Bride to Be

17: All the Pieces Fell into Place

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: ALL THE PIECES FELL INTO PLACE

June 21st, 2020

It was difficult for Marcie to keep her eyes open when she clocked into her 6AM shift at Dunkin'. As soon as she walked in, the line for the drive thru was already nearing the street. She groaned loudly, loud enough for her coworkers to hear. They had the same energy as Marcie when it came to the morning rush. As she made at least thirty coffees within the first ten minutes of her shift, Marcie wished she was working in fashion instead of serving coffee to angry boomers at this time of morning.

The morning rush usually lasted a few hours, with no break in between. Today somehow, was different, when the drive thru line was empty by 6:58AM. Marcie wiped the sweat from her forehead, forgetting her hands were covered in caramel swirl. "Shit," she mumbled, feeling the sticky coffee flavor on her skin.

Just as she was about to wash her hands and wipe the caramel from her forehead, the front door to the building chimed, signaling that a customer had walked into the building. Marcie hoped it wasn't another middle aged man, coming in to complain about his coffee order -- that Marcie most likely made correctly.

To her surprise, though, it was not a middle aged man who walked into the building at approximately seven o'clock in the morning. Instead, it was Avery Nelson.

"Marceline," Marcie's boss, Debbie, who couldn't bother to learn Marcie's nickname, called from the donut case. "Take this order."

Marcie rolled her eyes. Debbie was standing right there; she could have easily taken Avery's order. Instead of responding, she just walked over to the register. Marcie quickly punched in her employee number, wanting to get this over with.

"Hey, Marcie." Avery yawned. She wasn't her typical, chipper self this morning. Instead, she looked sick. Avery's face was pale; her hair barely brushed and thrown into a messy bun on the top of her head. She wore an oversized tee shirt and shorts so short, the tee shirt covered them.

"What can I get for you?"

"Can I get a large hot caramel macchiato with whipped cream?" Avery yawned again.

Marcie typed Avery's basic drink into the system, without making eye contact. "That'll be four seventy-nine." she said flatly.

As Avery pulled her card out of her wallet, Marcie looked up and took in the bride to be's appearance once more. Avery actually looked physically ill, as if she was about to pass out.

"Are you okay?" Marcie couldn't help herself from asking.

"Perfectly fine," Avery nodded, though it was obvious that she was lying. She inserted her card into the chip reader, holding onto the counter with a tight grip. When she took her card out, Marcie walked away to make the macchiato.

While the milk was steaming, Marcie watched as Avery slid her finger across her phone screen, and placed the device to her ear.

"Doctor Brewer?" Avery spoke quietly into the phone. Marcie slowly mixed the contents of the drink, though quickly realized she messed up -- since a macchiato is not supposed to be mixed. She hoped Avery would not notice. Though as she mixed the espresso, milk, and caramel, she nosily listened to Avery's phone call.

"Thank you for returning my call. It's been really bad,"

Marcie's curiosity grew. She hoped the drive thru line would stay at a steady pace like it was now, so that she would not have to jump in and help her coworkers. She wanted to stay at the front counter, so she could listen to Avery's phone call. As bad as that was, Marcie didn't care. She was a naturally nosey person.