Allura was not having a good day.

One of her pet mice had disappeared, she'd spilt tea on her favourite shirt, the wind had completely messed up her hair, her feet were aching and due to idiot slamming into her, her phone had a massive crack on the screen and wasn't turning on.

After examining it for another second, she groaned and threw it on the table in front of her; it barely missed her hot chocolate. Fate must have a vendetta against her, she mused, as today was the one day where she really needed her phone. Coran had asked her to pick him up from the airport, but how was she supposed to do that now when she didn't know what time he'd be arriving? She couldn't even warn him or get someone else to pick him up because even if she did have time to go back home for the house phone or old spare phone (but she didn't considering that her house was a twenty minute drive away and her break was finishing in ten), she wouldn't be able to use them. The house phone was broken and the mice had chewed through the charger of her old phone.

She took a sip of her hot chocolate, only to hiss and wince as she burnt her tongue. Fan-fucking-tastic, she thought. Just what I need right now.

Which is why when she saw a guy strolling over - oozing with faux confidence and a flirty air - she was ready to scream.

"Hi-" the guy began to say.

"Fuck off, I'm not interested," she hissed.

The guy pouted and quickly shot a look over his shoulder before turning back to Allura. He looked like he couldn't keep still anymore, sifting about on the spot as he played with the button with his shirts.

"I'm not-"

She grit her teeth and tried not to scream. Why the hell wasn't he getting the hint? The last she needed today was some asshole who didn't know to take a hint.

"I'm a lesbian you idiot, I'm not going to-"

"I don't want to flirt with you," he quickly cut her off, "In fact, I was hoping you'd talk to my friend, not me."

Allura paused and blinked at the guy. He looked stressed but... genuine. But why the hell was he asking that?

"Why?" Allura asked.

"She's feeling really down today because some homophobic dicks have been giving her shit, and I thought that maybe a hi or a little compliment from the prettiest girl in this cafe would cheer her up."

He said 'prettiest girl' like a fact with a serious face, looking slightly away, which reassured Allura that he wasn't interested in her. But still... complimenting a stranger's friend? She wasn't sure she was up for that; she looked shit, felt shit and just wanted to curl up and sleep.

But then a bigger guy appeared behind guy 1, frowning.

"She still hasn't come out Lance," guy 2 said to guy 1 - Lance.

"Shit," Lance cursed, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. What we gonna do Hunk? Neither of us can go storming in there!"

Both guys looked beyond worried, and Allura felt herself becoming worried about this mystery girl too. But even so, she surprised herself by saying:

"I'll talk to your friend."

Why the fuck did I say that? She thought. I don't know how to compliment strangers.

But then Lance and Hunk whipped around to face her - Lance grinning widely while Hunk sighed in relief - and she suddenly couldn't voice those issues.

"Thank you so much!" Lance chirped. "Okay so when she comes out, come to our table and compliment the fuck outta her! Oh, and don't let her know we got you to do this."

Hunk suddenly squeaked and pulled on Lance's arm.

"She's coming out dude."

"Shit!"

The two of them raced over to their table and began trying to act casual. Allura meanwhile tried to process what had just happened as she kept an eye on the door.

A girl walked out, and Allura's jaw dropped.

The girl was beautiful. Her eyes, though still a little glassy, were hazel coloured as though she had a forest growing inside her mind, and her lips were the most kissable pair Allura had ever seen. She was tall, dark and muscled with thighs to die for. Her hair had green highlights weaved into it, and was cut short so it showed off her hoop earrings. She was dressed in a black shirt, camouflage jacket, shorts and combat boots, all of which just made her irresistible.

All that ruined the image was the hunched shoulders and sad expression on the girl's face.

Allura reached over and - this time remember to - blow before taking a sip of her hot chocolate. She was in deep this time. No escaping this one. Okay, okay, she thought, what am I going to say? Just a basic 'your hair is nice, or you look very pretty' wasn't going to cut when the girl was that beautiful. What about a pickup line? Allura felt like it'd be a tragedy to leave this café without trying to flirt with the girl, perhaps she could even get her number. She ran over things she could say in her mind and picked something that she thought was perfect.

Even so, she hesitated - waiting until the girl had sat down and Allura had drunk almost half of her drink - before making a move. She told herself that it was to make things seem more natural, but that was just an excuse, she knew.

With her heart fluttering in her chest, Allura slowly got up and made her way to the table of the trio. She stopped in front of it, hands clammy. What the fuck was the doing?

Lance and Hunk mouthed a quick thank you at her before zooming off with the excuse of ordering food. The girl did not look up. Allura took a deep breath and coughed. The girl did look up this time, eyes widening while a gasp escaped past her lips as she took in the sight of Allura.

"H-Hello there," Allura stuttered, "I just want to say that you're very beautiful."

Allura mentally screamed. What happened that amazing flirty pick up line she had? She sounded like a complete idiot!

The girl made a small noise of surprise and looked away, hiding behind her hands. Allura felt her heart skipped a bit and felt the need to squeal. This girl was unbelievably cute.

"You don't mean t-that."

Even the girl's voice was beautiful - low and rich and gravelly. Allura was ready to become a rainbow puddle of gay on the floor.

"I do. A lot. You're very, very beautiful."

"T-Thank you. You're pretty gorgeous too - wait, does that sound like it makes sense? Oh my god-"

The pretty girl thought she was gorgeous, the pretty girl was getting flustered because of her. Holy shit, Allura thought, I will die if I don't get her number (or a date at least, since there's no real point in having her number while my phone is dead).

"It makes perfect sense… I'm Allura by the way."

Allura didn't care if shaking hands was seen as old fashioned, she wanted a chance to hold the girl's hand, so she held out her hand. The girl bit her soft smile as she held out her hand and held onto Allura's. It was a good hand, Allura decided, a great hand, the best hand. She wanted to hold that want as she walked down the street and press a kiss to each fingertip.

"I-I'm Shay."

"Pretty name for a pretty girl."

Shay giggled and looked away as she reluctantly took her hand back. Allura let her eyes quickly flicker up to the clock and shit, she only had five minutes left, and it took five minutes to walk to work.

"I'm sorry but I got to go," Allura reluctantly said, "My boss will give me hell otherwise."

The smile slipped off Shay's face.

"Oh…"

Allura hesitated before walking back to her table. She dumped her hot chocolate into her travel mug and shoved her phone into her bag before heading to the door. But then, she stopped. No, she wasn't leaving it at that. She turned on her heel and stormed back over to the table.

"Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

Shay's eyes went wide, and she nodded.

"Y-Yeah."

"Would you be interested in meeting up here at say, 1 tomorrow?"

"Yes. Y-Yes I would."

Allura breathed out a sigh of relief.

"See you tomorrow then, Shay."

"See you tomorrow, Allura."

Allura headed to the door once again, this time with a massive smile on her face. She had a date with the prettiest girl in the café; today was looking up.