© Civilized_Nerd
"Handwritten love letters will never go out of style."
Chapter 1 : #29 🍰
A dirty scowl developed on my face as the woman popped her gum between her teeth. Then lazily she glanced at me, her eyes trailing onto the menu board above my head. Her short orange hair was styled in a pixie cut and pink eye shadow excessively sat on her eyelids.
Her makeup shared similarities with a children's coloring book and the outfit she was wearing didn't compliment it at all. She looked like she ranged in her early forties and showed off way too much flesh in her tight knee high neon green dress, pink jacket and long matching pink heels.
She placed her index finger on her crooked pink lips lost in her thoughts as she scanned the menu board for the God knows what time. The seven or eight impatient customers groaned behind her.
"Keep your pannies on!" She spat in her Brooklyn accent, glaring at the people behind her.
She turned her attention back to the menu bored after her audacious remark.
"Have you decided what you want yet, ma'm?" I asked her, hiding the frustration in my voice.
"You know my nephew doesn't like dairy. Sometimes it makes him bloated. I on the other hand love dairy. It's great for my skin." She smiled raising her thunderstorm brows and showing off her lipstick stain teeth.
I nodded my head and glanced down at my blank notepad in an unconcerned manner as she rambled on.
"I think I know what I want now." She said pulling out her dark blue purse.
My eyes lit up with relief as I picked up the notepad ready to write, but then my hands dropped in disappointment as she shook her head and rest her purse on the counter.
"No. Laurie says she's watching her calories. Let me keep looking."
How many people was she ordering for? If I kept this job any longer I would be off to that soft comfortable asylum four blocks down. But this job was important and I had to stick with it. For mum. Even if I sometimes wanted to kill one or two customers with a rolling pin. Including this one.
I ignored the complaints of the others customers behind her which I was already accustomed to. This was a every day thing. We all knew she was new to the city, but this was ridiculous. And no one knew her name. But the first time she stepped through our 'Claire's Confections' I knew she would be a pain in the butt. And the way she chewed her gum made my skin crawl.
I rolled my eyes in exasperation. Not too long before a wave of blonde hair half blinded me. Then I realize it's my older sister Harmony who stands in front of me sharing a 'few words' with the woman.
Her hands move rapidly and I look past her and the woman's mouth drops open in an offended way. I have no idea what is going on, but from the cheerful smiles from some of the customers behind the woman I know it's not good.
I snap out of my thoughts when I hear my sister's angelic voice.
"So are you ordering or not?"
The lady responds with a 'hmph!' before exiting the two bakery doors with click clacking heels. Harmony then turns to me with a frown on her face.
"I know the saying is to always make sure the customer is happy, sis. But seriously, grow some backbone." She sighs sliding the light blue scrunchy off of her wrist and putting her blonde hair into a ponytail.
I bit my lip in a nervous way as I pulled up my huge glasses and pushed a strand of my dark brown hair behind my ear. The strands of my hair fell from my messy chignon.
"I'll handle this set of customers." She says gesturing to the people behind her.
Harmony gives me a reassuring look before turning to the customers. I sighed heavily as I watched Harmony give a bright smile to a customer. Affection gleamed in her large brown eyes as she handed him a bag with his croissants in it.
It pained me to look at the customer's happy faces that were once vexed when I was behind the counter. Harmony was brave, persuasive, bold and beautiful. Even as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead she looked like a model about to pose for a magazine. Harmony was like a mother to my sisters and I.
I leaned against the wall and took in everything. It's warm inside the bakery. It smells like yeast, cinnamon, and coffee. The early morning light slants through the windows. There's a tiny bell on the door that rings when you come in.
There are bagels in shiny layered rows. In the glass case, sugar sparkles like snow on the cinnamon twists, jelly donuts gleam in their translucent icing. Brown bread, in big round loaves, puts forth it's aroma of wholesome goodness. This place was heaven to me from school.
