Chapter Text
It was entirely possible the barista working at the coffee shop downtown had forgotten about Effie Trinket's order completely. To be fair to the employee, she was alone behind the counter and the orders kept stacking up. Effie was trying to stay positive, though the longer she went without caffeine, the harder it was to keep a smile on her face. The Old Effie would have gone right up to the counter after only a few minutes of waiting and demanded a manager or a refund. But this was the New Effie, who was apparently perfectly content to wait twenty-five minutes for an iced caramel latte.
A man standing by her at the pick-up counter looked down at his watch and gave a small exhale, and Effie decided to take the gesture as an invitation. She wasn't normally in the habit of starting conversations with men she didn't know, but he seemed harmless enough— close to her age, dressed to go work in an office, decently handsome (but not so handsome he'd dismiss her)— she decided there was a low chance trying to make small talk with him would lead to her on the six o'clock news.
"My order is taking a really long time," she said. He looked over at her and laughed, and when their eyes met she realized she may initially have been wrong about his level of handsomeness.
"Is this your first time here?"
"Yes. Is it that obvious?" she said with a blush. Not only was it her first time in this coffee shop, but it was also her first full week in this increasingly quirky New England town. She had just moved here from London in an attempt to completely start her life over.
A month ago, Effie was at her absolute lowest: her nine year relationship had ended which essentially left her with nothing. Seneca had been the bread winner, allowing her to spend everyday living as a city socialite with her friends. She had no income of her own, her name wasn't on the lease, the only skill she had was knowing the difference between a 1982 and a 1984 Bordeaux (always go with the 1984). Alone and with no other choices, she couch surfed for a few weeks, filled out job applications, showed up at Seneca's door begging for him to take her back. But he didn't take her back and no landlord would rent to her without credit and no company would hire her without an employment history. She was out of options, or rather, out of all the options she was willing to pursue, so the only logical next step was to find somewhere that was the complete opposite of where she was now.
So, she decided if she was going to be miserable and desperate she might as well be miserable and desperate in a new place, and flew across the ocean to the smallest town she could find. Despite her better judgment, she used Craigslist to find a woman renting out a spare bedroom, paid for three months up front and began her journey to becoming New Effie. It had been less than a week, and being New Effie mostly entailed wandering around Main Street and trying to figure out which coffee shop had the best caramel latte. Today's choice was not proving to be a high contender.
"I mean, any local coming to Donner's knows it's going to be at least half an hour before you get your drink," the man next to her said.
Effie looked around at the decently full cafe, then back at the stranger. "Is the coffee like, really good or something?"
"It's okay. Most people just come here because they like Maysilee. Or, really, because they're afraid of her."
She looked at the scowling blonde haired girl moving in a constant circle of pouring coffee and then shouting out the various names she had markered on unbranded cups. There was definitely something scary about her, but as threatening as she could prove herself to be, Effie wasn't sure she was willing to wait thirty minutes for a drink.
"Oh," she said, just as Maysilee wiped her hands on her apron and called, "Haymitch!"
Effie watched the man next to her walk over to the counter, an unfortunate saunter that did nothing to inspire her to keep the promise to herself that she would not go on a date for at least a year. He grabbed the cup of coffee, which had a frowning face scribbled next to his name, and shoved a few dollars in the tip jar.
"Thanks, May," he said with a wink, giving Effie a small nod as he walked out the door.
Effie was left standing dumbfounded, not only because he had placed his order significantly after she had, but also because the name Haymitch fascinated her completely. It felt so foreign, she thought. Or maybe, that was just the type of name people used in her new town. The barista's name was Maysilee after all.
She stood and waited a few more achingly long minutes until Maysilee called her name from across the pick-up counter.
"Thanks!" she said, wishing she had a few dollars to tip. Admittedly, the bulk of her money was going to the caramel lattes each morning. " Wait, are you hiring? I'm looking for a job."
Maysilee barely even acknowledged her. "I'm pretty busy here."
