I loudly sigh as I get to work and pull into the first empty parking spot I see. Not only is it almost 7 o' clock in the damn morning and I'm the farthest from a morning person, but I'm not even exaggerating when I say I'd rather drive my car off a cliff than work here.
Unfortunately for me, it was the best I could do. I must've applied to at least twenty different places, but this one was the only one that ever called me back. Even then, it was only because they were desperate, so they really didn't care about the fact that I didn't have any prior experience.
In case you're wondering, it's a small coffee shop, located off of one of the busiest streets of the city. It pays well enough and I know that there are harder jobs out there, but trust me - when you have to deal with bitchy business people rushing you to make their coffee before they're late for work, you'll quickly start hating humanity. I never really liked humanity much anyway, so this job sure isn't helping anything.
Just thinking about what I'm going to have to deal with today makes me want to turn the fuck around and go home. I actually contemplate it for a second or two, but I know I can't. Not if I hope to make rent and not starve to death this month.
Reluctantly, I get out of my car, lighting a cigarette on the way out, and then make my way toward the shop. I'm going to need my nicotine fix early if I hope to have a chance of surviving the day. I inhale deeply, breathe the smoke out through my nose and then sigh contently; reveling in the head rush it gives me. Honestly, this is the only enjoyable part about smoking. I can't say that I particularly enjoy the part about having rat poison and carpet glue in my lungs.
"Mornin', Ashley," A masculine voice from across the parking lot snaps me out of my trance, and I turn to see Riley, my co-worker. I give him a small smile and a friendly wave, stopping so that he can catch up to me. Flashing a smile, he jogs up, bumping me playfully on the shoulder when he reaches my side.
I snicker and shove him back. "Morning, asshole."
Even I have to admit that Riley is pretty cute for a guy. He's tall (about 6'2", so he literally towers over me), kind of beefy (not nearly as much as Aiden was, but he still has a nice amount of muscle), and he has a sweet, sensitive-looking face that only a mother could love. His shaggy brown hair hangs down his face and halfway covers his eyes, which are a gorgeous shade of blue. I'm a total sucker for blue eyes, but his definitely aren't the prettiest I've seen. They come in about second place.
Even though he can be downright annoying sometimes, he's honestly a pretty good guy. He's the closest thing to a friend that I have here, and he actually makes an effort to talk to me or cheer me up. He's a total flirt, though. I figured that out pretty quickly. My first day of work started with him being incapable of taking his eyes off of me, and ended with him asking for my number. I guess he wasn't really expecting my answer to be, "no thanks. I prefer the vagina", because his eyeballs nearly shot out of his head and his jaw hit the floor. I still laugh about it to this day.
He pretends to be offended at my 'asshole' comment before jokingly asking me, "So how's the cancer coming along?" Referring to the lit cigarette in my hand, of course. I glare at him.
"Oh, shut up. I hear enough about it from Kyla," I tell him before lifting my hand up and taking an especially long drag to spite him. He chuckles.
"Wow, someone's a little irritable today," he jokes again and pokes me in the ribs, and I snicker again, shoving his hand away. Any other guy touching me would have earned themselves a swift kick to the balls, but this is Riley we're talking about. I know him, and he's harmless.
"I'm irritable every day," I remind him with a shrug before dragging on the last bit of my cigarette and flicking it away in some random direction. Looking in front of us, I notice the long line of people leading into the store, and I loudly groan. "…especially on the days that I have to be here."
"It's only eight hours, Ashley," he tells me. I know he's trying to make me feel better, but come on, only eight hours? At this place, it might as well be eight years. "It'll be over before you know it."
"It better be," I reply dryly as I open the door to Hell (which has a cute little bell, by the way) and step in.
Just like I predicted, work was going by unbearably slow. Whenever I would think a good amount of time had gone by, I would look at the clock to discover it had only been a few minutes. Not that I should be surprised – it always dragged on like this.
Anyway, it's now noon, which means two things; both of which make me a little bit happier. It's time for my lunch break, and my shift is half over. Hooray.
Since Riley and I are working the same shift today, his lunch break is at the same time as mine. He follows right behind me as I take off my hat and apron and walk straight outside for a smoke. I sit down at one of the tables we have set up outside, and he sits down across from me, giving me a smug look that I immediately recognize. Ugh, I'm definitely not in the mood for this right now-
"What about her?" he suddenly asks, pointing to some random girl across the street. Remember what I said earlier about he can be downright annoying sometimes? Yeah, this is why. He's always trying to set me up, convinced that I'll 'stop being so bitchy once I have a girl', and I hate it. For obvious reasons.
