Letters From A Stranger

one

Beep

Beep

Beep

Groaning, I rolled over, shutting the annoying alarm off. It was only 6:30 A.M and I needed to be to work by 8. Ten minutes later, I was washing my newly dyed cherry red, shoulder-length hair, and scrubbing my body in the shower. After getting out and drying my body off, I rubbed lotion on my skin, then proceeded to put my work uniform on. The uniform consisted of black pants, in which I wear leggings instead, and a white t-shirt that had the logo on it. The logo was a cup of coffee with steam rising out of the cup and the words Blue Mugs on a pocket. I was a waitress at the small coffee shop that sat on the corner, and I have been working there for a couple of years now.

The walk to the coffee shop was less than 15 minutes from my apartment. The area wasn't bad, but it also wasn't the nicest. The sidewalks were always busy with loads of people.

I live in a small one-bedroom apartment where the living room and kitchen were pretty much one room and a standard bathroom. The walls were a soft grey accented with white trim. It was similar to a studio apartment

Since it was only me living there, it was a perfect size, but it was also all I could afford working at the coffee shop. I liked working there though because Blue Mug's was laid back and the pay was decent, as well as the tips I made. Although, I know one day I'm going to need to find a better job, something that pays me better. I didn't plan on staying in my little apartment forever. I had dreams of owning the perfect house.

The coffee shop opened up at 6 A.M, but I never had to be there that early. I always went in at 8 a.m., but I would show up 15 minutes early to buy a muffin and a bottle of water.

I gathered my purse along with my phone, then threw my wavy hair into a top knot. The weather was perfect today, it wasn't too hot, and it wasn't chilly either. Fall was approaching us in the next few weeks.

When I arrived at work, there were already a few people sitting down eating or ordering coffee before they needed to be at their jobs. Once in a while, we got new customers, but mostly we had our regulars that consisted of businesspeople that worked nearby.

Upon arriving, I ordered my usual, which consisted of a pumpkin spice muffin with a bottle of water, and yes, we sell pumpkin items all year round. They were some of our highly requested items, and they always sold out quickly.

Once I was finished eating, I went into the backroom to drop my things off and got to work. After greeting my manager Sweta, I took over the floor for her while she attended to the kitchen with another co-worker. That left me working the floor by myself until 10:30 when Manit, another co-worker, came in. He was a close friend of mine. We went to high school together and have been friends ever since. He was my rock, as I was his.

The morning went by pretty fast and before I knew it, Manit was coming in for his shift.

"Hey girl, how is it going?"

"Hey, Manit. Pretty good, times flying for the café being slow." I gave him a wide smile and went back to tending my tables. Around 11:30 we started to pick up with customers seeing as how it was lunchtime and a lot of people liked our lunch sandwiches. No matter how tired I was, I always wore a smile on my face. Not to be greedy, but I couldn't afford to get a small tip, so wearing that smile was at least something.

When 2 o'clock came around, I was ready to clock out, but something caught my eye, it was a letter addressed to "The Girl with Red Hair." I asked all my other co-workers if they had seen who would have left it there, but no one did. I knew it was for me, seeing as I'm the only one with red hair who works here. When Manit saw me with the letter in my hand, he gave me a wide grin and said: "Looks like you got a secret admirer."