Author's Note: I changed the narrative voice to 1st person as opposed to 3rd person. I use fanfiction as a way to exercise my writing muscle. For those of you who enjoy this story, I'd love to know which version you enjoy better.
"I said no milk! How hard can it possibly be to make coffee correctly?" Scoffed a man who was as tall as he was round. Almost like a perfect pudgy little sphere. His glasses were coming down his nose and he used an oily finger to push them back up by the lens leaving a smudge behind. He was holding the incorrect iced espresso cup by his thumb and index finger as if it was a pair of anonymous dirty underwear he had been handed. He scanned my work station, zeroing in on my anatomy book.
He ticked his tongue several times whilst shaking his head like one does when disappointed with a child. Or when one is simply an egotistical condescending jerk. His narrow eyes narrowed further as he looked at me pointedly in the eye before cutting his gaze to my book.
"I certainly hope you're a far better student than you are an employee," he scoffed shoving the coffee back in my hands. "Make it again. And this time, CORRECTLY."
I hated how easily I blushed. I could feel my body betraying me as the hot blood rushed to my cheeks and neck. The coffee fumbled in my hands from how roughly he had forced it back into my grip. The force caused the dark liquid to splash onto the back of my hand. Thank God it was iced and not hot. Not that this customer would have cared either way.
Biting my lower lip I drew in a deep breath. Steeling myself before shoving my dignity off a high cliff. I bowed in apology. "I'm really sorry, sir. I should have been more careful." And, I should have called in sick today to avoid a public display of admonishment by a weasel in a human costume.
I straightened up enough to catch the weasel of a man's mouth twitch at the corner in a condescending smile as he stared down his nose at me, "less apologies and more action, my girl."
Somebody needs to remove all the hot coffee within an arms length away from me before it becomes airborne.
But the reason I needed this money flashed in front of my minds eye, as it always did. So I swallowed my pride like it was a pile of sand and got busy with making a fresh espresso just as the man ordered. Espresso over ice (not espresso with ice added), 1 pump of vanilla, a half pump of hazelnut (NOT a full pump), a splash of cream, shaken in the cup to mix before topping with foam and a dust of cinnamon and nutmeg.
Forcing a fake sincere smile on my face I handed him the correct coffee as I repeated his order back to him. "Once again sir, I am terribly sorry about the confusion," I said.
Accepting the coffee he nodded his head at me once as he acknowledged the second apology. He brought the cup to his lip and took a swig. No sooner had he sipped the coffee his face screwed into a disappointed and disgusted expression. He rolled his eyes and walked out the door of the cafe. I could feel the beast inside my gut that only awoke during customer service roaring and demanding this man's blood.
Drag him back in by his greasy mop top and shove coffee beans under his nail beds! Shrieked the inner beast.
A soft dreamy smile crossed my lips as I entertained the delicious idea. Although, instead of following my base instincts I drifted to the coffee shop sink and busied myself with dish duty. Paying particular attention to the knives just to satiate the shrieking voice inside of me.
I felt someone sidle up next to me at the sink.
Oh, of course. NOW you show up.
"That was pretty bad," my boss sheepishly admitted as she stared out the door after the man. "I was just about to ask him to leave," Harumi lied as she puffed out her chest as if that put an exclamation point of assurity on her fib.
My eyes rolled over at her knowing that she wouldn't have the guts to actually be looking at me. She had a funny habit of always seeing the customers who treated me poorly but not quite available enough to say anything to them. I lifted a shoulder before dropping it, dismissing her point without being disrespectful.
Lifting her pale eyebrows at me sympathetically her tone became carefully cautious. "Although, Rina, it's not like you to make so many mistakes." Her tone was gentle but the message cut me. "You've seemed a little distracted over the last few weeks. Is everything going okay at home and school?"
Boy, wasn't that a loaded question. I hadn't realized it but my hand had drifted from the sudsy water to my hip bone and had left a little wet mark on the jeans covering it. I quickly shoved it back into the greasy water to hopefully busy it so it wasn't drawn there again. It had been years since…...since that. And, I didn't want to fall back into the relationship with my old toxic comfort. Lately I couldn't focus on much of anything except how badly I wanted to return to the old comfort.
Truthfully, I hadn't slept for more than a few hours a night since the event in the alley way with the monster. It had been for a multitude of reasons besides the obvious. My mind was consumed with thoughts of the impossible, or what had once been impossible, for most of my day now. And it had caused my grades and work to suffer. Ever since becoming a straight A student once I discovered I had a keen knack for anatomy, it had become an identity of sorts. But, recently my grades reflected a very…..different time in my life. A time when I had no control over anything.
"As if you've ever had any control, dear. To have control of a situation a person must be smart, capable, and assertive. You simply don't have any of the qualifying factors. Once you come to terms with the truth it can't hurt you anymore, darling." The voice was light and familiar. A soft soprano voice that never failed to cut me into little pieces like a glinting knife.
I fought the urge to sigh. Instead I accepted the voice's cruel words without much to combat them. My fingers itched to touch my side.
I dried my hands on the already wet towel at the dishes station before rubbing my temples. "You're not wrong," I admitted finally. "I haven't been sleeping well for the past month. I've had a lot on my mind. Ya know, finals."
Harumi tilted her head to one side and her eyes softened as she nodded and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"You can always let me know if you need a day off," she lied, "I'd be happy to give you a few days to yourself."
I smiled. More at the way she could be so transparent than at the empty kind words she offered. But, I'm sure she thought I was smiling at her "gracious" offer.
"I'll be okay," I lied back dutifully, "working helps to distract me."
Harumi nodded enthusiastically before chirping a welcome to an older gentleman who had wandered to the register. I took the time to get lost in my thoughts as I cleaned old grounds out from behind the machines.
It wasn't a total lie that I had been distracted by finals and a lack of sleep. But, the root cause was that stupid night. I wish I could just forget it. Just pretend it hadn't happened at all until my brain finally believed it. So it would stop taunting me, asking questions I couldn't answer, and stop wasting my time demanding I visit internet conspiracy pages every free moment I got to look up monster sightings and obsess over the chat boards. I was becoming that person.
I desperately needed to go scream in the walk-in freezer on my break. That would be time well spent.
A sudden crescendo of female voices began tittering in the cafe. Giggles and hushed whispers kept hitting my ear in a way that instantly annoyed me. Fishing a pair of yellow rubber gloves out from below the sink I slipped them on and went elbow deep into the drain of the sink since the water still hadn't emptied.
"Oh…..my god…" Harumi breathed out.
"What, is it-"
Turning around and coming face to face with him made my stomach feel like a ribbon when you drag a pair of scissors across it before it curls. There was no way to forget those blue eyes. Although now they were behind a pair of black Lennon sunglasses and his casual dress made my heart wring into a knot. If my mind had somehow been able to mercifully grant my wish of forgetting that night, this meeting would prove to make it a much more difficult task now.
His lips pulled into a small smile as his eyes bore into mine. "How have you been?"
Harumi's head snapped in my direction with her mouth agape and I….just stood there. Locked under the gaze of this man, rubber gloves dripping, shocked pale face, hair sticking to my face in a way that made my skin itch, and mouth slack.
Gojo tipped his head to the side slightly, "you okay?"
Of course I am, sir. What can I get for you today?
That would have been a preferable and professional response. But, I did what anyone in my situation would have done. Or, at least that's what I tell myself so I don't seem so pathetic.
Instead, I turned and ran.
Today would have DEFINITELY been a good day to call in sick.