"She's okay," I deadpan, not even removing my eyes from my Blackberry to look at whoever it is he's pointing at.
"You didn't even look!"
"Don't have to," I tell him, and he shoots me his trademark 'you've got to be kidding me, Ashley' look. What can I say? I get it a lot.
"You really need to get over this other girl, Ash. It's been years. Don't you think you've tortured yourself long enough by now?"
I squeeze my eyes shut, letting out an angry sigh. He's right, of course, but I'm sick and tired of being told what I already know. I'm not ready to move on yet – I don't care how long it's been. I'll get over Her by myself. I don't need to fuck a random stranger to help me do it.
I almost open my mouth to tell him that, but I keep it shut and choose to ignore him instead. I think he knows that his comment struck a nerve, because he's suddenly quiet too - and trust me when I say that Riley is never quiet. We sit in an awkward silence, with me chain-smoking three or four cigarettes (I wasn't counting), and him staring across the street and occasionally shooting me a sympathetic look that I catch him doing out of the corner of my eye. I can't bring myself to make eye contact with him right now. Now that She's on my mind, the only thing I can focus on is my phone as I scroll through my contacts list and stop when I reach her name. I let out a quiet sigh, allowing myself only a few short seconds to stare at the seven letters that have been the bane of my existence for the past four fucking years before angrily shutting off my phone and shoving it back in my pocket. Riley looks over to me as I rest my face in my hands, trying my best to keep myself from having a full-blown mental breakdown.
He reaches across the table and places a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Look at me Ashley," he tells me, and I reluctantly do as I'm told. "I'm sorry I brought it up, okay? I just really, really hate seeing you so upset all the time and I hate even more that I can't do anything to help."
Ugh, damn him and his heart of gold. "I know, Riley," I sigh out quietly. "I just…need to get over it on my own. I'll be okay eventually."
That last part is a bit of a lie, because there's no way I can say for sure how long this is going to last. For his sake, though, I don't dare tell him that.
He nods in understanding just as an alarm on his phone goes off. He digs it out of his pocket and looks at the screen. "Well, Ash…break's over," he tells me as he flips his phone closed, and I can't help the loud groan that escapes me. The last thing I want right now is to go back in there.
"Hey, you're halfway done," he reassures me with a smile. "Plus, there's nowhere near as many people in there as there were this morning. I've only seen one girl go inside since we've been out here."
"Thank God," I answer him as I get up from my chair, reaching my arms up into a long and overly-dramatic stretch. "Let's get this over with," I tell him before trudging back to the front door and going inside, holding it open for him behind me.
We both clock back in from our break, and as I'm in the back putting my uniform back on, Riley comes running up to me a little too eagerly. Oh God, what could this possibly be about?
"Hey, remember that girl earlier from the across the street? The one I was pointing to?" he asks me, and I look at him blankly, shaking my head.
"Um, no. I didn't even look at her, remember?"
"Well now's your chance to, because she's sitting in the lobby. She's really hot, Ash, and she's sitting by herself, so she's gotta be single –" I cut him off there by punching him in the arm.
"We just got done talking about this, Riley," I warn him before he can take this too far again, and he gets the message. He puts his hands up in front of him defensively before slowly backing away from me and turning to put his own uniform on.
"Suit yourself, then," he adds quietly, and I narrow my eyes at him. He's really fucking pushing it now, but I choose not to comment. I walk away from him and back behind the counter, taking my spot at the register.
I can see that Riley was right. There is only one person sitting the lobby – a girl, but her back is facing me, so I can't see what she looks like. All I can see is her bright blonde hair. I still don't care much for seeing her face though, so I quickly look away and pull out my phone to check Facebook. My manager isn't here today, so naturally, I'm going to take full advantage of that.
A few minutes go by with no customers. I haven't seen Riley, so I assume he's hiding from me in the back room to keep himself from saying anything else stupid about the girl in the lobby. Heh. Smart guy.
Suddenly, Blondie gets up from her table and approaches the counter. I don't acknowledge her approach at all, half because I really don't feel like making anything right now and half because I still don't care for seeing how hot she supposedly is. My eyes remain glued to my phone, even as she gets to the counter and places both of her hands on it.
"Hi. What can I get for you." I say nonchalantly, and more so like a statement than a question.
"Yeah, I'll take a fucking explanation, Ashley Davies."
My eyes shoot up, and the face I'm met with causes me to abruptly drop my phone to the floor as my entire body goes numb and the breath leaves my lungs in the form of a loud whimper.