When mum was off to work it was up to us to keep this place in order. But Harmony managed this place better than anyone. Too bad when she finished her break she had to go back to her university.
That left me with more screwing up on the job than usual. Ever since dad died things have been pretty rough. Mum had took on at least two jobs including managing the cafe which means we hardly see her and when we do it's so little time.
A wave of guilt washes over me and I raise my hand to tap on Harmony's shoulder when there's a sound of glass shattering coming from the kitchen area. Immediately my my mind goes on Gabby. The youngest of us all. Harmony gives me a pique expression before turning to address the upcoming customer.
I stretched both my hands behind my back to tie the straps on my black apron into a bow before entering the kitchen area. When I entered the kitchen the two push open doors closed behind me.
My mouth fell open at the sight before me. Flour overwhelmed the tile floor and Gabby in the middle of it all.
"What happened? " I managed to choke out.
Gabby coughed before speaking, flour flying out of her mouth the same time.
"Aubrey said if I did her job for her while she changed she'd give me ten bucks! " Gabby smiled showing the empty gap where her shaky tooth was days ago.
I seemingly only managed to hear the word 'changed '. Gabby was whiter than Casper, but still hold a cheeky grin on her face. Ten year olds were so weird. Before I could answer there was a sound of laughter coming from outside the bakery's back door.
Obviously an Aubrey giggle.
I put my index finger on my lips telling Gabby not to make any sound, but Gabby responded with a blameless expression. I crept closer to the door. I adjusted my ear to it and heard a male voice.
Great.
Aubrey was probably about to make out with that frat boy of hers that we told her countless times to stay away from. She was sixteen and he was twenty going on twenty one which seemed to bother all of us. But we never told mom because well she was always busy. Besides she already had too much on her plate.
I turned the door knob slightly and pulled the door open startling the two.
"Aubrey. What are you doing?" I asked interrupting their lips from touching each other's.
My eyes wandered from her to him. Dirk. Yeah, that was his name. He ran his fingers in an irritated fashion through his long rock star blonde hair that was obvious that he didn't cut.
"Hey, Cerise. (Pronounced : Ser-reece) You remember Dirk, don't you?" She smiled patting Dirk 's chest lightly as if absolutely everything was just okay.
"Have you seen the kitchen?" I ask her with wide eyes.
"What's wrong with it?" She asked innocently.
"It's a mess, Aubrey. Look, you need to get back inside and tell Dirk goodbye. For good." I dictated only gaining an irritated groan in response.
"Give me a minute, babe" She kissed him on the cheek before entering the kitchen.
I glared at Dirk before following behind her and closing the door shut. Aubrey ' s eyes almost fell out of their sockets when she saw the mess.
"Gabby, you little snitch! Get out here!" She shouted.
The flour covered cardboard boxes in the corner shuffled before Gabby showed herself.
"Don't blame this on her. What are you still doing with that guy?" I ask her lowering my volume in case he might be listening.
"That guy? Is that all you guys see him as?" Aubrey threw up her hands in frustration.
"He doesn't like you." I tell her which basically strikes a nerve.
"You're right! He doesn't like me. He loves me! And I can see that none of you want me to be happy. Especially Harmony!" Aubrey 's voice is no longer quiet and I wouldn't be surprised if the customers out front heard her including Harmony. But if I knew Harmony, she wouldn't move from her post for anything.
"He's too old for you. By the time you reach senior year he'll be with some other girl way more mature. Can't you see he's just using you?" I shake my head, but none of it is getting through to her.
She pauses and squints her eyes at me. "What do you know about love?" She sneered
I fix my huge glasses nervously and try to find a response, but it only comes out in a stutter. "I-I- I don't- I"
"Right. Wait, do you call secretly writing pathetic love letters to Carter Woods love?" She laughed throwing her dark brown hair over her shoulder.
"I don't—" She cuts me off a second time from protesting against her statement.
