"Only 45 more minutes of hell." Danielle said to herself as she looked down at her watch to see how much time she had until her shift was over.
"Um, Hello!" Danielle quickly looked up to see the annoyed face of another lovely customer. He was an older man wearing a suit and had on a watch that looked like it cost more than her rent.
"Ugh, this guy's gonna be a prick." She thought to herself. She breathed in and in her fakest "friendly customer service approved" voice greeted "Hello, welcome to Hallowed Grounds, may I take your or-"
He held out his hand to shut her up, "Give me a small nonfat iced caramel macchiatto with sugar free vanilla and half a shot of espresso. And make sure its stirred and made upside down. And please don't mess it up, I'm in a hurry." He yells out his order like he's giving military commands.
" I was right...prick. He's gotta be fucking kidding me" Danielle thinks to herself before her thoughts are interrupted by, "Did you get all that? Cause I really don't feel like repeating myself."
"Coming right up!" Danielle chirps as she turns around to make his ridiculous drink, rolling her eyes out of disgust for both the rude customer and the fake enthusiasm in her voice.
"Okay, nonfat..iced...caramel macchiatto...sugar free vanilla...half shot of espresso...stirred and made upside down." she repeats the list of demands to the customer while handing him his beverage.
"Finally" he mumbles as he snatches the drink from her hand.
"Asshole" Danielle whispers to herself.
"You know, you're never gonna get any tips with that attitude." Tara smugly points out.
Aggravated like always by her co-worker/ room mate, Danielle replies to Tara, "Maybe I should just unbutton my blouse like you."
Tara gives a flat, sarcastic "Ha-Ha"
"At least I can pay my share of the rent on time" Tara adds.
Irritated once again by Tara, Danielle looks down at her watch, 41 minutes remaining until her shift ends.
"Fuck!" She mumbles in annoyance.
"Ehem", Danielle looks up, afraid of what might be looking back at her.
"Oh, thank god" she sighs, chuckling. "Its only you."
The familiar face was a security guard that Danielle had partially gotten to know while working at Hallowed Grounds, C.J.
"Who the hell did you think it was?" C.J smirks.
"I don't know, some other asshole customer." Danielle begins putting together his usual. " I don't know how you can drink so much of this shit."
"Keeps me awake. Someone's got to keep these fine people of Cross Roads Mall in order."
Danielle laughs, "Yeah, at least you're not forced to be nice to them... and you get to use a gun."
C.J. was the only other person she knew that seemed to share her low tolerance for the stupid people they had to deal with on a daily basis. Bart, another security guard, was the only exception, whose stupidity didn't seem to bother Danielle, but instead, made her laugh. Over the two years Danielle had been slaving at Hallowed Grounds, her and C.J. had exchanged small talk almost every day. In the beginning, he would just order his coffee and be on his way. But, as time went by, he began to notice how she rolled her eyes at the annoying customers, how she constantly put insufferable Tara in her place, how she didn't put up with the dumb ass teenagers that polluted Cross Roads Mall on Friday nights, and how sarcastic and funny he thought she was. Eventually he began to spend more time on the first level, near Hallowed Grounds. He would never admit to actually caring about a girl he hasn't even slept with, though. He didn't even want to think about how the other guys would constantly bust his balls. He also wasn't sure how Danielle felt. She was younger and he had seen how other men had unsuccessfully tried to flirt with her. Some days he felt that maybe his feelings towards her could be mutual, but then others he couldn't possibly talk himself into believing that she'd ever want to settle for him.
"So what's with the make-up?" C.J. was staring at Danielle's full lips coated in deep red lipstick. "You trying to impress me?"
Danielle could feel her cheeks starting to burn. She chuckled and blew it off, "You know, desperate attempt to get tips"
C.J. smiled and glanced at the empty jar labeled "tips","Doesn't seem to be workin out for you."
"Well, you know, my charming personality also happens to be a factor", she handed him his drink.
C.J. took a sip and nodded, "Well you got me", he slipped a bill in the empty jar "See you later Dani."
Danielle smiled a sincere smile that only seemed to come around when she was with C.J. and waved goodbye.
She had never expected to get close to anyone in Milwaukee, and she had almost succeeded. While attending school there she had never really connected with anyone like she had hoped. Even though she liked to think she didn't have any kind of stereotypical values, she really did want to fall in love, cheesy as it sounds. She was almost 25, and although it is still young, she had wanted to have some kind of romance under her belt by now. Instead, however, she was stuck at a shit job with a perv manager, a room mate she couldn't stand, and no real friends. Basically, life in Milwaukee had been a failure, and now she was just busting her ass to pay off as much of her college loans as she could and maybe even save up some money to get a place back home. Although, when she thought about it, not everything had turned out to be unfortunate. She didn't really consider C.J. as a real friend because they had never spoken outside of the mall. However, based on the relationship they had made while she was working, she could see herself becoming closer to him. There was no doubt that she had thought about it before, especially lately. He hung around longer, he was always making her laugh, and she noticed her day feeling brighter after having talked to him. She felt like an idiot when he mentioned her lipstick. He was right; she was trying to impress him. Her heart nearly stopped when he mentioned it. "God," she thought. She was being as giddy as a fucking teenager. She felt stupid to get so excited merely about grabbing his attention. But, he did notice. You could even say he flirted a little bit. Danielle could feel herself beginning to get stuck on the idea of her and C.J., and she didn't feel bad about it. But, then again, he had never taken the initiative to ask to see her outside of work. Why hadn't he? Maybe she was getting ahead of herself. Maybe she was just some silly little girl he liked to entertain himself with while he was on the job.
