Chapter |5|
Abigail Todaro.
"One slice of carrot cake, ready to go." I said with a smile as I handed a lady her order.
"Thank you." She responded and glided the payment to the counter.
She picked up the cake and left with a satisfied smile.
A relieved sigh left me when she was out, another successful service, no freaking out.
I sat down idly behind the counter and looked at my wristwatch for the time being. 4:30 pm, we were almost closing and I was happy because we usually don't get busy by this hour.
I hated it when I have absolutely nothing to do. I sighed and went through the small drawers in front of me, in one of them I found one of my books that I had kept there but forgot to take it out.
I blinked at the red-covered book that had a picture of a wolf on it with bared teeth. It is one of my absolute favourites, Lord Loss by Darren Shan.
I am a big horror-thriller fan but I think I've read this book way too much for me to be invested in it again. I took out the book and kept it on the counter so that I could take it home with me in the next 20 minutes.
I was going to stand up and start cleaning the tables again when three men walked in. I immediately got on my feet and was ready to welcome them but my eyes widened on their own accord when I recognized one of them.
He was the man from three days ago. What was his name again?
Ah, Payne.
Look, guys, I'm a weirdo so don't ask me why I started smiling like a decapitated idiot the minute I recognized him.
I don't even know why I'm happy. Was it because I put a name on his face or because I was waiting for him to come back? I don't know.
They started walking towards the tables and as they did, Payne turned around to look at me. My smile slowly melted away from the look in his eyes, his ashy eyes looked distant and cold. My blood ran cold and the hair on my nape stood up, there was something scary in his look that made my stomach churn before I looked away.
My disappointment in myself was hard to explain. I don't even know why I felt like he would remember me.
Or is it that he's angry about the staring thing?
I let out a soft chuckle as I felt my eyes prickling with tears. Stupid.
Why did I think that he would want to get to know me? That he would want to be friends.
I took out my notepad and pen as I put on a smile and walked to the table they were seated.
"Good evening gentlemen, welcome to Sugar and Spice what can I get you?" I said, hoping that I was the only person who heard my voice waver.
All three men stared at me. I tried to hold my smile as long as possible during this process.
They didn't say anything for a while and everything was starting to get awkward when one of them spoke.
"We'll have some milkshakes, two vanilla, and one chocolate." He said.
This guy had blonde hair that was gelled back. His dark blue eyes lit a bit as he flashed me a nice smile.
"Okay um, will that be all?" I asked ignoring the feeling of Payne's eyes burning through the side of my head.
"Yes." The other guy with black hair said meanwhile the one I'm talking to replied;
"No."
They looked at each other and the guy with black hair rolled his eyes at the blonde-haired guy.
"I'd like a slice of raspberry cake." He said the smile on his face widening a bit, revealing a shallow dimple.
"Oh, we're out of raspberry cake," I said. "Sorry."
He nodded in understanding.
"Then I'll have a cho-"
"I'm sorry sir, we are out of cake. We're almost closing and we sold out." I explained.
His eyes widened and his brows furrowed, confusion clear in his expression.
"Then what do you have?"
"Oh, um, we have a fresh batch of chocolate cookies and we also have chocolate fudge and wildberry tarts." I listed off the short menu we had left.
"Ooh," He exclaimed looking at the guys with a happy expression. "They have tarts."
Payne sighed lightly beside me and for some reason, I went a bit stiff.
The black-haired guy opened his mouth to say something but the blonde interrupted immediately.
"We'll take three chocolate fudge-"
"Two." Payne intercepted coldly making the blonde dude look at him disappointedly.
"-two chocolate fudge tarts."
"Okay." I said and started walking towards the kitchen to collect their orders.
Just as I was about to reach for the kitchen knob, someone opened it from the inside and I was met by Kim's wholesome smile.
"I was about to come to get some milkshakes." I told her with a short laugh because I was a bit startled when the door opened.
"Oh, I'll make them. What's the order?"
"Um, two vanilla and one chocolate." I repeated the order and she nodded in affirmation.
"Got that. I hope we're done after them." She groaned sarcastically as she disappeared back into the kitchen,
I muffled my mouth with my palm as I chuckled at her behavior.
I went back behind the counter and pulled out two crisp paper plates and lined them on our serving tray before I put on a new pair of gloves to take out their tarts. I pondered on whether I should give them the tarts first or wait for the milkshakes to be ready yet. I sighed and looked up only to make direct eye contact with the person I'd been trying so hard not to make eye contact with.
I felt my whole body go cold, down to the tips of my fingers. The way he was just gawking at me casually made me feel like I had done something to him. Which I know I did and should apologize for.
"Order up!" Kim's moderate call made me shift my eyes away from him and head straight to the kitchen.
After I had gotten the drinks, I placed them on the tray along with two recyclable forks. I served their table and got back behind the counter. I got myself busy by engaging myself with the book I had just said a few moments ago that I had read too many times. Yeah, my hypocrisy is just that much.
I was about to flip to the sixth page when the soft chime of the entrance bell caught my attention.