"Oh, really?" She tilts her head with a victorious smile and makes her way over to a wall. She bends down and pulls up a part of the tile revealing a familiar book under it. She picks up the book and waves it in my face.
"This is pretty much a good amount of evidence." She smirks moving the book away as I try to snatch it.
"How?" Is the only word that can come out of my mouth.
"A little birdie told me." She bites her lip.
My eyes instantly dart to Gabby who has guilt written all over her face.
"It's amazing what information you can get from a ten year old for a Klondike bar," She chuckled as she pressed the medium size book in my right hand. "Now. I have someone waiting for me." She winks before exiting once more through the back door.
I shake my head at Gabby who puts up her hands in defense.
"Hey, it was a good Klondike bar!" She avoids making direct eye contact and watches as I toss the book on the nearby table in fury.
I felt demoralized. How could Aubrey be so cold? Ever since dad died she's been heartbroken more times than the amount of clouds in the sky unlike me who had never been in an actual relationship before .
But who could blame Aubrey? She was really attractive. All of my sisters were undeniably pretty, I on the other hand had to be the odd one. I wouldn't say I wasn't pretty, just not alluring material.
I guess that left Gabby and I to clean this place up.
"I'll get the broom." I mumbled pushing through the two doors.
"I'd have to say pineapple is the best flavor." Harmony smiled at the heavy female customer who marveled at the beautiful pineapple upside down cake in the glass showcase in front of her.
"That's definitely the one, dear." The woman returned the smile at Harmony before taking her hand bag off her shoulder.
I studied the scene before me, but after the ding of the cash register loud cheering bombarded the bakery.
My eyes widened. Coming through the doors of the bakery was none other than the handsomest guys attending Lincoln Vale High School. The clique consisted of Sean Eagan, Luke Dater, Mike Arturo, and the one and only Carter Woods .
I monitored the table that they sat at. Arturo resting his football beside his chair and Dater turning his attention to the door. I followed his gaze. Just great. My eyes almost connected with Serena Eagan's.
Also known as Sean's malicious prepossessing flirtatious sister with two of her barbie doll minions.
Carter rested his right calf on top of his left knee and laid his head on the fallout chair in a laze way as he watched the group communicate with each other. He said a few words here and there, but didn't interact much. A small smile crept up on my face as I caught myself staring at him. He was tall, thin, yet muscles rippled underneath the tight blue shirt he wore. He ran his hand through his ruffled brown hair.
I found myself gripping a menu in my hands tightly when his magical greem eyes looked at me curiously, his lips quirked into a slight smile. Was he actually acknowledging my existence?
Before I could think of my next move Serena said something to him and he sat up properly and slipped into their conversation. One of the other employees went over to the tables with notepad in her hand. After Serena doing all the talking and the employee scribbling their order down she came over to the counter handing Harmony the book.
Harmony thanked her before she went off.
I thought about what their order could possibly be. Gossip spread rapidly in Lincoln Vale so I learned Carter's favorite cupcake flavor on the first day from all the obsessed girls who dreamed of being in a relationship with him. Velvet. Red velvet to be exact. Besides it was a flavor he ordered whenever he came.
"Hey, Cerise. Aren't those kids from your school?"
I turned around and scanned Harmony who had two trays of cupcakes in her hands. A mused look shone on her face.
Remember when I said Harmony was a motherly figure to all of us? Well she was about to have a mother conversation with me which meant forcing me to go and talk to them. She pestered me about only having one friend.
Kelly Willis.
A spunky brunette who lived next door to us, but was now summer vacationing in San Diego, California. Kelly and I were best friends since preschool, but Harmony felt like one friend wasn't enough.
"Actually. No, they aren't." I lied watching Harmony close the refrigerator with her leg trying to balance both trays at the same time.
"Well you won't mind delivering this tray of cupcakes to their table." Harmony smirked resting one of the trays on the table beside me. With a wink she exited through the kitchen doors.
