"Just so you know, I hate you," I tell Alex when I see him nearing with his bike, Kal standing on the pegs. "I haven't woken up this early in...at least ten days."

"I hate you too, Al. You didn't even let me finish my oatmeal," Kal says.

He's wearing a simple white hoodie that makes him look more tan than he is. I stare at it with a longing gaze. It's so early in the morning that I have goosebumps, which only makes sense given the fact the sun has barely set.

"You don't get to hate me, Kal," Alex replies as he steads his bike near a tree. "I carried you for two miles. And you," -he points a finger to me- "how can you hate your daddy?"

I feel my cheeks blush. Kal chuckles. Alex hardly ever realizes when it's time to stop mentioning a joke. He kept referring to Olivia as Polka Dots when she caught chickenpox in fifth grade. Alex stopped it when she threatened to hug him so tight he would catch it too and they would be Polka Dot Buddies, even though he admitted liking the ring of the nickname. 

"Daddy? You can't even grow facial hair yet."

"I can!" Alex protests. "Just not on my cheeks."

A small motorcycle approaches Parfait. It takes me a second to realise that it's Alice, since she wears a helmet.

"Good morning. Is everyone ready?" she asks as she takes it off. Her braids look intact. 

"Yes!" Alex replies with the same amount of enthusiasm I would if someone asked me if I want sprinkles on top of my ice cream.

Kal and I only say "good morning" to the girl and follow her inside after she unlocks the glass door. The place looks strange at this hour. It's empty, for one, and has this weird grey lighting I've only seen in winter.

"Here, this way," Alice says, gesturing to the back of the shop.

She opens the door next to the washrooms and reveals a mess of brooms, mops, cloths and various cleaning products.

"Now, as you can imagine-"

"Sorry we're late!"

There are two girls coming in, and they too are wearing hoodies. Why couldn't I have turned back to get one when I first felt cold?

Alice waves her hand in a dismissive manner. "It's fine, you didn't miss anything. As I was saying, you have to keep the place clean. Your job isn't just handing out ice cream and coffee."

"The employees share the work, right? It's not like one of them mops and the other does the easy things, right?" Alex asks.

"Of course," Alice replies. "Or they're supposed to," she adds as an afterthought.

I bite the inside of my cheek. Alice clearly does most of the work. Sometimes she has glaring contests with Jess. I hang around here enough to know.

Kal raises his arm a bit, and Alice nods for him to speak. "Is it okay if I don't mop? If I'm employed, that is. I had an accident and I'm limping."

Alex leans in and whispers in my ear. "It's not from an accident, we're just having too much sex."

"What?" I whisper-yell. "You're cheating on me?"

His light brown eyes widen. "No! I...I meant..."

"Hey, cut it off, you two," Alice commands, her hand resting on her waist. She turns her attention to Kal. "So yeah, I'm sure your buddy will do the mopping and you'll do other stuff to help."

As she talks she walks behind the counters and motions for us to follow her. It's strange being there. I've never seen Parfait from this angle. Everything looks messed up. My gaze falls at the ice cream showcase and the tens of flavors that are so easily accessible now.

As if reading my mind, Alice says, "Rule number one: don't eat too much ice cream. Mrs. May doesn't charge us for a bowl with one or two scoops but if you want anything more than that you'll have to pay." She stares at the display. "And honestly, anything more than that will make you loathe it for the rest of the summer. Rule number two: always wash your hands before touching anything, and wear gloves. Thirdly..."

And she goes on to show us how to properly serve ice cream and how big a scoop should be before babbling about the names of the flavors and which are most frequently consumed as if I don't already know. After the ice cream lecture, she shows us how the cash register works. Then she shows us how to make coffee (only the most popular kind) and where they keep the dishes, forks, knives...

And then it's time to go to the kitchen. A pink door facing the cashier leads to a small room with white, pristine counters and appliances in pastel colours.

Alice opens the light green fridge. "We keep our pancake and waffle mix in here," she explains. "Whenever a customer orders one of these, you take as much as you need and then put the containers back inside."

One of the girls gasps. "It says it's homemade on the menu! You're spreading lies!"

Alice scrunches her nose. "It's not a box mix. Mrs. May makes it every day and brings it here the night before we open. Now, let me show you how to make pancakes. It's pretty easy..."

It is. But then she guides us to...

The washrooms. A gasp of horror escapes my lips when I see her opening the door. The girl raises her eyebrow but doesn't comment on it.

"You're going to have to clean the bathroom, too," she says and I'm ready to fall on the floor. I thought Mrs. May did it, or maybe a cleaning crew. "But don't worry, not many people use it. All you have to do is mop and check if there's enough soap at closing time."

And like that my heart goes back to its place. I can have Alex do that.

"So, it's a little after eight now. Who's going to do their trial shift today?" Alice asks, clapping her hands.

"Me!" Alex shouts. He wraps his arms around Kal and me. "And these guys too."

Alice doesn't look too happy about it, but she tries covering it up with a smile. "Alright! So that means you girls will be here tomorrow at eight."

"What? He gets to work today only because he yelled first?" one of the girls asks, giving a side glance to Alex. He's very lucky that looks can't kill.

"Yeah, pretty much," Alice replies. "Now, unless you want to buy something I'd suggest you go because these three have work to do."

The girls throw angry looks at the three of us before leaving.

"I hope they don't get the job, otherwise we won't be able to hang out here when it's their shift," Kal whispers, making Alex and I giggle.

"You know Mrs. May won't hire the three of you, right?" Alice asks.

Alex pouts. "Why not? We're two plus one free. We will split the two paychecks even. We won't ask for more money."

