two - hiding from you

the art of hiding from you

- - -

"I want coffee in a large cup, with three splashes of low-fat milk. I don't want soy milk, not whole milk or whatever weird concoctions are popular now. Low fat milk, only. I'm going to need an espresso shot separate to that. Oh, and make sure the coffee is stirred gently so the milk is evenly spread."

Evenly spread?

I listened to the woman rattle off her order, a complementary smile frozen on my face. I already knew this customer's order by heart, given the fact she'd been in here every Wednesday morning since I could remember and recites her order in the exact same manner (rudeness in tact) as if she was reading it from a card in front of her.

That was the only part of the profession I didn't enjoy - people patronising me because I work in a bakery. As if owning a bakery made me automatically stupid. Hendrix always made me work on the counter on Wednesday mornings for this exact reason. Last time she was stuck doing it, Jem had to hold her back from attacking the world's favorite customer for insinuating that Hendrix's then green hair was inappropriate for the workplace.

So of course Hendrix tried to dump our whole fat milk all over her.

"Can I have a name, please?" I ask as I usually do, despite the fact I'd been having nightmares about this woman for years at this point.

"It's Karen."

Of course it is.

I let out a small sigh, hoping it didn't come across as rude as one of the boys on shift with me, Isaiah, handed me her order. I sent her a tight smile as she walked off, complaining as usual.

Just as the bell rang to celebrate the Wicked Witch of New York City's departure, Hendrix's head pops up from the kitchen door.

"Is she gone?"

"We really need some sort of candle to remove the negative energy she brings."

"What a bitch." Hendrix mutters, disappearing into the back room and appearing with a candle that I didn't know was there. "Luckily, Batman hasn't got shit on me."

I sighed, letting Hendrix immerse herself in decorating the place with tiny pastel candles as I moved onto the next customer.

"Good morning! Welcome to Dexter's Bakery! Can I take your order?"

It continued like that. Some rude, some kind. I loved my job, truly, but the baking segment always exceeded a greater level of satisfaction than the customer work. Unless it was during the school rush, seeing an army of small children tended to be the highlight of my day.

The bakery opened at seven in the morning which meant that I needed to be starting the preparation at five. Our morning clientele usually consisted of sleep deprived middle aged workers and school children so being open on time for their complementary morning coffees was a given. Then it'd be quiet from around ten until twelve, where the lunch crowd would enter. I usually swapped shifts not long after the lunch rush so Hendrix or whomever else would be dealing with the post-school wave.

It was a routine that was ingrained into me by this point. Before Jennifer had died, I used to help during the morning rush and the quieter evening shifts, so I could go to my classes during the day. I'd been so happy to get this job when I first moved here, and I'd loved the bakery even more so than I did when I was younger.

The bell for the bakery tingled at around 11am and I poked my head out from the back room, where I'd been decorating three dozen cupcakes that we could serve for lunch. Hendrix was tasked with importing our weekly delivery. I washed my hands quickly and headed towards the counter.

"Welcome to Dexter's Bakery, how may I help you?"

The first customer was a regular - a quiet old man that had ordered the same thing everyday for the past few months. I'd gotten to know him quite well from working the morning shifts, so I served him quickly. The second thing I noticed was the other customer - new but familiar. The same man that had quite literally left me breathless just a few days ago. I could smell his cologne quite clearly, the smell partnered well with his oversized hoodie and joggers.

His high cheekbones were highlighted when he smiled at me, running a hand through his hair as I met his piercing brown eyes. Sparks of amber and red glistened within the brown orbs, doing nothing to help the way my brain frazzled.

Hot.

"Any other recommendations?" The twang was still present but his voice sounded deeper than I remembered.

"Well, you can't go wrong with a buttered croissant with hazelnuts. I mean, given that you don't have any nut allergies of course." I looked at the display case. We didn't have a lot of cakes left, given the usual morning demand, so most of our pastries were still left to be devoured. "Or a blueberry muffin. They're quite nice with Cappuccinos."

His eyes widened slightly with unmasked surprise before his smile widened, "You remembered?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, I tried to ensure my giddiness at his excitement wasn't obvious. "What can I say? I'm good at my job."