Well played.
✈
Gabrielle felt a pang of culpability rumble her stomach. She had to make it up to Cerise if it was the last thing she did. She finished wiping the flour of off her face with a wet rag and went to the table where Cerise had furiously thrown her book. She turned it over and flipped through the pages. At least a hundred pages were dedicated love letters to Carter Woods and the others were only scribbles.
She noticed the symbol in each corner of the page as she turned. They were all hash tags and the number of each page beside them. Gabrielle scanned the page quickly that was addressed #29. Every word of it was absolutely romantic and well written. That's until she made up her mind and tore it out at the sound of footsteps.
Harmony entered the moment she stuffed the folded paper in her dress pocket.
"What are you doing?" She hissed. "And why is this place such a mess?!"
Gabrielle didn't give her a chance to interrogate her. She ran out immediately through the two double doors.
Cerise's eyes said it all. She was hesitant. Her eyes shifted from the tray of cupcakes and onto the dining area where Carter and his friends sat at.
Jackpot!
Gabrielle waited for the perfect moment, but she had to act fast before Harmony realized something was up.
Just as Cerise turned her back and opened the refrigerator she ran over to the tray and placed the paper under Carter's cupcake. She knew his particular flavor seeing Cerise carefully sorted it whenever they ordered. But she never dared to carry it to their table.
Gabrielle's heart raced as her sister turned around and met her half way to the kitchen doors.
"Stop."
Gabrielle let out the little bit of oxygen she had been holding in so Cerise wouldn't hear her breathing.
"What's up?" She asked her nonchalantly
"Why do you look so suspicious?" Cerise raised an eyebrow, her glasses moving upwards.
"Don't worry about me. What you should be worrying about is how sad Carter might be if he doesn't get his cupcakes." Gabrielle told her in an innocent tone knowing she would forget about her right away.
Cerise gave her a look that read 'I don't believe you one bit, but we'll finish this conversation later' and picked up the tray nervously.
Gabrielle smirked. Her job was done.
✈
My fingers quivered with fear as I approached the table.
One of Serena's minions caught sight of me first. She tapped Serena' s shoulder and soon all eyes fell on me. The good part about it was that none of them knew who I was. Just that I was bakery girl and I was here to serve them.
"Took you long enough." Serena barked with a flip of her ginger red hair.
My hands still trembled as I rest down the tray of cupcakes.
In the corner of my eye was Serena's minions who looked me up and down and shared whispers with each other. My cheeks flushed red as the volume of their laughs rose.
"Imagine it, Woods. The field. Lights overwhelming it. It's a tie. And Coach is about to pull every single gray hair out of his head" Luke smirked running his hand through his messy brown hair.
"Guys like us don't do ties, Luke. We win." Carter replies in a obvious cocky tone glancing at me which only sends chills to my spine.
"Thanks, waitress." Carter adds with an innocent wink.
Serena feels taken back by his action and hits his arm.
"Relax, will ya? Have you seen her?" He shakes his head and continues his conversation with Luke.
Ouch.
I glance down at the tile floor before making my way back to the counter area. A feeling of discomfort envelopes me. Carter's last words replaying in my head. 'Have you seen her?' As much as it pained me, I knew I wasn't his type, but how rasping could he be?
To think I spent all my breaks writing my heart out on that guy. I push through the two joined doors and instantly head towards the table where I threw my book. Immediately I know it had been tampered with.
The flour fingerprint says it all. I flip through the pages, but promptly stop at one particular page that catches my attention. I look at the page before that, that's labeled #28.
I then realize number 29 is gone.
______________________
A/N: Thanks for reading. Vote and comment. I love reading comments and if you'd like to make a banner and or cover go right ahead and pm me. I'd love to see your creativity. Shout out to @deprivation for making the lovely trailer to the side for me, she is a bundle of talent and I really do hope you enjoy this.
(Please don't be ghost readers.)