After a few minutes, Beau’s absolute terror melted away to make room for his awe. His eyes were wide, his mouth ever so slightly open as he stared around them. 

Trees fluttered in the wind, birds flitted above them, fluffy clouds drifted lazily through the sky. 

They rushed past cars as Mikayla expertly wove between the lanes of the road. She was at ease, more so than any other time she felt whenever she was taking a ride on her bike. She had a feeling it was due to the amazed merman-turned-man pressed against her. 

Soon, Mikayla took an exit that led them away from the busy highway and towards a less crowded street. 

“Alright,” Mikayla said, drawing Beau’s rapt attention to her, “anything you want to do?” 

“Uhh…” Beau racked his brain, trying to remember the things she had said yesterday that were considered ‘romantic’ to other humans. 

“How about we get something to eat?” she offered, sensing his unsureness behind her. 

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Beau agreed, a relaxed sigh leaving him. 

“Mkay, then,” she said as she began to scour their brunch options. Eventually, she spied one of her favorite, albeit less frequented, cafes. “How about here? They’ve got some good stuff.” 

“Sure!” Beau said. 

With his reassurance, Mikayla pulled into a parking spot just a few storefronts down and kicked the stand out. Gently, she unwrapped Beau’s arms from around her and dismounted the bike, taking the keys with her and hooking them to her jeans. 

With delicate hands, she undid the fastenings under Beau’s chin and pulled his helmet off. She clipped it to the bike as he dismounted the bike to join her on the sidewalk. 

“Come on,” she said, taking Beau’s hand and leading him down the sidewalk. 

She couldn’t help but giggle at Beau’s obvious fascination with the bookstores, antiques stores, clothing stores, and jewelry shops that they passed before they stood in front of the cafe. A thick sign with fancy letters spelled out the cafe’s name, Mocha Bean Meadow, flowers decorating the edges of the curled words. 

This place was popular among both the younger adults who enjoyed the aesthetic and photogenic atmosphere and the older folk who found pleasure in the varying styles of beverages and high quality pastries. The interior was decorated like the meadow they advertised to be, plants hanging from the ceiling and faux flowers plastered across the walls. Plush booths and metal garden furniture filled the space with tall flower pots scattered between them. 

The two were lucky that it was early enough that it was relatively empty, though most of the seats had already been taken. But fortunately, a small corner booth by the window was still without customers. 

When they sat, Mikayla handed Beau one of the menus propped up in the center of the table. 

“Their most popular drinks are the mochas,” she said, holding up her own menu to point at the short list of mocha drinks. Salted caramel, matcha, espresso, and so on. “Then there’s their milkshakes and seasonal drinks,” she said, gesturing to the two lists. A peppermint mocha and a peppermint mocha milkshake made up the seasonal list while the milkshakes were just the thicker, more expensive version of the mochas. And of course there were the non-caffeinated drinks, but they honestly weren’t that impressive nor were they what made this family-owned cafe special. 

In the end, Beau went with a peppermint mocha milkshake while Mikayla ordered herself an espresso mocha along with several different pastries; a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant, a cherry and cream cheese strudel, a blueberry cinnamon muffin, and another classic of the establishment, the double dark chocolate croissant. 

But after she ordered, flashing the waiter one of her usual (and very charming) smiles, she turned to find Beau scowling at her. 

“What?” she asked, thoroughly confused at his pissed expression. 

“Nothing,” he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest with a huff. 

He leaned back, pouting, causing an amused smile to spread across Mikayla’s face. She didn’t know what irritated him so suddenly, and quite frankly, neither did Beau. He had never experienced jealousy before—Mikayla was the first person he could ever have been jealous about, after all. 

They sat there in silence, Beau stewing as he stared grumpily out the window while Mikayla fondly watched him. She leaned forward, her chin placed in her palm as she just watched him. His face grew red as he felt her gaze, but he stubbornly refused to look at her as his eyes blurred, staring off into a middle distance. 

“One peppermint mocha milkshake, one espresso mocha, one breakfast croissant, one cherry cheese strudel, a cinna-blue muffin, and a double dark chocolate croissant,” that same waiter announced as he placed the tray holding the two drinks and four pastries onto their table. 

“Thank you,” Mikayla said with a smile, her eyes never leaving Beau as he gave another huff. 

She didn’t say another word, watching the petulant boy sitting across from her as she gently cut the breakfast croissant into multiple flaky, savory pieces of goodness. 

