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| I'd be mad if I lost one of these too. |
Kisha wished she could get a different job. It wasn't that it was difficult to put up with customers demanding drinks from the "secret menu", although it was. It wasn't even that it was difficult to remember how to make the assortment of drinks their coffee shop served. It was that her coworkers hated her.
Kisha didn't want to damage her hair. She wanted to wear it naturally. But if she left it loose, then it was "too big" and her hat "didn't look professional". If she had it braided, then it "didn't look like the image of Royal Latte". Kisha knew her coworkers were the ones complaining. She didn't look like them, so they thought that what she looked like was their business. Kisha wanted to quit, but she needed the money, and no one else was hiring.
So, Kisha dealt with the abuse the best that she could, knowing that if she snapped back at them, it would look like she was the troublemaker. Even though she was pushed to her limit daily. Kisha lived for the end of her Friday night shift, when she and her friends would go dancing. It was great stress relief to be able to do something physical after trying to bottle up her annoyance and anger all day.
However, one Friday night, Kisha was walking toward her car after work when she saw one of the back doors was open. Preparing herself for the worst, Kisha walked around it and looked inside her car.
It was trashed. Someone had pulled out her bag that had her dancing clothes in it, and rummaged through it, leaving bits of clothing scattered in her car and in the parking lot next to her car. There were the remnants of coffee drinks all over the inside of her car. With the empty cups tossed in there as proof that they had come from Royal Latte. It was all Kisha could do not to run back into the store and smack her coworkers. Who else would have done this?
At that moment, a group of them came by and looked at Kisha's car.
"Too bad you left it unlocked," Cindy mocked.
Kisha took a step toward them and the girls almost ran to their cars. Kisha sighed and looked back at the mess she had to deal with. At least they'd only hit the back seat. Kisha pulled out her phone and took some pictures of the mess. There was no way she could call the cops on those jerks, but she wanted to share her frustration with her friends. And explain why she couldn't go out with them tonight.
Kisha started to gather up her clothes, when she noticed there was only one of her shoes. She looked around for the other one, even checking using her phone as a flashlight to check under her car, but it was gone. Those were her favorite shoes.
That was it.
Kisha gathered up the last of her stuff and tossed it in the front seat of her car. She was never coming back here again.
Kisha drove home, the smell of all that coffee soaked into her upholstery almost choking her more than her anger. She was going to have to spend all night cleaning her car. And in the morning, she was going to call her manager and quit. There had to be something better than this.
~
Darren and Josh left Royal Latte and headed to Darren's car, their to go cups in their hands. There was a group of girls gathered at the car next to Darren's. Darren and Josh shared a look. "Do you have to?" Darren asked with an eye roll. Josh just grinned at him.
"Hello, ladies," Josh said.
The girls all jumped. After they got closer, Darren could see why. The inside of the car they were looking at was trashed.
"Run into a little trouble?" Josh asked, still trying to be charming. However, the empty cup in one of the girls' hands was an obvious clue to Darren that these girls were doing just what they meant to.
"Whose car is that?" Darren asked neutrally. "That's going to take a long time to clean up."
"It's mine," one of the girls lied unconvincingly. She forced out a fake laugh. "We were just coming in when our coffee spilled."
"Why were you coming to a coffee shop when you had full cups of coffee?" Darren asked.
"Oh. Because they spilled. We wanted to get more."
"But this spilled in the parking lot."
The girl pulled out her phone. "Oh, I've got to go. Bye!" The rest of the herd followed her.
Darren sighed and shook his head.
"Should we do something?" Josh asked.
"Like what?" Darren asked. "I feel bad for whoever's car that is, but there's nothing we can do to fix it now."
Josh didn't seem convinced. "You've got some carpet cleaner in your car, right?" he asked. He opened the back door and stuff came tumbling out.
Darren put his hand over his face. "Remember how we crammed everything in there before we left my old apartment? You were supposed to help me move, not dump my stuff in a random parking lot."
"Well excuse me for trying to help," Josh replied.
Darren sighed. "Sorry. I'm just tired. Let's get all this stuff back in here and take it to my new place so we can get this done with." He and Josh crammed the stuff back in Darren's car and then got in.
