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1006 Words
One day, Ana meets this lady at the mall who offers to pay for what she bought because she couldn't pay for the complete goods.
“Thank you very much” Ana says to the lady.
“You are welcome. Do you live around here?” The young lady asks and Ana shakes her head. The lady looks just about the same age as Ana.
“I'm actually new here,” Ana replied.
“Oh! I'm Sloane, by the way,” the lady says, stretching out her hand to Ana.
“Ana,” she replies, taking the lady's hand.
“I live over there. What about you? We can be friends”
Ana is, of course, ashamed to say that she doesn't have a place to call home yet but she's happy to have someone treat her nicely.
They end up becoming friends and days later after Ana's subscription at the motel expires, Sloane offers to take her in.
**********
TO THE PRESENT....
Ana is sitting still on the desk with her right hand supporting her chin. She is exhausted from working because she has been working all morning since she is working more hours than usual today and also because Mr Green won't let her rest a bit.
She sighs to herself as she stretches her arms and her neck. One can hear the kram-kram sound of her bones.
“Young lady, what are you doing there sitting all pretty?” the short, healthy-looking mid-forty man asks with his pipe in his mouth. Ana is startled as she stumbles to her feet, trying to keep herself from falling.
“Nothing sir,” she saunters.
“I thought so too. We have customers, woman” he says to her and lowers his eyes.
“Go on and attend to them fast. Come on, young lady” the man instructs.
Ana stands and follows him behind as he walks into the shop's counter. “See that table?” he asks, pointing ahead of them. Ana stretches her neck to see the table, then nods her head after a second of observation.
“Yes sir” she replies.
“Okay, go serve them,” he tells her. Ana turns and leaves. “And behave your very best” he adds to her hearing and she nods her head repeatedly.
Ana wipes her face with her face towel before taking her jotter and pen and walks towards the table. She wonders who the men at the table are that Mr. Green has asked her to behave herself in front of them. After all, she's almost new in the cafe shop.
Are they regulars here? She asks herself on her way to get their orders.
"Good day sirs," Ana says to the men in her nicest of voice as she dips one hand into her apron front pocket.
"Why do you like this place so much?" One of the men, the one with brown hair, is asking the other man with him—the one with black hair. They don't respond to her greeting immediately, making Ana think they were rude.
Maybe because they are actually rude, she thinks to herself.
"Good day sirs, what would you like?" Ana asks again and waits for their response.
"Because they make the best coffee, or don't you think so? '' the black-haired man replies, still ignoring Ana.
Ana is getting impatient but she’s trying to be cool.
"Sir, please let me take your order" she says, waving a hand in between the men.
"Oh, sorry. Get me the usual" the one with black hair says.
Ana is a bit confused, it's her first time serving them.
"Sorry sir, but what is the usual?" she asks politely.
"Are you new here? Do you not know us?" The black-haired man asks, looking up at her. The brown-haired man is silent throughout.
"Not exactly. I started working not too long ago, and I'm new to serving you guys," she replies.
"Obviously," the black-haired man says. "Americano," he adds and licks his lips.
"Flat white," the brown-haired man answers with a smile.
Ana looks at him, his smile is the most beautiful she has ever seen in her entire life and it makes her unknowingly smile too. She notices how very handsome the young men are as she scribbles their order in her note before walking away.
She admires how tailored-up the men are. Their cologne smells expensive, she could tell they are very rich.
'They must have a lot of money' she thinks to herself as she walks away to get their orders.
"She has a great ass," one of them says, and Ana hears him.
Normally, she would have gone back and punched the pervert in his face, as she doesn't like any man complimenting her in any way called sexy. She hates it so much.
And she hates this job too—having to walk around and attend to people you don't know and having to deal with rude customers sometimes. But this time, weirdly, she smiled at those words. She doesn't feel like she wants to punch the man who said that.
She walks into the counter and to the coffee-making machine. When the cups of coffee are ready, she takes them one after the other and puts them on a tray and goes back to the table.
On her way, she turns to see a little girl running inside the shop and hug her mother. The woman kisses her daughter softly on the forehead.
This causes Ana’s heart to ache in pain as she stops to watch the mother and daughter. She didn't mean to leave her mother or run away from her. If only the woman didn’t turn out the way she did.
Ana still misses the days when they were happy, and her mother would come to school and pick her up. She misses her mother, the one who raised her...
“What is wrong with you?” someone's shout interrupts Ana’s thoughts as she comes back to life.
- Writer
