Bikes & Kisses

Olive fixed the red scarf around her neck and shoved her bare hands into the pockets of her thick coat. It had been a while since the leaves dried up and everything turned brown and drab, exposing buildings that were covered up due to the trees in the summer. Including their coffee shop. The days went by quickly and soon it’ll be winter. The chilly bite in the air was hard to ignore, considering how Olive’s cheeks were dried up because of it, and how often she sniffed to stop the sneaky and watery mucus from falling out of her nose. Working with customers at a coffee shop meant you couldn't go around sniffing in front of everybody, so she will have to blow her nose eventually. Too bad she didn't own a handkerchief or have any piece of tissue on hand at the moment. The bell jingled overhead announcing her arrival at the coffee shop. "Hey Dee, is my mom here?" Olive asked Daniela, who had two cups of coffee on a tray to serve the customers seated at the window. Daniela smiled politely, careful not to spill as she said. "In her office." Olive slipped into the employee room and then into her mother's office. "Livvia, you're here." Her mom, Victoria, rushed her into the room and closed the door. Olive frowned, her mom was the only one who called her Livvia. Something about conflicting ideas between her and her father regarding her name. Dad wanted to name her Olivia and mom wanted to name her Olive. They argued about it until mom won and they decided to go with Olive, but then Victoria later decided that Olivia sounded better. But of course it was already too late. "What's wrong, is everything okay?" "It's Daniela, I can't afford to pay her this week. It's autumn, our store should be buzzing with customers this season but I'm afraid we didn't make enough." "Mom what are you saying? You have to pay Daniela, she needs it." "Probably not more than we do sweetie and with your father frequenting the hospital, I'd say we try to talk to her." Victoria bit her lip, her boot was tapping on the floor repeatedly. "Let me see the books, you sure we didn't make enough?" "I checked Olive." She snapped. "I checked, and I checked again, it's not enough." Daniella was a middle-aged woman with two kids. As far as Olive knew, Daniela has been working this job since Olive was five. She practically raised her along with her two children. It still amazes Olive how Daniela was able to do that with Spencer and Christopher around. Olive folded her arms. "Give her my cut." "What?" Victoria's eyes widened. "I can't-" "Yes, you can mom. I have enough saved up, I'll survive." “Olive, what are you talking about? You need the money.” “Daniela needs it more, Mom.” Olive tried to reason. “If you’re doing this because you are worried about dad, don’t. Dad will be fine, I’ll help out wherever I can. You can’t take Daniela’s money just to pay me because I’m your daughter. She works hard for it and it doesn’t make sense that you would do that. Even in difficult times, we keep our work ethics, remember? You’re the employer, you should know that.” Victoria bit her lip, her eyes were shaking. “Hey,” Olive pulled her in for a hug. “Dad’s going to be fine, okay?” “Okay.” She nodded against her shoulder. “Go home, I’ll take care of everything here.” Her mom smiled. “How can you be so responsible?” “Guess who I take after,” Olive nudged Victoria’s shoulder lightly. “Sometimes I can’t believe you’re my daughter, I’ll see you later sweetheart.” With a long sigh, Olive remembered she needed to blow her nose. She took off her coat and scarf and put on her uniform. Black jeans and a shirt, her apron and a cap. All black with their logo printed on it. Then clipped her nametag onto the front of her apron and got to work. It was warm inside the store, one of the reasons she was surprised they had no customers. If the warmth or the coffee smell/taste won’t call them in, she will. And with that, Olive set out for the cash register and started taking orders with the biggest smile on her face. There were ten workers in their store, most of them part-timers. Out of the ten, only seven were working today and three of them were not here yet. Daniela and Victoria were two people who were always here, and Olive if she wasn’t at school. Autumn days are shorter and cooler, and as Olive drowned herself in taking orders, serving customers, and cleaning tables, the sun went down. Jessi, Matt and April knew not to disturb Olive when she was focused, which is why they let her be when they arrived two hours ago. With a sigh and a stretch of her neck when she was done cleaning up a table where customers just up and left, she was surprised to see Matt and April folding their arms and watching her as they leaned against the counter. “When’d you guys get here?” She breathed. “I didn’t see you coming in.” “Should we be surprised?” April rolled her eyes. Olive scoffed. “It’s too early in the day to be rolling your eyes at me, what have I done this time?” “I don’t know uh- does trying to work yourself to death sum it all up?” April threw her arms up and walked over to Olive, yanking the damp cloth from her hands. “Sit your ass down and let us do our job.” “Uh,” Olive laughed. “What are you doing? I call the shots, remember?” “Well you’re doing a pretty crap job at that.” April said like it’s the most obvious thing ever. “Someone who calls the shots is supposed to tell others what to do, not work themselves like a f*****g slave.” Olive opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it. Surely she hasn’t been working that hard right?” “Yes, you have.” Matt answered as if he knew what she was thinking. “Go stand behind the counter or something, we’ll serve and clean up. I think you’ve pretty much done enough for the day.” Olive looked around and found four pairs of eyes staring at her, including Daniela and Jessi. Daniela had her purse in her arms and had already changed out of her uniform. “What time is it?” Daniela shrugged. “It’s past 8 pm.” Olive released a breath of warm air, she has been here since 4 o’clock. "Okay, Dee you can go home. I'll take the orders." Olive pretty much dragged her feet to stand behind the counter and watch the register, and everyone released sighs of relief when she did so. She didn’t know what to do with herself, every customer in the store had already