John reluctantly came into work on Saturday after Angelica threatened to fire him if he didn't. If he hadn't already looked like a dead-inside, college student while working, he certainly did now.
"John, you okay buddy?" Peggy asked. John looked over at her but didn't say a word, he just went to the back to start decorating cupcakes half-heartedly. John looked at the bright colors of the frosting with envy; he wanted to be bright again, but everytime he would get a spurt of energy, he would think of Alexander and the bruise that was on his cheek.
"John!" Peggy yelled, trying to gain his attention. He glanced up at her for a split second before returning to his decorating. "You're using the wrong color! It's purple day, not green day!" Peggy sighed when John didn't seem to hear what she was saying. So, Peggy pulled the green piping bag out of John's hand and replaced it with the correct one. John didn't notice, for even a second, that Peggy had even taken the bag out of his hand in the first place. "Jesus, John," Peggy muttered. She left John by himself while she went to talk to her sisters. John barely noticed that they were whispering about "John" and "almost time" and "they're here".
"John," Eliza called, "why don't you go work at the counter?" John sighed.
"No thanks," he said quietly.
"John, I would really love the help. It's going to get crazy in here soon and I don't think I'll be able to handle it all on my own," Eliza said. John knew that was a lie. They barely got 35 customers in a day. Still, Eliza sounded like a begging mother, so it was hard to disagree with her.
"Fine." John complied and stood from his station. He slowly made his way to the counter. Being up front would just make him think of Alexander and what was going on in his home. All he wanted to do was save him from whatever was going on behind closed doors. John stood behind the counter nonetheless, leaning tiredly against it and lazily drawing circles on the glass with his finger. In the corner of the room, two people sat at a table, and John wondered if they were on a date. He would give anything to go on a date with Alexander, but that was unlikely. He blinked, trying to clear his mind of the boy.
A few hours passed with little to no customers per usual. John was extremely bored at that point. He was actually wanting to see some people other than the two who still sat in the corner. He caught them staring at him a couple times. He wondered if they were there for a reason. John glanced at the clock with a sigh, it was already past ten, and even though he was scared to see Alexander, the disappointment was still there.
Just as John was about to tell Eliza that he wanted to work in the back again he heard the sound of the chimes above the door. He whipped around, probably too fast, and saw Alex. Then, he saw the girl he was holding hands with. This girl was looking around the bakery with her bright red lips pursed up in what looked like disgust. John restrained himself from rolling his eyes.
They walked up to the display counter. John couldn't help but hear the rude sentences this girl was spewing out. "Can you believe this place?" and "Ew, this is where you get those cinnamon rolls from?" John's eyes drifted to the couple in the back and he saw Angelica talking to them in hushed whispers. The two men looked shocked to be seeing Alex and this woman, while Angelica just looked plain pissed off. He realized that she must've heard what the girl was saying about her bakery.
"Hello? Earth to idiot!" John blinked and looked down at the girl who was frantically waving her hands in front of his face. "You're so stupid! Can't you see that you have customers?" John felt taken aback at her words. He wouldn't be surprised if she was the reason Alex had been hurt before.
"Maria, that was a little rude don't you think?" Alex spoke up in a timid voice. The woman, Maria, turned to face Alex in such a slow manner than chills went down John's spine. She whispered something harshly to Alex before lifting her foot and stomping down hard. John didn't see what she did, but he assumed she stomped on Alex's foot. Alexander whimpered in pain and looked at the floor, closing his mouth. John clenched his jaw but remained silent as she gave him her order. Customer service and all that shit.
"I want a caramel mocha with only two pumps of caramel but with two extra shots of espresso, only use non-fat milk and no whip cream or any of that fatty shit."
John suppressed an eye roll and simply mumbled, "Yeah, sure." He turned to Alex. "You want plain black coffee, right?" Alex nodded slightly, still not looking at John. "Cool." John smirked and made Alexander's coffee first, then faced Maria with an uninterested look in his eyes. "What did you want again?" Maria glared at him.
"Were you not even listening to me?" Maria asked.
"No, not really. I only heard blah, blah, blah." John used his hand to make it sound like the voice was coming from there. Alex looked up at John as if to say "Don't". John smirked, proud of himself. John turned around to start working on Maria's insane order before she could say anything back to him.
"You are so disrespectful to the people who pay your paycheck!" Maria yelled. John just clicked his tongue and pretended not to hear. "Can you move any slower?"