"I'd say," He hummed, the noise sounding a lot better than it should. "Which one's your favorite?"

Fuck, he's definitely flirting with me.

"I mean, it'd be in my best interests to recommend the most expensive one: the blueberry muffin. But if you're asking me, I think the croissant is better with the drink. Taste's better too."

"Not a fan of blueberries?" The nameless man inquired lightly, head tilting to the side.

I shrugged, "More of a chocolate person."

If it was even possible, his smile widened further. "I'll remember that."

Abort mission. I repeated. Abort mission.

Collecting his croissant and drink, I gave him a gentle grin before taking his money and bidding him farewell, wondering whether he'd be back.

Later on into the day, I was looking over our ingredients, attempting to partner up what we had available for tomorrow's cakes. Walking into the front room, notebook in hand, I spoke up. "Banana buttercream swirl cupcakes with a chocolate filling or chocolate swirl cupcakes with banana buttercream filling?"

"Saint." Hendrix deadpanned, tone flat as her eyes met mine from where she was cleaning up a table. "You just described the two things that are exactly the same."

"No they're not!" I protested, looking back down at my notebook where I'd been scribbling some ideas down.

Around Spring, we'd have to start bringing in new cupcake designs and flavours. Hendrix was exclusively in charge of brownies and season-appropriate drink changes and Sacha often picked everything else.

"It's just banana and chocolate inverted! They're not going to taste different!" Hendrix groaned, trying to balance an excessively large number of plates on her arms so she wouldn't have to do an extra trip back to the table. I rolled my eyes and grabbed some off her, preventing the disaster that I could already sense looming. "Just do what we do every year; sunflowers on vanilla sponges and bright frosting so the difference is noticeable enough for public satisfaction but doesn't require any more effort."

"You're so lazy. How do you even run this place?" Complaining, I started to pack away the day's leftovers. "Do you want to take any of this home or are you dropping it all at the shelter?"

"Saint Nicolas, if I eat any more of those biscuits you made I'm going to spontaneously combust." Hendrix came back in with the dramatics, hanging up her aprons as she placed the boxes in her designated shelter bag. "You need to stop before my blood glucose goes out of control. My insulin bill is going to explode at this rate."

"Excuse you, I don't force you to eat them." I laughed. She only ever seemed to care about her glucose levels when she was complaining to me. "Last I checked, you never need any persuading to eat our entire stock."

"That was one time!"

"We had no ingredients to make anything for two days because you got stoned and baked as much food as you could!"

"What did you expect?" Hendrix exclaimed incredulously, rolling her eyes. "Ali was out of town and Jem was studying. I take no responsibility for what I do when I'm left unsupervised."

"How about the fact you gave my little brother pot?" I countered easily, eyebrows raised. I still remember the feeling of pure shock that ran through me when I turned up to open the bakery one morning to find Sacha and Hendrix asleep on the wooden floor, an array of pot brownies and cupcakes surrounding them. "And that you used our ovens for your illegal concoctions?"

"It's legal!"

"Yeah, it is now." I snarked sarcastically.

Hendrix paused for a moment, taking in my argument before she shrugged and burst out laughing. "Yeah, fine, you win. But, for the record, I don't regret any of it. See you later, sucker."

"Idiot."

<>

"Dude, you need to get a job."

Sacha looked up from the mug of tea, eyebrows furrowed as he fixed me with the most disgusted expression I think I'd ever seen on him.

"I have a job."

"I mean one that pays." I deadpanned, cocking my eyebrow as if daring him to disagree with his lack of income. If anything, he was losing it by spending all the money that he doesn't have on making posters and demos to hand out to people.

"You won't be saying that when I'm playing sold out stadium shows." He said with the utmost confidence, not even hesitating. "Then we'll see who will be paying the rent."

"You expect to live with me for the rest of your life then?" I shot back, "Glad to know that you're aware of your inability to seduce members of the opposite sex."

"Are you joking?" He cackled, throwing his head back. "Dude, have you seen my face? I can assure you that I don't need any assistance in that department, if you know what I mean."

Shivering, nausea twisted my stomach up at the idea of my younger, adult brother ever partaking in any sort of activities. "You're like fifteen, shut up."

