch here, if you want. This is fun too...right?"

With Farron's uncharacteristic hesitation, Cora followed suit. Their lunches were fun—a fact that Cora could never have predicted a few weeks ago. To her, the mid-shift break was supposed to have one crucial purpose: energizing herself to power through the rest of the day. But what if it could be more?

She recalled riding on Farron's motorcycle and how she had been hesitant about doing something so daring. She also remembered her terror and the ache in her legs, but she had been proud of herself for the attempt. Maybe that wasn't the only thing she had been missing. Maybe there were other risks she needed to take.

Besides, it's not like strolling around the mall was as dangerous as speeding down a dark road with her feet inches from asphalt.

Cora sat up straight and nodded. "Alright. Tomorrow. We're doing it."

Farron's head snapped up, their eyes wide. "Wait, what?"

After taking a moment to mentally replay her words, Cora felt her face warm. "I meant let's do your idea! Tomorrow. Your lunch idea. Not...you know..."

While Cora's heart raced, and her mind debated between elaborating further or holding her tongue, Farron grinned.

"Alright, let's do it." Their smile widened with Cora's eyes. "Hope you're ready for a workout."

Cora frowned. "Hilarious."

But even after Farron chuckled and they both finished up their lunches, Cora couldn't ignore how her pulse continued to hammer in her ears.

***

The next day, as soon as Cora spotted Farron untying their apron as they headed to their break room, Cora mentally urged the pitcher of milk in her hands to steam faster.

"Want me to finish that up?" Kevin asked.

"Can you—" Cora glanced at Kevin just in time to see Darlene watching them both from the registers, her eyes narrowed. "It's okay. This shouldn't take long."

"I, uh...wanted to practice making foam. It's a cappuccino, right?"

Cora turned back to Kevin, her eyes narrowed just like Darlene's. "It is..."

"That's perfect!" Kevin exclaimed a little too enthusiastically. "More foam for me!"

As Kevin trailed off into forced laughter, Cora only grew more suspicious.

Kevin sighed. "Just..." He paused to contort his face, his glasses becoming askew with the motion. "Let me..." he extended his lips to one side, "help..." his bushy eyebrows were doing aerobics or something, "you..." could noses normally move like that?

"Are you okay?" Cora asked. She hoped he was. She didn't think her first aid training covered...whatever this was.

Thankfully, his face reverted to normal, but it came with an unexpected glare.

"Farron!" he whispered, barely louder than the hiss of the steam wand. "You have to meet them, right?"

Any embarrassment Cora felt was quickly smothered by urgency. "I know! That's why I'm trying to—oh..."

Kevin nodded along with Cora's epiphany as he reached for the milk in her hands. "Exactly! So just go!"

"Uh..." Cora didn't need visual confirmation to feel Darlene's watchful eyes still on her, so she let out her most realistic laugh. "Oh, yeah! This would be great practice! So why don't I just give you this..."

After a surprisingly smooth handoff, Cora turned to Darlene. "I'm going to take my lunch break now."

For the few seconds that Darlene's firm stare was on her, Cora worried that her request was going to be shut down.

"Don't forget to clock out," Darlene eventually said before turning back to her register.

"You got it, boss!" Cora said, already heading into the backroom.

When Cora emerged on the other side a few seconds later, Farron was waiting.

"Hey," they said, one end of their lips curled up.

"Hey," Cora replied, feeling a smile stretch across her own face.

There were a few seconds of silence.

"Um..." Farron rummaged through the plastic bag they were holding and pulled out a foil-wrapped cylindrical object about the size of a tall soda can. "For you. It's a chicken Caesar wrap."

Cora wanted to devour it as soon as she accepted it, but she forced herself to refrain. "Thanks! It sounds amazing."

They shrugged. "It's nothing much. And don't worry, I kept the bees out of yours."

"Huh?" Cora had been strategizing how to eat the wrap in a civilized manner and had only heard the word "bees." "Oh! You mean my allergy."

Farron chuckled, their gaze now fixed on the wrap in Cora's hand. "Yeah, that. Sorry, that was a bad joke."

"No, no, it was funny!" Even though Cora was being genuine, her assurances sounded forced. Great, maybe she should tell the truth instead of letting Farron feel embarrassed. "Sorry, I was just...thinking about how I was going to fit all of this in my mouth."

On the plus side, Farron finally turned to her. On the downside, they looked puzzled. Only then did Cora think about what she said.

"That...sounded wrong, didn't it?" she asked, hoping the heat on her cheeks wasn't showing.

"It was funny," Farron said, their smile having returned. "But maybe we should go before a kid hears an out-of-context innuendo."

Cora followed Farron's lead out of the food court and into the rest of the mall, partially to match Farron's walking pace, but mainly because she had no idea where she was going. She may have worked there for the last eight years, but she rarely ventured anywhere aside from the food court and supermarket. Occasionally, she would stray towards the discount department store at the opposite end, but that was only on her days off. There was no rushing bargain hunting.

As such, Cora found herself in a whole new world. A poster advertised a sequel to a movie she had never heard of. Teenagers had their phones propped against the walls to film their strange dances and lip syncs. People lined up in front of an electronics store for some smart watch that was five models ahead of what she thought was new.

It was as if she was stuck in the past, and the world was leaving her behind.

"Oh," Farron said, interrupting Cora's train of thought. "Just to let you know, I'm she, her today."

Cora stared at Farron for a second before the words registered. "Oh. Okay. Cool."

Even though Farron nodded and went back to unwrapping her food, Cora scolded herself for not saying something more...supportive. "Oh"? "Okay"? "Cool"? Those responses were bland and empty. They were probably something nasty Natalie would say, and Cora didn't want to be anything like her.

So, with a sudden spurt of courage and an unfortunate lack of foresight, Cora pointed a finger gun and her wrapped wrap at Farron, clicking her tongue. "You got it, girl."

As soon as Farron turned towards her, eyebrows raised, the gravity of what Cora did hit her. The bustle of the crowd became a blur, and the chatter of conversation was overwhelmed by her internal voice screaming in her mind.

What the heck was that?

Cora looked down, hoping Farron wouldn't see the panic in her eyes. "Did I really just do that?"

After a pause, Farron cleared her throat. "I think so, yeah."

Cora wanted to cry. "Why would I do that?"

"I can't tell you."

Was it too late for her to back out? "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I thought it was cute."

In her shock, Cora's embarrassment shifted to confusion, and she looked at Farron to see if she was kidding. "Huh?"

Farron smirked, then pointed her food at Cora's. "Better start eating, coffee cake. You don't want to be scarfing that down in the last five minutes of lunch."

Cora blinked. "Oh. Uh...good point."

As Farron chuckled and continued leading the way through the bustling mall, Cora obediently took a large bite of her wrap. If Farron wasn't as flustered as Cora was, then Cora definitely heard wrong...right?

Cora struggled to swallow past the lump in her throat. Right. There was no way Farron said what she thought. There was no way Farron felt about her in that way—the same way Cora felt about her.