I looked up immediately at the person that came in and stood up. I flipped over the book on the stool, the pages facing down.
"Welcome to Sugar and Spice what can I get you?"
A man walked up to the counter with a breezy smile imprinted on his face. The smile was so wholesome that I couldn't help but smile too.
"Hello." He said with a little wave.
This one, he looked like he was in his early thirties. He had light brown hair and brown eyes, I could tell that his smile was genuine because it reached his eyes. His approach felt friendly and nice, also with the coconut breezy scent of his cologne.
"Hello, welcome to our shop," I said. "Unfortunately, it's late and we're about to close so we don't have any cakes, cupcakes, biscuits, fruity drinks, or coffee. But we have a freshly made batch of chocolate chip cookies and some chocolate fudge and wild berry tarts."
I broke out the news to him and his smile faltered.
"Oh no. I really wanted to get her a chocolate cake." He muttered scratching his nape.
"Oh," I murmured too, my mood dampening a bit. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, really. I just wanted to take home a sweet treat as a present, more preferably chocolate cake." He said with a short chuckle.
"I'm sorry," I repeated again feeling guilty. "You could take home some chocolate fudge tarts, I-if you want." I offered, stuttering a little bit because no one asked for my opinion.
"Tarts?" He asked, skeptical.
"Only if you want though," I said with a nervous laugh. "Y'know, tarts are also a good choice if the chocolate cake wasn't demanded in the first place. It's also delicious and fun to eat." I said, my hands flaring slightly.
"You think so?" He asked with a thoughtful look. "You know what, I think you're right."
"Uh huh." I agreed, feeling proud that my opinion mattered.
"Yeah, I think I'll go with the tarts." He said with an agreeing nod. "Two medium chocolate fudge tarts please."
I gave him a mock salute which made him chuckle lightly. While I brought out the boxes to pack his order, I knocked down my book from the stool.
"Ah jeez." I muttered half irritated as I picked it up and put it on the counter this time.
"Woah, is that Lord Loss? Like, from the Demonata series? I love Darren Shan's works." He gasped placing his hands on the book and picking it up carefully as if it were a gem.
I laughed softly as he did this, the way his whole face lit up was so cute.
"Yeah, you've read his books too?" I asked as I gently placed the first tart into the packaging box.
"Of course I have! He has an absolutely fantastic mind, the plot twists and the series interconnecting with every one of them is so sick. It's been long since I've seen a fan of his." He said wholesomely.
"Me too." I said excitedly as I placed the second tart into the box.
"I'm Darryl." He said out of the blue making me look at him confused. "My name, it's Darryl."
"Oh, Darryl," I smiled as I caught on. I put the tarts aside, ready for him, and then I took off my gloves and stretched out my hand for a handshake.
"My name is Abigail but you can call me-"
"I want your entire batch of cookies, now." A voice cut into the conversation, and my hand that was suspended mid-air for a handshake was handed bills.
I blinked twice before I looked over at Payne who was now standing beside Darryl, almost two inches taller in comparison.
He looked like he had his jaw locked in and his eyes were brewing storms. I looked at the cash in my hand before slowly dropping the money on the counter.
Darryl slowly clamped down his spread-out fingers and looked up at Payne with a smile.
"Hello." He greeted him with a smile.
Payne looked down at his fingernails and examined them for a moment before smoothly looking over to where Darryl was standing.
Payne looked at him and then slowly, a smile appeared on his face - if you could even call it that. The way he smiled at Darryl made me scared, the smile was cynical and dangerous. The smile on Darryl's face slowly slipped away and the only thing that could be heard in our silence was the thumping of my heart.
"The shop is about to close, your order is packed up and ready," Payne said calmly but it sounded like he was gritting his teeth. "What's stopping you from paying up and leaving? As you can see, I have a lot to take home."
"Oh, my bad." Darryl said with an awkward chuckle and pulled out crisp dollar bills from his wallet and gave them to me.
Darryl picked up the boxes from the counter carefully.
"Make sure not-" My words faltered when two pairs of light grey eyes snapped to me. "-not to s-shake t-the boxes." I finished quietly and Darryl gave me a small smile and a wave before walking out.
My eyes followed him through the transparent glass until he took a turn and disappeared from my sight.
Payne picked up the book Darryl and I were talking about and calmly skimmed through it like he hadn't just acted crazed right now.
I cleared my throat - which sounded like a squeak - and brought out the large boxes we pack large orders of cookies with and started taking out the cookies and lining them up for him.
There was no sound in the background, except for Kim's little noises that were coming from the back and the other two guys that came with Payne arguing. After packing two boxes in silence, I swallowed hard and pushed back the feeling of anxiety eating me up, and spoke up.
"I'm sorry." I said quietly as I packed the third and last box.
There, that was it, his apology. It's up to him whether to forgive me or not I didn't mean to tell him to call him rude.
A large warm hand patted my head once, twice and then the other hand let down the book it has been holding. I paused completely at what he was doing before looking up at him in confusion.
He lowered his face to my face level and asked me one question.
"Do I . . . scare you?"