"Exactly why you need my help!"
This time, she paused to eye Effie up and down. "Do you even have any experience?"
"Yes," she lied. "I just moved here, but I worked at a cafe back home in London."
"Fine," Maysilee sighed. "Come back tomorrow, if you last the shift you're hired for the summer."
"Great!" Effie said, thanking her before leaving with her latte and fresh victory in tow.
Maybe she really could become some sort of New Effie here; after only a few days she already had a place to stay and a job, she was leagues ahead of where she was a month ago. She smiled as she walked, so lost in the exhilaration of her new life she didn't notice her phone was ringing until it was about to go to voicemail.
She answered, as steady and casually as she could muster after seeing the name flashing across her screen. "Hey, Seneca."
"Effie?" he asked, seemingly confused. "Oh, shit. I meant to call Octavia."
Effie stopped walking, heart pounding in her own ears. "Octavia? As in my friend Octavia?"
There was silence for a handful of moments while presumably Seneca tried to come up with an excuse. Effie used it as an opportunity to stop the scream that was bubbling at her throat. She needed to stay calm if she was going to get to the bottom of this. There was no way her closest friend would date her ex-boyfriend, especially so soon after they broke up. Right?
"We wanted to tell you eventually," is all Seneca can come up with as an explanation. "I mean it's still new, we're not serious or anything."
"Wow, I don't even know what to say. Congratulations, I guess," she said as neutrally as she could. The instinct to scream had quickly turned into the need to cry.
"Congratulations to you, too, I can't believe you actually moved to America."
Annoyed by the genuine surprise in his voice, Effie wanted to hurt him. "Well, believe it. It's great here, I already met someone, too. And it is serious with us."
"Oh, wow. That's great, Effie," he said and she could tell he didn't believe her.
"His name is Haymitch," she said before she could stop herself. But once the words left her lips, she knew she couldn't take them back. "He's amazing."
"I'm glad, really. You deserve it."
She was either going to say something extremely rude or extremely romantic, so she feigned getting another call to get Seneca off the phone.
"This is him calling now, sorry. Tell Octavia I say hello."
When the call ended, Effie made sure there was no one else on the sidewalk with her before stomping her feet and letting out a scream. After a few seconds of release, she straightened. She couldn't dwell on this, there was work to be done, a new person to become, no time to think about her best friend and her ex-boyfriend. Effie took a sip of her latte and started walking again.
—
Effie survived her first day at Donner's Bakery, and then her second and third and so on until it had been three full weeks. She was barely scraping by, constantly mixing up the decaf and regular carafes, clogging the espresso machine, handing out the wrong coffees at the pick-up counter. Truthfully, she didn't know why Maysilee even let her stay, she hardly helped the orders go out faster and the daily waste astronomically increased during the time she was there. Effie was beginning to suspect Maysilee wasn't as mean as people made her out to be.
Mornings at the cafe were always extremely busy, but by early afternoon things seemed to slow down. Effie always used this time to suggest new ideas to Maysilee, who would bring her laptop to one of the dining area tables to do the administrative work that went into keeping the store afloat.
"What if we get coffee syrups that are ice cream flavors since it's summer?" Effie asked as she mindlessly wiped down the front counter. Maysilee didn't look up from her computer, which is how she knew it wasn't a good idea. Effie was learning how to read Maysilee: no response meant it was a bad idea, a glance up meant she was willing to hear her out, and if she stopped typing altogether and gave a verbal response, Effie knew she had struck gold. Rarely did she get more than a glance up.
"There's no demand," Maysilee said, eyes focused on her screen. "We serve the same regulars everyday and almost all of them drink their coffee black."
Effie sighed. She wanted to tell her that maybe their regulars only drank their coffee black because they had no other options, but she thought better of it. "Okay. What if I made the cafe an Instagram account? To help with marketing."
At that, Maysilee stopped typing and looked at her. Effie was almost giddy, it was the first thing she said that inspired her in a while. She expected her to tell her what a great idea that was, but instead when she opened her mouth it was to say, "Your phone is ringing."
