Hello August, Please Be Good To Me

Chapter 4: You Deserve a Cookie

I never realized how busy and popular Great American Cookie was. Every time I stop by, it's basically deserted, with one person working the counter. Now that I'm officially a working woman, there are usually three of us, me, Cat, and Mariana, who take turns ringing up customers as well as taking orders from the food court, online, and on the phone. I hand over a cookie slice to a little boy with chubby fingers and collect the money from his father. "Thanks! Come again," I wave, and lean against the counter taking a breath. I take this time to read what the box actually says, picking up an unfolded one from its stack. "You deserve a cookie, Cat," I tell her, and she gives me a rueful smile before picking up the ringing phone. She works two shifts on the weekdays, both starting at nine in the morning. We're required to come two hours early to prepare for the day, and looking at Cat you would never know she's not a morning person, the way she flicks her million dollar smile off and on. And she never, ever loses her patience, which is more than I can say for poor Mariana. Both girls are the older sisters I never had, though one more sister like and the other, motherly.

Cat is her nickname, as her real one is Tabitha, which she claims makes her sound thirty years older. Her parents called her Tabby Cat, and eventually she shortened it. Even Mariana didn't know this about her co-worker, so why I was the one special enough to be told in confidence, I couldn't begin to figure out.  Cat goes to Florida State as a transfer student from TCC, and get this, she's not even from Tallahassee! Neither is Mariana for that matter, as she hails from Miami, and is a sophomore at FAMU. Both of them love it here, and I just laugh. I can't seem to convince them that there's nothing in this little town and that unless you're a retired person, college kid, or raising a family, there's absolutely nothing for you.

On top of that, my weirdness shows up and shows often, yet they stand up for me and I can't help but love them. Our boss tried me my first day, trying to negotiate more hours for the same pay from me. Mariana shut that down quickly, and I think I might as well dub myself the little sister of the group, because there isn't a moment when they aren't giving advice. Until we're swamped by customers, like today and most days, and then the focus is off of me. I haven't been working for very long, but I can feel myself liking it more and more, which is more than I can say for what's in store come August. Eventually Cat goes on her first break and it's just me and Mariana holding everything down. "Can I help you?" I ask a young girl, with the same glasses frames as me standing two feet apart from the glass. "Umm....yess..." she says, briefly lifting her eyes to meet mine before she looks back at the cookies again. I give her moment to decide, as it isn't usual for people to not know what they want when they come up to us. "We have a deal today for buy three get one free and buy ten get two free," I inform the girl, and she only nods her head. She looks and sounds young for her age, but I could be wrong. People mistake me for being at the most a first year high school kid, and that's only thanks to my naked face and lovely average height of 5'5.

"Uhh, no...you don't have a baby face per se," Mariana assured me when I asked her, and I didn't feel comforted. "Then why do people think I'm fourteen? What is it about me that makes me people assume wrong?" Cat had patted her gloved hand on my shoulder before heading back to the decorating station. "You just have that look. There's nothing wrong with that. Trust me, eventually you'll be thankful." I would probably be less thankful when I could finally drink and go to clubs, and the only thing people would say to me is "ID please." I get it now at the movies whenever I see R rated movies late at night.

"Can I get a brownie?" the girl says an eternity later, and I nod and reach for the fudge covered one and the red velvet one she points at. When I place it in the special bag and ring up her order my gaze lifts up to the busy food court and Beautiful Stranger is there. I scrunch up my face and squint to make sure I'm not seeing anything. But sure enough, the freckles don't lie and I notice that he's surrounded by a group of what I believe are his friends. "Can I get my brownie?" the girl asks, and I snap to attention. She's holding out change in her small hand, and the other is held out to receive the bag. "Oh yeah, Sure, sorry about that." I finish the transaction and look back at Beautiful Stranger. I secretly hope that amidst the thousands of people walking and standing between us, he'll look back at me and smile again. Of course it doesn't happen, and when I shrug and turn around, Mariana is standing cross armed and smug. "Who ya looking at?" she turns and makes an obvious show of leaning over the counter and lifting her hand to shade her face. "Is it that dude in the red?" she yells, pointing to a guy in a red polo and Timberlands eating his Chick-fil-A across from a girl. "Mariana, shut up!" I pull her away from the counter as she continues to search the crowd. I look too and my heart sinks when I realize Beautiful Stranger and his crew are gone.

"He's not here," I tell Mariana haughtily, still embarrassed from her outburst.  "Aww," Mariana consoles me, and pulls a cookie out with her gloved hand. "Here," she says, and shoves it in my mouth, "You deserve a cookie!" I yank the cookie out, depositing crumbs on my shirt as Mariana gives me a cheeky grin. "Hardee har har," I grumble.