"You got this, Skye. You fucking got this!" The vixen brushed the fur around her muzzle and in between her ears for the third time. "You wanna know why you got this?" The brush was moved to the fur around her neck as she made eye contact with her own eyes in the mirror. "Because you're amazing. No strike that. You are the fucking best! Snarlbucks knew it. Every single mammal in your graduating class knew it." Sky blue eyes went half lidded with a sultry grin gracing her muzzle.
"And you will not blow it! You're beautiful, cool, calm, and collected." Skye stepped back to observe her outfit. A simple quarter sleeve black dress that hugged her hips and fell just below her knees. Subdued and professional. It brought out her almost completely white fur and bright blue eyes. Thank you, thrift store!
"And if the jerk interviewing me says he can't give me a job, I'll bite his face off!" She had smiled when she said it but once she did her eyes widened in horror. "I spend way to much time with Nick and his stupid friend."
Leaving the bathroom, she walked to her front door, pausing to gather her bag and keys from the entry table. She smiled at the picture next to the key dish.
Five smiling faces beamed from it, but her eyes went to the one in the center. The red todd smiled, one arm wrapped around his wife (an arctic vixen), the other wrapped around Skye herself.
Her father, Mathew. Well, step father. But he never acknowledged that she was anything less then the real thing.
Knocked up young, when her mother told Skye's real dad about her, he vanished like smoke in the breeze. Vivian had ran herself ragged trying to provide the best she could for her kit.
Skye was three when Mathew Wilde meet met them in the grocery store her mother worked at. Burned by Skye's father, Vivian had written him off as another todd trying to score. But Skye, even as young as she was, saw the punch drunk look he gave her mother.
Mathew pulled out all the stops trying to get her to agree to a date.
Her mother's favorite flowers delivered on an almost daily basis, letters praising her intelligence and sweet disposition, and, once, Mathew stood outside their apartment window with a guitar, softly serenading the two vixens who giggled from their window as they watched him. It took six months to get Vivian to go on a date with him. In less then a month, they fell in love. And in less then a week he fell head over hind paws over the little kit. Within a year, Vivian and Mathew were officially married.
Step daughter she may have been, but Mathew doted on her like she was his own. Even after her brothers were born, Skye was always daddy's little vixen.
"Ok, Daddy! Let's do this!"
Door closed and locked, Skye had to stop herself from skipping to down the street towards The Savanna Central Perk Cafe and Bakery.
She had been in a few times since it had opened, mostly to scope out the competition when she had been at Snarlbucks. She had hated to admit it, but the Perk had impressed the hell out of her.
Small in size, the smell of the fresh baked treats wafted from the cafe and lured her in like a siren's call. The owner must have had an sharp pallet because the coffee blends were much fewer in selection but some of the best and most creative she had tasted. Before she left SB, she had considered going to corporate so they could make this Jack Hopps sell. Thank Karma she hadn't.
SB wasn't interested in helping Skye further her career with the company. Passed over for the district manager position in favor of a mammal 'more qualified', Skye (student loans burning a hole in her composure) updated her resume and moved on. The Perk had a been building a reputation and the eccentric rabbit she had heard owned it needed some mammal to help him. And by Karma, she would be that mammal.
Now she came onto the street that the Perk called home, a handsome row of brownstones, repeating her mantra.
"Cool, calm, collected!" Adding a bounce to her step to get the nerves out, she repeated this until she was just outside the long window front of the cafe. "Cool. Calm. Collected. Now lets get this job!" Skye strode confidently to the door as a large cheetah backed out.
"Thanks Jack! I'll see you tomorrow morning!" The cheetah smiled and held open the door for her as he left. Smiling her thanks, her eyes turned to scan the cafe and daydream a bit about what it would be like to come and work here every day.
The space was not large, obviously more catered to the comfort of medium or smaller mammals. Though a pair of lions at a corner table were happily working on a crossword together.
Credit where it's due, thought Skye, that bunny is really trying to be inclusive.
She took in the corsac fox at the register, cheerfully ringing up family of hyenas. Something she had not expect. Her gaze traveled to the striped rabbit in the white apron behind the counter and noted his confused look. That she did expect. The rabbit lifted his wrist to examine the watch he wore, eyebrows knitted together.
Game time, Skye, she thought, let's get you hired. Stand up straight, take a deep breath, and walk like you already got the job.
She walked up to the rabbit still frowning at his wrist, and with much more confidence than she felt, started speaking.