Her phone was ringing, she realized, grabbing it from her apron and going to the back office to answer it.
"Hi, Octavia," she said, unable to hide her disdain. Octavia had called her right after Seneca had spilled the news of their relationship. At the time she had profusely apologized, and told Effie that it just sort of happened and asked that she not get mad. Since she was determined to be the New Effie, all she could do was exhale and say she was happy for them.
They chatted for a few minutes awkwardly, trying to catch up on each other's lives the way they used to. Their friendship had definitely suffered due to Seneca, her move thousands of miles away. Effie assumed it was Octavia's guilt that kept her reaching out on a semi-consistent basis.
"So," Octavia said eventually. "How are things with Haymitch?"
"What?"
"Is that not your boyfriend's name?"
Effie's heart raced, she had forgotten about her menial lie to Seneca a few weeks ago, said in a fit of jealousy. Haymitch was definitely not her boyfriend. He was a coffee shop regular that came in a few days a week and tipped two dollars for a three dollar black coffee. That was the extent of their relationship.
Now would be the time to correct the lie, admit to Octavia that it was all just a big joke, of course she didn't have a serious boyfriend after only a few weeks, of course a normal person's name isn't Haymitch. Unfortunately, Effie still felt jealousy and anger at the sound of Octavia's voice, Seneca's name; she felt physically unable to take back the lie at this point.
"Yes, sorry, the phone cut out. But he's great, we're great. We're thinking of moving in together."
If Octavia were really her friend, she would set Effie straight and tell her that even for a fake boyfriend things were moving awfully fast. But she already knew Octavia wasn't really her friend, proven by the fact that she was dating her ex-boyfriend, so she wasn't surprised when her only response was to congratulate Effie for taking that next step.
"I have to go. Haymitch is picking me up for a date soon," Effie said and hung up.
She went back to the front counter and started pretending to clean again while Maysilee typed away. Effie's new life was slipping away from her with every second that passed. "What if we at least got cups with the name of the cafe on them," she said and Maysilee looked up.
—
Summer was dragging on, and Effie was at a standstill in her journey to find herself, to transform into this New Effie. It had been two months since she arrived here, and though she had a job and a place to stay, she didn't have much else.
"Do you want to go out tonight?" she asked Maysilee one blazing hot Friday evening. She was desperate for a night away from her home to socialize. There had been a time, in London, where she was booked completely from Thursday morning to Sunday night. Now, the highlight of her week was when the pizza place next door had a special on Monday nights.
"There isn't anywhere to go," she said. Which wasn't no.
"Isn't there a bar a few blocks away? I need a drink."
They were closing up the store and every hesitation from Maysilee meant Effie was closer and closer to convincing her to come with her to the bar.
"Fine. One drink, and you're buying."
"Maysilee, we're not going to have to buy any drinks for ourselves. Look at us," she scoffed.
Effie knew she was pretty, especially for small town standards, but Maysilee was gorgeous. Everyone was in love with her, but she never gave anyone the time of day, instead choosing to act oblivious. To make things worse, she had a twin sister that was just as beautiful. Effie hated that she had to compete for the attention of the town with two other blondes, especially when the Donner sisters never gave paid anyone the time of day but still somehow got all the focus.
"You're severely overestimating the clientele of The Hob," Maysilee said, but still followed Effie as they locked the cafe doors and walked in the direction of the bar.
To her surprise and disappointment, Effie was not at all underdressed to go drink at The Hob. She had initially been worried about going there in the uniform Maysilee made her wear (black pants, pink T-shirt), knowing if she was in London she would have been turned away at the door by any establishment worth her time. But here, there wasn't even a bouncer to let them in; Maysilee just opened the door and found two bar stools for them to sit at.
Effie searched the other patrons, trying to see if there was anyone to shmooze a free drink off of, but the only other people at the bar were a middle aged couple and a handful of students from the local college.
