Cup of Roasted Coffee

6; overaged assholes

On Monday, the crew came into Beanies as usual. Emma greeted them with a smile and started their orders without needing to ask what they were. They had been talking in a group chat last night and she had made mental notes of their favorites when mentioned.

"Emma!" Melissa exclaimed, rushing over to give the short girl a hug. "You're sitting with us today, right?"

Emma sighed. "I wish I could. Nora and Zoey will have my ass if I do though. But, if you can manage to sit everyone at the counter over there," she gestured to a few stool chairs sitting at a counter, "I'd be happy to join the conversation."

That was exactly what they did. By the time everyone had either pulled a regular sized chair over or squished together on the provided ones, Emma had their drinks ready to go. No other customers were walking in, so she let herself relax.

That is, until Nora and Zoey decided to emerge from the break room.

"Emma, the pastries were supposed to be done half an hour ago! What are you doing?" Nora scanned over the group, forcing a smile if eye contact was accidentally made with someone. Emma rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. They're in the oven." Thinking that would be the end of it, she turned back to her friends.

"Don't worry, ma'am," Bill assured the upset boss, "Emma's doing her job quite well." He smiled at the two ladies. He'd always been a bit of a peacemaker, there was no question about that. If anyone ever the questioned it, the only question would be 'why?'

"I can handle the pastries, Nora," Zoey smiled, trying to help her friend out. She had that effect on the girl.

"Why aren't you working?" Emma turned back around. It was evident that she starting to grow annoyed at the presence of those two alone. It did help, however, when Charlotte had set on a hand on her arm.

"Oh, the tip for a song thing is still going on. I'm on vocal rest," Zoey spoke quietly yet her words were still audible to the rest of the room.

But being the smart ass she was, Emma couldn't help herself. "Sorry, what?" A tiny grin grew on her lips. She thought she was pretty funny.

"I'm on vocal-" Zoey stopped herself halfway through. "God damnit, Emma!" She stormed off, upset for some unknown reason. Emma figured she was just sensitive as hell, as did the rest of the group behind her.

"Ok, now you're upsetting your coworkers?" Nora acted like she was winning this, and even though she had the upper hand, Emma still found her words amusing.

"Oh no!" She spoke in a childish voice, high pitched and whiny. "She's going to make a hot tea with honey and stay in the break room for another 2 hours, aww." Her throat was cleared and her voice went back to normal. "Please, people are dying."

Nora stared at her in disbelief for a few moments. "You're lucky I don't fire you." And with her threat made, she stormed off.

Emma rolled her eyes and turned back towards her friends. "Jesus, I can't stand her."

"Girl, that was awesome!" Melissa smiled, readjusting her sitting position. "You're doing great, sweetie."

"Melissa's right. I wish I could stand up to my boss like that," Paul gave her an uplifting look.

"Oh, we should celebrate!" Bill suggested, gaining a fair share of confused looks from the others. "What?"

"We're going to celebrate Emma mouthing off to her boss?" Ted laughed at the idea. He stopped when Charlotte shot him a look. Despite her soft outside, Charlotte was absolutely terrifying when she was pissed off.