"Yeah, actually, wanna see?" John said over his shoulder. Maria growled in annoyance as John slowed his pace.
John froze when he heard Alex's shaking voice. "C-can you please move a little faster?" John turned around and smiled widely.
"Sure, anything you say, Alex." John winked before going back to his task at hand. He was proud of himself when he heard the two men in the back bust out laughing. It only took five minutes for John to complete Maria and Alex's order.
"Took you long enough." Maria snapped.
"Here's your plain black coffee, Alex, and your caramel mocha with extra whip cream, princess." John smirked once again when Maria screeched. He would've winced from the loud noise if he wasn't so entertained.
"I am not paying for this!" Maria yelled. John dusted his hands off before leaning over the counter so he was close to her ear and whispered,
"Deal with it, sweetheart." That's when all hell broke loose.
"How dare you?" Maria screamed. "I want to speak to your manager!" John nodded as he watched Angelica saunter up to the counter.
"May I help you?" Angelica asked in the fakest happy worker voice ever.
"Your stupid ass worker here, what's his name, John? Yeah, he got my order wrong and refuses to make me a new one." Maria snapped as she pointed at John. Hatred blazed in Angelica's eyes as she looked from Maria to Alex.
"I'm sorry, you've been disrespecting my workers, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Angelica said politely. However, Maria wasn't having any of it.
"You know what, your place looks like shit! I'm glad to leave! I could buy this whole place with the wave of my hand and you'd be on the street!" Maria blew up. "Come on, Alex, let's get out of here." John watched as Alex stayed rooted to the spot where he was standing. "Alex, let's go." Alexander glanced at John and took a deep breath.
"No," Alex said. Maria raised her eyebrows.
"Excuse me?" Alex tore his hand away from her.
"No, I'm not leaving. I'm sick of you telling me what to do. I'm sick of you using me and hurting me and being a total bitch!" Alex was yelling by the end of his speech. "I can't be with someone like you anymore."
"You're nothing without me." Maria seethed. "You were nothing before me."
"I'm nothing with you." Alex said. "I'll be something without you. And you'll still be the same piece of shit without me." Alex was fighting back and John was loving every second of it.
"Alex, please, let's talk this out. Let's just-" Alex cut her off.
"No. Just leave, Maria." Alex pointed to the door. Maria wiped her eyes quickly and snatched her purse.
"If you come with me right now, I won't do something I'll regret later." Maria said through gritted teeth. Alex huffed, looking annoyed. "I won't ruin you."
"You can try, Maria," Alex said, "but I will never come crawling back to you."
"Fine. Die alone for all I care." With that, Maria stomped out of the bakery, leaving her caramel mocha on the counter. Alexander sighed as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.
After a minute of silence, John asked, "Hey, are you okay?" Alex looked up at John and smiled. John was confused for a second before Alex spoke.
"I've never been happier." Alex responded, making his way back to the counter. "Thank you."
"What?"
"You helped me, in a way. Thank you." John just nodded awkwardly in response. He glanced at Angelica and the two people sitting in the back. He didn't know who they were, but they were gesturing for him to say something else. "Um-"
"You want to go out sometime?" Alex wondered, beating John to it. "I mean, I just, you're really nice and kinda cute-well, not 'kinda'. You're cute and funny and I just...well, I'm single now, so-"
"Yes," John said, seeming to surprise Alex.
"Wait, really?"
"Yes." John and Alexander smiled at each other for a moment, before Angelica cleared her throat, getting their attention.
"I can give John the next Saturday off, if you want," Angelica said.
"Perfect. I can meet you here and we can go to lunch?" Alex suggested.
"10 am?" John guessed.
"Of course." Alex looked at the clock on the wall. "I have to go. I'll see you next week."
"Yeah." John watched as Alex began walking away, then froze and went back up to the counter. John gasped in shock when Alex stood on his toes to kiss him on the cheek.
"Bye!" Alexander giggled as he walked out of the bakery, a new, confident spring in his step.
As soon as Alex left, Peggy ran out from the back room with wide eyes. "I had to go to the bathroom," she stated. "What'd I miss?"
Heh...sorry this took so long...it took a while to figure out, but WE DID IT! WHOO!
Ahem...we're really excited about finally finishing this.
Okay, well, we hope you liked it! Byeee!