A Jealous Cowgirl

You weren’t exactly sure how you made it to work the next day.

You distinctly remember being shaken awake by Chaewon, already in an oversized hoodie ready to leave. But between the headache and the memories flooding in from the previous night, it was a miracle you were standing behind the counter of Cozy’s Coffee and Cakes. 

“Hey, you’re not listening are you?” Chaewon’s voice ricocheted in your skull.

““Keep it down, I’m listening,” you lied. “How are you like, functioning right now?” You asked, rubbing your temples with your palms.

“Because I’m at work. What about you? Am I gonna have to write you up for coming to work hungover?”

You stretched your back. “I’m only hungover because of you, Ms. Manager”, you said, twisting your obliques. 

She reached to your head, ruffling your hair. “You look like a mess, what the hell happened after I passed out last night?”

Your eyes dropped to the floor, avoiding hers. “I just get like, crazy bed head”, you said, leaning your head lower so she could access your hair better. 

“That’s a bit better, here look at me for a sec” She took her fingers and pinched both of your cheeks, hard enough your mouth opened slightly from being tugged. She stayed like that for a moment, before you could clearly see her forcing back a smile.

“Why are you pinching my cheeks?” You asked, swiping her arms away. The laugh she was suppressing broke through.

“Hehe~, helps with blood flow. Probably.”

“You’re so annoying”, you rolled your eyes with a chuckle.

“I’m annoying? What about you, pulling that stuff when Eunchae was in the bathroom?”

“Me?? You were the one who-”

She wanna keep going looked you to silence.

“Hmph, good. Now look alive stupid, we open in 5. I have a feeling it’s going to be busy today.”

“You say that every day”

“Wishful thinking”, she smiled, giving you a few playful smacks on your bicep. “Go go, turn on the coffee machine”, she said before scuttling over to the kitchen, probably to prep for the cakes to be baked.

“Wait”, you called. She turned her head, soft eyes locking with yours, strands from the loose bun she tied framing her face. She was so damn pretty, such a perfect face to wake up to, and then go to work with. And you were gonna do something to piss that face off, well, because it was Chaewon.

“Thanks for letting me crash last night”

“That’s why you stopped me? I mean, it was no problem, we were all drunk so-”

“No, no, let me thank you properly. I got you something”

She lit up with a smile. “You got me something?”, she gushed, hopping over to you in quick strides. “Ohh I always knew it, you tease me and tease me but deep down you really appreciate your manager, don’t you?”

A mischievous smile crept on your face as you reached into the drawer under the cash register. You’d slipped it in there on your way in.

“Hey, don’t you?” she asked cautiously this time. 

“Of course, that’s why I got you this”. You pulled out a brown old cowboy hat that you’d found in her room the night before. You had tucked it into your bag when Chaewon had first passed out, intending to tease her about it today.

“Yah! Where did you get that!”, she screamed, reaching for the hat.

You couldn’t bite back your laughter anymore, lifting the cowboy hat so it was just out of reach. Teasing her was the best hangover cure you could ask for. The boundless amount of energy that welled inside you just from seeing her flustered was definitely a red flag. 

“Yeehaw, miss manager!”, you laughed. “What, are you a cowboy on your days off?” 

“It’s a cute hat!”, she squealed, jumping up as she tried to take it from you.

“Yeah, in the wild west”, you quipped. “Is that why you’re always so mad at work? Application from the saloon got denied, so now you wallow at this regular, modern cafe?”.

Chaewon’s cheeks flushed in anger. “Shut up! It’s cute and it was on sale and I barely wear it so- just give it back!”

You put the hat on her head softly as her anger welled. The hat fit perfect on her head, and damn did she look fine. Your laughing died down as her fluttering eyes looked up at you. You both stayed there for a while, eyes locked. “You’re right, though. It does look cute on you”.

Her complaining paused at your words, and her eyes flicked down to your lips quickly, before landing back on your eyes. “You’re so fucking annoying”, she huffed, her flushed cheeks and deep gaze betraying her anger. “Now open the fucking coffee machine”

——————————————————————————-

It was, of course, another slow day. You wiped the counter for the umpteenth time. The few coffee grounds that were scattered on the counter had been waterboarded into submission by your wet rag and had apparently gone into hiding. The counter shined clear. 

You finally caved, pulling your phone out of your pocket. If there was nothing to do, a quick check wouldn’t hurt, right? You hadn’t checked it since… Karina had texted you the previous night. And if your mind hadn’t played tricks on you, didn’t you hear the phone ding as you fell asleep on Chaewon’s floor?

Your phone had exactly two notifications, both from the same person. The same one from the broken hearted emoji contact, Karina, that read:

</3: Where are you??

Which was, you glanced at the time, 5 hours ago. You cursed your lack of sleep, before reading the next message, which read:

</3: I know you’re ignoring me. Can we just talk?

You threw your phone on the counter, grabbing the washcloth again and wiping. 

Maybe if you wiped hard enough your phone would disappear like those coffee grinds, along with the memories of your ex-girlfriend.

You wiped a couple of times, before picking your phone back up and staring at the message. Anger flared up. She just wanted to talk? After a month? No, she’s not allowed to just waltz back in your life with an apology, if that was even what she wanted to do.

But the thing about apologies was, sometimes, even if they didn’t mean anything, you craved them like a drug. The anger peaked into something else. Something different.

Was it want? The want to talk to her, to see her again, to feel her hand in yours? 

Maybe it was pride. The thought of hearing her apologize, did it make you feel validated? Or maybe it was just the need for closure. Yeah, that’s why you cared so much. It wasn’t for Karina, it was for yourself. You needed some end to the trauma.

You stared at your keyboard. It was easy to make the conviction to do something. But how would you approach it? As the bigger person to remind her what she lost? Bitterly so she knew how angry you were? Deadpan, so she thought she didn’t affect you?

You stared at your phone, blinking clutzily. 

Hey Karina,