Sweetest In the Galaxy

Systar had a tenuous alliance with the planet for roughly a decade now, and while the Systarians had learned much, there was still so much to be learned as well. Sweet picked a little town called Bricksburg to settle down in; English was astonishingly close to Systarian Universal, so she would have less chance of mangling her words. Perhaps once she’d settled in more comfortably she could learn another language from one of its native speakers, and move on elsewhere. For now, though, America suited her. The Embassy helped her find a cozy little apartment and a job as a barista at a cute little café-slash-bakery shop owned by a quirky lady that called herself Kitty.

It was… a little awkward, at first. Her lessons about Earth and its inhabitants had shown that humans and Aurorans looked very similar, but what her teachers had neglected to inform her was how short humans were. Sweet towered head and shoulders above most of them, and was nearly always bumping her head on door frames and the low-hanging pendant lamps in the cafe.

She learned quick, though, and soon made friends with her new boss and the young man that worked mornings with her. His name was Benny, and he was a student at the university in the nearby city, studying to someday be an astronaut. After the early morning rush, they would often hold lengthy conversations about space, about Aurora, about Earth. And as she had suspected, working at a coffee shop led her to meeting all kinds of interesting people.

There was a pair of young cops that came in around mid-morning most days- partners, and identical twin brothers on top of that. Benny seemed to have quite the crush on one of them, and Sweet soon learned to let him take the brothers’ orders (though she too memorized their favorites pretty quickly- Alastar almost always got a cappuccino and a donut, flavors varying depending on his mood for the day, and Cary always got a black coffee and a breakfast sandwich).

There was the town’s mayor, a man named Business. Not the most personable human she’d met, the man came across as haughty and controlling the first few times she’d spoken to him, and he’d eyed her warily in turn. But she had quickly come to learn that under the arrogant surface was someone who was really just lonely and looking for attention wherever he could get it. Most people didn’t seem to like him on a personal level, she realized after overhearing so many customers complain about him, but they’d voted him in as mayor because they couldn’t deny he was doing an excellent job of cleaning the town up.

There was a surly old fisherman who would come in every once in a while. His name was Jonas. He was very craggy and gruff at first glance, but was quick to greet Benny with a smile and ask who the new employee was. “He has one of those old-fashioned wood sailboats, and when they have the pirate festivals during the summer he likes to dress up like one and give people rides on his ‘pirate ship’, and tells them all kinds of stories about pirates and the Age of Sail,” Benny had told her. “And he’s got all kinds of antique maps and navigational tools, and even a couple authentic cutlasses- and he knows how to use them, too. The kids love it.”

And then there was the most unlikely pair of friends Sweet had ever met, such polar opposites it was a wonder they had ever even met in the first place. They were just a year younger than Benny. Emmet had gone into construction almost immediately out of high school, though he had plans to study architectural engineering when he could afford to. Lucy had managed to get into a trade school, and now built and repaired motorcycles, a job she clearly loved.

Sweet had barely been able to take their orders the first time they’d met, unable to stop staring at the young woman with the bright pink and blue bangs. Lucy hadn’t even seemed to notice. Emmet had, though, and had given Sweet a strange little smile. Benny was grinning at her from ear to ear, as she stared after the pair when they left. “...What?”

“You like her.”

“I- Benny, I don’t even know her.”

“Oh, you’ll get to,” he assured. “They come in here pretty regularly.”

“You seem to know them pretty well.”

Benny shrugged. “I’ve worked here several years now, Kitty’s great for working around my crazy school schedule. I think it’s Emmet’s most favorite place in town.”

“How does a pair like that get to be friends?”

“School,” Benny laughed. “I guess they were in the same class in first grade. You’ll see for yourself soon enough, but Emmet both loves to make friends… and isn’t the greatest at doing so, at the same time. He’s one of the sweetest guys you’ll ever meet, but also kind of awkward at the same time? Like he tries so hard he winds up driving people away instead, most of the time. But somehow he and Lucy managed to hit it off anyway and have been practically joined at the hip since.”

“Oh… Are they together?”

Benny smirked. “Nah. I think Emmet does like her that way, but… she’s not really into him the same way, so he hasn’t said anything to her about it.”

“So that’s what that look was about…”

“Look?”

Sweet blushed. “He caught me staring.”

Benny threw his head back and cackled.

