Here With You

3. Opportunities

"WAKE UP! ITS 5 IN THE MORNING!"

My alarm blared into my ears and after 2 minutes of enduring the torture, I rolled over to my right and hit the "turn off alarm" button.

I stared at the ceiling for a while thinking about life, and another weird dream I had.

The dream seemed to be a continuation of the first one i had. A man tapped my shoulder and said he would help me carry my bags. I then nodded my head and gave some of the bags to him.

All of a sudden maids and bodyguards popped out of nowhere, all carrying bags and where following the man. I followed behind everyone wondering where we were going to.

"Am I being thrown out? But from out of where? Where are they even leading me to?" I was mumbling to myself, and wondering whats going on.

"We are here miss," The man from earlier told me and I lifted my head, only to see a mansion right in front of me.

"This is the place?" I asked in shock.

"Yes miss."

As we spoke, the maids and bodyguards walked into the mansion with my things, but came out empty handed.

"Let's go in miss. Your things are being arranged and we need you dressed up for dinner."

As soon as he said that, there was a time skip and I found myself in fancy clothes at the head of a dinner table. There were other people around me. I couldn't see their faces, but I could feel their aura. Almost like they were wearing question marks for heads, and I was supposed to guess who they were from the vibes they gave off.

I suddenly felt this hate filled aura coming towards me, and then I turned my head to it's direction.

It was coming from a lady. Though she wasn't looking at me, her aura suffocated me. I felt like I was going to pass out, but all of a sudden the aura started to disappear and I felt a pair of eyes staring at me and it was at that moment I woke up.

I was so confused on what the dream meant and why I wasn't going away. I spent a few minutes looking at the ceiling trying to get an answer, before I went out to the terrace.

It was still a bit dark out, but that morning breeze was everything. After looking over the streets and houses for a while, I got back in, prepped my clothes for the day and had a nice shower.

I wore a blue plaid shirt, with the front tucked into black jean trousers and grey suede ankle boots. My hair was in a bun at the top of my head, I wore hopped silver earrings and a necklace with a tiny heart pendant on my neck.

I heard a knock on my door. Knowing fully well it could only be Jackie, I let her in and went back to the full-length mirror that was right beside my closet.

"What's up Renèe? Is there a man I should know about?" She asked as she stood behind me wriggling her eyebrows.

"You're one to talk. You look like you're a model for a magazine right now. Your hairstyle, those humongous earrings, that black and white midi skirt, black crop top, a black jacket, a star pendant, and that lip gloss that's so bright it's blinding. Girl! Who is he? And when am I going to be introduced?"

The moment I finished speaking we both laughed uncontrollably in our shared singleness.

"Hey! I was wondering 'cause you ain't dressed like a baker per se," she said.

"And you aren't dressed like a baker at all," I replied still laughing.

"Well at least we look good," she said and I nodded.

"Let's go downstairs and open up shop. It's 6:42 a.m., we need to eat breakfast and prep the place before 7:30. We also have two special orders to make against Sunday," I reminded her as we made our way out of the room, through the corridor, out of the living room and down the stairs leading to the bakery.

We got into the bakery, Jackie turned on the lights and fans, and unlocked the front entrance before she began arranging some of the seats, while I got started on our breakfast. Which were the leftover croissants from yesterday and some hot chocolate.

I popped two of them into the microwave while I made the hot chocolate. Once they were done, I placed Jackie's share on the counter and called her over to eat and to take aesthetic pictures to post on our social media.

While we ate, we heard the front door open and then turned to see Estelle and Tommy walk in.

"Hi, guys!" Jackie and I both said.

"Good morning."

"Hey, boss ladies."

"How are you guys doing today?" I asked as I took a sip of my drink.

"I'm good, and I got my tip from yesterday. How about you boss?" Tommy replied.

I just smiled, tipped my mug at him and said, "Like you said you would and we're doing good too."

"Me too. Also, this place smells awesome, do you mind if I...?" Estelle replied.

