Life is Sweet

Chapter 2

“Mom, talking like a teenager doesn't make you one, we are not in the 80s anymore,”  I say dully.

“I know hun, just lighten up a little will ya?” She scruffs up my hair and tugs on my ponytail.  I hate it when she does that.  I pull my head away from her and smooth my ponytail out.  

Much better.

“I think it’s better if you just leave now Mom, then I could actually get some work done.  I mean, look, there’s customers behind you waiting for their orders,  it’s just really hard for me to accomplish anything when you’re around.”  

As soon as I say it I regret it, but it’s too late.

Her playful smile slowly disappears and she looks at me with her big brown eyes.

“Are you su-?”

“Mom, please.”  

I feel bad, but can’t she understand that I have work to do?  And pointing out boys will definitely not get me a raise.

A fake smile suppresses her disappointment.  

“Yeah, of course.  Just call me if you need anything.” She says flatly.  Her eyes flicker over me, disappointed.

I nod.

She pats me on the arm and walks out the door, her hair bouncing behind her as she exits the bakery.   I feel terrible for being so rude, but she needs to understand I have work to do.  I watch her leave and for some stupid reason tears are starting to well up in my eyes.

“Maya, are you okay?”

Surprised, I turn to see Bridget looking me up and down like a vulture staring at its soon-to-be dinner, with her glittery pink eye shadow practically blinding me.

Just perfect...

I instantly wipe my eyes with my forearm.  She’s wearing a low-cut, hot pink top with way too tight, dark blue jeans.  Her strawberry blond hair is up in a high ponytail and she has golden hoop earrings dangling from her ears.  Has she even read the dress code?

“Hey Bridget,” I take a shaky breath and inhale sharply.  “What’s up?”

“What’s up?  You look like you’re about to cry.  What’s wrong Mai?”

I can’t stand it when she calls me Mai, only my best-friends are allowed to call me that.  She is definitely not on my best friends list.  

“Um, nothing.  It’s just-,”  think fast Maya, “I’m just sad about one of my friends, they’re moving far, far away.”

It makes me irritated that I can talk so well with her and then when it comes to  boys, I completely freeze up and sound like an idiot.  This makes me even more annoyed at her.

“I hear you, it’s going to be hard, but you gotta’ move on sometime,” Bridget says, coolly.

She apparently fell for my lie, which I’m glad about.  I do not want her to know that I’m practically crying because I was being a total jerk to my mom.

“Yeah, ok, whatever,” I say annoyed.

She flips her ponytail over her shoulder and grins at me.  Not the good kind of grin, the kind of grin that the devil would have.  Well, that’s not surprising, they’re probably related somehow anyway.  

“I guess I’ll go work the front counter with Alex,” she exclaims motioning to another employee of the bakery, “how about you go ahead and get back to baking, I’m sure customers wouldn’t want to have... tears in their coffee,” she says shooting me a sarcastically sad face.