I had lived a fairly average life before that, a college graduate with a degree that got me nothing, working multiple crappy jobs just to make ends meet. I didn't go out much, that required money and friends, but that didn't mean I didn't have things I enjoyed.

Such as my newest obsession, Through Fire and Water, a romance web novel. It wasn't the best story, the main character was a little dull, and very dependent on the main lead, who was a little too obsessed, dark and brooding for my taste. I still managed to enjoy it however, it had good action scenes, fun side characters, and most importantly, my favorite character of the novel:

The Coffee Girl.

Or so I named her. She wasn't important enough to have a name, not being an integral art of the story. But despite her limited time in the book, I found myself agreeing with her actions most of the time.

For example, during one scene in the story, the main character Darla is almost kidnapped. The male lead, Jack, of course steps in and beats up the would-be assailants. By the time he's done beating them up, however, the cops are already arriving. Why? Because coffee girl called them, of course. It was a perfectly sensible thing to do. After all when someone's being kidnapped wouldn't that be someone's first response rather than fighting them one by one like an action movie star?

Despite her demonstrated common sense, however, I did have some concerns about the character. She seemed overly attentive to Jack, knowing what his "regular" order of coffee was. Even though she had called the cops, she helped Jack escape through the employee entrance, keeping him from the awkward position of being questioned by the police.

Did coffee girl have a crush on the male lead?

This worried me greatly. As anyone who reads romance knows, no good ending awaits a woman who tries to get between the lead couple. If she was lucky, she'd just end up sad, humiliated and alone. If she was unlucky...

Something had to be done.

Finally, I wrote the author, expressing my love of the character and the hope that one day she would find happiness. To my surprise the author wrote me back, but the few words they sent back didn't make me feel that much better:

"Don't worry. She'll find her happiness. I promise. ;)"

Distrustful of this offhand reply, I remained very concerned for the fate of my favorite character. Then, one day, I came across a discussion thread regarding the newest update.

The title of the thread was "Tragedy at the Coffee Shop."

Oh no! Did they kill off Coffee Girl? She was the only sensible character! Worried, I didn't read the fan thread, and immediately made my way to the novel's website. Seeing the new chapter link, I felt inexplicably nervous as I moved the mouse over.

I hope she'll be okay. With that last thought, I clicked on the link.

And woke up in a coffee shop.

What the heck?

I looked around at my surrounding, completely confused. How did I get here? This did not look anything like my bedroom or crappy apartment.

Not good.

"Welcome to Heavenly Coffee, what's your order?"

The girl at the counter next to me greeted a customer. Looking down at myself, I quickly realized I was wearing an employee uniform, a grey apron with the coffee shop's logo emblazoned on the front. I was apparently working at this place that I had arrived at unexpectedly.

Wait a minute. What had that girl called this place?

I glanced around, confirming the name of the shop with a groan. Heavenly Coffee. Wasn't that the name of the coffee shop in Through Fire and Water, the romance novel?

It had to be a coincidence. As I was thinking this over, a customer waved to get my attention. Not wanting to stand out, I welcomed him to the shop the same way the other girl had. When I asked for his order however, he hesitated, pulling the baseball cap on his head even lower as if to cover his face.

"Isn't Margaret here? She knows my usual."

Confused, I looked to the girl next to me who shrugged. "She quit last week, sorry."

"Don't worry sir, just tell me how you want your drink and I'll do my best." My "customer service smile" was on at full force. Why was I even trying this hard for a job that I shouldn't even be at?

The man hesitated, and then wrote something down on a piece of paper. Handing it to me with an embarrassed expression, he simply muttered "Here."

I rolled my eyes as I took it. So dramatic. The guy might be handsome, but seriously? Couldn't he just say the order out loud like a normal person? Glancing at the paper, I was mildly surprised at the very specific hot chocolate order, but at least it didn't seem difficult. I shrugged, rang him up and began making the drink. As I worked, I realized the man was staring at me intently, looking shocked.

"Umm... you realize I have to actually make the drink right?"