“Beau,” she called. He just hummed irritably. “Beau. Beau.” 

After the third time Mikayla called out for him, he finally turned to look at her, his whole face set in a frown. He opened his mouth, most likely about to ask, “What?” in an irritated voice, but she was too quick for him. 

With a swift hand, Mikayla shoved a piece of the fresh breakfast croissant into his slack mouth. Beau’s eyes widened in shock as his lips closed around the tongs of the fork. He chewed for a long moment before swallowing. 

“Woah,” he breathed, his anger long forgotten. 

“I know,” Mikayla agreed, taking her own piece of the breakfast croissant before handing Beau his own fork and drink. “Let me cut the rest of these for us, too.” 

And she did exactly that, slicing up the rest of the pastries and revealing their warm, gooey, sugary fillings. But when Beau did nothing but stare, his hand gripped awkwardly around the fork, Mikayla gave a fond sigh and took the fork from his hand to spear a piece of the blueberry and cinnamon muffin. 

The inside was fluffy and the blueberries, sweet and tangy. Swirls of the purple from the berries and a rich brown from the cinnamon created a marble texture. Scattered across the top of the muffin was a crunchy cinnamon sugar mix that coated Beau’s lips like crystals as he took the whole piece into his mouth with one bite. 

After a few minutes, they had eaten most of their food and were left sipping on their drinks and making small talk. 

“I rarely come here,” Mikayla said as she offered the last two pieces of the double dark chocolate croissant to Beau. When he shook his head (he favored the cherry and cream cheese strudel), she continued. “It’s rather expensive here, not to mention exclusive, so I like to save this place for special occasions.” 

She poked her fork through the last piece of cherry-cheese strudel and held it up for Beau to take into his mouth. 

“Is this a special occasion?” Beau asked, a hand daintily covering his mouth as he chewed his bite. 

Mikayla just smiled, her chin resting in her empty hand as the other lazily dropped whilst still holding the fork. “Any occasion where I’m with you is special,” she said with a ridiculous, in-love smile. 

Beau’s joyful face blushed darker than the cherry puree he had just swallowed, but his expression became downright elated. 

“You’re making my face warm,” he mumbled. 

But, not wanting to be outdone, he speared his own fork into the very last piece of chocolate croissant and offered it up to Mikayla’s lips. With his face still red and heated to the touch, she happily swiped the rich, chocolaty piece from heaven’s bakery into her mouth. 

Once they had cleaned off all of the plates and downed the last of their drinks (So that’s what that taste was, on Mikayla’s lips. It was coffee! Beau thought to himself), Mikayla paid for their brunch and they left the cafe hand in hand. 

“So,” Mikayla said as their hands swung between them. Beau glanced over at her curiously. “Anything you want to do out here in the scary human world?” 

Beau shrugged. “I-I don’t know. What is there to do?” 

“Well, any of these shops, here, to start,” Mikayla told him, throwing a hand out to gesture at all the opened stores. “But there’s also parks and museums and gardens and shit like that.” 

“Uh, well…” Beau said, his gaze passing over the various storefronts they passed on their way back to where Mikayla had parked her bike. And when his eyes caught on a bright pink sign, he paused. “How about here?” 

Mikayla looked up to see where Beau was suggesting and smiled. 

“I love this place!” she exclaimed, grinning at the pink words that announced the presence of the store to the world. 

With a smile, Mikayla let Beau take the lead, drawing them both into the bright interior of Sweet Like Sugar. Instantly, the sweet smell of sugar hit the couple as millions of brilliant colors lit up their eyes. The walls were lined with glass jars and containers of different sweets that could be dispensed into the little purple plastic bags that were hung around the room. Colorful bags and boxes filled the other stands and displays, advertising chocolates and gummy bears and caramels. 

“Whoa,” Beau breathed, glancing around at the hanging loops of decorative plastic chocolates and gummies and dangling rock candy and swirled lollipops. 

Seeing his awe, Mikayla gently dropped his hand. When he frowned curiously over at her, she nodded her head towards the crowded interior in invitation for him to explore. 

“Get whatever you like,” she told him. 

His face lip up as he turned to weave between the people and the aisles. 

With a smile, Mikayla watched as he scampered off like an excited kid in a candy store (which he pretty much was). She chose to linger by the entrance so that Beau wouldn’t have too much difficulty finding her once he had finished his browsing. 

She had just leaned over to read the description of a colorful pack of mixed fudges, enjoying the atmosphere of the store around her when a familiar voice cut through the music.