"That's illegal," Alice says with a shrug. "Now, get to work. I'll be around here, supervising you."

I'm not in the mood to sweep the whole shop so I opt for cleaning the counters. They're already clean as far as I can see anyway. I grab a bottle of rose-scented Ajax from the storage room and a cloth before wiping the surface. Alex cleansthe floor while Kal does the tables.

"Make sure to clean the tables outside too," Alice tells him. She's perched up on a sofa and scrolling on her phone.

We do our chosen tasks in silence, and no customers bother us at the moment. It's strange, considering this place is packed by opening time on school days.

"I'm finished sweeping!" Alex chimes.

The girl narrows her eyes and looks around before quirking up an eyebrow. "You call this 'finished'?"

Alex nods. "Uh-huh, and now I'll mop and-"

Alice shakes her head. "No, just...no. Summer, quit acting like you're cleaning the counters.  They're clean already, and I know because I cleaned them last night. Please, show your friend how to sweep." 

I sigh and reluctantly leave my spot, catching Alice mutter something about hoping one of us knows how to do it. Little does she know, my parents always make me sweep the entire house and balcony whenever I don't have to go to school.

 Alex hands me the broom and I get to work. He has, in fact, left half the dust on the floor. The boy follows me around as I sweep  and I can't help but chuckle.

"I'm observing you," he says in the lowest voice he can do, only causing more chuckles on my behalf and a glare from Alice. He smiles briefly and grabs another broom to help me, now that, and I quote, he "learned the secrets to sweeping".

Soon we're finished and I'm about to grab the mop when I see an old man making his way towards the door. I glance at Alice, though she doesn't move a finger. Gulping, I go behind the counter and Kal joins me.

"Good morning kiddos," he says. "Do you have any white chocolate cakes?"

"Not only white but also red, green and blue!" Kal says from beside me.

The fuck?

The customer seems to be as confused as me. "What plant does the blue one come from?"

Kal's eyes widen. "Oh, well, you see...it's...it's not..."

The man smiles. "I'm joking. I'll take whatever you kids think is best. But" -he turns to look outside- "please be quick or else my wife will figure out I ate sweets again."

I stifle a laugh as I take a piece of the white chocolate cake with the spatula. But, then I realize I haven't opened a box to put it in.

"Here, let me do it," Kal mumbles as he takes the cake and places it in the carton.

While the customer pays him, I try hard not to laugh. Alex is behind him and makes silly faces. When the old man turns around, Alex smiles sheepishly and puts his hands behind his back.

As soon as the man is gone Alice stands up and screams. "What the hell was that, Alex? That was completely unprofessional! He could have seen your reflection on the glass."

"Oh I-I'm sorry. I'm...going to mop now!"

Alice shakes her head. "No, if you mop like you sweep..." She exhales loudly. "Summer, please mop the floor and Kal, keep on cleaning the tables."

"What should I do?" Alex asks but Alice pretends she didn't hear him.

And so Kal and I do our tasks quietly and Alex is on the lookout for customers.

"You missed a spot under the table," Alice tells me. When I turn around to ask where exactly, I see her looking at her phone again.

My gaze doesn't leave the floor after that. I squint at it, making sure it's squeaky clean because, apparently, Alice has superhuman vision. 

 "I WANT NUTELLA PANCAKES," my very loud friend shouts, bursting my eardrums, to which I reply, "BE CAREFUL, I JUST MOPPED". It's for her safety, but mostly because I don't want to mop again.

"You'll have to wait for these anyway, Liv. We haven't even turned on the stove yet," Kal says.

Olivia sighs as she sits at the table closest to the cash register. "Every morning it's the same story. Why can't anyone just...turn it on? I want food!"

"Do you come here every morning?" Alex asks with a frown. "And eat these things? You're gonna have a serious blood sugar problem."

Olivia huffs. "No, not always. I opt for blueberry pancakes sometimes."

"Are any of you going to make the girl's order?" Alice asks.

"I will!" Alex chirps and runs to the kitchen.

"Oh, by the way, my parents told me to ask if you all want to come to my place tonight. We're going to barbecue," Kal says with half the smile I would have announced it. 

"Again? Wasn't it a few days ago?" Alex shouts from the kitchen.

"No, that was me," I shout back. Turning to Kal I say, "Sounds good."

Hey, it is free food. And barbecue, nonetheless.

"Cool. Can I take Lucky for a walk around seven?" Kal replies with a hesitant smile.

I nod 'yes', since I don't really have a choice.

Olivia scrunches her nose. "Aren't you sweating in that hoodie?"

Kal looks down at his torso. "I had forgotten I was wearing this," he says with a chuckle and takes the white hoodie off. The tee he's wearing underneath rides up in the process, showing his mostly flat stomach and shy V-line.

Olivia jumps from her seat and pokes his shoulder before retracting her finger and blowing at it. "Damn, you're getting hot."

Kal shakes his head and folds his hoodie. "Where can I put this, Alice?"

The girl looks up from her phone. "Oh, right. There are lockers at the back. Use any of them that aren't locked."

"And aren't occupied by ghosts," Olivia adds, causing us to chuckle.

Alex comes out of the kitchen with a plate of what should be Nutella pancakes. He places them on Olivia's table and gives her the puppy eyes.

"They're a little bit burnt but I added more Nutella to make up for it."

I close my eyes. There's no way he's going to get the job.

..................

1886 words

Aaand 10,301 in total! In six days. I've never done this before. Sorry if I'm being annoying with the updates but I'm trying to post live...it's fun so far. Plus, when I post I have nothing else pre-written so I have more reasons to write. 

Who's your favourite out of the four so far?