"Hi! I'm looking for Jack Hopps. I'm here for an interview." The vixen's bright blue eyes met the rabbit's. His frown fell along with his jaw. Skye had to work to keep the smirk off her face. I still got it, she thought. "My name is Skye."
Ice blue eyes blinked a few times, as though he was trying to organize his thoughts quickly. A small shake of his head seemed to do the trick. He smiled and extended a paw.
"That would be me. Jack Hopps, Miss Skye."
She smiled back and tried not to think about how clear and mesmerizing those eyes of his were. Or how the silvery color of his fur seemed to make them seem so deep she could drown just looking into them.
Focus, you idiot, she thought.
"Would you care for some water or a coffee before we began? Bobby over here is my coffee genius and can make you anything." Jack smiled at the bobcat, who rolled his eyes with a shy smile and continued to put his work station to rights. "He won't brag but I will." Turning his attention back to her, the buck smiled expectantly.
"A coffee would be lovely! I tried a Camp Out Mocha last time I was here and I loved it. Anything you want to test on me I'm happy to try." Skye grinned at the barista. Bobby smiled again and set to work, emptying and refilling the filter and prepping the milk.
"I'll grab my notes and your resume if you'll meet me over at that corner table," Jack popped around the counter and down a hallway that lead to the restrooms. Skye peered after him and watched as he disappeared up a flight of stairs she hadn't noticed.
"Here you are, Miss Skye! A cherry almond latte, topped with cinnamon. One of our best sellers." Bobby beamed at the vixen as she took a tentative sip. Just the right amount of flavor without being overwhelmed by the taste, it's sweetness cut with the cinnamon.
"Definitely gotta nail this interview." She said with a nod of her head. She looked the bobcat in the eye and smirked, "Nothing like good coffee to motivate a body. A cat after my own heart!" She tipped the blushing Bobby a wink as she headed over to the table. Settling down and sipping the hot coffee, Skye observed the scene outside the window of the Perk while she waited.
Jack soon joined her with his own cup and a plate of sweets she had seen on display next to the register. They balanced a bit precariously on a clipboard, Jack seeming too distracted to notice that the plate seemed to be slipping as he tried to straighten himself out. Skye held out her paws for it with a smile.
Meeting her eyes again, Jack's ears flushed as he gave her a bashful grin and allowed them to be taken. The vixen watched him settle into his seat with a sigh and briefly study the clipboard in front of him. She took him in, trying not to stare too obviously.
A shiver ran through her as she studied the fur of his arms, noting how fit he seemed for a mammal surrounded by sugar and caffeine all day. She wasn't a good judge on what was considered attractive for rabbits, but there was certain allure to him. Ice blue eyes looked up into sky blue ones and she didn't miss what was surely appreciation for what he saw.
"So, Miss Wilde," he began, "as I said before, I'm Jack, the owner of the Savanna Central Perk. We have been in business for about six years now and I've been trying to balance day to day operations and baking."
Jack went through her credentials, asking about Snarlbucks and school, describing what the job would entail, and finally the pay and benefits that would go with it. A final sum was agreed upon, but not before asking more about Skye herself.
Questions about her life in the city, comments about ZSU ( the very college Jack dropped out of), what she enjoyed about cafe work and her ideas on what made a place something you crave to experience over and over again.
Skye found herself enjoying the conversation more then she felt she should have. The treats he had brought to the table were for her to sample, Jack stating he would need her opinion on what was made. And if she was going to work for him she needed to know what were the best sellers verses what was just seasonal.
The conversation turned to their crazy stories about the industry. Skye made him laugh as she recounted the more colorful employees she worked with. One in particular was convinced milk was used by cows to control the minds of their fellow mammals. Any cow that tried to enter the store was subjected to chocolate chips being thrown at them. The employee in question lasted less than a day.
She was laughing at a story Jack was telling her about when he had first opened when she realized how close they had gotten. Both of their elbows rested on the table top with their forks and plate of treats half eaten and forgotten. Their heads were leaning towards each other and they both made plenty of eye contact. Jack was laughing with her as the story concluded.
"Seriously! I thought she was joking!" He said, slightly breathless with a grin. "Regular iced latte with extra caramel, but no calories! And she said she was in pre med!"
Skye buried her muzzle in her paws to try and stem her amusement. Looking back up into Jack's eyes, she sighed out the last of her laugh.
What blue eyes.
….
