The Bakery

3

I lay awake for ages, trying to do mental maths to figure out how much longer I would need to live here before I could rent or even buy somewhere else. At around 3am, all dates and numbers in my brain mixed together and became sloppy as I gradually went to sleep. I had a dreamless sleep, and an interrupted one as I kept falling off the camp bed every time I moved. It almost came as a relief when my alarm went off. That was the good thing about sleeping here: I didn't have to commute and therefore saved money on petrol and I never had to worry about a parking space. I heard keys jingling outside, unlocking the door. I always forgot that the café opened at 7, as my shift never started till 9. Laughing. What? I could hear Isla laughing. With a boy? Yes that is definitely male laughter. I didn't know she had a boyfriend. I heard them chatting as she started the coffee machine. I recognised his voice, but my mind was still hazy from sleep that I couldn't picture who it was. I peeked round the door. Tall. Brown hair. It could be anyone I knew. I pushed a little too hard on the open door and it flew open, causing my to trip and faceplant the floor.

'Genie? What are you doing here?' I looked up through my hair which was still a birds nest from sleep. I could feel myself blush as I tried to form some kind of legible sentence.

'Well-I-erm-MARK?' The room was silent as I shouted his name. Isla looked nervous as we stared at each other, constantly looking between us like she were watching a tennis match. She looked as if she were about to cry. I couldn't tell the emotions I was feeling. Was I about to cry? Was I angry? Was I just disappointed? I had no clue.

'Genie, please, I meant to tell you!'

'What, that you're sleeping with my ex-boyfriend?' Mark now looked between me and Isla.

'Genie, baby, we've been broken up for ages!' Mark tried to reason with me.

'Yeah, a month is a really long time!' I replied sarcastically. He knew that he was my first serious boyfriend, and I was devastated when he decided to finish with me, because  'it just wasn't working anymore'.

'A month? Are you joking?' Isla started to interject. 'You told me that it was 7 months and she broke up with you!' She sounded exasperated, like she truly had no clue about their past relationship. 'Genie, please, I swear I had no clue.' She looked at me longingly. I knew I hadn't forgiven her, but she was the only friend I had so I kinda had to let this one slide.

'I believe you, I trust you, Isla. It's him you shouldn't trust. I would've have said this to you anyway, even if you had told me. He is a liar, and now I do t have to tell you, because you've seen it for yourself.' I turned to Mark and gave him a look. How dare he lie to one of my friends about our past! Isla turned to look at him as well. She walked towards him, her head bowed. She looked up at him with her pretty brown eyes, her tears almost spilling over.

'I think you should go' she said quietly.

'Isla-baby-plea-'

'Go!' Isla shouted back at him, giving him a look of poor disgust. I walked over to her and hugged her from the side. He gave us one last look and muttered something along the lines of 'fuck this', turned and left. Isla turned to me, still in our awkward side hug.

'Genie, I'm so sorry.'

'Isla, it's fine hun. It's not your fault he lied.' I turned to face her. She wiped at her tears and shook her head, reminding me of a dog.

'You're not mad I didn't tell you? Or that I was even going out with him?' I thought about it for a moment.

'No.' I said slowly, looking her in her eyes so she knew I was being honest. 'I just wish he was nicer to you.'

'Me too.'

**************

It was about 9:15 when we had finished cleaning. It was 'The Big Wednesday Clean Down' and as we had started early, we were finished quicker. It was always a pain to clean the café when we were open as we would continually have to stop and start at
Gain when customers came in. Luckily it was quiet today, so Isla and I chatted and messed around. It was weird. Before this morning I didn't think we were that close, more colleagues than friends. But after the whole thing with Mark, it felt like we were closer and more open with each other. I was thankful she hadn't asked me about our relationship though. I wasn't ready to tell that story. To others it may not seem like a huge deal, but to me, it was massive.

The morning continued on seamlessly. I glanced at the clock. 9:52. Wait. Where was Harry? He had never missed a day without coming to the café first. Maybe he was late. Yeah, that must be it.

10 minutes rolled by and we were getting slightly busier, but there was still no Harry. Another 10 minutes passed slowly and there was still no sign of him. I leant against the counter for about an hour hoping he would walk through the door.

'Genie, as much as I love serving tables, and I'm always happy to do it whilst you wait for Harry, but it's been over an hour and he's still not come. Hun, you need to snap back to your job.' Isla said with a smile. I glanced over to her and she looked chaotic. I immediately felt guilty that I'd left her on her own for an hour. I took one last look at the door and the clock, and then grabbed my notebook and went to take an order.

So... bit of drama. Please comment any suggestions! Do you like shorter or longer chapters? It's taking me a while to get into the whole prospect of writing but I'm finding the time and doing it as best I can!
Ps you will learn more about Mark and Naomi's characters in the future, they weren't just fillers! Thanks for reading lovelies! Xxx