Welcome back, my lovely reader~
If this is your first visit to the L&L series,
STOP
go read the first one 'Love & Lattes: A bunny's bounty' to get the best experience. This is a direct sequel and I
STRONGLY
recommend reading the first one so you're not lost.
Take your time, I'll wait for you to catch up. :3
♥
And with that out of the way...
Hello, my lovely reader and I welcome you to Love & Lattes: Songs for a fox.
First and foremost, if you've not read L&L: A Bunny's bounty, STOP, go read it. This is a direct sequel, it assumes you've read the previous series. I can't make it more clear than that. You will NOT enjoy this story as much without reading the FIRST ONE! *Heavy breathing*
Did you think I was finished with this story after Karen and Isaac? Ho ho... not quite my lovely reader, there's more to tell and I'm eager to share it with you. I'll not drag things out, let's jump right in!
—♥—
Episode 1
I'm no bunny.
"I've got that black and the double whipped latte ready to go," The young fox called out from the serving counter.
"Cool, you got the matcha going?" The blonde called out from the register while counting out some change thinking to herself, 'Who pays with real money in this day and age? Neanderthals...'
"Of course I do, who do you take me for?" He huffed with a haughty tone in his voice, his red tail flicking playfully the tip black with fur to match his ears.
The catgirl cut her blue eyes back at him her brown and white ears flicking up at the boast. "Oh good, then you can handle the other three latte's... A dark chocolate, a white decaf, and a cinnamon. All with unsweetened soy milk, two extra shots of espresso and-"
"Whoa, whoa... give me a break!" The fox yelled out trying to pass the matcha off to the customer that ordered it while starting multiple latte's up and trying to juggle all the details.
"Where is that bravado now, fox?" She hummed and quickly moved from the counter to help him work since that was the last order currently.
The rush died off after another twenty minutes and the cat was thankful to slip out back to get a smoke break in.
"Fuck... that was rough..." She hissed, her multi-colored ears flicking in agitation while she took a drag from her cigarette and muttered to herself. She leaned against the wall of the coffee shop her tail flicking and snapping like a rope with a mind of its own. The apron she wore pushed out to accommodate her heavy full breasts, a little name badge pinned to it with the words 'Team Leader' with the name 'Ivory' beneath it.
Her blue eyes cast down towards the empty bench next to her and the cat let out a frustrated huff before flicking her cigarette butt into the smoking bucket, then withdrew her cell phone. She exhaled lightly blowing the last of the smoke from her lungs as she pecked out a text message on her phone that simply read, 'It's not the same without you here. What's up?'
A few seconds passed before her phone pinged with a response that read, 'Sorry, let's hang out tomorrow if you're free?'
Ivory gave a small smile before sending a response that she was down for hanging out. She slid the phone into her back pocket before reaching for another smoke. Her ears lifted up in a perk, she had smelled him coming well before the fox rounded the doorway to the smoking area.
"What's up Joe? I'm not giving you a smoke, you're still a minor," The cat cooed with a practiced tone, playfully grinning, flicking the cigarette end over end in her padded-fingertips. "Also should you be leaving the front unmanned?"
Joseph rolled his chestnut eyes at the cat before putting a handpaw on his hip. "Just came out to let you know Crystal is here, along with Suzanne." He turned to walk back in then stopped and looked back at her. "Also, I had a birthday two weeks ago."
"So you're almost in high school now? Good for you, Joe!" The cat playfully huffed the words while grinning at the young fox.
"That's not funny!" He spat out with a bit of edge in his voice, stepping out and glaring at the cat, his heavy red tail flicking about sharply. When her blue eyes snapped to his he quickly averted his gaze though, she was still his manager and boss.
"Fair..." The cat purred and walked over to the fox, looking him over, feeling his tension. "Okay Joseph, I won't tease you about your age anymore."
"Seriously?" He looked back to see the cat holding her pack of cigarettes up to his face with one of them sticking out. The fox blinked at her a few times in surprise before jerking his head away and muttering, "Gross..."
The cat gave the dog a hard glare and slid the pack of cigarettes back into her pocket. "Sorry I gross you out, Joseph... We can't all be cute bunny's," She hissed and side-stepped around him to go back inside.