"Ugh," she said, turning back to face the bartender. "Let's get super drunk."
"Okay," Maysilee said and waved down the bartender to order two beers and two tequila shots, then waited for Effie to hand over her card.
"This isn't one drink," Effie pointed out as she's opened her wallet. "Keep it open."
Maysilee shrugged. "I decided I want to get super drunk too."
So, they got super drunk together. They were on their fourth round of tequila shots and beer and Effie could feel it. She was Drunk Effie, and she was having a blast with Drunk Maysilee. They were talking loudly at each other, confessing their deepest secrets, their darkest sins. Effie was deathly terrified of elevators. Maysilee never finished college but told her parents she did. Effie spent all of her Great Aunt's inheritance on designer bags. Maysilee thought the ice cream coffee flavors was actually a good idea.
"I peed in my ex-boyfriend's can of soda after he broke up with me," Effie confessed as the fifth round arrived in front of them. "And I watched him drink it. He didn't even say anything, it was like he was used to the taste of piss or something."
"Ew," Maysilee shrieked, and then laughed. "A soda can? How does that even work?"
"I have really good aim," Effie said, then sighed, suddenly sad at the thought of Seneca and all the time of hers he wasted. "And now he's off dating my best friend, and neither of them even know he drank my pee."
"What a scumbag. We should text him and tell him he literally has your pee inside of him right now."
"This was months ago, surely it's not still there?"
Maysilee shrugged, neither of them knew the digestive window for urine in a person's stomach.
"Oh, I know," she said, grabbing for Effie's phone on the bar counter. "Let me take a picture of you looking your best without him, and then you can send it to him so he knows what's he's missing."
Effie clapped, it was the best idea she'd ever heard. "Do I look okay right now? Do I look like I'm better without him?"
"Oh my God, yes. Definitely." She aimed the camera and directed the shot. "Smile with your eyes, straighten your back, move your hand."
The camera clicked and Maysilee gave the phone back so she could approve the picture. Effie's vision was blurry from the abundance of alcohol in her system, but still, to her it was the perfect picture to send to Seneca to make him regret his choices. Before giving it a second thought, she texted him the photo and turned off her phone. Her and Maysilee continued to drink until the bartender cut them off and insisted someone come drive them home, so Maysilee called her sister.
Merrilee Donner drove Effie home and made sure she made it to her bed with a glass of water, and when she woke up in the morning she had the same hangover she used to get in college. She chugged a glass of water before checking her phone and was surprised to find a text from Seneca waiting for her. She stared at the picture Maysilee had taken of her, flushed and drunk and pushing her chest out like it wasn't the most obvious move in the book, and then took a deep breath before reading his response.
This isn't fair to Octavia. Or Haymitch
Effie groaned, remembering her stupid drunk text last night, her stupid Haymitch lie from months ago. Her stupid lie and Seneca's stupid new girlfriend, that just so happened to be her friend first. Her head was pounding, the tequila in her stomach was threatening to come back up. She blocked Seneca's number and then texted Maysilee that she was going to be in late, and that they should never drink that much again. Drunk Effie was as good as the Old Effie, and later, when the liquor leftover in her system poured out as she vomited over the toilet, it felt as good as a cleansing.
—
August drifted its way into New England, and with it the worst surprise of Effie's life.
"Effie!" a shriek came from the coffee shop's front door, and Effie froze. There was no one she had met over the last few months that would ever use that tone, let alone in the Donner's Bakery during morning rush. Maysilee looked over at her in curiosity, waiting to see what she was going to do about the two unexpected guests walking towards her.
"Octavia, Seneca," she said finally. "What are you guys doing here?"
The line of customers stared at them as they talked. The town was just barely starting to accept Effie's eccentricities that came from being from London, so two more foreigners joining her had the entire shop eager to see what would happen next.
"We wanted to visit! Plus it's like a little holiday for us," Octavia said. She looked around. "This place is so… quaint and cozy. I can't believe you have a job!"
