Guarded

Chapter 1

Toni

"Hey. Wassup with y'all?" I greeted my coworkers as I sat my stuff in an empty locker. Mariah and Jojo both sat down at the back table talking as if they were on break but knowing them, they were still on the clock.

"Ain't nothing chile. I had to come take a break before I snap on one of them damn customers. They so damn aggy coming through the drive thru asking me about a happy meal toy. This ain't no Toys R Us, we supply cheeseburgers." Jojo all but snapped.

"Damn girl. How long you been here?" She looked at the gold apple watch on her right wrist. "About thirty minutes."

I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head. Jojo was a trip. She was short patience like me and hated dealing with people most times. She constantly raved about getting a better job than McDonald's, which I understood but something was better than nothing.

"Girl let me tell you, let me tell you." Mariah popped her lips, bringing my attention to her. "McDonald's done finally did something right and hired somebody worth looking at for eight hours out the day."

"We got a new guy? And he actually look good?" I questioned. Most of the guys I worked with was lame and dusty. I wasn't looking for no relationship but some eye candy around wouldn't hurt. Hell, I might even look forward to coming to work.

"Yes girl... tall and chocolatey. Had me about to make a fudge sundae of my own." Mariah wiped the invisible sweat from her forehead and begin fanning herself. Did I mention she was a white girl? Homegirl had the blue eyes and all but as soon as she opened her mouth, it was a different story.

"Don't let me have to hit up my bestie Jay to tell him another nigga got you sweating and carrying on."

"Girl whatever," she fanned me off. "My baby know I'm all his. But his ass also know I ain't blind so I shall look wherever I please."

"Okay ladies, break over. Time to get back up front unless you wanna clock out and go home." My boss, Reggie, told us before walking away. He was an alright dude as long as work was getting ✅ . I honestly didn't know how he keep his composure with the employees sometimes. Most of the crew was teenagers, which meant it was more chilling around the store than actual working.

I walked up to the front counter, looking around to see what needed to be done. I watched a woman stand impatiently, tapping her feet and blowing deep breaths every five seconds.

"Ma'am have you been helped?"

"Of course not. Y'all got a hundred people in that kitchen and not one of y'all stupid asses even attempted to take my order. How can you be fast food when you can't even take the goddamn order with thin a decent time?"

I mentally counted to ten real slowly before I said something I most likely wouldn't regret. Not today Jesus.

"What can I get for you today?" Bitch.

***

I got out of my black 2006 Honda Civic and walked to the front door. I could hear the TV on and my dad's animated laughter. I swear you would think Katt Williams himself was in the living room, giving the comedy show of his life. He was loud mouth and could exaggerate the hell out of a story, but his personality was one you grew to love.

"Let me call you back. My baby just walked in the house." I found my mom on the phone, next to my dad while he watched Wild 'n Out. She ended her call before asking me how my day went.

That's one thing I loved about my small family. It was just my dad, mom, and I but we were close. We shared most things with each other, from the latest gossip at work to what was going on in our personal lives. I wasn't like most kids that felt like they needed to hide everything from their parents, but then again, I never really had nothing to hide anyway. We explained to one another the day we had before I left them as I found them.

Once I reached my room, I dropped my purse on my bed. I never really noticed how exhausted I was until after I made it home from a day's work.

I lazily removed my slip resistant work shoes before grabbing a pair of clothes to change in. I walked to my bathroom right outside my door to start the shower.

Our family lived in a two bedroom/two bathroom apartment. Some may have considered it small but for us three, it was cozy and comfortable. I got to claim the hall bathroom since my parents shared the one in their bedroom.

After my shower, I snapped on my TV to help unwind. Since it was almost 11 p.m., nothing good was on. By my tenth channel surf, I was aggravated and just settled on Love & Hip Hop reruns.

I sighed in delight to simply be doing nothing. What a typical day.

A/N: First chapter done. First, I wanna say thank you for even reading this far. I been contemplating on writing for a while and finally decided why the hell not. Please leave comments to tell me how I'm doing. The future chapters will be longer.