The Chocolate Milkshake

Having a nine-to-five job was, by all human standards, completely normal.

And yet, as she walked to work in her denim shorts and high-top black plimsolls, she felt completely out of place. It wasn't as though she particularly stood out, what with her brown hair, blue eyes and fair skin to consider. She appeared, to any person who might throw her a quick glance, the most average girl, just making her way up the high street.

It wasn't even the fact that her West Midlands regional accent (it's what most people had said she possessed, anyway) stood out like a sore thumb in London. It wasn't a thousand other reasons that she could list.

It was that she felt she didn't deserve to be there. She'd only got the job in the first place due to outside forces that insisted on interfering, and it wasn't as she if had any power against them.

At first, the job had been fairly easy, but fairly boring; making tea and coffee and doing the 'cake run' wasn't challenging by any means—but a job was a job, and it kept her from going crazy from being alone at home. Her grandparents had jobs of their own and were too busy to look after their definitely-old-enough-to-look-after-herself granddaughter.

Then one day, while bored and with nothing else to do, she had found herself doodling in the notebook she had bought the day before because she had found herself in that situation before.

"That's really, really good, Ash," said an impressed and surprised voice from over her shoulder. Ash smiled politely at her boss.

"Thanks, Beth." She would have continued with her doodles if it were not for Beth snatching up the piece of paper, fascination etched across her features.

"These are greeting card designs, right?" Ash tucked a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear.

"... Yeah," she shyly replied. There were a few moments of—awkward, Ash had thought—silence as Beth studied the drawings. Then, Beth said something that completely threw Ash for a loop.

"How would you like to try your hand at designing greeting cards?"

That was how Ash now found herself walking to work, on the way for a trial run. It was to last a couple of weeks, and Ash would be designing hypothetical greeting cards to see how she did. Then, her designs would be tested with some members of the public. If her designs were liked well enough then she would be promoted from 'tea girl' to 'card designer'.

Ash didn't feel it was fair to the other card designers. They had probably worked really hard to get their job, and here she was, just waltzing in and practically being offered it on a plate after she had doodled when she was bored. She didn't even have any aspirations to design cards, not really. Didn't that make her the wrong person for the job?

Nonetheless, Ash was not ungrateful and she was going to take the opportunity she had been graciously offered. Even if she didn't pass the trial it was still going to be more enjoyable than making tea and coffee.

She entered the office building where the company was situated and made her way up the two flights of stairs to the space the company occupied.

It was a standard office space, except the usual rows of desks and borders to separate them had been removed in favour of a more open office space. Tables, ranging in size and colour, had been placed around the room with very comfortable chairs to accompany. In the corner was a coffee table and sofa for the person who was not so sociable, to make them comfortable, and this was were Ash could usually be found, reading a book, nursing a hot chocolate, if she was not in the kitchen.

As expected, it was only Beth here this early and she never liked to make her employees start work before nine in the morning. It was to "keep up employee moral", she had claimed. It was only a quarter to eight, so Ash headed straight for the small, but separate kitchen space.

Ash grabbed the full-fat milk and she cringed at the mug her dad had bought her upon hearing she'd got a job. It was purple and sparkly, with white, cartoon-style smiling unicorns splashed all over the mug with the words "CONGRATULATIONS" in a white and big font across the front. Fortunately, she worked mostly with millennials so the general consensus was that the mug was "cute".

Her dad, despite not living with her, would know if she didn't use it at work. He had his ways.

Full-fat milk in the cringe-inducing mug, Ash popped it into the microwave and set it for two minutes. It was bizarre, how long two minutes felt when you were waiting for a microwave to finish. In such moments Ash engaged in a pastime she fondly called "Human Watching".

A smile touched her lips as she gazed out of the window to the ground below. Adults dressed in business attire were, presumably, heading to work while kids in school uniform, some tidy, some messy, were heading to the prison cell they were required by law to attend. Ash was always thankful she had never been forced into school, even when she wasn't living with any of her family members.

"Bit early for hot chocolate, isn't it?" Ash didn't turn as the voice fondly mocked her. The owner of the voice came to stand by her side. Ash stiffened up and had to force her eyes to stay trained on the humans down below.

Katie Morgan was a mixed-race girl, though many people would assume she was only Chinese upon looking at her. Katie had, in fact, been born and raised in Swansea to a Welsh father and a Chinese mother. She looked the epitome of a Chinese girl, with her black, short hair and her dark eyes and the face that Ash assumed she had inherited from her mother, but otherwise, she was the most Welsh person from Wales Ash had ever known. Katie's Welsh accent, though not from the countryside, was incredibly thick.

