when night comes ━━ mike schmidt

𝟬𝟬𝟲 hug

WHEN NIGHT COMES / Chapter Six

Zion had the mind of a teenager.

She was twenty-four but mentally, she was seventeen. She seemed like an old soul but inside, she was a playful and mischievous kid. She felt young yet was unnaturally aged.

Zion was sure it had something to do with the fact that her entire life changed once she hit seventeen—her mother got sick, her dad left, she suddenly had to grow a decade older in only a day. Maybe her brain was trying to preserve her happiness since she rarely felt it after those years.

She had an overactive imagination, which contributed to her persistent anxiety, and she was creative, loving the pretend games Mía encouraged her to join.

Zion supposed she also had the hopeful romantic heart of a kid. She'd wanted to get married since the day she was the flower girl at her parents' wedding. The joy, the delight, the love...She craved it. It was her only consistent life goal: get married. It had to be with someone she loved very much with her entire heart and entire being. She was very much a hopeless romantic. Which is why she was so baffled when she had a dream about dating Mike Schmidt.

Fuck her overactive imagination.

She did not like Mike. She refused to believe it. Clearly, she'd been alone for so long that her brain was clinging to the latest good thing in her life: him.

Because Zion did not love Mike. Not with even a fraction of her heart or an inch of her soul. She was sure she didn't—she couldn't. Mike could barely respond to her without sarcasm or a mumble. That wasn't a mark of love in her eyes.

Zion wondered if he actually liked her or if he put up with her.

But one thing she didn't have to wonder about—one thing she knew for sure was that she had a mountain of teen angst stuck inside of her.

Teen angst and a crappy job didn't go well together.

"Sir," Zion pasted on an even bigger smile than before, "I already said that you need to wait longer because your order is longer."

The customer in front of her only got angrier. He pointed to a customer beside him collecting their meal, "This one got their food before me! And the other one, and another one!"

Zion blinked slowly. She took in a deep breath, "Sir, I can't make your food cook faster—"

"Like hell you can't! I want to see your manager."

Zion was relieved for an excuse to walk away from him. She left the register and headed into the back room, shoulders instantly drooping as she untensed and let out a long sigh. Her manager wasn't too bad of a guy—he just had a tendency to make crude and irritating jokes—so she wasn't too worried about his reaction.

Zion knocked on his office door then entered before he could tell her to. "Hey, there's an upset customer who wants to see you."

"It's your job to sort him out, sweetheart," Her manager grumbled. He was a decade older than her but acted a decade younger. Goddamn man child.

"Don't call me that." Zion said sternly, "And he said he wants the manager."

"Well, I'm busy here," Her manager responded. He had his phone in his hand, a mobile game loaded up. Not busy at all. "Maybe he's so upset 'cause you're so grumpy. Smile more, yeah?"

Zion sighed internally, "He—"

"I don't care!" He yelled, causing her to flinch. "Just get out and do your damn job!"

Clenching her jaw, Zion left the room and managed to stop herself from slamming the door behind her. She walked through the back rooms as she tried to calm her rising anger.