Every sentence felt like a slap and Effie didn't know whether to be Old or New or maybe someone else entirely. She looked at Seneca to gauge his reaction, but he was stoic, standing with his arm around Octavia, like the drunk text incident never happened. Like the last ten years of their lives never happened.
"I wish you would have called," she said, trying and failing to match Octavia's enthusiasm. They had shifted to the dining room as they talked, and behind her Maysilee was continuously clearing her throat in warning. "Listen, I have to get back to work, but let me treat you to dinner tonight."
"Great! We can't wait to try the local cuisine," she said but again, it sounded disingenuous. "You should bring Haymitch, we'd love to meet him."
Effie's eyes widened and heat crept to her cheeks at the mention of that name, praying no one around them heard. "Totally. He might be busy, though. No promises," she said in a rush, trying to usher them out the door. But it was too late.
"Haymitch!" Maysilee called from the pick-up counter, holding out a newly branded Donner Cafe cup with his name on it. When Effie looked back at her and scowled, she was smirking; she had heard everything, the entire store had heard everything.
"Is that Haymitch?" Octavia looked at Effie and raised her eyebrows before walking up to him and Maysilee. "Are you Haymitch?
"Yes? Who are you?"
Effie was willing him to look at her so she could at least attempt to communicate something to him with just her eyes. Something like, Please, just go with it, or I will give you free coffee and order priority for a year if you do this one thing for me. But when he eventually looked over at her, his face just grew even more concerned.
Octavia and Seneca were shifting uncomfortably at his standoffish demeanor, and Effie knew she had to do something before this entire thing blew up in her face.
"Honey, don't be silly. These are my friends from back home, Octavia and Seneca. Surely I've mentioned them before."
"Honey?" Haymitch said, more confused than ever.
"Yes, dear?" she said, and Haymitch's eyes only grew wider. Maysilee choked on a laugh.
"It's so lovely to finally meet you," Octavia said, and pulled him into a hug. Effie was mortified, Haymitch looked like he was going to pass out when she finally let go.Effie looked to Maysilee for help, willing her to do something.
"Haymitch, remember," she said, "Seneca is Effie's ex-boyfriend who dumped her to date her best friend, Octavia."
Effie's jaw dropped to the floor and Octavia and Seneca both had the decently to blush.
"Her best friend? That's such a dick move, man," Haymitch said, frowning at Seneca.
"But it worked out for you," Maysilee said. "Because it meant Effie was single when you met her."
By some miracle, when Maysilee and a Haymitch looked at each other this time, he seemed to finally understand what was happening.
"Oh," he said. "Right, exactly. I should thank you, Sinclair."
"Seneca," Effie whispered.
"Seneca," Haymitch corrected.
Everyone stared at each other in silence into Maysilee coughed. "I hate to break up this delightful reunion, but Effie needs to get back to work."
Effie said she would text them about dinner, and amazingly they left without another word or second glance. As soon as the door shut behind them, Effie closed her eyes and gave a sigh of relief. In front of her, Haymitch cleared his throat.
"What just happened? Have we been dating and I didn't know about it?Because a relationship feels like something both parties have to agree to in order to be valid."
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I can explain everything, I swear," she said. "And I'll owe you the biggest favor a person can give someone if you just do one more thing for me."
"One more thing," he repeated, seemingly considering his options.
"Yes, just one more thing. You have to be my date to dinner with Seneca and Octavia tonight," she said, clasping her hands together at her chest.
"Alright," he said, putting his coffee back down on the counter and holding out a hand so she could shake it. She ignored it altogether, instead so overcome with appreciation she pulled him into his second surprise hug within a handful of minutes.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said when they broke apart. "I owe you, like really super owe you. Whatever you want, it's yours, just say the word."
He pulled a few bills from his wallet and shoved them in the tip jar as he picked his coffee back up. "Thanks, May," he called to Maysilee, who was already back to drowning in orders after the disruption. Then, he winked to Effie as he began to walk away. "See you later, honey."