"More like thirteen, but thanks for the confidence, bro."

"I'm being serious." I stressed, grabbing my jacket before heading to the door. "At least your band mates work. What do you do other than annoy me?"

"Sain-"

I cut him off as I slammed the door shut, putting my air pods in as I headed towards the bakery. By the time I get there, I'm five songs into my playlist and being greeted with blinking pastel signs and Hendrix's voice sounding from inside the building.

Given that I usually worked the morning shifts, allowing Hendrix to take it for once was a struggle that I never wanted to occur again. I'd woken up at an obscene time given the fact I didn't need to be at work, and wanted nothing more than to leave my house to save me from the never-ending boredom. But we'd agreed that she'd do a full day in return for my shift tomorrow so she could spend as much time with Aaliyah as possible, so I was just coming to help with the evening shift.

"What are you doing?" I gasped, eyeing the magnitude of brownies in the display case. Most of them should've been sold by now. "Drix?"

She smiled sheepishly, trying hard to look casual despite appearing anything but. "I might've made too many? I thought the recipe was for the day, not the week!"

My mouth dropped open, "You used a week's worth of product for that?"

"Maybe. No?"

"How do you even-" I trailed off, "What? How?" I shook my head, pulling my phone out and sending a passive aggressive text to Jem for not monitoring her when she obviously needed it.

"What are you doing?" I jumped, turning around to see her looking at my phone from over my shoulder. "Why are you texting Jem?"

"Because they left you here unsupervised."

"I wasn't unsupervised!" She protested, crossing her arms over her chest as I raised my eyebrows in question. "It's not my fault. Ali helped with the morning shift."

I made a face, knowing exactly what that was code for. "Hendrix, no."

"Oh grow up, we can at least- holy motherfucking lesbian Jesus." She whispered, jaw dropping, "Who is that?"

I whipped my head in the direction of her wide eyes, my heart racing as anxiety instantly began coursing through my veins.

I swore that my heart left my body.

He shuffled through the door frame, shoulders tensed. The bell jingled. His hair was the darkest shade of brown, fluffy curls tumbling over the crown of his head and meeting his light brown skin.

And the tattoos. Oh my God.

The gentle sun hues overcame the glass barriers, creeping into the shop and highlighting his skin in the most magnificent way. Dark ink scaled every inch of his arms, scaling up to his neck and disappearing into his back. He was wearing a tight black t-shirt that did little to hide the muscles he was hiding under his clothing, and before I could start admiring him properly, his gaze slid my way.

It didn't even take me a second to disappear into the back room, ignoring Hendrix's exclamations.

"Saint? What the fucki- Oh hello! Welcome to Dexter's Bakery. How can I help you today?"

I groaned to myself, back against the wall with the full knowledge that he was standing on the other side. It was blatantly obvious that I was hiding too, but at least I could use the excuse that we weren't busy given the fact he was the only customer in the damned place.

A few moments passed before Hendrix's pink head appeared in front of me, and her perfectly sculptured eyebrow rose in judgement.

"Is there a problem, Saint Nicolas?"

"Nope. No problem. Nada." I practically hissed at her, "Is it clear?"

"Oh yeah, no one's waiting for a baker to show up." She snarked, "Somebody's cranky today."

"Yeah, and somebody needs to shut up." I muttered back, running my hand through my hair before washing them and heading back into the front room.

"And you truly wonder why you're still single." She huffed dramatically, "Always so rude."

"Shut u-" I trailed off as I caught sight of the man sitting down on one of the tables, cupcakes and coffee in front of him. There's a young girl sitting in front of him. I hissed, "Drix!"

"What?"

"You said it was clear!"

"You're so dramatic and for what?"

"Were you dropped on your head when you were a kid? Obviously I'm trying to avoid someone." I practically whisper-shouted at her, turning my back to the entrance in a hope that he wouldn't notice me.

"Duh, you know I was and reminding me of the awful childhood trauma isn't nice, Cley. I expected better."

"Die mad about it."

A/N

i love hendrix so much, she's got to be one of my favorite characters to write

please vote, and comment your thoughts!

lots of love to you all,

until next time,

alaska x :)