Ash felt so boring compared to Katie. She was incredibly average looking, with the most boring features known to man with a doctor and an archaeologist for parents, whom she scarcely saw anyway; and when she did they were there to see her grandparents most of the time. She was so average even her parents didn't bother with her most of the time. She had no idea what Katie's parents did (and Katie's mother lived in China so she'd probably never know what she did) but whatever they did, it was probably a lot cooler.

She allowed herself a side glance at Katie; today she wore a pale blue t-shirt with white shorts and summer sandals attached to her feet. Her face was made up almost perfectly and her hair in loose curls. Even how Katie presented herself blew her out of the water. Ash never did anything with her hair other than have it trimmed occasionally.

"Everyone looks so gloomy," Katie commented. "It's nearly the summer holidays, miserable sods." She turned to Ash, smiling. "How are you this morning? You all right?"

"I'm good." Ash didn't sound like she was, but she definitely was. She was more than all right now. "You okay?" Katie went digging into her backpack and produced two chicken and cheese paninis.

"My dad bought these for us this morning so yep!" Ash cursed inwardly at herself for being weak as she finally turned her eyes upon Katie and accepted the microwaveable and high in saturated fats sandwich from her colleague.

"Your dad is literally the nicest dad ever," Ash stated. A few seconds of rapid beeps, then, from the microwave let Ash know the milk was done. She took out the mug and gestured for Katie to use it first.

"I know, but please don't actually say that to his face," said Katie. She unwrapped the panini and placed into the microwave. "He'll be so smug. Too smug."

"Do all Welsh people get smug when you tell them they're nice?" Ash asked.

"No, we only get smug when we have sunshine and England doesn't. Hey, it's the start of your trial today, right? Looking forward to it?" Ash shrugged.

"I suppose so, yeah." She had been awake through the night making different card designs. She wasn't actually looking forward to it but she was determined to impress.

She'd only known Katie for two months but Katie saw right through her. The Welsh woman frowned and closed the small distance between them. Ash's lips went thin, her cheeks red and she refused to look Katie right in the eye.

"C'mon, tell me what's wrong. I know you, Ash, something is definitely wrong." Ash shook her head and moved away from Katie, taking a sip of her hot (very hot) chocolate.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Had her years and years of experience of lying made her any better at it?

"Oh, Ash." With absolutely no warning at all, Katie pulled Ash towards her and enveloped her in a warm hug. Ash was quick thinking and placed her mug down. "It's okay. I know you're still a bit shy around us." Katie pulled back and Ash was thankful Katie gave no reaction to Ash's reddened face. "We're your friends here."

Ash didn't know how to respond. All the people she had known over the years, and she was still a socially awkward mess. At least around people she knew. She was strangely fine with people she knew she'd never speak to again. "Erm…"

"Hey, why don't you come out with us tonight? Me, Becky and Hannah are going to the cinema and then for something to eat. " Katie held Ash by the shoulders and smiled and raised her eyebrows in an encouraging manner. "I'll buy you a driiink…"

Ash sighed through her nose. She was old enough to know when she had been defeated. "All right."

Work had been… interesting. Ash had thought that at the moment Beth asked her to think up some card designs - one for a birthday, one for congratulations for getting married and one for an anniversary - that she would freeze.

But, she didn't. To Ash's surprise she actually found it easy to think up some designs for the cards she had been tasked to and when it came to the end of the workday Ash had found herself disappointed she to stop. The tap of card designs had been turned on in her mind and it would not stop flowing. She would have to doodle them all as soon as she got home because now she couldn't.

Now she was walking out of the cinema with three of her work colleagues, silent at the back of the group as they laughed and talked amongst themselves about the terrible romance comedy they just put subjected themselves to. Ash wasn't being pushed out; she just didn't want to talk. She had seen the film already and had nothing to add to the conversation that hadn't already been said. Nonetheless, it was apparent that Katie had decided she did.

Katie fell back to step in line with the brown-haired girl and linked her arm affectionately with Ash's. Ash forced herself to resist tensing up.

"What did you think, then? Pretty rubbish, wasn't it?" Ash had definitely seen worse, much much worse over her many years. But she nodded anyway.

"Yeah. The music score in it was terrible." Katie furrowed her brows and appeared amused.

"You paid more attention to the music score? Have you seen this already? Or do you have a music degree I have no idea about?"

"No and no," Ash replied. "But my dad does. Have a music degree, that is." He probably did. She made a mental note to ask him when she next saw him. Trouble was—she had no idea when that was. He turned up whenever he felt like it without bothering to check first. Katie gave a noise of acceptance.

