Honesty is the Best Policy! {Café Edition}

Chapter 6: Cold Café Afternoon

Honest bolted into the cafe, slamming the door shut behind her. A couple frozen snowflakes were sucked in as she did so, floating to the ground and sticking to the warm floor, melting almost instantly. "Remind me again why it's snowing in the middle of November?"

Akane and Shadow were sitting at the table nearest the door. They were busily sipping coffee in a desperate attempt to become warm. One of the chairs had a cup of coffee sitting in front of it. Steam rose in billows from the top.

Honest immediately dashed to her coffee and took a big gulp. Shadow looked over at Akane, who was wearing long socks and a furry coat. "I told her earlier that it was because she wasn't wearing anything on her legs."

Honest looked up from her coffee, shooting a glare at him with words ready to escape her mouth. She wore her usual short, pastel dress, but with a green sweatshirt over the top. "Yes, and I told you that I can't wear anything because it's against my code."

Just then Rouge, the owner of the cafe, walked in. Every inch of her was covered in fur and fuzz. She wore earmuffs that were way too small for her giant, bat ears. She also wore a big, fur coat and large, fur-lined boots. Honest just looked on with jealousy. It really wasn't that it was against her code, but she just didn't own a single pair of pants or jeans. All she owned winter-wise was the green sweatshirt she was wearing then, which said "Chao City Gym" on the front. She also had a scarf somewhere that she had received Christmas 2012 from Silver, but Akane had torn it to shreds a while ago.

"Come on, get dressed! Customers will be coming soon for warm coffee!" Rouge told them. She went to take her place behind the counter.

Honest could understand why they would want something to warm them up. Honest nodded and rose from her chair, leaving her coffee at the table. Akane took one last sip from her cup and stood up as well. Shadow pushed his way into the back room, deciding to bring his coffee with him.

When they came out of the room several moments later, the heat had been up and running for a while, and the cafe was starting to feel cozy once again.

Key was already starting up the coffee pots in the kitchen. Akane and Honest stood at the window leading into the area where Amy and Blaze cooked, waiting for customers to start showing up.

Just then, before Honest could even completely take a first breath, the king of weirdos himself walked through the door. It was... Sonic.

"Hey! Why are you always the first one to show up??!!" Honest yelled across the room, waving her fist at him.

"Uh," Sonic looked behind him, then back at Honest. "I'm fast?"

"No! I think it's because you're a weirdo!" she exclaimed once more, stomping over. "Where do you want to stinking sit??"

Sonic looked almost frightened. "I, uh, want to sit by a window."

Honest gave him a look that could make anyone else turn and run. "Alright," she said slowly. "This way."

As Honest led a shivering, blue pineapple to his seat, Shadow walked out of the back room in his uniform. His pink, lace-covered uniform just in case you forget. (The everlasting plot point! :P)

"What do you want to eat?" Honest asked with a scowl. Sonic looked over a menu, frantically searching for something. Shadow knew better than to mess with Honest when she was in one of her moods, so he stayed as far away from the table as he could while he waited for another customer to show up.

Several moments later, the anti-Sonic walked through the doors. It appeared as if he were alone for a moment, before Manic, Sonic's brother, walked in behind him.

Shadow skated over to them. He stopped in front of them, blocking them from entering any further. "Where would you two like to sit?"

"It doesn't matter," Scourge replied. Singing was heard resounding from the kitchen.

"Window," Manic said.

Shadow looked between the two. "Well, you're going to have to make a decision."

Scourge rolled his eyes. "Alright, window."

"Okay, you can take either the table beside Sonic's or the one in the back there," Shadow said, giving them another choice.

"By Sonic!" "In the back!" Shadow sighed. "Make up your minds!"

Scourge once again let Manic choose. He chose the table beside Sonic's. Honest was busy with Sonic still, so the two rotten, green pineapples were safe to sit down without getting yelled at by an angry cat that clearly hadn't got enough sleep the previous two nights. Manic and Scourge ordered coffee and strawberry cake. Sonic ordered a coffee to go.

Amy topped the cake off with a few, ripe strawberries and handed it over the counter to Akane, who delivered it to Scourge and Manic. "Here you go!" she exclaimed, setting it carefully between the two. She pulled two plastic forks out of a pocket in her apron as well as napkins for them to use.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" Akane asked. Honest reached over and pulled Akane out of the way. "If they want something else, they can get up and get it themselves."

Akane just shrugged and walked back in the direction of the front counter. Rouge was there, counting out rings. "Uh, excuse me, but where is the new maid, the pink hedgehog that was here last week?" Akane asked.

Rouge looked across the counter at her. "Oh, you mean Rosy? She was supposed to work today. She didn't show up, though. Do you think she's sick?"

"I don't know," Akane replied. She shook her head. "I don't think she was at school either."

Meanwhile, Honest was delivering Sonic's coffee to him. As soon as he had grabbed the to-go cup, he was out the door in a flash of light. Honest just grumpily sat down at his table, where she then fell asleep.

Akane smiled when she saw this. A deep sigh was heard, and Blaze the Cat, the third waitress, walked out of the backroom in her uniform, knowing that Shadow and Akane would undoubtedly need assistance. Akane didn't know why she would be sighing because everyone did more work than she did.

Scourge and Manic had left the cafe at four o'clock. The Babylon Rogues arrived at around that time, and left thirty minutes later. Honest had slept through the whole thing. At five o'clock, Honest had lifted her head just enough to see Silver and Mephiles enter the cafe. Honest got up from the table and moved somewhere else so that they could sit down. She then fell asleep in the kitchen with a platter of donuts.

When Honey the Cat entered the kitchen to check up on her, she ended up leaving her alone and taking the donuts to the customers herself, something she would never normally do under normal circumstances.

Finally it was six o'clock. Shadow entered the kitchen to wake Honest up.

"Who, what, where?" she asked as soon as he had brought her into a sitting position. She blinked to clear her eyes and saw him standing there. "Is it morning?"

"No," he corrected. "It's time to leave. It's six."

"Oh." She looked around the kitchen before closing her eyes again. She reached out her hands toward him. "Carry me, will you?"

Shadow rolled his eyes and took her hand, helping her to stand upright. "Thanks," she replied. She then ran out of the kitchen to go get Akane and leave. Shadow gave a "humph" and skated out behind her.

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Yay! I long chapter of working at the café! I hope you enjoyed, and if you did, please leave a vote and remember to comment! I would really appreciate it if you did. <3

UPDATE: Pic's up! :3