Chapter Text
Luz Noceda looked into the mirror and smiled. Sure, this outfit wasn’t her first choice, but it was nice she even had a job at this coffee bar. She didn’t have any experience as a waitress, but luckily it wasn’t a problem, according to her new boss. She would learn the tricks of the trade in no time. Also, her co-workers had been working there for a while, so they could teach her everything she had to know.
This was her second week and she loved it! Brewing coffee, talking to customers and making them happy was really a fun and satisfying thing to do.
The bar was run by two sisters, who were…very different from each other to say the least. But that was a plus in this case.
One of them, Eda, was an older woman in her mid-late 40’s. She was like a some cool aunt, pretending like she didn’t care about anything but secretly did. She gave Luz the confidence she could do this and if she’d show that enthusiasm and happiness around the costumers, she would be a great asset. Luz loved her!
The other woman, Lilith, was more reserved and made sure the place wouldn’t be bankrupt and everything went according to the rules and protocols. It was also her idea the crew should wear this white blouse and black skirt and …heels? Luz looked at them, while lifting them up. She just hoped she wouldn’t trip holding a tray full of drinks.
She fixed her hair, put on her sneakers again, because she wasn’t gonna make it in time without them and ran downstairs.
“See you tonight, Mom,” she shouted as she smoothly pulled her coat from the coat rack and put it on, like she’d done so many times.
“Good luck, mija.” Her mother said back.
Since Luz was on a school break, she could work extra days. That worked out well because she was saving for something special. Her heart warmed up when she thought of it. Just a few more days and her goal was achieved.
She fast-walked on the streets. The King’s Café was located just outside the center and therefore medium busy, with various customers; families, friends, couples or people who wanted just a place they could work in some peace and quiet.
She entered the small building and was welcomed by a scent of fresh coffee and cupcakes, a mix of cinnamon, dough and chocolate. The brown and dark red chairs with the wooden tables and the old brick walls gave the place a homely vibe. Closing her eyes, she deeply inhaled, taking it all in. How could anyone not want to be here?
“Hello Luz, good you’re here!” Eda said being busy, but having everything under control as always, “We have our hands full because Matt is sick. You can start right away!”
“All right! Let me put on the right shoes first!” Luz said, grabbed her backpack and traded her trusty sneakers for these…torture. Patting her knees, she was ready for the action. “Bring it on, Eda! Tell me, where do you want me today?”
Eda grinned. “First wash your hands and then you can serve the tables. I have some orders right here.” She pointed to the tray at the bar, filled with some tea and coffee, well… to what extent you can still call this drink with whipped cream, tiny marshmallows and syrup, coffee.
It was busy indeed. The cool weather outside clearly invited people to go out and enjoy this conviviality during this winter break.
After a few hours, Luz felt her feet and legs got a bit tired. She really wasn’t used to these heels yet and she sat down for a moment, twirling her feet. Eda watched her a bit worried. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing! It’s fine. My feet start to protest a bit, that’s all. Give me a minute and I’ll be back in action.”
Eda frowned. “Well, if they make you so uncomfortable, don’t wear them.”
Luz looked up in relief. “Really?”
“Sure! I don’t understand why my sister made you wear them anyway. I prefer you to be in shape, rather than be …taller.”
“Thanks, Eda!” In no time Luz swapped her shoes again and affectionately stroked them. “Together again!”
Working with Eda, Luz felt relaxed. Sure, Eda has standards, but they were different and more feasible. Luz didn’t feel like such a failure. When Lilith was there, she always had the feeling she had done something wrong somehow. And the weird thing was, she made more mistakes on those days. Swap orders, breaking glasses and causing clumsy accidents like that. She was just a bit nervous and in her attempt to try harder, she failed even more.
Eda understood Luz somehow and didn’t care so much. She just wanted her guests to have a good time, got their coffee and felt welcome.
Sadly, the next day Eda wasn’t at the café, because of her day off, so her sister was there and as expected Luz was her clumsy self.
“Sorry, sorry!” Luz said apologetically, while picking up some shards. “It won’t happen again.”
