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She never got to read for pleasure as a child. Hope frowned upon doing things that weren’t valuable to her future success. Books about flying unicorns and talking mushrooms didn’t lend well to one becoming a doctor, lawyer, or high ranking politician. If she had time to read such fancys…she had time to train her body or quiz her brain. She was practically shoved into an intense college program at 18 and there was no time for dragon riding warrior princesses then either. But something magical happened in her sophomore year.
She took a sociology course. It was required after all and not even Hope could object to that. And since more humanities were required..she took a course on psychology next. And that professor changed her entire life. Sure, Prof. Razz had been absolutely bonkers, but brilliant all the same. She never stuck to the syllabus or followed her own grading rubric. But she introduced Adora to a world beyond just pushing for more power, more money, more prestige. And very quietly, Adora switched majors without telling Hope.
Now here she was…maybe not making a fortune or living a life of fame, but she was reading a book for the joy of it, working a fairly stress free 9-5 that made her feel like she made a difference in the world, sitting in the warm sun on a beautiful spring morning in this sweet little coffee shop with nowhere to go for the rest of the weekend. And maybe looking up from her book every now and again to catch a peek at the woman who ran the place.
Catra was sarcastic and abrasive, but under that hard shell, Adora had seen hints of great kindness and a soft side with her coworkers and occasionally other customers. She was brilliant and sharp as glass. Her eyes were mesmerizing, her face beautiful, with freckles splashed across her cheeks, like stars. Her dark ringlets of hair looked so silky…Adora longed to reach out and run her fingers through them, reaching up and rubbing softly at the base of Catra’s large expressive ears. She closed her eyes and imagined kissing her for just one indulgent moment…
“‘She-Ra and the Courting of the Princess Alliance’ huh?” said the raspy voice of the shop’s owner.
Adora looked up, her face growing warm. Okay so maybe the sapphic love story was a little silly, but Stars, she loved it. Strong warrior woman who needed to save the world and the best way to do it (of course) was to find a princess to fall in love with and kiss her RIGHT as the world was about to be destroyed. It was exactly the type of romp that Adora loved to escape to the most.
She nodded her head and smiled. “Hey, it’s just what I needed after a very long week. I deserve a little silly romance in my life, don’t I?” She laughed lightly. “This is about as close as I get.” She looked back up at the woman who gave her a warm smile instead of the witty comeback she had been expecting.
“Yeah, I guess you do. It’s a pretty cute book actually...” She held out a steaming cup to Adora. “I thought perhaps you might like to try something different, a little honey lavender oat milk latte.” Adora reached up and accepted the mug with a happy sigh. Then Catra set a small plate piled high with cookies down on the table in front of the blonde. “And my newest creation, sweet honeycomb cookies?”
Adora’s face lit up. “Oh. Yes please.”
Catra beamed and then turned to go back behind the counter again.
Adora swallowed her inclination to keep her thoughts to herself and spoke to the retreating back. “This sure is a lot of cookies… umm maybe you should join me?”
Catra grabbed another cup of coffee that had clearly been already prepared and turned back to her, holding it close with both hands, her own cheeks rosy under all those freckles, tail swinging slowly behind her.
“I thought maybe I might.”