Mainstream

“And then- and then- what was I talkin’ ‘bout?”

I laugh. “Your friend, Henry,” I say, pulling a blue dress with a white collar out of my closet and putting it on.

“I don’t know what I was going to say,” the little boy says breathlessly.

“That’s okay. You can tell me when you remember,” I tell the five-year-old through my phone. “But it’s bedtime now, so go to sleep, okay Kaden?”

“Okay. Bye!” he shouts, and then he hangs up the phone.

I smile at my phone for a moment before pulling on my favorite shoes and grabbing my purse. I throw my phone inside the small white bag and walk out my front door to my car. My phone pings from inside my purse, and I dig around to find it.

“I just threw the damn thing in here. Where the hell is it?” I say, my fingertips brushing against the cold screen. “Bingo!” It’s a text from Lina. ‘It can wait,’ I think to myself, getting into my car and driving away.

~

The bell jingles at the entrance of another customer, and I peer around the cash register at who it is. I see Lina walking towards the counter in another pair of her kitten heels.

“You’re late,” I tell her flatly.

“I didn’t shower last night so I did this morning. I lost track of time,” she explains, pulling out her phone.

“And you know you’re supposed to use the back door, right?” I ask, going back to flipping through the magazine in my hands.

“It’s jammed – again.” She rolls her eyes, holding her apron out in front of her. “I’m on kitchen duty, right?”

I nod, turning the page of my magazine. “I have cupcakes cooling on the rack and I need them frosted in twenty minutes. Do the rainbow thing with the white frosting; those sell better. I want peach cobbler in the oven within the hour. And if you could make blueberry muffins, that would be awesome.” I look up from a riveting article about the color brown. “Got it?”

She looks up at me from her phone, startled. “What?”
I hold out my hand. “Phone. Now.”

She pouts. “Why?” she whines, handing it over reluctantly.

“Did you hear anything I told you to do? Anything at all?”

“You were telling me to do something?” she says, pretty much questioning herself as she shifts her weight to her left foot.

I sigh. “I’ll write it down. What were you doing on your phone?” I close my magazine, grab the nearest notepad and a pen, and start to copy down everything I have asked Lina to do when she wasn’t listening.

“Finalizing date details,” she tells me, leaning against the counter to look at what I’m writing.

I look up at her. “You have a date? When? With who? Not that same douchebag from last week I hope,” I say, dropping the pen and sitting up straighter.

“Yes, I have a date. And no, it’s not that arsehat,” she grumbles. “It’s the guy that offered to call me a cab when I was leaving the date with that arsehat. Didn’t you get my text?”

“Oh! I did. I was getting in my car when I got it but I forgot to look at it.”

“Well, it’s here at one, so I need to get off before then.”

“How about you just work until then and meet him here?” I suggest, grinning. “And you do know that’s rush hour, right? I need all hands on deck!”

She gives me the stink eye. “This,” she gestures to her face, “is my work makeup. I have to put on my date makeup. And better clothes.”

“You look fine. And why bother with nice clothes if they’re just going to come off later?”

“Are you confusing me with yourself again?” she questions, a ghost of a smile drifting onto her face.

“No. I was talking about doing extra laundry because of an hour long date,” I say, grinning and absentmindedly pouring a cup of coffee.

“Mhm. Stick to that story,” Lina said, grabbing the list and walking away.

~

“Can’t find a daycare, Naomi?” I ask, taking the car seat from her hand when she walks through the door at ten.

“Why find a daycare when my co-workers do that for me at work?” she smirks, shrugging, throwing her purse into the break room, and placing Belly’s diaper bag under the counter. I pull Isabella out of her car seat and hold her up against my torso.

“You make a good point. I should start paying you to bring Belly with,” I say, bouncing my way to the register where a customer is waiting to order. I put the car seat on the floor and carefully put her back in it. I stand back up and smile at the customer. “What can I get for you today?”

“Peppermint tea, please,” the teenager requests, handing me her credit card. “I love your necklace, by the way. Where’d you get it?”

I touch the locket that hangs just above my collarbone. It is one that I was given by my secondary school boyfriend. “It was a gift. I got it years ago,” I answer, reminiscing for a moment about the brown-haired boy who stole my heart and left with it. Then, I enter the order and total it. I give her card back to her, and she goes to wait by the magazine rack, flipping through the latest Seventeen magazine.

“Daaaaaaamiannnn!!!” I shout into the break room where my preoccupied homosexual employee sits on the faded couch, flipping through a clothes catalogue. “I’m not paying you to sit around and look through all the catalogues in the café all day. I need a peppermint tea on the counter in five.”

He closes the magazine with a pout and a huff. “But I like looking at clothes…”

“You won’t have any money to buy clothes if that tea isn’t done in four and a half minutes. Time’s a-wasting!” I disclose. “Tick-tock!”

He jumps up and goes into the kitchen to make the tea, and I go back to the register.

“Katybird, can I go now?” Lina asks.

I turn to face her. “No.”

“Do I really have to beg?”

“No, but you can if you want to,” I smile, taking Isabella out of her car seat where she was watching us silently.

