Ignorance

Shall We?

     The shop was adorable. I knew the second the bells jingled, signaling my entrance, that I was going to try my hardest to get this job, even with the little experience I've had. Curvy lime green chairs were placed in threes around circular, white tables. The white walls were spotted with the occassional brown or blue spot that stuck out from it's smooth surface. The entire feel of the place was smooth and flowing with an underlying tone of a child's room. The colors suggested a place that belonged to a room of either guy or gal, which I was very fond of. My wandering eyes traveled over the display of mouthwatering treats, the shelves they sat on reminding me of book shelves, before landing on an older lady behind the counter.

     "Hello," I said, a bright smile forming across my face. The lady I had directed my greeting towards had short, curly brown hair that rested in a disarray on her head. Small wrinkles lined her forehead and showed around her eyes, becoming more prominent when she smiled back at me.

     "Well hello there deary, are you here for your interview?" she inquired, stepping through a short swinging door off to the right of the counter and making her way towards me. Suddenly she jumped a bit, spinning on her heel with a bright "oh silly me, always forgetting things," and reapproached me with a clipboard now in her hands.

     She gestured towards one of the rounded chairs, indicating that I should sit down. I did as she instructed, clasping my hands together in my lap and crossing my ankles, a polite smile plastered across my face. The lady sat down across from me, setting her clip board on the table before looking up and smiling back with kind eyes.

     "So I'm Mrs. Ryans, but please call me Karen," she paused, looking down at her clipboard. "You are Victoria, right?" Mrs. Ryans asked, peeking at me through her oval shaped glasses that I somehow hadn't noticed before. She must have just put them on, I thought to myself.

     "Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you," I murmured shyly, trying to look at amiable as possible.

     "Save the pleasentries for later sweetie, I want to see the real you so that I don't accidently hire a complete hooligan," she exclaimed, though not in a rude manner. My smile momentarily dropped off my face, and I looked at her shocked, before laughing a bit. "That's more like it," she said, a triumphant flashing across her face. "Now tell me Tori, if I may call you that, how much cooking experience do you have? Prior jobs? Go ahead and milk it a bit, if what you say doesn't acceed expectations I can always fire you," my eyebrows furrowed a little as I thought over my answer, not liking the way Karen was treating me.

     Aren't you just a bitter apple, a voice in my head growled, biting the corner of my lip. A small gasp escaped from Mrs. Ryans direction and I slapped a hand over my mouth in surprise. I said that out loud?!!?  I looked up at her in horror, knowing that within a few minutes I had already destroyed this entire interview.

     "Shit! I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed desparately, only realizing that my choice of words wasn't helping. I must of looked like a floundering fish as I waved my hands around frantically, stuttering over my words a bit as I tried to come up with a good excuse to my snippy remarks. My attempts at redemtion came to an abrupt halt as tinkling laughter filled the small sweet shop.

     Mrs. Ryans was laughing?!

     "Oh I quite like you," she said in between giggles, her rude facade gone. "I'm sorry, I find that my best method of finding good employees is by being to the point, which to most is very intimidating, please excuse my actions! I'm generally not like that, truly, my son can vouch for me," she rambled on, a small smile replacing the fits of laughter that were now wearing off.

     I let my hands drop limply back to my lap, and a blush quickly found it's place on my cheeks, its red tint earning another small chuckle from Karen. She nodded at me, lifting an eyebrow, and it took my a moment to realize she was expecting an answer to her previous question. "Oh well, I never really had a job, but I was known back at home for my passion and talent at cooking sweets," I said, becoming more at ease after the initial shock of Karen's personality.

     "Hmm, that could be a bit of a dilemma," Karen mumbled, tapping a finger against her chin and appearing to be deep in thought for a moment. "Ah! I got it! How about you come back into the kitchen sweet heart and bake some treats," she said, and added more to her request after seeing my slight hesitation. "I don't plan on murdering you yet. You better bake me some damn good cupcakes though, or else I'll reconsider," and with another laugh, I followed her through some doors behind the counter that led to the kitchen.

     "I'm more worried about burning this place down then the chances of you being a psychotic woman, Mrs. Ryans," came my shaky reply as nervousness pooled in the pit of my stomach.

     I truly hope I don't screw this up, I thought with utter sincerty as the silver doors swung shut behind me.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Ahh this was only 900 something words I'm so sorry! A month of no updates and this is all I can spew from the deep, dark, empty abyss I call my mind?! Shame on me, I know! I'll try and have another update by tomorrow, you guys finally get to meet the one and only Mickster!! (Karen has a son, who she named the shop after)

Hugs and Arctic Rush,

Lauren xoxo