STREETZ

3

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"Can you pick up Friday?"

Ray leaned against the office doorway. Watching Aaliyah place her belongings neatly over the door hooks.

Aaliyah tucked in her oversized shirt which was tagged with "Chipotle" on the front of her shirt. She tossed her hat on expeditiously wrapping the loose ends of her hair into a messy ponytail.

Aaliyah tied the long apron around her waist. It stopped just below her knees covering most of the khaki uniform pants she wore.

Looking over her shoulder she got a glimpse of Ray's round stubby figure protruding from the door frame.

She worked three days out of the week at Chipotle in Downtown Detroit — Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

"I have to see."

She couldn't promise to pick up. Aaliyah was willing to work extra shifts. She needed the money, but she had to be available in case Bonnie forgot about Legend again.

Bonnie had managed to do a no-call no-show Monday evening to get Legend after school. Even after Aaliyah's multiple attempts to remind her.

His eyebrows heightened. Tucking his thin rose pink lips he nodded "OK. Just let me know by Thursday."

"Will do." She gave him a small smile.

Ray began to wobble deeper in the office.

"Oh before I forget..." he stopped in his tracks. "I need you at the register today. Langley called off."

Her smile dropped slightly. She hated working on the line. All of the interactions with customers exhausted her sometimes.

Aaliyah usually did all of the prep work and made sure both lines were fully stocked and clean.

"You don't have anybody else to work the line?" She slipped her phone in her back pocket.

"No. It's just you and Erica." 

Aaliyah rolled her eyes. If she wasn't anticipating her shift being over soon she definitely was now.

"Alright."

Journeying out of the crammed office she made her way to the front of the store. A line of people were trickling in slowly.

Rush hour was ending soon around 5 o'clock like it usually did. Aliyah didn't make it to work until 4:30. She was lucky to catch the end of the busy shift.

Cilantro and lime fragranced the air along with the smell of savory meat cooking on the grill.

"Wussup Lay." David gave her a cool nod as he continued to skillfully slice through the tender steak laid out on the dashboard.

David was the night crew's chef he worked five days out of the week. He was older in his late thirties.

His dreads were barreled to the back of his head and covered with a hair net for safety and cleanliness reasons.