~* *~

Just as Benny said, the two friends stopped by fairly frequently in the mornings to have a quiet breakfast together before they split up to head to their respective jobs. Sweet couldn’t help but listen in on their conversations. Emmet was… Well, Emmet was nothing to write home about. The young man was mundane, almost severely so, talking about how work went the day before, what his crew were building, some silly television show he’d watched the previous night. All kinds of boring stuff. Lucy, on the other hand, almost always had some wild story to share. Sweet never would have guessed there could be such excitement in such a sleepy little town.

One morning, Emmet came in by himself. “No Lucy today?” Sweet asked, trying not to sound as disappointed as she felt at the thought of not seeing the fascinating young woman that day.

“Oh, no, she’s coming, she’s just running late,” Emmet assured. “So if you don’t mind, the usual for both of us?”

“Absolutely,” Sweet said, ringing him up.

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?”

Sweet blinked, glancing back up at him. “What?”

Emmet gave her a knowing smile. “You like her.” Sweet’s cheeks turned a deep pink color. “I don’t blame you. She’s such an awesome person, who wouldn’t like her?”

“Me,” Benny chimed in, grinning when Emmet laughed and Sweet swatted playfully at him.

“Anyway, you should try to talk to her,” Emmet continued once he got his giggles under control. “I think she likes you too. She talks about you a lot.”

Sweet was certain her face was about to catch fire, it felt so hot. “She does?”

“Mhmm.” The door jingled at that moment. Emmet smiled brightly. “There you are! I paid for breakfast already.”

“Emmet, you didn’t have to do that-”

“You’re already running late, I figured I’d save you some time.”

Sweet worried her lip between her teeth, watching as the two friends made their way toward their usual table and sat down. “Whatcha thinkin’?” Benny nudged her. Sweet hesitated. “They won’t hear us, they’re in their own little world over there.”

“How I’m going to talk to her,” Sweet murmured. “And whether she’d actually go out with me. And what’s going to happen after I’m done with my three annuals here.”

“Years,” Benny gently corrected.

“And once I’m in the Corps… I don’t know where I’ll be assigned, I might not ever come back here. What if- what if it does work, and it gets serious, and then I never see her again?”

“Geez, Sweet, breathe,” Benny told her with some alarm. “Hey. If it’s meant to be, it’ll work out, you know? And you never know, you could get assigned here!”

“But-”

“Yeah we’ve already got something of an alliance going, but we’re still super new to each other and humans have a whole history of fucking up a perfectly good thing.”

“Benny,” Sweet huffed with a laugh. “We’re still on the clock, you dope. Watch your mouth.” His only answer was an unrepentant grin. “But alright, you’ve got a point. I’ll talk to her. But.” She smirked back at him. “You have to talk to Cary, too. No more of this silly dancing around each other, Kitty says you two have been at it for years.”

Benny whined. “Ohh, fine…” Sweet nodded in satisfaction and drew in a deep breath to calm herself. It wasn’t much longer before the pair started to make their way out. Benny gave her a nudge when she couldn’t find her voice, jolting her into action.

“Hey Lucy?” she called before she could catch herself, and willed her fluttering heart to calm back down when Lucy looked at her.

“Yeah?”

“Could I…” Behind Lucy, Emmet gave Sweet a ‘go on!’ gesture. “Could I ask you out for dinner? Tonight?”

Lucy’s jaw dropped slightly in surprise, cheeks tinting. “Ahh, well… I kind of already promised Vitruvius I’d visit tonight,” she hedged.

“Oh…”

“But I’m free tomorrow?”

Sweet perked back up. “Great! Tomorrow then!”

Lucy smiled at her. “Tomorrow.”

“Yes!” Benny cheered once Emmet and Lucy were outside. “Way to go Sweet!”

Sweet grinned, and then whined and hid her face in her hands. “Oh my gosh Benny I don’t know what to do I’ve never been on a date before!”

“Really? Sweet, gorgeous young lady like you?”

“Bennyyyyyy…”

He laughed. “You eat food and you talk. That’s basically it.”

“...Really?”

“Sure! You can ask her how her job’s going, what her hobbies are, you can tell her about what brought you here, the sort of stuff you like to study, things like that! First dates are for getting to know each other!”

“That doesn’t sound so bad…”

Benny smiled at her. “You’re gonna rock this, Sweet. I believe in you.”