Call Me Fire

CHAPTER 2

THERE WERE ONLY TWO TYPES OF EMPLOYEES IN THE WORLD, those who still looked fresh and beautiful by the last hour of their shift, and those who turned to roadkill somewhere between nine and five.

Deciding where she fell between the two was easy for Tonya. And when she said easy, she meant easy.

"Whoa!" Tonya's scream echoed when she almost missed a step and struggled to keep the mugs above her tray. She ended up taking a few anxious breaths before finally sighing in relief.

'Gee... that was close—'

"Tony, watch out!" Then there was that voice from her back when her co-worker came crushing behind her, altogether tipping over the mugs she was balancing and taking her down with her co-worker too.

"Awww..."

"So sorry, Tony. Are you alright?"

"Do I look like?" she groaned while pushing herself up from the floor and untangling herself from Lizzie.

She frowned upon seeing the splat on the floor that caused both of them to tip-off. Then,, worriedly, she scanned the place and found all four mugs, which used to be filled with coffee, empty. She caught a dozen customers looking at them too, speechless while stifling their laughs.

"Go fix yourself." Lizzie tapped her back, recovering first. "I'll take it from here."

"You better," she murmured back between gritted teeth, then flashed a fake smile at everyone before standing up.

It only took her a few strides to cross the tiled floor of that coffee shop, passing by rows of small tables that were only good for two. A quick turn to the small door connected to the kitchen, and she entered the staff's washroom.

Tonya then sighed upon seeing herself on the mirror just as soon as she entered a cubicle. Her blue eyes were droopy, and her hair was sticking out in every possible direction one could think of. Even her lips were dry and her skin was paler than a paper.

Who said that adulthood was a fun stage to be in after all? Working eight hours a day wasn't fun. More so, paying bills.

"One hour more, Tony. Just one hour more," she convinced herself to push through the shift while combing her hair back. Yawning, she then grabbed some tissues from the holder and began scrubbing the coffee stain off her uniform. "One more effing hour—"

"Tony, we need you at the counter!"

"I'm coming!" she irritably screamed back at Kristoff.

.

.

JUST AS FAST as she fixed herself, Tonya shot back to the counter to help Kristoff with the orders dumped on the desk.

"These people have no plan to sleep, huh?"

"Welcome to Klaire City, where the sun doesn't set."

"I grew up here. It would have been best if you had welcomed me twenty-four years ago," she snapped at the other barista, a skinny guy wearing an apron with a screaming coffee bean logo on it.

She was still frowning when she pushed some papers off the desk in front of her, then grabbed the microphone nearby.

"Coffee for..." She glimpsed at the name Kristoff wrote on the cup sleeve. "Sha... Sha...Shao..."

"I believe that's Saoirse." Kristoff nudged her with his elbow, obviously making a joke about her. "Don't make it sound like you're about to call a Shaolin. We don't need one right now."

Not taking the joke lightly, Tonya cover the microphone with her palm and fought back. "It's not her name. It's your handwriting, Kris," she said before leaning forward to the microphone again and calling, "Sha...Sha...Saoirse."