Too Far Gone (Urban)

10 | The Man They Call "Boss"

A week later...

It was a slow day at Apollo's this Thursday morning, and a cloudy Thursday as well. The temperature had been declining steadily as Stilwater slowly began approaching autumn. Chenelle was glad about this.

Autumn meant no more ridiculously hot days with her hair sticking to her face from sweat or frizzing from the humidity, and the transition from summer to fall was beautiful. The trees Stilwater was scarce of in some districts would begin to turn vivacious colors and shades of yellow, red, brown, and orange. Chenelle handed an early morning regular their bag and cup of piping hot coffee.

     "Thank you, come again," She smiled briefly. She let out a tired sigh whilst lacing her fingers together and stretching her arms up, palms pressing towards the ceiling. She felt her tired back pinch up, then relax once she dropped her arms back down to her sides. She took her hat off, grabbed a napkin, and swept the brown paper over her forehead.

     "You think you wouldn't sweat during transitional weather," She said to no one. She disposed of the soggy napkin and grabbed herself a Jelly Belly donut, Apollo's most famous fried powdered jelly donut. She was lonesome today. Rascal took off for the week since he was helping out with reviving the old gang. Deep down inside, she felt he said that to avoid her. Ever since she spent the night at Pierce's place, he's been pretty bittersweet towards her.

     She felt odd without him by her side, teasing and flirting ever so often. There was a part of her that longed for his presence even though she found him to be a nuisance at times. What she admired most about him was that she was able to talk to him about her problems, and now that they were seemingly stuck in a rut, she didn't really have anyone else she could turn to.

     Trinity was a loyal friend at times when needed, but is too self-centered and currently isn't answering her calls. Her father probably wouldn't mind the chat, but she felt his ideologies only worked in his time, not present time. Pierce wasn't even considerable, seeing as he shared the same stick up the posterior with Trinity. All she could do was smile and at least pretend their actions didn't phase her, didn't keep her up at night loathing in distress and confusion.

     As the morning progressed, so did the amount of customers pouring into the shop. Businessmen, college students, and some average Joes stepped in waiting on the gradually growing line. Josh, her fabled supervisor, definitely wasn't of any assistance today.

     He holed himself up in the back office, occasionally bringing out fresh donuts and adding more coffee beans to the coffee machine, but that was it. "Asshole..." Chenelle muttered as she mashed a button on the register. The customer she was presently serving grimaced, and her eyes grew slightly as a nervous laugh escaped her lips. "Excuse my language, I'm not referring to you—"

     "One at a time people!" Chenelle yelled over the fussy crowd. A man dressed in a navy blue suit shoved a couple of people out the way.

     "Take my order first!" he demanded in his strict, low voice. "I'm late for work!"

     "You think you're the only one who's late?!" A lady argued over the commotion.

     While the crowd bickered and pushed each other, Chenelle checked the time and slipped her way to the back office. It was pushing past one o'clock. Chenelle grinned to herself as she closed the door behind her. She stared at Josh while untying her apron, who was engulfed in the latest Boy Toy magazine. She rolled her eyes at the cover photo of a dreaded woman doing a full split over the subtitle that read Furries.