★★★..
He glanced at Sienna. "What's your poison?"
She was so busy trying to become one with the floor that she startled. "Oh. Um. A medium oat milk latte, please."
Jace pulled out his wallet. "I got it."
"No," she said, a little too sharply. She fumbled for her own card. "You don't have to do that."
"Truce, remember? Let me. Consider it a continuation of the cookie treaty."
"The treaty didn't include a caffeination clause."
"I'm amending it." He flashed his card before she could argue further. The barista rang them up.
Flustered, Sienna moved down the counter to wait for their drinks, putting as much distance between herself and Jace as possible. This was too much. The walking together, the talking about Bach, now buying her coffee? It felt like the truce was accelerating at a terrifying speed.
Her mind was racing, so much so that she didn't notice the guy behind her backing up to look at the pastry case. She stepped back at the exact same time.
The collision was swift and disastrous.
Her elbow jarred against something solid. A cup. His cup.
Time seemed to slow as the large, scalding-hot black coffee tipped, pirouetted in the air, and then emptied its entire contents down the front of Jace's pristine grey hoodie.
A collective gasp went through the students nearby.
For a moment, there was absolute silence. Jace looked down at his soaked torso, then back up at her, his expression one of pure, unadulterated shock.
Sienna's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh my god. I am so… I'm so sorry."
The barista wordlessly handed Jace a wad of napkins.
He started dabbing at the stain, which was only spreading, turning the grey fabric into a dark, dripping brown.
And then, he started to laugh.
It wasn't a chuckle. It was a full-bellied, head-thrown-back laugh that filled the entire coffee shop. "You," he wheezed, pointing a napkin-covered finger at her, "are the single most dangerous person I have ever met."
"I didn't mean to!"
"First the laundry room, now this? Are you trying to take me out, Cole? Is this a very elaborate, very damp assassination attempt?"
The tension in the room broke.
People were smiling, laughing along with him. Sienna couldonly stand there, mortified.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Then buzzed again. And again.
Jace, still laughing, shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It's just a hoodie." He peeled the sopping fabric away from his chest. "A really, really nice hoodie that I loved, but… just a hoodie."
"Let me pay for the dry cleaning, or…"
"Absolutely not." He took his replacement coffee from the barista. "This was way more entertaining than my morning was supposed to be." His eyes met hers, warm and amused. "See you around, Hazard."
He walked out of The Beanery, leaving a trail of coffee scent and whispers in his wake.
Sienna's own latte was placed on the counter. She grabbed it, her hands shaking, and fled the scene of the crime.The second she was outside, she pulled out her phone. Tasha had blown it up.
Tasha: GIRL.
Tasha:ANASTASIA JUST TEXTED ME.
Tasha:DID YOU REALLY DUMP COFFEE ON JACE RIVERA???
Tasha:THE GROUP CHAT IS GOING INSANE. SEND HELP.
Sienna leaned against the cool brick of the building, her heart hammering. She typed back a single, trembling sentence.
Sienna: I think the entire café just saw me commit caffeine homicide.
She hit send. The response was immediate.
Tasha: YOU'RE A LEGEND. NOW GET YOUR ASS TO CLASS AND TELL ME EVERYTHING.Sienna looked down at the latte he'd paid for. It felt heavy in her hand, a tangible reminder of the boy who laughed when she spilled coffee on him. The boy who was becoming infinitely more complicated than the campus heartthrob she thought she knew.
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