Life is Sweet

Chapter 2

The alluring aroma of the bakery brings an abundance of customers to our doors this morning.  All of us employees have to kick our work into full gear at this point.  Khloe is whipping up batters at lighting speed, Tiffany is working on decorations for the cakes and cupcakes.  Bridget is working on the frostings and creamy fillings for pastries, and Hayden is working on kneading the dough for a delicious batch of crispy French bread. The other employees wash the dishes and help with the various other tasks of a bakery as successful as ours, Sweet Tooth.  

I am working the front counter now, and I’m expecting to see my mom.  She said she would drop by this morning.  I wish she wouldn’t visit so often, she always makes such a scene whenever she enters the bakery.  The front door bell jingles every few minutes as more and more hungry customers crowd the bakery for a pastry or a freshly brewed cup of coffee.  After I take a couple more orders, I hear the bells jingle on the front door and the familiar click-click of my mother’s heels.

“Hi Maya!” My mom cries happily as she strides over toward me. “How’s it going today?  Having fun?  What have you been working on?”  

Some people turn in their chairs to look at her curiously with an eyebrow raised.

Of all things, why did she have to major in drama?!

I sigh and rest my head on my palm.

My parents live about 10 minutes away from Princeton, the college I am attending.  As you can probably tell, having your parents be this close in proximity to you all the time can be stressful.  Isn’t college supposed to be your ticket out of your parent’s house?  Not to mention their rules?

Apparently not for me.

I look up at her, beaming at me from across the room, getting closer by the second.

Her hair is straight and light brown and she has it neatly tucked behind a large, grey headband.  She’s wearing a tight black pencil skirt and a white blouse and heels that are at least 5 inches.  She’s a lawyer.  She always says she needs to look “on point”.

Hah, okay?

“Hi mom, everything’s great, it’s kind of busy right now though, so could you...you know...”  I motion my head to the door.

“Oooh, you want me to leave, is there some boy in here you want to impress?  Is that why you want me gone?  Is he cute?  Come on who is it?” she says jokingly looking around the room.

She starts pointing out the guys in the room, trying to figure out who I “like.”

“Mom, stop pointing!” I say urgently.

She doesn’t listen.

“Okay, you wouldn’t like him, he’s too scrawny,” she’s says pointing to a frail ginger boy with freckles, in the corner of the room.  She turns her head scanning the room like a hawk and points again to a boy wearing orange workout shorts and a grey Nike T-shirt saying, “Just Do It.”

“No probably not him, he’s probably like twelve, oooh that guy over there?” She points to a guy who is all muscle and who winks way too much.  “Even I’d like to-”

“Ew, Mom stop.”

She stops, then says, “Oh my god, no...him?”  She points all the way to an old man at one of the tables by the window who looks at least 1,000 years old.

“Mom! No! No way!  His grandfather’s probably a dinosaur!”  I say in harsh whispers.

She laughs hysterically.

I don’t find this funny.  I’m sure she can see by the expression on my face that I’m nowhere near laughing.

“Maya, take a chill pill, I was just joking.  You really need to just, like, calm down and have some fun!”