"Go help yourself. The early bird catches the worm," Jackie said with a wink and Estelle danced her way to the kitchen with Tommy in tow.

"Estelle please make some for me," Tommy pleaded.

"Sorry Tommy, you didn't ask the bosses yet," She replied.

"Come on! They clearly said the early bird gets the worm. I was early too," He whined.

We all laughed after hearing that, Tommy got his croissants after a while and we all set the place up immediately after we were finished.

The others came a little later to help out and we were officially open by 8:30a.m.

"Estelle, I'm going to need your help with these special orders. Come join me and Jackie over here."

Estelle rushed over to us and we gave her a low down of what we had to make. Chocolate angel food cake with strawberry ganache, 50 pieces of double chocolate macaroons and plain vanilla cake with 3D flower designs.

We started on the orders immediately so we could have time to decorate later on, help the others if we had time and deliver them quickly.

We worked long and hard on those orders and by the time we were done with all of it, it was 12:57 pm. The macaroons were being set in the fridge while the cakes were given to Tommy to be delivered.

We had a short break in the lounge upstairs and cleaned ourselves up of all the flour in the bathroom there, then went back down to help Elena and Jerry.

Immediately I got down, I wished I had stayed in bed and pretended to be sick. Cause just like yesterday, we were packed.

"It's another rush Jackie," I said to her once she was within earshot, and her reaction got me cackling silently.

She had this mix of frustration, happiness, confusion and fatigue that made her look like she was about to cry.

With a hand on her shoulder and some encouraging words, we went on to handle the normal orders.

We tried our best to attend to everyone, but some customers were being utterly rude and questioning the reviews we got online. Thankfully, we had way more good reviews than bad ones from the customers and Jackie and I were so grateful for that. At least, it got our minds off that snooty teen and her dumb boyfriend.

While we were attending to the customers, I noticed a man in a sky blue shirt with long dark wavy hair with an undercut. He said down at a table in the far right corner of the shop by the glass window. After he ordered and ate he never left. He just stayed there playing with his phone and observing the area.

It was my first time seeing him and I didn't know what to make of it, so I went over to Jackie to tell her.

"I don't want to make a scene, but that guy over there has been here for hours now. He has ordered a few things but doesn't seem to want to leave after eating it all. Maybe he's tired, but still," I said.

"Yeah! I've noticed him too. Let's just leave him for a while. When we close and he doesn't leave, then we'll be able to kick him out. Till then, let's take his money," She said chuckling at her last sentence. I just nodded and went back to work.

It was 3:30 p.m. and time for us to close up for the day. The last of the customers were rolling out the door, but that man was still there. Suddenly, he walked up to the counter and asked to see the owner. I just pointed him over to a seat and told him to wait a bit before I went upstairs to the office to get Jackie.

We got down and walked up to him with our clothes all covered in flour. We all shared a handshake, and then he began talking about how much he loved our pastries, sweets, drinks and service, and that he would like us to make the dessert for a party of his next week on Tuesday.

All the while he spoke, he seemed confused about why he was speaking to two people instead of one person. Though I don't blame him, I looked like I was removed from a bag of flour. Jackie on the other hand looked a bit more put together, though she too was covered in flour.

"Well, we have a deal then. I'll text you the details of what the desserts should be later this evening," He said.

"No problem, here's our card," Jackie replied handing over a complimentary card to him.

"Thank you, I guess I'll text you both. My name is Aaron and you both are?" He asked while stretching his hands out for another handshake.

"I'm Jacqueline."

"I'm Renèe."

"It's nice to meet you both. I look forward to working with you guys. Have a nice day." He said with a smile as he put the card in his pocket and made his way to the door.

"Us too! please don't forget to drop a nice review about us on our website, and socials and tag us if you have a cool pic from here you want to post. Thank you, have an awesome day," I replied.

I heard him chuckle and say a quick "sure" before he waved us goodbye and left.

When we were sure he was gone, the squeals and jumping began.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"