The Other Woman

The bus doors opened, and Sky's feet hit the ground running. She hated this city's bus system. Show up to work an hour early, or 5 minutes late. The rhythm of her running shoes slapping against the pavement reminded her to go a little faster, and she finally rounded the corner to her little pub that she worked in as a cook. Rushing through the doors, she gave a quick nod to the waitress on shift and hurriedly grabbed an apron on her way to the back. "Sorry I'm late Mary, the bus is never on time." "Oh- no worries!" she said, but Sky saw how Mary rolled her eyes as she turned away from her to remove her own apron. Sky listened as her kitchen manager prattled off what needed to be prepped and what the evening special was. With a smile she settled in, listening to music as she cleaned and prepped, filled orders and enjoyed her peace running an entire kitchen alone. She was the least experienced cook at 13th Street Pub, but Mary had liked her initiative and her ability to learn quickly. It was only minimum wage, but it kept a roof over her family's head, and food in her childrens' tummy. It was getting loud out there, her quietly playing music was suddenly drowned out by the jukebox as someone picked a rock number, and voices swelled from across the room. Sky raised her head from the romaine she was chopping and glanced through the order window. Immediately, she scoffed internally at the young men strutting about. Tonight, the bar was unusally was full of them. She noticed a blonde guy with arms covered in tattoos staring at her, even though he was clearly on a date with a pretty blonde girl. Rolling her eyes, and looking away with a disgusted look on her face, she straightened her ballcap. It happened to have a logo of her favorite hockey team...in rainbow. Glancing up again, she noticed he had stopped staring. Sky smirked. Her hat had convinced many people without asking that she was a lesbian, which suited her just fine. The less amount of idiots she had to blow off, the better. One of the men at the bar had caught her eye, but she fought against it. The last thing she needed was a fling, or any sort of i***t in her life. Stubbornly reminded herself of the last time she had broken her promise to herself, and basically had to throw the dude out of her house a week later. Shaking her head, she unwillingly glances through the order window one more time. He had a sweet smile plastered across his face while talking to his friend at the bar, who was happily eating a meal Sky had prepared. She smiled; Sky had always loved it when her family and friends enjoyed her food, but since working as a line cook she had developed even more of a sense of pride with each successful dish. He didn't seem to be interested in any of the women, though he was laughing with the waitress, who was an attractive woman though happily married and in her fifties. He also had not glanced at Skylar even once. This, of course, drew her to him; she was used to fighting guys off, metaphorically speaking. She was no knockout by any means, but she was attractive enough, and down to earth. Her sense of humour attracted even men who preferred the high maintenance types. Some part of her automatically respected a man for not being typical, dog like, and piggish. She paid attention to him throughout the rest of her shift, all the while going un noticed. He seemed only interested in conversing with the gentleman he arrived with, and the staff. At one point she left the kitchen to refill her water and overheard his conversation with her waitress, Vona. He had mentioned that he was staying at the motel across the street. "That place used to have a real problem," Vona was saying. "What kind of problem?" he asked, the same gorgeous smile on his face. "Drugs?" "That too," Vona responded seriously. "But mostly hookers. Its not a problem anymore," she hastily added. "Management cleaned house." "Hookers?" he said, laughing. "That doesn't sound like a problem!" As Sky filled her water glass, she calmly interjected, "If your c**k falls off, it's probably a problem..." Laughter erupted behind her as she headed back to the kitchen with her lemon water. She knew it. Just another typical man.