Java Hut (Coffee Shop)

Amanda Summerfield sat cross legged at the two-man table closest to the window of Java Hut. Amanda had put on a shorter black dress that clung tightly to her figure with short, slightly poofed sleeves and a pair of bright red wedges. The dress showed just a bit more cleavage than what she normally would wear. A long beaded necklace the same color of her shoes hung from her neck. She looked quite nervous as she drummed her fingers on the table, only daring to glance upwards at the empty seat across from her every few minutes. Would he actually come? She questioned inviting him in the first place. What was the point? It was obvious how awkward they were when Julia had Amanda and Trevor for dinner... But what's the harm of two friends talking again?

She sighed, taking a shaky sip out of the minuscule cup in front of her. It was the size of a children's play-tea set, but according to the latest trends it was tres chic.

And lo, with the tinkling of the door's bell, there he was. Taking a cautioned glance around the shop, he spied Amanda's table and, with an awkward and brief smile as a greeting, he joined her.

Amanda nudged a cup towards him, reddening in the cheeks a little. "I figured your tastes haven't changed too much since Madam Puddifoot's?"

Wallace hung his windbreaker over the back of the chair. "Mostly. What'd you order?"

"I just got some hot chocolate for myself, and for you a caramel latte?" Her voice rose a bit in pitch when she hit the word caramel, as if she was asking if that was alright with him.

After eyeing her, tentatively, for a moment, he took a sip from the small ceramic cup. "Guess I haven't."

Amanda replied with a much less hesitant smile than before, hoping that broke the ice a bit. "I just wanted to apologize... I was being pretty childish at dinner the other night."

"Didn't notice," Wallace said between sips. He felt his tongue burning, but he didn't care -- it wasn't an unfamiliar feeling.

Amanda glanced around the room, shifting her weight from side to side. What else was there to say? The reason you invited him? So you could apologize? No!

She half smiled, the edges of her lips barely moving. "So, how is everything at work?" The most boring small talk known to man.

Wallace shrugged, staring down into the cup, admiring the lingering foam pattern on the surface of the drink. "Nothing new."

"Seems that way with everything. Status quo. Relatively boring in my opinion." Amanda sighed a bit, tracing the ridges on the bottom of the table with her finger.

Wallace made little effort at continuing the conversation, replying with one or two-word answers and often lingering a little too long on the edge of the mug.

And so time slipped by slowly, as if the two were school children trying to pass the time during a test that they didn't know the answers to. Finally, Amanda came up with a decent comment, "Do you ever miss Hogwarts?"

Time passed, perhaps twenty seconds, before he answered: "Yes."

A frown appeared on her face for a millisecond before being whisked away by a neutral half-smile. Another one worded answer. "I'm glad I'm not alone." She chuckled under her breath, "Where else do you find such lo--"

She stopped, pausing, "Such good friends weeping in a closet"

A rather sheepish grin played on his lips a moment, as the audible exhale of what could have been a laugh left his nose. "I was quite a fruit then, wasn't I?"

Amanda nodded, with a giggle a hair louder than a whisper, "There were rumors that you bathed in glitter."

"I'm... not sure what that was, actually." He polished off the latte. "Really, it was just sort of natural. Hasn't happened since... since we graduated, actually."

"Hm, how odd." Amanda took the last sip of her hot chocolate, leaving a puddle of whip cream at the bottom. Normally she wouldn't be the slightest embarrassed to stick her finger in the cup to get the remainder of the cream, but that was with Trevor.

"Do you remember that friend of your's... Clyde! I think it was for a bet- but you had him in a tutu of some sort?"

"What WAS that bet?" Wallace wondered out loud. "Yes, I remember, though. Oh, he was furious. Didn't leave his tower all day! The look on Flitwick's face when he went to seek him out was..." He couldn't bring himself to finish.

"Hilarious?" Amanda offered, still looking down at that tempting whip cream.

"Indescribably so," he laughed, taking note of how longingly she was staring into her cup. "What is it?"

Amanda looked up, reddening in the cheeks. "The whip cream at the bottom of my cup... it looks pretty good. It'd be pretty silly to go get a spoon just for it, but even sillier to use my finger to get it. I mean, we're in public."

"There's barely a soul here," Wallace observed, taking another look around the shop. "And, I wouldn't mind."

Amanda's eyes flicked down to the cup, as soon as he basically green lighted it she went after that whip cream like a mama bear who sees... something a mama bear likes. She finished it off in a heartbeat.

When she looked back up at him, she was back to the composed adult that previously questioning her actions and appropriate manners.

Except the fact that she had a dot of cream sitting on her nose.