Lilith sighed and massaged her temple. “Just watch where you’re going next time or we will run out of glasses.”
Luz felt bad and sighed. This never happened with Eda. What was wrong with her? Walking shouldn’t be so hard! Even on heels…
The rest of her shift she tried her best to please her boss, cleaning the tables extra fast and serving extra orders and just be proactive. Luckily Lilith noticed a couple of times and gave an approvingly nod.
During lunch Luz saw some new customers sitting in the corner of the café. It was the most cozy place and always first to be taken, with the couch, a small table and two armchairs. This time four girls, about Luz’s age, sat there.
“Hi there, what can I get you, guys?” Luz asked, note and pencil at the ready.
“Well, is there anything without sugar here?” One of the girls with red-violet hair conceitedly asked.
“Eh…tea? A coffee or bruised water?” Luz tried to sound friendly and cooperative.
The girl sniffed and pointed at the menu. “And right here it says ‘Favorite’, but that appears to be one of the most expensive drinks. That’s a bit suspicious, don’t you think?” The girl added.
“Well, it’s delicious! Trust me! Maybe the best drink you’ve ever tasted.” Luz said enthusiastically, “But you don’t have to order it if you don’t want to, of course.”
Instead of looking at the menu, the girls now watched Luz carefully, like they were checking her out.
“So it’s a good thing you’re working here and not trying to be a house wife, I suppose,” the other girl, with her brown hair and some purple highlights tied in a ponytail, said.
Luz gave her a puzzled look, so the girl glanced at her blouse and said meanly. “Because I can see you’re having some trouble with ironing.” The other girls laughed and she added passive-aggressively: “And have you even walked on heels before? I was slightly worried you would fall right in front of us. Please be careful.”
Luz decided to ignore this. She had to stay professional, or at least try to. “Thanks for your concern. Do you know what you want to order yet?” Luz said with a sigh. The girls evilly chuckled again.
The third girl with the brown skin eyes spoke: “I was told there was some cute waiter working here, so if you can send him instead of you we would appreciate it.” Luz faltered her movements. These girls were impossible. She also didn’t understand why they were asking for Matt. Because of his looks and…size, he wasn’t exactly on top of the social ladder and these girls obviously were, or at least acted like it.
“He is sick.” Luz answered flatly and there was a collective exaggerated disappointed 'aww' with some giggles. “So, can I finally take your other?”
“Maybe later.” The redhaired girl said and turned demonstratively to her friends. “We’re not sure if we want to stay here. We’ll call you when we need you.”
“Or we’ll whistle.” The girl with a long face and a larger nose chuckled.
“Or just come here when we do this.” The brown haired girl with the highlights snapped her fingers. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
Luz face turned bright red. What were these girls thinking? How could anyone be so rude?
But she straightened herself. “Don’t worry. I’ll come by in a couple of minutes. And in the meantime, I’ll suggest you check out Pet’s Palace, because you won’t find any dogs in here.” And she turned around and walked away to the counter, hearing some indignant muttering.
Luckily the other customers were a lot friendlier and Luz decided to give them more attention. Otherwise this day would be a pain.
After a few minutes she heard a whistle, snapped fingers, a call ‘Waitress!” and she counted to ten until before she went there.
“All right, you know what you want to order?” Luz asked as neutrally as possible.
“We would like four glasses of tap water please.” The redhaired girl challengingly.
Luz put her notebook down. “You have to order something of the menu. I’m sure you understand that.”
“We do, but I hope you understand that we still haven’t decided yet.” When Luz raised her eyebrow, the girl gasped and asked her friend in with mock indignation: “Or is it weird of me to say that?”
“No, not at all,” her long faced friend responded overly understanding, “It’s just very weird that she pressures you like this. Like, how long have we been here? Ten minutes?”
“Yeah, don’t worry, Boscha. It’s not you!” The brown-skinned girl said and looked reproachfully at Luz.
“All right, as you wish.” With a deep sigh Luz wrote the order down and walked away. What was she supposed to do now? She gave the order to Lilith, who gave her a questionable glare. Luz shrugged. “They aren’t ready to order something else.”
