1

The days keep on repeating itself; I get up, go eat, brush teeth, get dressed, and make my way, on foot, to college. I could be whining a lot more if I didn't live so close to NYU, and that's why I walk to the university. At least, right now, it's my shift hours by the coffee shop around the corner.

Everytime I walk down the busy streets of New York, I look around myself and see all these other people holding onto their boyfriend, girlfriend, father, mother or friends' arm.

Oh, how I wish I could have that again-- to walk down the sidewalk with a loving mother, having a talk about boyfriends and random crap.

"Victoria, pookie bear!" Iris yells.

Hearing that voice down the streets never gets old.

I might not be clinging onto parents, or a lover, but I have the best of friend in the entire world.

No matter how much she embarrass me in public with that stupid nicknames of hers, she'll always be my wing woman.

Footsteps ran towards me, cocking my head back over my shoulder as I see that girl with hazel eyes, running towards me, waving her hands with a goofy smile.

Brown hair with blonde highlights falling down her shoulders.

She has a great sense of style, I have to give it to her.

She's running down the sidewalk with heels on. She'll stumble any moment--

I shake my head as she falls over, extending her arms out to catch herself.

It's not the best idea to run in heels, especially when the streets are crowded. I warned her before, but she never listens.

Weird glances from strangers flew our way as I walk over towards her and pulled her up.

Iris whined. "My mascara." There was a pout on her face as she dusted herself off.

"You look fine." I chuckle, hooking my arm around hers.

We continued walking to the coffee shop like nothing happened.

Being best friends is great and all, but best friends that work at the same café together?

It's a bonus!

Speaking of bonusses, that's why I wanted to work this job. Since my dad's been running the house all by himself after my mom died, I decided to get a work too.

A temporarily one.

Even though my dad's high-ranked in the police. He gets paid well, but a little extra money won't hurt.

After I'm done with university, studying law, I can then get a proper work and someday take care of him.

We push the double doors open, entering the coffee shop and then put our aprons on.

Before officially welcoming the doors open to the public, we quickly wipe the tables off.

Iris and I are the only ones here, like perusal.

All the workers take turns on different shifts. So we both got a time that fit our schedule perfectly, from 2-6, an hour after our classes.

We somehow managed to pull off to only get Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays shift.

Fridays we finish a little bit earlier.

Iris continued sweeping off the tables with a wet cloth as I went to the back of the counter to check the register.

Suddenly, a ding went off that indicates someone entered the café. Looking up, a frown spread across my face.

It wasn't one of the other staff members.

"I'm sorry, miss. We're not open yet." I said, gesturing to the sign that says 'closed'

As I spoke, I grabbed Iris attention. We both look at the woman.

She looks intimidating.

She made her way up in front of me, in front of the counter. Stern, but rushed, eyes stared back into mine.

"Ai, I just started teaching, and I'm already late for a meeting I have to attend." She spoke calmly, not sounding like she's late. "I can't cope without coffee."

I send Iris a glare, my eyes asking for advice. She just nods and goes back to cleaning.

I smile softly back at the woman. "Of course, I understand. What can I get for you?"

She stares up at the screens displaying the menu. While she looked around, I got a chance to examine her. Usually, just locals come around here. We get an old man named, 'Peet' that comes here quite a lot, always ordering a hot chocolate for himself and a puppuccino, a pet friendly drink, for his small chihuahua.

That dog is the devil in disguise, I swear.

My head tilts to the side, curious that the woman was still looking for a drink. For someone who 'copes with coffee,' she doesn't look so sure about it.

Maybe she's indecisive.

How can she be when she looks so professional, clean, neat and serious. I might be stereotyping, but she looks like a person who knows what she wants. Brown long hair, green emerald eyes, plump lips--

A suit.

She's very pretty.

But terrify-looking.

I wonder where she teaches.

"You know, a lot of the local citizens around here normally immediately knows what they want." I chuckle, "I'm guessing you're new to the city?"

She nods, eyes still glued on the menu above, "Yes, actually. I come from Spain." Her voice is stern, no flavor.

My eyebrows raised, intrigued. "¿España? Tu acento americano es muy impresionante." I said. (Spain? Your American accent is very impressive.)

Immediately, her head shot down and her eyes met mine. I gave her a friendly smile.

"Your Spanish is impressive." She returns.

Though, she doesn't sound so impressed. She sounds honest, but maybe it's just her tone and overall look that makes it difficult to show that she's impressed at all.

"My grandpa taught me a little something. I'm not the best."

She nods, finally deciding to order something. "I'll just have a normal black coffee," She says as she gets the money out from her purse.

I hum, typing away on the keyboard. My disgusted face didn't go pass her.

"What?" She asks.

"Oh, it's just... why black coffee? Nobody has ever ordered that since the 1990's." I tease, "Your total will be $3.20."

She hands me over the money and then I quickly signaled Iris to help with the order. She drops the cloth and rushes to the kitchen behind and starts the machine.

"Are you trying to call me old?" The woman raises her eyebrow.

My eyes widen.

Maybe I shouldn't mess with her.

She looks like she could beat my ass.

"Oh, no, no! Not at all." I shake my head, waving my hands, "Uh, you look about mid 20's!"

She furrows her eyebrows, folding her arms over her chest. "Nice try kid, but you're far off." She replies, a bit cocky.

"Uh... somewhere in the late 20's?"

The woman started smirking at me, which made me a bit nervous and embarrassed. It looked like she wanted to hide her angry face with a smile, but turned into a grin.

Oh, she better not leave a review on Yelp.

Suddenly, a hand reach out from behind me.

"Thanks for stopping by. Have a nice day further." Iris said politely, passing the woman her coffee.

The woman grabs the coffee, and turns around and just leaves. No words, no eye contact, no nothing.

I gulp thickly, the door's bell going off as she leaves.

"That was scary." I mumble to myself.

Iris went back to cleaning. "And that's why you don't let random people in before we haven't even open yet!" She sighed, "And you really got to turn it down a notch, you're making all the costumers hate you."

I gasp, dramatically. My hand slams against my chest. "Having conversations with everyone is what makes them stay. They love me!"

"Mhm, I'm sure that woman just now likes you the most."

She has a point.

I scoff, "Whatever."