He seemed startled, shaking his head slightly as if to clear it. "Y-yes. Of course."

"..." There was an awkward pause as he didn't move.

"So... could you go stand somewhere else? I'll call your name out when it's ready." Thinking for a moment, I added. "Oh yeah, what's your name?"

He still was staring at me strangely. "It's Jack. "

"Okay Jack."

"... Could you make sure not to call out what the order is?"

I struggled not to roll my eyes again. "Sure, buddy."

With that I kept working, ignoring him until the drink was ready. I called out his name, handed him his drink, and turned away. As I did, I noticed the other girl watching me with wide eyes.

"What?"

"You talked with JACK HARRIS?!!!" Her voice went up several octaves.

Why did that sound familiar?

"I guess?"

"I can't believe it! I'm so jealous!" She looked around, and then whispered. "What did he order?"

I got a weird vibe from the girl, so I instinctively lied. "Nothing interesting."

I turned back to the counter, catching glance at Jack who was sitting at a table. He seemed dark, brooding, holding his hot chocolate in front of him. All of his attention was focused on another table. I followed his gaze, seeing an attractive quiet girl sitting in the corner, drinking a coffee while reading a book.

Seems like a set up for a romance novel. I chuckled to myself, the sound trailing off as I slowly realized my situation.

Wait.

Heavenly Coffee.

Jack Harris.

THIS WAS Through Fire and Water!

How did I... I was in the story? I shook my head, it just didn't make sense. If I was in the story, then what character was I? I obviously wasn't Darla, the main character, who was the quiet girl sitting in the corner. I took a moment to sigh with relief at that fact. Being stalked by a handsome brooding man with no original personality did not seem like a fun time.

But if I wasn't the main character... I looked around, and then down at my uniform.

I WAS COFFEE GIRL!

With an excited shriek, I saw my own nametag. "Megan!" I shouted, jumping up and down. "COFFEE GIRL HAS A NAME!"

And then I realized I was talking out loud... very loud. The entire café was still, staring at me. I decided to roll with it.

"What, a girl can't enjoy the sound of her own name?" I then turned my back on them, not missing the snort of laughter from a certain male lead. Oh well, it wasn't like I had any dignity to lose.

That night, I found my way to Megan's apartment and spent time searching on the Internet. Much to my surprise, the world I was in was exactly like the one I had grown up in, with two exceptions:

First, the characters from the story were real people, as well as the companies and organizations that had been described. For example, Jack was the CEO of a tech company, whose online description was as frustratingly vague as the one in the romance story, to my dismay. What on earth did his company actually do?

The second exception was that there was no trace that I could find online of myself, the author or the book, Through Fire and Water. As far as I could tell, I had somehow transported into a world that was the same as the story of the book. Fortunately I had no major attachments to my former life, so whether or not I could return to it was not my biggest problem. Megan had a good apartment, a steady job that paid surprisingly well for a café, and even a cat. Plus there was the added bonus of getting to watch the characters of my favorite story fall in love. Considering it was still early spring, and the events I had read up to were in mid winter, I had about eight months before the story started in earnest.

I was more concerned about the chapter I couldn't read. What had that discussion thread meant by "Tragedy at the Coffee Shop"? Was I destined to die? I wasted quite a few hours, and all of the wine stored in the apartment, before coming to the slightly drunken conclusion that I had no control over my fate even before appearing in a romance novel, so there was no point worrying about it anyways.

And so, I began my new life as a background character.

Every day, Jack and Darla came to the coffee shop. Darla was fairly normal, she would come in, order a black coffee, and sit in the corner and reading her book. She never talked to anyone, never caused any trouble, and other than taking up a free table for a couple hours, was a barely noticeable presence.

Jack on the other hand...

He would skulk in half an hour later after Darla, trying to be discrete but always ending up looking extremely suspicious. Without fail customers would notice him and report his behavior to me, worried that he was there to hold up the café. He would then come up to the counter, demand to talk to me, and then order "the usual." Receiving his overly sweet drink, Jack would then sit down at a table and stare at Darla. For hours. It was not subtle. It was horrible to watch.