Jess's request: "Romantic comedy between an herbivore and a carnivore and must be in dinosaurs POV."
Donate $10 and I'll write you a dinosaur short story with your requested genre, dinosaurs and whatever fun, silly, ridiculous thing you want to add.
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Bell enjoyed the small things in life: the first bite of a conifer salad, brewing the perfect cup of tea, and watching the studs in the gym across from her coffee shop work out while she was on lunch break. It was mostly theropods wanting to flex their muscles who worked out in the middle of the day, but Bell was secretly shameless about her ogling the eye candy. It wasn’t exactly acceptable for a young Chasmosaurus to be into a species that once tried to literally rip them apart with their faces, but Bell thought it gave them a bad boy persona.
One particularly yummy tyrannosaurid specimen was capturing Bell’s imagination. This guy was a two-legged dream, all muscle and soft, shiny feathers from head to tail. She could tell by his unique brow ridges he was a Gorgosaurus, a big theropod with strong legs, cute little arms (don’t say that do their face, of course) and big, handsome jaws. Bell swooned as she watched him across the street, working on his impressive leg muscles and listening to something on designer headphones. She mused quietly about how he must get them on and off his head, when a voice got her attention.
“Window shopping?” Daisy, her Parasaurolophus friend and partner in crime at work was grinning at her knowingly. Her big, pretty head crest was wrapped in a nice polka-dot ribbon today, an innocent contrast to the wicked smirk she was giving Bell.
“What’s wrong with window shopping?” Bell shrugged, trying to act nonchalant even though her cheeks were burning.
“Uh-huh. Which one is it today? The burly Dromaeosaur or the hunky Gorgy?” she wiggled her eyebrows, making Bell redden more. Scales, why did her best friend have to know her weakness?
“Shut up,” Bell mumbled, getting to her feet to head back inside. Daisy giggled viciously.
“It’s the Gorgosaurus, isn’t it? He’s pretty cuuuute…” she teased, following her pouting friend back inside.
“Sssh!” Bell warned, not wanting everyone else to know about her dirty little secret. Cross species dating was frowned upon even if they remained in the same dietary constraints, so it sure as hell wasn’t alright outside of that. Herbivores and carnivores barely even got along, so they definitely didn’t date. The lunch rush was starting to pick up, so the duo got back to their stations to serve up amazing frothy topped lattes and other warm delights. Bell manned the front, taking orders with a cheery tone and helped keep the line moving.
“Can I get another triple thagomizer, please!” she called back for the ultra strong espresso, handing the jittery Pterosaur his receipt before turning towards the next customer. She almost yelped in surprise at the impressive set of legs in front of her. The gorgeous Gorgosaurus from the gym stood gazing at the menu with an almost bored look. He was even more wonderful in person, his feathers seeming so soft over his strong body. A shiver rolled over her as she watched him, thankful he was occupied with looking at the menu. He gazed at the board for what felt like a long time, no one in line daring to tell him to hurry up.
“Minty slush frappuccino with extra whip,” he finally spoke, his voice deep and rumbling. When Bell’s voice didn’t behave in response, his orange eyes moved to her and pinned her in place. They were just the slightest bit predatory, aloof and deadly. Bell wanted to faint Victorian style and have him catch her with his...well...maybe she could fall on some soft pillows and he could just dote over her.
“Oh, my darling...I feel faint!” She would say, and cascade to the side wearing a beautiful red and cream dress with ruffles and lace. Mr. Gorgosaurus would be in a suit, of course, that just barely fit over his massive frame. She would fall onto the mountain of pillows and he’d kneel at her side, his handsome muzzle touching her manicured frill.
“Sweet Bell...I’m here for you…”
The big hunk cleared his throat, eyebrow cocked as Bell jerked away from her fantasy.
“...Minty slush frappuccino...please,” he said again, his voice having a bit more edge.
“O-ok! Right…” she stammered, swallowing the nerves boiling around in her gut and rang up his total. He paid with cash, meaning she had to reach over and take the money from his tiny hand, dropping it to the ground like a dork. The Gorgosaurus grunted, a scowl on his face as he bent down and grabbed the bill with his teeth and handed it back to her. The sight was adorable as it was embarrassing as hell for the both of them. Bell nearly dropped the bill again since her hand was so shaky, and cussed under her breath as she barely caught it in time.
“Name…?” she asked once the horrible exchange was over.
“Jet,” he grumbled, watching as she scribbled his name down onto the cup and passed it along. She tried to tell him to have a nice day, but he had already moved to get away from her and wait for his drink. Heat was rising in Bell’s cheeks and her chest felt like icy knots. She had made a total idiot out of herself.
While the line continued to work its way through, Bell quickly snuck a couple peeks over at Jet who sat at a far table near the windows. Sometime between him sitting down and her tossing in a couple more coffee orders, he had gotten those headphones back onto his head. The mystery of how he did it remained just that, and she cursed herself for not being faster. The line finally died down and Bell had a moment to breathe.