Judy had was happy that Jack had hired Jonny. He was extremely goofy, sometimes needing to stop whatever it was he was doing to, as he put it, 'bust a move'. He would clap his paws, shake his hips, and do a weird two step while singing whatever song popped into his. He was, of course, tone deaf. The upbeat raccoon just claimed to be high on life.
The only task he had for her when Jack sent her to the kitchen was dish washing, which she hated. But Jonny kept her entertained enough to get through it. She had just fished up as the raccoon loaded the oven rack with tray after tray of cookies. With a cart load of freshly cleaned plates and mugs, the bunny sang along with Jon as she pushed it up front.
Kari, the corsac fox at the register, pulled the plates while Bobby grabbed the mugs, with Jonny following to grab the cart. Judy looked at the time before scanning the room for her brother. And to her utter amazement, he sat with a vixen looking for all the world like he was on a date.
She knew that while he was living at home, the does of Bunnyburrow had tried their hardest to pin him down. But Judy had never know him to have any interest in them. She always thought he just batted for the other team.
She had lost count of the amount of does their mother had tried to set him up with in the city. Jack always claimed to be too busy with the cafe. Or there was an expo he just had to go to. Or he had a hangnail. The reasons always got crazier.
But looking at him now, he obviously just thought the does' ears were a tad too long. And their tails a bit too small. Maybe, also, their fur wasn't vey fluffy.
The cafe now considerably calmer, Judy grabbed the rag to start cleaning up empty tables and observe her brother.
His own ears were slightly folded in front, elbows on the table and leaning forward with a smile as he interacted with the pretty vixen. He really did look like he was enjoying himself. It was such a shame she had to stay and work the cafe instead of doing her warm ups. Maybe her brother could be convinced to let her leave.
Her back to the table her brother and the vixen sat at, Judy pulled out her cell phone and called the cafe. She glanced over to the registers and coffee counter, where Bobby and Kari were talking about their plans for the evening when the phone first rang. Laughing, the corsac vixen picked it up while flashing the bobcat an obviously coy look.
"Thank you for calling Savanna Central Perk. This is Kari speaking, how may I help you?"
The bunny walked as far from the table as she could a without being obvious and dropped her voice. She hoped her brother was too distracted to hear her. Even for a bunny, those ears of his could pick up noise blocks away.
"Kari, I will give you my cut of the tips if you say this to my brother out loud…"
…..
"Jack, there's some warehouse on the phone for you. They have your order of penis cookie cutters ready, they just need to confirm the address!" Kari bit her lip to keep from laughing as she held out the phone.
Jack had been taking a sip of his now cold drink only to spit it over Skye. Stunned, she calmly looked into her new employer's face. His eyes were wide as he fumbled for the napkin dispenser on the table while stuttering apologies. With his ears flushed with embarrassment and his coffee staining the fur on her face, Skye almost missed the low sound of laughter coming from where the restrooms and stairwell were located.
Spotting two grey tipped ears poking out from around the corner and small paw clutching a cell phone, she put two and two together. Allowing the buck to help clean her up, she meet his still mortified gaze and pointed with one claw towards the laughter.
"Do you know that bunny?" Jack turned to follow her gaze and his expression hardened at the sight of two purple eyes staring back at them. The doe gave an "eep!" before ducking behind her corner again.
"That would be my sister," Jack sighed. A little louder, he called out, "You know you need to be on my good side to stay here for the summer, right?"
"What?" With a perfectly innocent expression, the young bunny brought herself into view. "I thought you liked jokes, Jack!" A sweet smile and eyelash batting followed.
Jack and Skye stood and began clearing their table before making their way over to the counter. Judy came from the cover of the hallway to stand ever so slightly behind Kari. The two females exchanged snorts while Bobby made himself scarce by entering the kitchen.
"Oh I love jokes, Jude! Why do you think I keep saying you came stay here once school gets out?" Jack put a paw on his hip and plucked her cell phone from her, grinning. He causally tossed it over his shoulder, where it clattered loudly onto the floor.
Rolling her eyes, she walked over to where it had landed. Happy it was undamaged, she gave another sweet smile at her big brother.
"I know it's been forever since a female has show interest in you. I'm sorry I interrupted your date, Jack!" And with that, she bounced back towards the hallway out of view.
Jack blushed again and made eye contact with Skye.
"And that is my little sister, Judy. You may not see much of her for a while."
Skye laughed a bit awkwardly but her smile was genuine.
"She should meet my youngest brother. I think they would make a great team. If they wouldn't kill each other first."
