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Evening had arrived and I was hours into my shift. The sun had almost completely set and only the last few streaks of light blue could be seen on the horizon, looking like a beautiful stroke of paint against the navy blue night sky.
I tapped my finger on the bar as I waited for the next customer at the drive through window. My co-workers Whitney, Zoey and Gab were in the room with me, as the place was quiet and there wasn't much to do.
Whitney and Zoey passed time by gossiping about customers and sharing different stories of the rude encounters they've had with Karen's and Ken's at their different jobs. Gab sat on a bar, typing away on his phone and I settled with finding different rhythms to play when tapping my fingers on the bar.
I suddenly snapped out of my finger tapping tune by Zoey calling my name.
"And what are you going to do when you finish your shift today?" she asked, twirling her finger around a strand of her short purple hair. "Stop asking him Zoey, he's not as weird as you two. Shift finishes at 1. The only logical thing to do that that time is to sleep." he said, not moving his eyes from his phone.
"Oh come on, not everyone's a sloth like you Gabriel!" Zoey exclaimed, huffing and puffing out her freckles cheeks.
"No I'm just not a sleep deprived vampire."
"Can we actually hear what Kota's gonna say." Whitney interrupted. Her voice reminded me of sandpaper a scraping against itself.
"I'm getting off early today. I'll leave at twelve. I'm.. Going to visit family." I said. I wasn't lying. My plan was to go past the market place and buy my grandmother a gift before visiting her at the hospital.
"Well someone's close to their family." Whitney mumbled, seemingly disappointed at my boring plans.
Jusr then we heard a car pull up next to the window and a middle aged woman with curly blonde hair waved at them.
"Evening ma'am." I said, before taking her order of black coffee. I prepared the coffee and made a heart shape in the froth. I didn't need to, but I enjoyed preparing coffees with nice designs.
I handed the the lady her coffee and she proceeded to complement my 'coffee art'.
"Thank you ma'am, but it's nothing, really." I said, scratching the back of my neck and feeling awkward.
"No, no, this is very good art! I promise, if you open a coffee shop of your own, big money, trust me!" I laughed. But inside, I felt a spark of joy. My own shop aye. Now that doesn't sound so bad.
By the time we stopped chatting, it was already quarter past twelve and I waved goodbye as the lady drove off.
"Nice accent, where's she from?" Whitney asked nobody in particular after the woman left.
"She's Lebanese I'd say." I stated as I took off my apron and hat and put them on their wall hook. "How do you know?" Whitney asked and I shrugged. "I may have bad social skills but it doesn't take that long to pick up. You're kinda slow not gonna lie, Whitney."
Whitney huffed as I walked out the doors, collected my belongings and entered the chilly night breeze.
"Kota!" Gab called and I turned around, hunched over in the cold to see him approach me. He was much taller and slimmer than me, his hair was tussled and as black as his eyes. He was only three years older than me, but yet he seemed to have his life together and I admired him for that. Well, as together as the life of a McDonalds worker can be.
"You need a ride?" he asked and I shrugged. "I'm good."
"How come you lied to the girls earlier?" he asked. I assumed he meant when I told them I was visiting family. I had once told Gab that I didn't have family.
"I'm gonna go visit my grandmother at the hospital." I said and he nodded.
"I thought you didn't have family?" he asked.
"Well, technically I don't. She's not my real grandmother, but she may as well be. She was my only company when my parents would abuse me and she basically raised me after they kicked me out." I said and Gabriel hummed his understanding.
"She a family friend?" he asked as Zoey poked her head out the door and called Gab in. There were no customers, but she obviously just didn't want to feel as though he were slacking off at work.
"..she used to sell sweets near our house before retiring. Anyway, I'll be going now Gab." I said and he tapped my shoulder in farewell.
As I walked away I heard Zoey call Gab once more. "Sorry Zoe, imma hit the sack." he said, swinging his jacket over his shoulder and entering his car which was parked beside him in the car park.
Zoey's yells were heard in the distance as I made my way to the market place.
-Interdimensional Pirates
-April Bluebird/@BlueWhiskers1
-17/Feb/2022
-Chapter 1, PART 5; I Thought You Didn't Have Family
-420 👁🗨, 0 🌟, 0 🔥, 0 💭.