pepper spray | e.d

2

I wake up around 9:30 to the sound of people working below on the landscape around the apartment building. Rolling over to open my curtains, I realize that I am still in my dress from last night. Although I didn't drink anything because I am not 21 yet, my head still pounds like I am hungover.

My phone falls off the bed, forcing me to actually get up to get it. After retrieving it, I try to turn it on, only succeeding in finding out that it is dead. I plug it into the charger and go to the kitchen to get something to eat.

A perk to living alone is that you can eat whatever you want and no one will judge you. I grab an old slice of cake from the fridge and plop down onto the couch to eat it.

I don't realize how late I woke up until I am midway through my breakfast-dessert. My phone dings and I pick it up to see what it is.

It is a text from Kelly, a girl I work at the coffee shop with. The text reads "Where are you?!"

As soon as I read the text, my stomach drops. I instantly remember that I have to be there to do my shift at 10:00. It is currently 9:58. Shoving one last bite of food down my throat, I jump up and start getting ready for work. Usually I am up early and have time to relax, but I'm not sure what happened today.

Luckily, everyone is very nice at the coffee shop, so I shouldn't get into too much trouble for being late. Being late isn't typical of me. Neither is pepper spraying someone.

Memories of last night slowly creep into my mind as I rush out the door.

Why did I do that?

That guy must hate me now. Even though I have no clue who he even is, I still feel awfully guilty. No one deserves being pepper sprayed for being polite.

When I get down to the parking garage, it isn't crowded and the early morning rush is gone. I guess that's one thing to be thankful for from being late. I walk to my car and find it is close to the exit. Because of that, I am able to make it out quickly.

While turning on the radio and putting on some music, my phone dings again. Being safe, I decide to wait to check it until I am parked. With a deep breath, I drive to work.

---

It is well past 10 o'clock now and the shop is swamped with angry customers. Since I haven't been there to help out, there were only two people running the shop. Yikes.

As I walk into the door, I am greeted with unpleasant shouts from my coworkers.

"Where the hell have you been?! It's almost 11!" Kelly shouts. She is holding two cups of coffee in each hand and looks flustered. The other worker, Max, is taking orders and screaming commands to Kelly. Max is a little younger than I am, and he is always trying to flirt with me. His brown hair is plastered to his forehead with sweat.

"I am so sorry! I slept in late!" I sprint behind the counter and take some of the cups from Kelly. The sloppy and obviously rushed hand writing on the cups makes it tell who they belong to.

"I could really use some help over here!" Max hollers over the customers' booming voices.

I place the unidentifiable cups on the counter and walk over to Max. He hand me a notepad and I start taking orders.

"Can I have a large coffee please with only 2 teaspoons of sugar? No more and no less." A short woman says as she taps her nails on the backside of her phone.

Another woman from the back yells, "Can I have the same thing?"

While I'm jotting the orders on the notepad, a deep voice speaks up, "I know you are swamped with customers, but I just need a napkin."

I look up and make eye contact with the person speaking. His dark eyes stare into mine and he smiles softly. My heart skips a beat as I see who it is. The boy from last night.

My mind goes blank and I don't know what to say. Does he recognize me? He must be pissed. Why is he being so kind?

Just as I am about to hand the boy a napkin, another person walks up next to him and says in an annoyed tone, "Dude, what's taking so long?"

No way. No freaking way.

There's two of them.

"H-here you go." I place the napkin in his hand.

My heart skips a beat once more as I realize something. The one asking for a napkin wasn't the boy from last night, it's his brother. They must be twins.

I look over to where they are seated and start to notice obvious differences. Although they both have dark brown hair, pepper spray boy has a streak of color in his. They are both extremely muscular and have bulging arms.

Napkin boy laughs and then turns his head. We make eye contact and I look away as fast as I can.

Yikes. Now I have an even greater chance of seeing him in the building now that there are two of them. Not going to lie, they are pretty hot.

I am interrupted by my thoughts when Kelly walks over and hands me a mop. "There's a spill by table 4. Have fun."

She takes the notepad from me and saunters away. Although Kelly is my only girl-friend at work, she can be bossy sometimes. Whenever something comes up that she doesn't want to do, she throws it my way. I'm always doing unnecessary chores just to please her needs.

I look over to see the mess I'm about to get into. Luckily, the twins are seated at a table far from where I need to be. A thick, dark mixture is splattered on the table, chair, and floor. I appears to have dried a little from being there for a while.

Lovely. Time to go clean.