Light chatter hums in the background, blending into the whirring of air conditioning and the droning of coffee machines.

 

Lily shuffles her way past customers waiting for their drinks and weaves around tables crowded with laptops and notes. Someone hefts their laptop bag and stands just as she walks by, and she quickly sets her own bag down, sinking into the chair with a relieved sigh.

 

She will have to get up soon to order, but for now she lets her tired limbs rest. Lily pulls out her phone as she cools down, smiling at the first notification that appears.

 

"Had lunch yet?" it reads, beside a profile photo of a cute orange dog with a cartoon smile. The art style is in direct contrast to her own profile, which is and always has been a stock photo of a water droplet.

 

"Not yet, soon."

 

As soon as she sends her reply, her friend shoots back. "You better!!!"

 

With a quiet laugh to herself, Lily gets up. She snaps a photo of the display case, rows of quiches and croissants and pies. "What should I get?"

 

"I like the quiche that has spinach. You're in a cafe?"

 

She gives the message a thumbs up, an answer to both the suggestion and the question. "Should I get coffee?"

 

"You already had one! Maybe get an iced chocolate?"

 

She pins a puking emoji on the message. She deems the drink "too sweet".

 

"More for me!!!" 

 

She gets to the front of the queue like that, bantering back and forth with Poppy. The quiche is ordered along with an iced americano. 

 

"Order for?" The cashier asks, a marker in one hand and a new cup in the other. 

 

"Anna," she says, instead of her own name. The exchange has her shooting off a question to Poppy, wanting to resume their conversation. She balances her fork and knife on her plate of quiche on one hand, the other already tapping the message out as she walks, too impatient to wait even for a moment.

 

She almost bumps directly into someone, head bowed but moving slow enough for most people to shift out of her way. Someone standing and waiting for their own order hardly moves a muscle, hair a curtain around their face. Clearly, Lily is not the only one too absorbed in a phone. 

 

She murmurs an apology as she side-steps around the person, catching a glimpse of an orange keychain between silver nails before she slips back to her seat.

 

"Do you give your real name for coffee orders?"

 

She receives a no, the word stretched out with enough "o"s to fill the line: "Nooooooo".

 

"I give Poppy! It's funny to see the misspellings".

 

"I give generic names like Anna." Lily sends another message soon after, adding that she is getting her second coffee of the day, coupled with a heart emoji. She gets a thumbs down slapped on her message, sparking a snort of laughter around a mouthful of quiche.

 

"I think I heard an Anna order just now, you really picked a generic name!"

 

The message has Lily scanning the cafe, though the gesture is nearly useless. Poppy knows her by the nickname River, knows her favourite bands, knows her sleep schedule, but does not know her face.

 

It goes both ways: Poppy shares her favourite animes, shares pictures of all things shiny and glittery, shares recommendations for sugary treats, but does not share her real name. 

 

With three years of friendship, it hardly matters.

 

"You better not be spying on me!" Lily jokes, taking another bite of her quiche as her eyes settle briefly on the person she nearly walked into moments before. Iridescent threads are woven into dark hair, making the shimmering colours stand out like spotlights.

 

It reminds Lily of the hairstyle Poppy wanted to try, mentioned to her months ago in a drawn-out whining of several texts. 

 

"Did you ever get your hair done?"

 

"I did!!" Poppy sends a celebrating cat GIF right after. "I'm really happy with it, plus it matches well with my nails!!!"

 

Typing and retyping as she figures out what to ask, Lily manages to settle on "What colour?" before she hears a call of "Anna!" from the collection point.

 

She sends off the text and gets up, this time paying more attention to her surroundings. The girl with Poppy's hairstyle is still there, shifting her weight between sneakers with pastel tie-dye patterns. 

 

The iced americano still feels warm around her fingers, so she shakes the ice around to try and cool it. She takes a sip as she turns, eyes falling on the girl as she walks past.

 

Her silver nails are tapping rapidly across her phone's keyboard. With a second look, she can make out the keychain properly now: swaying between her fingers is an orange dog, the same one on Poppy's profile.

 

When she sits back down with her drink, Poppy has sent her a few new messages. A step-by-step of her nail polish process, starting with the light grey base coat and ending with a layer of glaze "to make it shiny and cooler". 

 

"So it looks silver in the end?"

 

"It does! Also the same Anna just collected her drink, can't believe mine is taking so long..."

 

That girl has been standing there for a while.

 

Fingers hovering over the screen, Lily chews on her lip. It could just be a coincidence. Poppy's hairstyle is not uniquely hers, and silver nails are not quite popular, but also not quite obscure. Both of those together though, plus the keychain...

 

"Poppy!" 

 

The name hollered from the collection counter has Lily's head jerking up, eyes stuck to the girl as she moves forward immediately, one hand finally detaching from her phone to curl around her drink.

 

Lily sends her next message in full capitalisation, "POPPY TURN AROUND", watching as the girl checks her phone.

 

Poppy's hair flicks halfway into the air with how fast she turns, falling back over her shoulders in a gentle cascade like the fabric of a sundress. She looks around wildly for a moment, before Lily raises her hand and their eyes lock.

 

There is no familiarity at first, not when they have never met before. It burns a spark of anxiety in Lily, the fear that maybe she got it wrong, that she is waving at a mere stranger. Then Poppy's eyes flick over her, taking in her appearance and all the hints of River scattered around her, each one a puzzle piece that clicks into place. 

 

Pressed behind her phone cover is a photocard of Lily's favourite band member, a treasure celebrated in several pictures the moment she had unboxed it. The hand curling around her phone shows off Lily's black nails, with hand drawn wave patterns that she talked Poppy through just days before. Around her wrist sits a woven bracelet, one that Poppy witnessed her piece together strand by strand via a journey of photographs.

 

When Poppy meets her eye again, she smiles, glittery makeup catching the light and adding true shine to an already bright happiness.

 

There is no hesitation, then, when she crosses the cafe and plops down on the seat across from her. 

 

"Hello stranger!" Poppy chirps out, along with a disbelieving giggle. "How's, uh, your lunch?"

 

It reminds Lily of her half-eaten quiche, forgotten in the midst of the conversation.

 

"Oh, it's okay." She pokes at it with her knife, busying herself with slicing off another bite-sized chunk. "So, uhm. What's your name, Not-Poppy?"

 

"Ah, right." Another laugh bursts out of her, bright and unrestrained. "I'm Amelia, but all my friends just call me Amy. What about you, Not-River?"

 

The nickname draws out a snort from her. Poppy, no, Amy's smile somehow grows wider at the sound. 

 

"I'm Lily. It's nice to meet you, Amy."