Lina drops to her knees on the tiled floor and folds her hands like she’s praying or something. “Please, please, please, please, pleeaaase may I go get ready for my date?”

“Well...” I say, pretending to think about it. “No.”

“Katy, you are my best friend, and I love you to pieces. All I’m asking is for this one tiny, itty-bitty favor from you. I really want to look good for this date,” she tells me. She waddles closer to me on her knees and grabs my free hand, giving me her best puppy-eyed pout.

“Well, when you put it that way.... no.”

She lets go of my hand. “Oh, come on!”

“You don’t need three hours to get ready!” I argue, switching the baby to my other arm.

“Yes, I do! I have to shower, shave, pick out my outfit, do my hair, my makeup, and get dressed and make it look like I didn’t spend three hours getting ready so I don’t look desperate but also look absolutely gorgeous at the same time!”

“And you can do all that in two hours. I’ve seen you do all that in ten minutes or less, so two hours shouldn’t be a problem.”

“But that was when I was dating Zack! I didn’t try as hard then!”

“Listen, Lina, if this guy really likes you, he’s not going to care. And it’s just a coffee date! It’s not like you’re going to a charity ball or something!”

“Yeah, but....” she starts, tugging on the hem of her shirt. “If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anybody else? Not even Damian?”

“Don’t tell Damian what?” he asks, walking out of the kitchen, tea in hand. “Speak of the devil, I know.”

“She’s by the magazine rack. Just go give it to her,” I say, pointing at the blonde.

“Okie doke!” he exclaims cheerfully, walking away.

“Of course I won’t tell anyone. What is it?”

“The guy I’m going on a date with,” she whispers quietly. “He’s apparently pretty famous, so if I’m going on a date with him I want to look nice in case photographers decide to follow him.”

“What’s his name?” I ask, worried.

“Hang on. Customer,” she says, standing up and grinning at the guy that just walked in. As she takes his order, I walk into the kitchen, bouncing the baby as I go.

~

The jingle bells above the front door do their thing.
I peek around the doorframe of the break room and see Lina wiggling her fingers at me, a man in a gray beanie and a black T-shirt walking next to her. They disappear around the corner as they go to find a booth before I get the chance to see his face.

I finish wiping the baby puke from my apron and walk out of the break room, leaving a sleeping Isabella in the bassinet I bought specifically for the purpose it is being used for. I close the door to the small room quietly so as not to wake her and put the baby monitor on the counter next to the dishwasher so anybody in the kitchen can hear it, but not the customers.

Lina comes up to the register. “I need a French vanilla cappuccino and a black coffee.”

“Get back here and make your own cappuccino and coffee, you lazy ass.”

She gasps and holds her hand to her chest, pretending to be offended. “How dare you speak to your customer that way!”

“I’m busy with the baby back here, asshat,” I lie, jabbing my thumb toward the closed break room door.

“Well, I’m on a date!” She stands there for a moment, thinking. “Isn’t it weird how you moved from London to America and got an American accent but now that you moved back here you just can’t seem to pick it up again?”

“Yeah, but I think it helps with business. You know, me being a foreigner and all.” I laugh. “You better get back to your date.”

“Just take the cost out of my pay. This way he can’t pay for it and I’ll show him that I am independent and capable of holding my own.”

“Well, in that case, you’re not getting a check on pay day.” I grin. “Let’s call it the employee add-on.”

“Just make the damn coffee, arsehat,” she grumbles and walks away.

I grin and turn around to make the cappuccino, and then the bells do their thing and jangle. I groan internally and put a smile on my face, then turn to greet the customer.
I accidentally outwardly groan when I see the line of people in front of me.

“Naomi! It’s rush hour!” I shout into the kitchen. “Chop-chop! You’re on register duty!”

She comes out of the back kitchen and takes my place at the register while I made the cappuccino, which took longer than usual because I had to replace the filter in the machine and add more powder. Finally, the cappuccino is done. I pour regular coffee into a paper cup and stick both the coffee and the cappuccino in the freezer so they will cool off faster.

Three minutes later, I take them out, stir them, and put lids on the cups. I decide to personally deliver the caffeinated beverages to Lina’s table so I can meet her mystery date, but can’t find Lina at any of the tables. And there are three people in gray beanies, two of which had black T-shirts like her mystery date.

I sigh. “Lina!” I call out like I do for everyday customers.

There’s a crack in the lid of the cup with just coffee in it. I set the cappuccino cup down on the receipt with Lina’s name on it and turn around to replace the lid. When I turn back to the serving counter, the cappuccino is gone. I start setting down the coffee, but a hand reaches out to take it from me. Long fingers grasp the paper cup above where my hand grasps it, and I looked up with a smile on my face to greet Lina’s mystery man and my customer.

My smiles falters as I stare right up into the face of the man I never thought I’d see in person again. My hands involuntarily clench, and the cup of warm coffee explodes in our hands.

“Shit!”

Notes

Why doesn't Katy have a British accent? (Yes, there is a reasoning for this.)
Who's Kaden?
I can't think of any more questions. Make conversation with me or something in the comments!

Next chapter release: August 30

Xoxo,
~TRU&ice

posted 08.23.14