Prompt #3: I know I keep coming to the cookie shop and for some reason it's always your shift but don't you dare judge me I need these for my sanity.
The door opened with a forceful swing and the bells jingled. The sound automatically created a smile on Madoka's face as she pat her hand on her pink apron and whirled around, facing the counter.
"Welcome to Mami's Sweet Bakes! How may I help you?"
A girl, clad with a simple blouse and jeans, walked along the aisle of the store and not bothering to acknowledge Madoka's greeting. Even so, the smile was still plastered on Madoka's face, never once wavering. She had seen various types of distant or cold attitudes from certain customers and ignoring her greetings was something she was already used to, but this never stopped her from smiling at them.
Madoka guessed that this girl was probably around her age, but her eyes... those purple and bored looking eyes were telling Madoka that she was wrong. Not long after the girl finished scanning through the shelves, she finally approached to the refrigerated display counter right in front of Madoka.
"This monthly special is the double chocolate layer banana mousse." Madoka gestured down at the display and the girl flicked her gaze at the cake before looking away disinterestedly.
"Looks too creamy." She drawled.
"What about this strawberry pudding?" Madoka walked to the other end of the display. "It's one of the most popular item in store!"
The girl stared at it for a while, a lot longer compared to the mousse cake, but in the end, she looked away again, clearly unsatisfied.
"Is there... cookies?"
"Cookies!" Madoka repeated before clapping her hands in glee. "Of course! Freshly baked too!"
Madoka walked out from the back of the counter and headed to the corner of the store, which the girl didn't go to yet. Cookies were something not so popular asked by customers, but nonetheless, there are times when all of it were completely sold. Standing right in front of the small basket atop of a tall stool, Madoka picked up a transparent bag filled with her personal favorite, soft and chewy chocolate chips cookies, and handed over to the girl.
"You'll definitely like this one, no doubt!" Madoka grinned.
The girl carefully took the bag of cookies from Madoka's hand and inspected it for a while.
"I'll take this." She handed it back to Madoka.
She accepted it wholeheartedly, shouting an enthusiastic reply and rushing over to the counter while the girl followed behind.
.
.
Madoka carefully secured the perfect knot on her apron before dusting her hands on it. It was late evening and the shop just passed through the peak period, but Madoka managed to handle everything all by herself. She stretched her arms and hit her tired and aching back before she leaned against the cold and hard wall. A massage would be good right not...
Putting out her palm, she began counting the number of months she had been working here. Mami, the kindest neighbor that Madoka ever had, offered her this job as a part-time assistant while she was still studying in school. She came in between term breaks, weekend, or times when homework wasn't too stressful. And those times when she wasn't free, Mami and around two of three other part time assistants took her place.
Madoka had worked with all of them before, but mostly in a pair and never more than that. They were all nice people and Madoka felt really grateful to get hired for this job. Her pay was decent and she could use the money to pamper herself and get some nice clothes and food when her rent and some college stuffs were settled.
Nice people, nice job, nice pay, nice friends, nice school (not really). So far, life's pretty good.
The bell jingled like the thousand other times Madoka heard it as she pushed herself off the wall and took a step forward, showing her presence right behind the big display counter.
"Welcome to Mami's Sweet Bakes! How may I help you?"
Their eyes met, purple and pink. Madoka blinked and in an instant, the girl looked away and headed straight to the corner of the store and picked up a packet of cookies that was left on the small basket before dragging herself over to the counter where Madoka was. She lightly threw the bag of cookies on the table, not hard to smash any pieces inside. The girl then fished out her wallet from the pocket of her torn jeans that matched perfectly with a black tank top.
Apparently, she'd picked the same flavor that Madoka recommended back then.
Madoka smiled as she proceeded to scan the item. "Is it nice?"
"Yeah." The girl said plainly while pulling some notes from her wallet and handing them over to Madoka.
She then gave her the changes and the girl left without a word.
.
.
A few days later, the same girl came in again.
"Welcome to Mami's Sweet Bakes! How may I help you?"
"Hm."
Madoka's eyes widened slightly, surprised that the girl actually bothered to reply, even if it was just a small noise.
It was like watching a same movie. The girl walked over to the basket, grabbed the same cookies and headed over to the counter for her payment. Instead of coming in the evening today, she came in the early afternoon, just half an hour before the cake shop would start to get a little more busier than usual.
Madoka flicked her gaze at Homura's shirt before smiling as she scanned the cookies. "Nice T-shirt."
The girl looked down and stared at her chest with a bored look. A big, black and bolded font that neatly wrote TIRED was printed on her plain white shirt.
"It speaks for me." The girl said, her face looking exactly like the meaning of her shirt.
"Thank you, please come again." Madoka then hand back the cookies after the payment.
The girl approached the door, but before she reached the handle, she turned. "You own this shop?"