"Well, listening out for the score was probably better than concentrating on the film. It was a good laugh, though." Katie softly nudged Ash. "Thought about what drink you want?" Ash opened her mouth but Katie cut in. "And don't say hot chocolate. You drink enough of it at work as it is. You probably drink it by the gallons at home."

Ash's cheeks flushed. How was it that Katie knew her so well? "Meanie. What about a milkshake, then? Is that acceptable?" Katie raised an eyebrow.

"Would it happen to be chocolate?" she asked teasingly. Ash wondered if she would ever stop blushing when Katie revealed she could always, always see right through her. Nonetheless, she never minded giving Katie the satisfaction of being right.

"Yes." Katie smiled. It almost looked like a fond smile to Ash.

"Then a chocolate milkshake you shall get."

The group turned into a restaurant that touted itself as an Italian-American restaurant, though Ash could not identify anything that even whispered this. It looked like a restaurant trying too hard to convince people it was Italian-American.

"You figured it out, too, right?" Katie whispered to Ash, who had a mildly confused look on her face.

"That they're not Italian or American?" Ash asked. Katie nodded.

"I looked them up a few weeks ago. They're British ." Then she shrugged and smiled. "Bloody great food, though." Ash found Katie's smile infectious and returned it.

The group of four were seated in a rounded booth table, with Ash in the middle with Katie to her left, Hannah to her right and Becky on the end. Ash went to pick up a menu but Katie patted the small space next to her.

"Ash, Ash, come here. I'm too fussy when it comes to food, you can help me pick." Ash decided not to voice that no one was more indecisive over food than she was. It drove her father up the wall. She tried not to smirk at the thought of annoying her father.

"Oi, don't smirk at me," Katie reprimanded but a smirk was curling up her lips upwards, too. "Come on, then, what's so funny?" she asked as Ash closer to her. Katie shifted so that they were touching shoulders.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of all the times I've annoyed my dad." Katie's eyes twinkled with a mischievous understanding.

"What else are dad's for?" Ash wholeheartedly agreed.

"Actually, Ash, what does your dad do?" Becky asked, and she looked intensely interested. So did Hannah. Ash wasn't used to such attention and her mouth went dry.

"Erm, erm," she stammered. "He's a doctor."

"Really?" Katie said. "You never said before. Is that why you never see him?" Ash knew that revealing the real reason why she hardly ever saw her father would make him out to be a very selfish man.

"No, no, I see him," she replied defensively, but in a friendly manner. "He works a lot, to make sure I'm fine." Katie frowned.

"Then he's missing what's right in front of him, frankly." She rubbed Ash's arm. "Don't worry, Ash; if I ever see your dad I'll make sure to give him a good kick up the arse and tell what a great kid he's missing out on."

"Yeah, it's not right of him," added Becky.

"He doesn't deserve you," said Hannah. Her father didn't deserve her? No, that was entirely wrong. It was the other way around; she didn't deserve him. Ash felt tears prick at the back of her eyes and suddenly she had an overwhelming urge to be embraced by her father.

Becky and Hannah grew quiet as they looked over their menus. Katie picked up a menu and held it so she and Ash could scour over it.

"I think maybe I'm in the mood for pasta." Katie paused and pursed her lips. "Then again… maybe not." She glanced at Ash. "What do you feel like?" Ash flipped the menu and quickly studied the food on offer.

"How about sharing a pizza?" Katie instantly grinned and she shut the menu.

"That's an excellent idea."

The bill paid and their stomachs full of fatty but delicious food (they may have been fraudulent with their identity but Ash didn't care anymore because of the gorgeous food), the four of them said their goodbyes and vowed to see each other the next day at work. Ash, though she was smiling, was sad that it was over. It had been months since she had been out with someone that wasn't her grandparents or her parents.

The delight as their pizza came out to them, Katie eating so messily she got tomato puree on her arm, Becky and Hannah laughing merrily, and the look on Katie's face when she saw how Ash's eyes lit up at the chocolate milkshake—Ash would treasure those memories for the rest of her life, no matter how long it turned out to be. In later years it would be a source of massive comfort to her.

She almost didn't want to go home to her grandparents. Her grandmother could be overprotective, and Ash knew she would certainly be interrogated over where she had been. Her grandfather was just as protective, but he wasn't as loud and brash with it.

Ash turned the corner, her steps slow as she inevitably neared her home.

… How long had she been referring to that house as home? She decided it didn't matter, it was her home for the foreseeable future.

And then arms shot out and grabbed her by the midsection, dragging the girl off into a dark alleyway.