Ground Breaker

3

Once again my alarm blared through the whole apartment. This time I got up much quicker and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. I undressed and hopped in. I washed my body with my mango body wash, the scent filling up my nostrils. I got out and blow dried my hair. I put on my dark skinny jeans and the beige too Maria gave me. I put on a bit more make up than yesterday and a denim jacket on top.

I grabbed an apple before leaving. I drove to the cafe and had 10 minutes before my shift. I headed inside, this time no sexy tattooed man needed to catch me. Maria was at the register. She gave me a warm smile and greeted me, "you can go straight through the back door dear and to the lockers. Pop on your apron and meet me back at the register" I thanked her and went through the door. I found the lockers and out my bag in . I put my name tag on the apron Maria gave me.

I passed the storage rooms and bathroom and walked to the register. "So dear, this is Kian. He will show you around today and get you started. If you have any questions, ask him or Nathan. Nathan should be around here somewhere" Maria said whilst nodding to the tall blonde boy.
"I'm Kian nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Lexie", I smiled at him.

Maria explained a few more things to me before leaving. Kian turned towards me, gave me a dazzling smile and started explaining what I need to do.

"So to your right as you can see are all the coffee machines, I'll show you how to make all the orders a little later. All the incoming orders will be lined up here on this rack. To your left is the register and the cake display. Have you ever worked at a cash register?"

"Yes I have, I used to work in a grocery shop" I turned to follow him to the left.

"Good, shouldn't be too different, I'll show you what buttons to press. If you need to exchange money, go to Nathan, he'll do it for you".

I tried to shake off the nervous bubble that started to form in my stomach at the thought of having to actually to talk to Nathan.

Kian then showed me to the cake display, " if you run out of cakes, there should be more in the back. Everything usually is pretty well labelled so you shouldn't have too much of a hard time finding something. At some stage Nathan will have to teach you have to unpack delivery orders, that's for another day tho."

Kian then showed me how to make all the drinks, he left out the recipes next to me just in case I need them. I listened intently to every word so I wouldn't forget anything. Today he told me I would work the register and make coffees.

A little while went by and I got the hang of things. After a couple of times of embarrassing myself, not knowing what buttons to press, Kian had to help me and I started to understand.

There wasn't much customers for a few minutes so Kian came over to talk. I managed to appreciate his face, he really is cute like Lexie said. Sharp jawline, darker blue eyes. He told me about himself. He is 20 years old, lives with his parents and studies chemistry at university. He said he would like to be pharmacist but is happy right now at the coffee shop. He has a younger sister called Bella who's 8 and he doesn't like Ice cream.

"What do you mean you don't like ice cream Kian!? That is absolutely inhumane"

"It's disgusting, cold and makes my teeth hurt", I laughed at his disgusted face just thinking about it.

"So lex, tell me about yourself"

I thought for a few seconds about where to start. "Well I'm 18, I just recently moved to my apartment here umm I love cats. I have absolutely no idea what to do with my future but I guess you have to start somewhere. I have a younger brother and sister called ja-"
I was cut off by the same deep voice I heard yesterday.

"Don't you two have something to do?"- he scowled at us.

Kian rolled his eyes and mouthed to me 'tell me later'. I smiled at him and turned back to making coffee.

I felt Nathan's eyes bore in to the back of my skull. I tried to pretend like I didn't know he was there but I think he knew that I felt nervous around him.

"What's your name?" He asked me (well more like demanded)

"Lexie.", I answered not looking back at him.
I felt him walk closer and lean again the counter next to me. There wasn't much space by the machines so I couldn't feel the heat come off his body. I tried to control my nerves but felt my hands get clammy. I have no idea why this man makes me so nervous .

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen" I answered, only to hear him scoff quickly and whisper under his breath 'figures'
Suddenly feeling confident I tired to face him and snapped.
"What do you mean by 'figures'". I crossed my arms and looked into his green orbes.

He straighten up and stared right back. "Figures because you look and act like a little fucking girl", He spat back at me.

"What do you mean I act like a little girl?!" I started getting angry.
"You don't know me and have said like three sentences to me all together and from that you have gathered I act like a little girl?"

"This reaction from you just proves my point, little girl"

I felt my anger rise up even more but I just turned around and continued to do my work.

"By the way princess, you have paint on your cheek here", he scowled at me whilst softly touching my cheek. I put my hand up to the place he had touched and tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.

"Kian, take the register. Lexie here is going to mop the floors", the asshole said while walking away from us.

Kian gave me an apologetic smile.

The rest of the day, I ignored Nathan as much possible. After my shift finished, I bid Maria and Kian
goodbye. I got text from Sarah saying to call her when I'm done.

As I was heading to my car I called her.

"Hey loser"

"Hey hey " I answered back

"So I got invited to go to the club with a few friends tonight and I'm taking you with me. You can't refuse. I'll be at your apartment at 8 "

Before I could decline, she hung up the phone and I huffed realising I had no choice. I drove home and looked at the time. I had half an hour to figure out what to wear.