Madoka cleared her throat. "I'm just a part-timer."
"Hm..."
"The real boss is actually just a year older than me." Madoka felt an urge to inform the girl.
The girl didn't look amazed, instead, she shrugged. "Typical rich people." And then she left.
.
.
Two hours after the same girl left when she bought the same cookies for the fourth time, Madoka was packing her belongings while Mami and another part-timer, Chikaku, was doing some stock counting and closing down of the shop. When Madoka was about to leave, she finally got the courage to ask the question that had been bothering her for a bit.
"Have you seen this girl with long black hair and purple eyes before? She always come to buy a packet of soft and chewy chocolate chips cookies."
Mami raised an eyebrow. "Never seen her before."
"Same goes for me." Chikaku added.
"Is there something wrong?" Mami asked in concern as she placed down her chartboard.
"No-No It's just that she came by quite often during my shift so I was wondering if you all seen her during your shifts."
The two girls glanced at each other before looking at Madoka. "Is she someone we should see?" Chikaku tilted her head.
Madok'a neck was turning a little hot and she didn't know why. "I do-don't know. Just a silly question."
To avoid getting any more embarrassed, Madoka quickly said her goodbye and left the store in a rush.
.
.
For the past few days, Madoka couldn't afford to come by to work for Mami so she took a week off. It wasn't the worst week Madoka ever went through in her life, but it was horrible. In a blink of an eye, that one week flew by and Madoka managed to breathe after clearing most of her deadlines and submissions. Now, she was ready to work and back to enjoy the aroma of cookies and cakes, see happy kids picking their birthday cakes, watch group of teenagers giggling at the cute tarts and drooling all over their uniform and-
-seeing her.
The bell jingled and Madoka's thoughts were immediately broken. She straightened her apron and slapped her cheeks lightly before she exclaimed the proud phrase that she always used through the day.
"Welcome to Mami's Sweet Bakes! How may I help you?"
"Morning." The girl replied.
Madoka broke into a smile. "Oh it's you again!"
"Again. Yeah."
The girl headed over to the basket. This time, she had the choice to pick out fresher and nicer looking cookies out of the rest since she was early today. She took a while before picking one that she liked and then she trudged over to the counter like usual.
"Do you come by often?" Madoka purposely took her time in scanning the item. The girl didn't seem to be in a hurry too.
She shrugged. "My fifth time buying these cookies."
"What a coincidence." Madoka breathed out in a manner like she just witnessed thousands of shooting stars. "That really means you've come in only when I'm on shift."
"...So is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
Madoka chuckled. "I don't know, what do you think?"
"I don't know why it's always your shift whenever I come here but even if you think that I'm a weird, I'll still come."
"Weird?! I-I didn't say that you are one!" Madoka waved her hands exasperatedly. "I'm just a little surprised at how coincidental it is, that's all. Please don't be offended by my words."
The girl didn't seem to care, at least her face showed that way. "These cookies sort of saves me, from hell." The girl rubbed her temple in annoyance.
Madoka blinked.
"It helps to calm me down after eating them, in a weird way, whenever I'm stress up and sick of things in life." She mumbled, further explaining what she meant.
Madoka handed the cookies to the girl. "Life's tough, huh?"
"Yeah." The girl took her sweets.
"My name is Madoka. Kaname Madoka. What's yours."
The girl watched Madoka for a moment, seeming to be contemplating something... "Akemi Homura"
Madoka smiled. "Nice to meet you, Akemi-san."
"Homura is fine."
"Then you can call me Madoka!"
Homura gave a faint smile and waved the cookies in the air. "Thanks, and bye."
.
.
Madoka never realized that she had been looking forward to her job so much.
It was a routine job. Greetings. Helping to find what customer needs. Payment. Thanks. And that's it. But now and then, Madoka would peek into the basket, counting if there were enough soft and chewy chocolate chips cookies to last for the day- or to be exact - to last long enough till Homura comes and buy it. And the exciting part was, Madoka would never know when she would come.
So the anticipation increases every time the bell jingles loudly, the sound of foot steps entering the store and the soft clinking of the bell when the door closes. And whenever Madoka spun around from her spot, wearing that bright smile that seemed impossible to grow any bigger, she would prove everyone wrong when the next customer that came in was none other than Homura.
Her long, silky black hair, her purple eyes that seemed to brighten more and more as the days goes by, her minted breath and soft fingers that would brush against Madoka's when they exchanged money...
"Welcome to Mami's Sweet Bakes! How may I help you?"
Homura gave a warm smile. "The same old thing." She replied.
And Madoka's heart, once again, skipped a beat.
.
.
end
A/N:
cashbanky keep ask me update but she read it like after 89 years jk
she always make me cry everytime
why lately so many people keep piss me
this prompt is hard for me because idk how to end but i cried