Sweet Rush

Two

My system is awakened by SZA's "Kill Bill" while I endure the bumpiest bus ride I've ever been on. The realization that my shift starts in 10 minutes and that I have 30 minutes to get there causes a dreadful sink in my chest. If this manifestation thing is true, I'd better get there as soon as possible. The annoyance of being late and having arrangements changed last-minute are two of my biggest pet peeves. If the older woman seated next to me hadn't been present I would have been having an outer-body meltdown because doing it internally doesn't do me justice.

Within my six months of working at Pritchard's I've never been late more than once and twice is a little too much for my liking.
I open my instagram app to surf like the predictable teen I am. Not even two seconds in and that face is on my screen. That beautiful brown face with eyes that I wish could actually stare into mine.

Wait. What?!
No way I actually thought that. Talk about intrusive thoughts. Jane Pritchard needs to remove himself from my head. I mean I know it's my fault why he's stuck there (watching endless photos and videos of him) but I think I'm actually getting ahead of myself.

Finally, I stop at my last location before sprinting towards the bar. I yank the heavy door open and dash through the hallway towards the back, but before I can do that, the eight sets of eyes force me to stop dead in my tracks. Only one pair of those eyes mattered.

The thought of someone watching me perspire and struggle for air worried me more than anything else. Being so humiliated in front of eight people was not at all what I had anticipated. Yet, I'm not worried about the other seven. He looks even better in person standing there.

" Hi Malia, running a little late I see." Mr. Pritchard's hollow voice calls out my tardiness.

"Oh yeah. Bus route. It won't happen again." I struggle to keep breathing pausing in between my sentences to seem less fatigued. Hearing myself I can tell I did not pull it off.

Of course this would happen in front of Jane.

If I didn't think I had a crush before I definitely do now. My gaze wanders over his entire body, savouring the moment before I begin my shift and he's out of sight. He towers over his grandfather, exuding such masculine vigour. He looks like a boy and a man at the same time, which is exactly my type as of two minutes ago. His nutty brown eyes peer through the black baseball cap he's wearing. While I am stunned, he appears unimpressed and in the last place he'd rather be.

"Everyone meet Jane, future CEO of the Pritchard franchise, however this will be where he is based because who can beat New York?" Mr.Pritchard chuckles while introducing the greek god we know all too well.

Jane doesn't even flex a smile, barely keeping his eyes towards us and staring off in the distance. I'd say that was pretty rude. Instead of acknowledging his grandad's words, he just looks at him and gives him a lazy smirk.

Mr. Pritchard stands there with a smile as if he's waiting for Jane to say or do something and after two minutes of deafening silence he finally says "Nice meeting everyone." before walking off with his grandpa. Jane didn't strike me as the shy type, at least not on social media. This is a contrast to what I expected, he's more quiet than I thought.

The girls all return to their shift while I gather momentum to start mine. It's around five on a weekday so the bar isn't that buzzing. I head out to the front to set up my corner for when I have drink requests pouring in. Just when I'm wiping down a shaker, Crystal bumps my shoulder for no apparent reason. She's not the size of a whale and I'm not the biggest person in the room so she definitely has room to walk past me without letting a single hair touch my ass.
"I'm going to need you to stop touching me so much, thanks." I let her know which she glazes over and goes directly to her point.