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 Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:06 am
Backdated to early April 2023. “What kind of name is Maisie,” Riker scoffed as he stood at the counter and waited to order his drink. Which was definitely not something with a lot of caramel or other sugar in it. It was a completely normal drink for a teenage boy to get.
He glanced over his shoulder to see if the guys from his class he was there with overheard him making fun of this girl with the weird blue hair, but they seemed occupied doing something else. Probably laughing at someone’s social media.
Riker’s grin fell for a moment, the fainted bit of color tinting his cheeks before he turned back to the girl with a renewed scathing look.
“You look like a Meadowview girl. Maybe Mags?” he prompted, knowing he should probably just leave her alone, but she was pretty --
Well… pretty if his friends thought girls with blue hair were pretty. He wasn’t sure yet. But just in case, he wanted to make sure they knew he was giving her a hard time.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:08 am
Ugh, boys were so annoying.
Maisie definitely didn’t care. Who was this guy, anyway? Probably just some creep in the making. It wasn’t like his opinion mattered. He obviously didn’t have good taste if he thought her name was weird. Because it wasn’t. It was a totally normal name that totally normal people had. It meant-... something cool, probably. Wasn’t that one actress from Game of Thrones named Maisie?
Not that Maisie Merlo had ever seen Game of Thrones. That was so half a decade ago. Way too much for her then nine-year-old brain.
Her dad definitely hadn’t let her watch it since then. It definitely hadn’t been a “bonding experience.” That would be a weird thing to bond over.
Anyway, she was just going to ignore this guy.
Except he kept talking.
Maisie turned from the counter once she’d paid for her ombre pink drink to roll her eyes at the rude boy behind her.
“Crystal, actually,” she said, in her best lofty I’m above being bothered by you voice. “Not that it matters. School rivalries are so tired. Shut up and order your drink, and get some new material while you’re at it.”
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:09 am
“Oh, Crystal,” Riker snorted, because clearly there was something wrong with Crystal that he definitely knew but wasn’t going to say out loud because obviously everyone already knew.
Oh, but now it was his turn to order…
He paused and looked up at the clearly apathetic and underpaid barista.
“Uh… coffee.” Gross. Just getting plain coffee? But if this Crystal girl was watching then he had to be cool, or something. Guys drank things like… plain coffee, right? Well, his friends got fancier drinks, but… they were busy and he couldn’t ask them what they got.
“Name,” the tired barista prompted with a sigh.
“Oh… Riker.”
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:10 am
He could “Oh, Crystal” as much as he wanted. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t heard it all already. Crystal was the preppy girl school of Destiny City. The snob school. Full of dainty ladies and Daddy’s girls and spoiled little rich babies.
Maisie was only two of those things.
She wasn’t a normal Crystal girl. She’d never be so lame as to be some basic, snobby prep.
She stood off to the side to wait for her drink, scrolling away on her phone when Mr. Creep-in-the-making stepped up to order.
Except then she heard his name.
“Riker?” she said, glancing up with a knowing smirk. “You’ve got a problem with Maisie when your name’s Riker. As in Will Riker. What, are your parents nerds?”
Not that she knew anything about Will Riker. Nope. She definitely hadn’t watched any Star Trek with her dad. It didn’t even matter that nerd stuff was cool now, she definitely had never gone with her dad to any sort of Star Trek convention. Ever. Not once. There were no pictures of her as a toddler dressed in a Starfleet uniform. Nope. None whatsoever.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:12 am
“Who?” he sneered, his face flushing red even as he fumbled with his wallet to pay for his gross drink. Maybe he could drown it with sugar and powdered cream at the napkin station.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s a family name.”
He had no idea where his name came from. He’d been teased about it being a name of a character from some stupid sci-fi series before, but it’s not like he even tried looking up the character, especially since he was told that it was a dumb show for losers, and his brother definitely knew better than he did, so he absolutely thought the same.
“Whatever, at least I don’t go to Crystal--”
The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself, and he scrambled to correct himself. “Not because it’s a girl’s school. It’s just--”
He couldn’t say anything about the uniform color, either.
“Your hair is blue!” Yeah, that was a good solid note to end on.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:14 am
“No s**t, Sherlock, tell me something I don’t know.”
Ugh, why were boys so stupid? This was why she liked older guys better than guys her age. But only slightly better, because a lot of them were creeps, too. Sometimes it didn’t matter how annoying they were so long as they were cute and had enough money to keep her in the lifestyle to which she’d grown accustomed, but…
Okay, too much. No more mental tangents.
“What, you’ve never seen blue hair before? Are you one of those ultra religious homeschool weirdos? I feel sad for you. Drinking gross, boring coffee. Getting personally offended by someone you don’t even know having blue hair. You gonna pitch a fit over a pride pin next?”
Was he about to have an explosive public tantrum? Should she start recording?
Maisie pulled up her phone camera.
“Go ahead. Maybe you’ll go viral.”