~
Kisha was glad she'd waited until the next day to call and quit. It was much easier when she had herself under control. Of course, her manager hadn't liked that she quit without notice, but when Kisha started describing how her coworkers had treated her, her manager had told her to stop being so sensitive. So Kisha knew she'd made the right call.
Now she was frantically searching online for a new job. She signed up with the employment agencies in town, even for temp work. She felt so much better after quitting that job, it was unreal. But she still needed to eat. She managed to get an interview at a coffee shop that was attached to a book store. Kisha hoped the baristas here would be more reasonable.
The day of the interview came and Kisha arrived at the coffee shop in her best. Her interviewer was a man named Josh. He seemed pretty nice and Kisha noticed one of the ladies behind the counter looked like her. She relaxed a bit.
A couple of days later, Kisha got a phone call from Josh saying that she'd gotten the job. Kisha smiled so wide, her cheeks hurt. She agreed to come in the next day and fill out the paperwork to get started.
When Kisha got in her car, she saw a shoe in the passenger side. She'd taken out her clothes, but there hadn't seemed to be much point in bringing the shoe inside. She should probably throw it away, but Kisha hoped she'd be able to find the other one. Somehow.
Shaking her head, Kisha put her car in gear and drove to her new job. Kisha got there early and saw that her new boss, Josh, was arranging some art on a shelf. Kisha went up to the counter to tell them who she was, and waited at a table. One of them went over to get Josh and he turned and saw Kisha. He smiled and Kisha happened to look behind him.
"That's my shoe," she said without thinking.
"What?" Josh asked.
"On the shelf you were just fixing. That's my shoe. I have the other one in my car."
Josh looked confused for a moment. Then he started laughing. "We were going to do a display about Cinderella, but it looks like she's come back to claim her shoe!"
"How did you get it?" Kisha asked.
"I was helping my friend move and we managed to dump some of his stuff in a coffee shop parking lot. I guess we scooped up the shoe when we packed everything back in his car." Josh was still laughing.
Kisha was trying not to remember how mad she'd been that night. She gave herself a moment, and then asked, "So, can I get my shoe back?"
"Oh. Of course. We can find a different shoe for the display. I see why you like it. It's very pretty."
Josh and Kisha went over to the shelf and Josh took the shoe down for Kisha.
"You can go ahead and put that in your car, and then we'll get started."
~
A couple of days later, Darren was coming to Josh's coffee shop to pick him up after it closed. "I still don't understand why we had to meet here," Darren said to Josh.
"Did I tell you I found the girl who belonged to that shoe we found in your car?" Josh asked.
"No." Despite himself, Darren was interested.
"Well, I did. And she works here." Josh turned to the counter. "Kisha, come here and meet my friend."
A beautiful woman walked out from behind the counter. "Hello. I'm Kisha," she said, extending her hand.
"Hi," Darren replied. "I'm Darren."
"If this is Cinderella, then he's your prince charming," Josh said with a chuckle.
"So you're the one who had my shoe," Kisha said with a smile.
Darren chuckled. "If I'd have known it was yours, I wouldn't have taken it."
"But you didn't mean to take it, right?"
"Oh no. Not much use for a single shoe, is there?"
Darren didn't notice when Josh slid away. Darren was much too focused on his conversation. In fact, it wasn't until about half an hour had passed that Darren realized that all of the other employees were gone and he and Kisha were still talking.
"I've got to lock up," Josh announced to the two of them.
"I'm sorry to keep you so late," Darren said to Kisha.
"That's all right," Kisha replied with a smile. "It was good to talk to you. Let me give you my number."
They traded numbers, and Josh managed to keep the smirk off of his face until he and Darren were in Darren's car. "You're welcome," Josh said at last.
"For what?" Darren asked.
Josh rolled his eyes. "Just make sure you invite me to the wedding."
Darren started his car and shook his head. "Whatever. Let's get going."
"As long as you're not texting your new girl all night," Josh joked.
Darren shook his head again and sighed in annoyance. However, when Josh wasn't looking, Darren couldn't help but smile. Accidentally taking that shoe may have been the best thing he ever did.
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