"There she is!" Danielle turned around to see the suit-wearing asshole she served earlier pointing an accusing finger at her. "That's the idiot that fucked up my order!"
"Now sir, I'm going to need you to calm down." Tara tried to diffuse the situation.
"Seriously how hard is your job?! My 5 year old could make a damn cup of coffee!" He began to raise his voice.
Adam, the manager, finally came over to see what was going on. "Sir, I am so sorry, I apologize about her. I'll get you another right away."
"Yeah, get me a refund while you're at it! I specifically told this MORON I wanted SUGAR FREE vanilla! Seriously! I can TASTE the difference!"
Danielle finally decided to say something, "Sir, I can assure you that I made your drink exactly how you asked."
"No, no, no, because if you had done that I wouldn't have had to waste my time coming back here! Seriously, do I have to tell you my order in Spanish for you to get it right!?" he snapped. Danielle caught Tara trying to hold back a giggle at the insult.
"Oh go fuck yourself!" Danielle knew as soon as she said it she was screwed. She was so angry she didn't care about the consequences.
Everyone's jaw dropped, including the prick in the suit. "Is this how you run things around here!? Oh, I can assure you I will never be coming back here!" He slammed the complementary drink Tara had handed him on the counter and walked away.
"Tara, hun, take care of things while I have a talk with your friend over here." Adam motioned for Danielle to meet him off to the side.
"Are you out of your mind! Adam, to Danielle's surprise, actually wasn't staring directly at her breasts at this moment.
Danielle snapped back into reality and now finally grasped the seriousness of the situation. "Listen Adam, I'm sorry I freaked out like that! I know it was so unprofessional and I shouldn't have said it, but he was trying to humiliate me!" Danielle couldn't believe she was actually starting to get choked up. She needed this job.
She noticed C.J. walking over in the corner of her eye. "Hey, what's going on here?" he asked, "Danielle, you okay?"
Before she could answer him Adam butt in, "Actually your little friend here has just lost her job."
Danielle gasped, "Please Adam, you know I need this job. I need this job. Please don't make me beg."
Adam seemed pretty fucking pleased with himself. He crossed his arms and let out a short laugh, "Beg! I've put up with your shitty attitude for two years! Aww, you really shouldn't have mentioned that! Now you gave me an idea!"
"Come on man-," C.J. started before Adam replied, "This doesn't concern you mall cop!" He tried to belittle C.J., "Why don't you take your ass over to Carousel and monitor over there!"
C.J. was getting pissed, but he didn't want to get Danielle into anymore trouble, so he kept his mouth shut.
"I think a little begging could do you some good." Adam looked around and lowered his voice to make sure no one else could hear him, "Go over there, make me a nice hot cup of coffee, get on your knees and give it to me."
"Oh you've got to be out of your fucking mind!" C.J. wasn't keeping a lid on his temper anymore. "You really think I'm gonna let your dumb ass get away with this? She can sue the shit out of you!"
"Shut up, C.J." Danielle said to him as she walked over to make Adam's cup of coffee.
"Danielle, don't this", C.J. tried to talk her out of it.
Danielle stared blankly at the steaming cup of hot liquid in her hand and walked back over to Adam, C.J. trailing along, continuing to try and stop her. Adam, arms still crossed, looked as if he was having the time of his life. Danielle tried to hand the coffee over while still standing, but was stopped by Adam shaking his head "no".
"Like we discussed", he persisted.
"Danielle, I swear if you do this, I'm gonna kick this guy's ass" C.J.'s threat only seemed to please Adam even more.
Danielle looked at Adam dead in his face. She smiled one of the fake smiles she had come accustomed to using while working at Hallowed Grounds and immediately threw the cup of steaming coffee in his face.
"FUCK!" Adam screamed in pain and fell to the ground, "YOU BITCH!"
"Oh my god!" Tara exclaimed.
Danielle made sure plenty of people were looking now, "Fuck you, you pervert, and fuck this job too!" Danielle ripped off her apron and threw it to the ground at Adam.
"You crazy bitch!" Adam began wiping off his face with a towel Tara had handed him.
"Aww, why don't you call security on me?" Danielle teased as she looked over to see C.J. laughing with her.
She smiled at C.J. and turned around to make an exit.