“Jet!” her co-worker called, placing the sugary drink on the counter. Jet didn’t budge, wrapped up in whatever his phone had on its screen, the device laying on the table which he tapped with his nose, and his headphones drowning out the sounds of the cafe. His named was called again and he stayed oblivious.
“I’ll take it to him!” Bell announced, rushing to snag the frapp and save the day, when she slammed into Daisy moving a carton of milk. The milk exploded, spilling all over her apron and shirt, and causing Daisy to scream in alarm. Her loud yell caused Danny to pivot in the tiny work space, his clubbed Ankylosaur tail taking out a napkin holder and sending fluttering white leaves to coat the area.
“God, I’m sorry…!” Bell was trying desperately to clean it up, wiping Daisy’s shirt off with some of the fluttering napkins, her face red with shame. Daisy huffed and helped pick up the pieces, shooing her out of the space so they could clean up the mess. In her state, Bell was more of a liability than anything.
Bell went around the counter and grabbed Jet’s drink, taking it over to his table shyly. She was a mess, covered in splashed milk and pieces of papery napkins, her cheeks red but a small smile on her beak.
“Um…” she said nervously, Jet looking up from his phone and blinking. His pretty orange eyes moved from her face, to her apron to the drink then back to her. Bell watched as he reached beside him and scooped up a long, metal arm with a handle on one end and a grabby, rubber claw on the other. He reached up with it and plucked his headphones off his head and set them down, folding the claw up and putting it away.
“Thanks…” Jet said, taking the drink with his tiny hand. “...Rough day?” His eyes glanced back at her apron.
“Yeah...kinda,” Bell laughed. “Um...enjoy your drink, Jet.”
“Yeah, thanks,” he said, his tone extremely hard to read. “You got um…” he nodded towards her frill. Bell reached up and felt her frill, trying to move her hand where he instructed.
“No...to the left...my left...just...here.” Jet reached up with his jaws and plucked the napkin off her frill, handing it to her. Bell’s face burned like a thousand suns as she took it and mumbled a weak thanks.
Bell was convinced the guy must think she was the biggest dorkasaurus on the planet, but at least he was nice enough not to announce it. Bell shuffled back to the kitchen to keep working and watched Jet enjoy his drink for a while before departing, not sticking around for a long time at all. There was a good chance she’d never see his cute face again, but at least she had a really nice Victorian day dream she could replay when she cleaning up.
The next day went a little more smoothly since Bell had a chance to reel her embarrassment and nerves in and focus on work. She was sad to see that Jet wasn’t at the gym when she took her lunch break, and it brought her day down a little bit. The likelihood of him coming back to the coffee shop was slim, but she at least would like to see him every once in awhile to admire from afar.
With a heavy sigh, she pushed her fresh fern salad around on her plate and sat in the sunshine, letting the warmth lift her spirits a little.
“Hey,” a big voice came from beside her. Bell dropped her fork on her plate as she looked up at Jet, who didn’t seem at all repulsed by her. “...Can I sit at your table?”
“Ok,” she squeaked, watching as the strapping theropod took a seat across from her.
“Uh...how’s your day going?” he asked, then nodded to her plate.”Lunch break?”
“Yeah...and it’s going ok. How...uh...how’s yours?” she offered back lamely. Jet nodded some and adjusted in his seat some. The conversation lulled and Bell wasn’t terribly sure what to do next. Why was he sitting with her? Was he...nervous? From the corner of her eye, she noticed a gathering forming on the inside of the gym by the large window she used to gaze at the beefcakes. A line of big theropods were lined up watching them, their noses practically pressed up against the glass as they stared. Bell sank down into her seat and flushed, her hand coming up to her face to try and hide her blushing.
“Oh...god…” Jet grumbled annoyed. “I’m sorry….those are my friends…”
“Why are they...staring at us?” Bell asked, terrified of the answer until she saw Jet blush. He blushed and it was cutest thing she had ever seen.
“Because….ugh….” he scowled and cleared his throat. “Because I wanted to come ask you out yesterday and I was too chicken footed.”
Bell’s world spun to a halt and she sat up like an arrow. “Really?”
“Yeah. I saw you yesterday outside on your lunch break and wanted to talk to you. I was so nervous yesterday I left when I saw you were having a bad day. I figured...I dunno...you probably get asked out a lot and….” he shrugged, his face bright red. Bell smiled brightly and Jet blinked in surprise and grinned back sheepishly.
“Actually, I don’t. Not by...such a cute theropod, that is.” Her words caused Jet to snort a laugh and glance at his horde of bros who were all smiling and giving the two or three fingered versions of ‘thumbs up’.
“It’s ok that...I’m not…” he hedged warily, his voice deepening in concern.
“A herbivore? I don’t care. I...kinda like it,” Bell giggled sweetly at Jet’s goofy, big toothed smile.
“Ok. Good,” he laughed. “Then...you wanna go catch a movie?”
“Yeah,” she said glowing. “I’d love that.”
The End <3