been served and no one else had come into the store since she stood here. Olive grabbed another cloth and started wiping the counter. She rearranged everything to her preference and when that was finished, she started fidgeting with her fingers. The music playing softly above her started calling to her, and soon she was bobbing her head to the rhythm. "f**k this," She stopped and started walking towards the office. She spent an hour on her homework and another hour checking the books to see if her mom had missed anything, then began tidying up in the office. The roar of a motorcycle had her head shoot up, whoever was riding it was constantly revving it in front of their store. "What the f**k? It's 10 pm." With a frown, Olive slipped out of the office with a new mind to cuss at whoever was causing such a commotion. "Who is making so much noise at this time of the night?" There were only three employees left in the store, and the rest had gone home. April, Jessi, and Matt had gathered upfront. No doubt that April looked pissed. “Some i***t is busy showing off outside, whatever crew he arrived with had better disappear or I swear to God,” “Oh my God, they are coming in,” Jessi exclaimed. Olive’s eyes widened as she stood behind the counter. “Hey lock the doors, we’re closing early.” “What?” Jessi’s mouth parted. “Unless you want to serve such obnoxious people, go ahead, I won’t stop you.” Olive deadpanned. She has had a special dislike towards bikers ever since some i***t almost ran her over a few months ago. “I vote we close,” April raised her hand. “We’re only forty-five minutes from closing anyway.” “I don’t know guys,” Matt bit his lip. “This is the first time I am having a group of bikers at our shop, won’t it be interesting?” “Maybe odd, yeah,” April rolled her eyes. “The bunch of them belong in a bar or something, not here.” “Right,” Olive breathed, she really didn’t want to serve any of them. The last few customers that were here left as soon as those bikers arrived. Not sure if calling them bikers was right, only two of them had motorbikes while the rest were on a truck. But still, they were a lot. The bell jingled, announcing the arrival of a customer. Almost like the world had suddenly set everything in slow motion, the group strolled in. Leading the crew was an unbelievably tall guy whose hair was trimmed short, he was built with muscle and had a tiny stubble lining his defined facial features. High cheekbones and a straight nose that stood in between two dark orbs, and a bush of eyebrows that cast a shadow over his eyes. His jawline looked like it could cut through paper, and his lips were full and pink. He had an edge to him, and Olive could tell that he had broken a few hearts before, maybe even a couple of ribs. His face alone screamed ‘red flags’, definitely the kind of guy you’d find obnoxious and would want to stay away from. He was dangerous. “A ham, bacon, sausage and avocado wrap and an espresso, double.” The words rolled off his tongue smoothly as if he had them memorized. The guy took Olive by surprise but she took down his order anyway. She thought he would just order coffee and get the hell out. “Any extras?” His lips curved into a mocking smile like he knew what she was thinking. “No.” “Great. To go?” “No,” Olive looked up. “I’ll be eating in, thank you.” With gritted teeth, Olive said. “Great.” Olive gave Jessi the order to prepare while the guy paid and moved to take a seat to make room for the next customer. She took their orders effectively, sparing no room for small talk. She didn’t feel the need to smile, forcefully or not, but they were customers so she put on the best smile she could muster. Eleven of them. They were eleven. As soon as Olive finished taking orders, she helped April to serve the customers the orders that Matt and Jessica prepared. The group divided themselves into three, meaning they were using three tables and had to yell for the others on the other tables to hear them. The room was disturbingly loud with laughter and unpleasant talk. “Oliiive.” The guy from earlier dragged the name out when Olive bent over to place his tray on the table, which Olive ignored before giving another bearded guy his food. “Hey, let my hand go.” Olive heard Jessi cry out and her smile immediately dropped. “Hey! Let her go!” She yelled as she rushed over and yanked the guy’s arm off of Jessi. “You can yell and laugh as loud as you want but I will not tolerate you laying your hand on one of my staff.” The guy smirked. “Look at this fine ass, would you like me to touch you instead?” Olive pushed Jessi out of the way. “I’d like to see you try.” “Oh, oh,” She heard one guy say in the distance as she stared down the guy in front of her. “Olive,” April touched her shoulder. “It’s not worth it, come on.” “Whoa, not worth it? What are you saying, princess? Are you looking down on me?” The guy advanced towards April but Olive stepped forward. “I am saying I wouldn’t argue with a piece of s**t like you to save my life.” April jabbed. The guys’ eye twitched and before Olive knew it, he was raising his arm at April. Olive was more than prepared to step in and block the hit, but a hand caught his arm in the air before she could. “You gonn’ lay your hand on a woman, Joe?” A deep voice growled lowly, it was the tall guy from earlier. Olive was pissed that the situation had turned out exactly as she had predicted, but she was more than pissed because this guy had stepped in. “Get out.” She gritted through her teeth. “What?” The guy frowned, baffled. If he was expecting applause or reward for stepping in, he couldn’t have been more wrong. “Get out!” Olive repeated. “If you ain’t going to behave then get the f**k out of my store!” “Whoa, hey relax.” The guy raised his hands in surrender to try and deescalate the situation. “You gonn’ let this b***h speak to you like that, Blake?” Joe interrupted. “Don’t make me punch you in the face so you can shut the f**k up, Joe,” Blake warned calmly, then turned to look down at Olive. “It’s okay, my friends pissed you off. He shouldn’t have done that, we’ll leave.” Her lips parted open, then closed. She had never imagined it would be this easy to get them to leave. “Pack your s**t, we’re leaving.” Blake hollered and one by one, some more reluctant than others, they left the café.