Fluffy & Fabulous

Chapter 2-4

Thankfully, the rest of my afternoon was quiet, although filled with cupcakes and frosting. Kendall, the high school student who worked part time for me, showed up around four and handled the customers out front while I baked and frosted everything I could get my hands on.

Just before six I ran upstairs to take a shower and eat more soup for dinner. It was so good I couldn’t resist it again. I was excited for our girls’ night. Over the years our group had grown and changed. With everyone else married, many weeks one or more of the men tagged along. Being Mandy’s last week before she went on maternity leave all the men were staying home.

In clean jeans and a green sweater, I dried my peanut butter cup hair and dotted on lipgloss. I knew Addi would be downstairs already so I rushed to sit with her for a while. Addi was the one I’d gotten to know first. She was sweet and a little dirty, but that likely came from teaching high school kids. It never failed that I was laughing at something Addi said by the time the others arrived.

Addi was in what had become ‘our table’ in the back corner when I pushed out from the kitchen. In front of her sat a plate with a cupcake and a half and a cup that I knew held a mocha. When I originally set the place up I had two and four person tables scattered around the small area out front. The bar at the end of the display case had stools for people who wanted to sit there, many who liked to talk like I was a bartender. Overall I could seat about twenty people inside. When the weather was nice I added a few tables outside for sidewalk seating too.

When Addi, Sam, Mandy, and Claire started coming to Bite Me!, they always sat at the same table. It wasn’t long before they were pulling over extra chairs or pushing tables together. When Lexi and I started joining them on a regular basis we were already up to eight people if Xander and Aidan tagged along. I made sure to push two tables together in the back of the dining area so we could all sit together without creating a problem with other customers.

By the time our group reached 17 we would take up the entire inside seating section, leaving only a couple bar stools. I started to consider moving to a new location with more space before I got my eviction notice. Most of the time customers picked up their cupcakes and left, but occasionally I would catch some eyeing tables and looking disappointed when they couldn’t find an empty one on a Tuesday night.

I dropped into a seat next to Addi and gave her a quick hug. “How was work?”

“Ugh,” Addi groaned. “Is it winter break yet? My classes are driving me nuts this year. I swear some of those kids think I’m only there for their entertainment.”

“Are they mean?” My first thoughts always went back to the horrible kids I went through high school with. I knew Addi was heavy in high school too, but she didn’t seem to have the same angst I had. God knows I’d never willingly go back to high school every day for the rest of my life.

“No, they’re not mean, just pranksters. Someone brought in a snowball today and left it on my chair. When I sat down, it had melted so I looked like I pissed myself all afternoon.”

I struggled not to laugh. “You’re kidding me.”

Addi snorted. “I wish. Little shits thought it was hilarious. My thong froze into my a*s c***k and I almost wet myself right then and there. I can now sympathize with what Mandy is going to deal with in a few weeks. I’ll have to warn her to stay home so her water doesn’t break in the middle of a*****e or something.”

I laughed and Addi joined me, both of us imagining Mandy with soaking pants trying to hide what was happening. Mandy was wonderful, but she embarrassed easily. She’d be mortified.

Carrie and Riley showed up next. They took seats on the other side of Addi and jumped into our conversation. Carrie was married to Mandy’s husband’s business partner, Drew. They’d met at the launch party and Mandy had gotten Carrie a job as their assistant. Which Carrie found out about after they’d fooled around in his office, neither knowing who the other one was. Riley was our resident wealth of knowledge. She owned an independent bookstore in town, READ, and seemed to have read just about everything out there. Her other half was Connor, a total hottie who was becoming addicted to fantasy novels like Riley.

Fantasy as in fictional worlds and creatures. Think Tolkien and Lord of the Rings. Not 50 Shades of Grey kind of fantasy. Although I was sure Riley had read those, too.

As we talked the others arrived and joined us. I should have known something was up when Lexi winked at me, but I was slow. It didn’t occur to me anything was off until she taunted, “Charlie met a guy this morning.”