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:17 am
“No,” he tried saying with confidence but his voice broke and he quickly cleared his throat. His face felt hot. Why was she asking him things like that? What did pitching a fit over a pride pin have anything to do with her having blue hair or going to Crystal or her name being Maisie.
Oh… oh, maybe she was…?
His eyes immediately focused on the phone she pulled out. For a moment. His eyes shifted over to his friends -- or… just classmates really. Assigned group project members. A couple were glancing over in his direction to see what was going on, but they didn’t look very impressed.
Riker wanted to just disappear.
He put a grin on his face and made to lean against the counter as casually as possible, but ended up bumping his elbow against one of the card displays and knocked a few cards off -- to the annoyance of the barista who sighed heavily behind the counter.
“You could just ask for my picture if you want it, you know,” he winked, purposefully ignoring the cards that had landed by his feet while she had her phone out. Inside, he was sure his heart was about to either stop or claim it won a marathon.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:19 am
“Ew.”
Okay, definitely a creep.
“Did you just wink at me? Ew. What is with you? Can you just make up your mind? Are you trying to flirt with me or insult me? Is this a bipolar thing? Are you bipolar?”
Maisie looked at him with a shrewd narrowing of her eyes, like she still expected him to go on some sort of public tantrum. He’d already knocked the gift card display over; was he going to start throwing stuff from the snack display next?
Okay, so the gift card thing seemed like it was accidental, but you never know.
“You’re so weird. Why are you weird? Are all boys in Destiny City like you, or are you a special case?”
He kept glancing over at his friends like he was looking for… something. Back up? Support? Approval? Maisie didn’t know. She didn’t really care either. They probably weren’t even worth her time.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:21 am
Ew, she said. Okay, he was really not sure what to do in this situation. He tried not being obvious as he swallowed down his discomfort, and as he nonchalantly tried putting the cards back on the stand when she was busy insulting him.
She was asking if he was bipolar, and why he was weird. He knew he should say something, but she clearly didn’t have any interest in trying to have a normal conversation. As if asking her what kind of name she had was normal. Or saying her hair was blue. Or commenting about Crystal.
What would his brother do in a situation like this? Probably say something so vile that Riker didn’t have the stomach to say. That was probably why he was flailing so much at this.
“You’re new to Destiny City?” he tried instead, because that seemed like a decent topic change while they waited for their coffee. He just hoped his eyes didn’t look as wide as he felt they were. Maybe she would get bored and leave.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:22 am
He was going to give her whiplash if he kept going back and forth between insults and… whatever this attempt at friendliness was. Probably not even real friendliness, considering he’d started this encounter by insulting her name.
“So what if I am?” she said.
Maisie rolled her eyes again and made a disapproving noise, tapping her foot impatiently as she continued to wait for her drink. Maybe she should have ordered something more basic after all. Like hot chocolate. Or tea. But that was boring and it wasn’t what she’d wanted, and anyway it wasn’t like she’d invited this guy to talk to her.
“Look, we can forget this ever happened if you want,” Maisie offered. “I don’t know what your deal is, and to be honest I don’t really care, so…” She made a motion with her hand that was clearly supposed to mean something but probably didn’t translate all that well to someone who wasn’t up in her brain thinking her thoughts. “Whatever. Your gross, boring coffee’s ready. Take it and go.”
Because gross, boring coffee was quick and easy, but what did quick and easy matter when it was gross and boring?
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:25 am
Oh, his coffee was ready… gross. Riker hesitated for a moment and then leaned down to pick up the rest of the cards he’d knocked off and placed them hastily back on the display.
“Okay whatever,” he frowned and moved around her so he could get his drink. It wasn’t as though anyone was paying attention anyway. And it wasn’t like he was ever going to see her again.
“You don’t have to be a jerk about it. I was just trying to talk,” he grumbled, knowing very well that he was kind of the jerk first. But that was fine. He would just… load his coffee with sugar and meet up with the guys who--
Already left.
Riker sighed. He hadn’t seen when they left but he supposed he would just call one of them and find out if they went to someone’s house or just outside or somewhere else.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 7:26 am
Maisie wasn’t going to respond to him.
She wasn’t going to tell him that if he was trying to talk, he should have opened with a nicer line than what kind of name is Maisie. She wasn’t going to tell him that if he didn’t want her to be a jerk, he shouldn’t have been a jerk first. She wasn’t going to make fun of his nerd name, or acknowledge him in any way. She was going to go back to looking at her phone and waiting for her drink.
It arrived while Riker was busying himself with sugar or creamer or whatever he added to his coffee to make it taste only mildly less revolting. Maisie took her beautiful, delicious pink drink with a “thank you” for the bored barista. She snapped a picture with her phone and uploaded it to Instagram. Maybe her old friends back home would see her living her best life and be jealous. Maybe they’d miss her.
Except they hardly ever texted her anymore…
Whatever. It didn’t matter. That boy with the gross, boring coffee didn’t matter either. Maisie gave him one last annoyed look before tossing her hair and making her way out of the shop.
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