The Wishing Flower

Chapter 13

I hung my jacket on the steel rack in the backroom. On top of the rack, hung a giant yellow sign with a painting of a creepy looking clown with enormous red lips that curled upwards. Don't Forget To Smile, the clown said with his gloved finger pointing in the air. I scoffed, I hated that stupid sign.

I noticed there weren't many coats hung up this morning. The green furry one was Lacey's, I've seen her wear it several times. The pink rain coat was probably Betty's, who was standing by the register when I walked in. Whose jacket was the blue one? I couldn't tell if the jacket belonged to a man or a woman. I stood there contemplating whether or not I should look at the jacket so I could figure out if it belonged to a man. The air was still as my hands inched towards the jacket. I felt the air move behind me as the hairs on my arm stood up. I quickly moved my hand away from the jacker, but I was too afraid to look back. The back of the room was dimly lit and the supply boxes were covered in shadows. I felt someone's breath roll down my neck.

"Zee '', I heard a whisper right, that sounded like Alex's voice. I let out a yelp, and spun around, but it was just Lacey, standing at the door.I let out a breath of relief.

"You okay, girl?", Lacey asked me," 'cause we need you out there, the store ten minutes ago"

"Y-yeah, sorry. I'll be right there", I said, still feeling a bit shaken.

For the next two hours, me and Betty waited tables while Lacey manned the register at the front. Every now and then, I couldn't help but notice my eyes wandering to the front door, waiting to see if Alex would walk in.

After the rush died down, me and Betty sat down to rest our feet.

"Well, I'll be! That was one crazy morning, ya'd think we're giving out pancakes for free", she said with a big hearty laugh.

Betty was an older lady with white curly hair and pink flushed cheeks. She always had a smile one her face that stretched from one ear all the way to the other. She was one of those super friendly people that always seemed to be happy.

Normally, I didn't like making small talk with people, but I liked talking to Betty. Talking to her was comforting like talking to your grandma, but I couldn't be too sure.

"Betty, can I ask you something?"

"Yes, dear", she said, turning her body towards me as we sat across each other in a booth.

"Umm..", I scratched my head uncomfortably. How could I bring this up, without making things obvious? "How could I tell if someone is actually a bad person, or if I'm just mistaken and they're actually good?"

Betty's plump face wrinkled in confusion, "Dear, I can't tell if ya want me to give ya an answer, or if ya don't. I can't tell if you're talking about a serial killer", she said, laughing at her own joke.

She was right, I needed to give her some more context,"Okay, so there's this guy-"

"Here, we go. Now the party's gettin started!" Betty cried.

I continued speaking ignoring her comment "and at first I had a really bad impression of him. I thought he was the biggest creep to ever exist. But then he did some things that made him seem less of a creep. So, now I'm not sure if I was blowing things out of proportion and he's actually a pretty nice dude and I'm failing to see that side of him".

"Okay. Let me tell you here now, young lady", she said placing her hand on top of mine. I didn't like it when people touched me and I tried to pull my hand away, but her grip was strong.

"Here's a little story from when I was in high school, back in the day. You might not be able to tell, but I was a real hoot in those days. All da' boys would line up, just to get a taste of me. But I was a classy woman, I just let those boys drool from afar. Never giving them too much hope, or too little.