"That's not what I mean! I don't-" He huffed and watched the cat walk back inside, her tail flicking about showing the signs of agitation from the encounter with him. Joseph looked back at the empty bench and let out a sigh before running his padded-fingertips through the bangs of his reddish-brown hair.
Ivory gave Crystal the shift details before handing the store off to her. Crystal was a feline like Ivory only with larger ears and a more fluffy tail, more like what you would expect from a Persian. Her hair and fur both matched, showcasing a bluish-grey color. She was taller than Ivory and had much wider hips along with a butt that deserved its own cheesy rap song.
Suzanne a small timid mouse of a girl was still in high school like Joseph but was still a few years from adulthood and still a Junior in her grade level. She had neat trimmed black hair and her ears tended to stay drooped along with her furless tail. She was especially nervous at first, taking the job and being the only non-predator on the staff, but the fox and two cats had treated her with nothing but kindness, so she had slowly grown more secure in her relationship with them.
The mouse was the newest member of their staff and had only been here for a few months since the last manager, Karen a bunny, had stepped down from her position. Crystal took over Karen's position as the store manager and Ivory took Crystal's old position as the assistant manager.
Joseph had been crushing on the rabbit pretty heavily until she brought him down to earth about their age differences and how he didn't really know her to begin with. Since then the fox had been very cautious about developing feelings for someone. It wasn't that he was jaded, so much as Karen had taught him that you can't just like someone without getting to know them first. In his fervor to like the rabbit, he was afraid to approach her and get to know her to validate his feelings.
Ivory and Joseph left the small coffee shop stepping out into the city together since their shift's ended at the same time. The spring had grown late into the season and summer was going to be starting soon. It was mid-afternoon and the air was already getting that sticky-hot feeling.
The fox let out a huff of disapproval at the heat and Ivory just shot him a glare before walking past to move down the sidewalk. Joseph flicked his ears up at the cat's body language and growled to himself, "Damn..." He thought furiously to himself, 'I should say something, if I don't she is going to be pissed and make my life hell at work.'
He quickly caught up to the cat and Ivory cut her eyes to him, quirking an ear curiously as she kept walking. "Your house is the other direction, Joe."
"I'm sorry, okay?" Joseph just spat the words out and Ivory stopped, pausing on her footpaws before cutting her sharp blue eyes to his deep brown ones. The fox swallowed a lump in his throat, worried he may have just pissed her off more with the apology.
"Why... are you apologizing to me, Joseph?" The cat snatched one of her springy coils of curly blonde hair, tugging it and twirling her padded-forefinger through it while looking up at the fox. He was young but still a dog and a male at that. He had a good foot and some change on the smaller cat.
"I don't think you're gross, okay? I just don't like cigarettes. I wasn't trying to piss you off," He spoke while looking down at her, his chestnut eyes weren't leaving hers as he pleaded his case, but she could see he was nervous and wanted to pull them from hers.
The cat gave a grin as if toying with him now. "Why do you care what I think about you? I'm no bunny..."
He jerked his ears up and turned away letting out a frustrated growl, stomping several paces before moving back to her. Ivory was still just standing there a handpaw on her hip, amused by the display. "For fuck sake, that was almost a year ago!" He barked the words in frustration at her, she could hear his voice crack a little.
"Yes because everyone finds such profound spiritual growth in a year's time, eh Joseph?" Ivory purred, keeping that same cocky little grin on her face.
The dog wasn't having any of it, he snorted through his nose, put both paws on his hips, and jerked his gaze away shoving his nose into the air. "Whatever. What, the fuck, ever... I'm just trying to apologize and you're being a dick."
'I am being pretty cruel aren't I?' Ivory mulled the words over in her head before seeing the dog turn to walk away. Her ears shot up and she spoke out in her manager voice, "Heel boy!"
The fox stopped abruptly at the words, then drooped his ears and growled at the realization he followed her commands. Ivory slipped into his field of vision and gave him a grin. "Sorry... I wasn't trying to boss you around, it just kind of slipped out."
Joseph blinked at the apology and the anger in his chest quickly slipped away, he drooped his large red ears and shook his head. "Look, I just don't want you to hate me okay?"
