Anywhere With You - A Lauv Fanfiction

24. Birthday Cake Pop

June 1, 2018 (3 weeks later)

Just as I was leaving the apartment, I got a call from Harper- who stayed the night in Leila's hospital room.

"Hey!" I answered. "Sleep much?" It was 7:52am, and Harper is usually never awake this early.

"I did. We're hoping to get word on when she can leave." Harper spoke. 

Leila had to have a mechanical heart valve placed into her heart a week and a half ago. Things were going rough at first, so they've kept her since just to keep a close eye. She's still herself, and she's still strong. I've visited about 5 times, and I stayed the night with Harper last week. The rest of the time I've left with them as a family. Leila declared that she wants to cut bangs just like me, but they told her she'd have to wait until she was sent home. The day she comes home (according to her), I will be doing her makeup and cutting her bangs. 

"Any news?" I asked, picking up my purse from the kitchen counter.

"Not yet.. I just thought I'd call and let you know before you go to work." She yawned. "Maybe when you get off, bring an iced chai? I'm gonna die." She said. I heard talking in the background of the phone. "Oh, and Leila says a vanilla bean frappuccino. Pleeeeeease."

I laughed. "Okay, I'm off at 3:00 today, is that okay?" 

"We'll be here!" I heard Leila yell. "Yeah, we'll be here." Harper agreed.

"Okay, see ya then."

"Okay, bye love you."

"Bye love you." I hung up, and put my good old Starbucks apron on. There's a certain thing about not having to drive to work, and just being able to take the elevator that I love. It's also nice working in this apartment building. We aren't typically too busy, and most people use the quick drive thru. It's a fairly new building in an area with low traffic, so not a lot of people use us as their designated Starbucks stop.

When I reached floor one, I walked all the way down the hallway and to the left. My coworkers Kianna and Daniel were noticeably unbusy, and talking at the cash registers.

"Wasssuuup!" Daniel said as soon as he saw me. 

"Hey!" Kianna said. 

"HiiiI!" I came in and joined them behind the counter. "What's been going on?"

Kianna fluffed up her big curly hair, seeming bored. "Absolutely nothing. There's that parade downtown and nobody has even thought about us." She laughed.

"We were talking about how Birtha says that we should start staying an hour after closing to deep clean." Daniel said. 

"Birtha", otherwise known as Brenda, is our store manager. She's a heavyset woman with dark black hair in her 50's that I'm very sure was in the army at one point in her life. She constantly yells and wants nobody in her way. I'm actually not sure how she was hired, other than the fact that she can do her job fast.

"We deep clean on Saturday. Actually, we constantly clean because there's usually no one here." I laughed.

"See!" Daniel said.

"I agree." Kianna shrugged. 

Just then, a beep came through my headset- indicating someone was at the drive thru. I walked to the back and stood in front of the computer, ready to take the order.

"Hi my name is Aria, and what can I get started for you this morning?" 

"Uhh, just a birthday cake pop." A guy spoke.

"Okay, anything else?" I asked, entering it into the computer.

"A muffin? I don't know. Yeah, a muffin." He sounded confused. 

"Okay, what kind would you like?"

"Surprise me." He said.

"Okay," I laughed. "Gotcha. Anything else?"

"That's all." He said.

"Can I get a name for your order?" I asked.

"Ari."