“Well, bring them some water then. But they have to order something if they want to stay. It’s very busy. We can't allow them to occupy the most popular spot.” And Lilith went back to finish the orders.
After a few minutes, Luz could bring the girls their water and they finally decided to order some regular coffee.
But the moment Luz put the cups of coffee on the table, something bumped into her, causing the coffee to spill all over. All girls screamed.
“Look what you did!” Boscha yelled angrily. “You totally ruined my shirt! Skara, give me that!” And she grabbed the napkin from the brown skin-girl’s hands to dab her clothes.
“I’m so sorry!” Luz said apologetically, quickly cleaning the coffee up with her towel. Honestly, most of it was spilled on the table and Luz didn’t even notice the spot on the girls clothes.
The girls looked madly at Luz and Boscha spoke: “I want a new coffee, extra-large, extra cream and sirop and you’ll understand I’m not gonna pay for it!”
Luz nodded willingly and went to Lilith to explain the situation, who sighed deeply. “Luz, you really have to be more careful! At the moment your employment costs us almost more than it earns. I will deduct that extra coffee from your salary. More of such mistakes I’ll be forced to terminate your employment.”
Luz shoulders hunched. She felt really bad. She did her best and it wasn’t enough.
“I’m sorry, Miss. But these girls were really challenging me and I even suspect one of them did this to get some free coffee.”
Lilith sniffed and folded her arms. “But this isn’t the first time, Luz. Don’t blame the customers for your mistakes. You have to take responsibility.”
“Yes, Miss.” Luz said defeatedly. From the corner of her eye, she saw the girls watching her and secretly whispering and pointing. Anger boiled inside Luz. This almost cost her job! Why were they so mean?
Part of her wanted to take revenge, but she was afraid that would go wrong too and she would definitely be fired. Besides that she also didn't want to start some circle of violence. She sighed. She had to take it and just stand her ground.
“Here you are, and again my apologies.” Luz said, while putting the extra-large coffee in front of that little witch. “I'm glad you were able to remove the stain…,” Luz looked at the girls shirt and added, “…like it’s never been there.”
“Yes, well, luckily for you. Otherwise you could expect an official complaint and then you would have had to work quite a few shifts to cover the costs.”
“Lucky me.” Luz said dryly. “I hope you enjoy your coffee.”
After they finished their drinks and paid for the three coffee, the girls left. Luz sighed in relief. She was pretty on edge while these girls were there. Hopefully it was a one-time thing.
Unfortunately the girls came back two days later, sitting in the same spot. This time Eda was at work, so Luz felt a bit more confident and at least could wear her comfy shoes. She had ironed her blouse, so they couldn’t make fun of that.
Anyway, she had resolved not to let those girls walk all over her again. They were customers, but respect should always come from both sides. So she took a deep breath and walked up to the young gossip aunts.
“Hello, can I take your order or do you need some more time to decide?” Luz asked firmly.
The girls looked at Luz and giggled. The girl with the long face, Luz heard Boscha call her Amelia, checked Luz’s feet. “So, you’ve decided to get more comfortable? I can imagine your boss doesn’t want more broken glasses, so good choice.” The others laughed.
Luz sighed and with her most assertive voice said: “Look guys, I don’t know what your deal is, but if you’re only here to insult me, please go somewhere else and let me do my job. There are enough cafés to chill.”
The girls kept chuckling. “But there’s only one with Matt.” Amelia clenched her hands, looking in love.
Luz lifted her eye brow. “I guess. But he’s working in the kitchen today. So you have to deal with me I’m afraid.”
“Can’t you get him? Tell him Boscha is here.” She tossed her hair and Luz had to suppress a laugh. She had a feeling these girls had no idea who they were asking about, but maybe she just had different tastes. She didn't want to deny Matt a chance for a date.
“All right. I can always ask him. Give me a sec.” And Luz went on her way, hearing the girls giggling.
“Matt! Hey Matt! There’s some girl asking for you!” Luz called in the kitchen. The small boy looked up with a giant grin. His straight brown hair which was shaved at the sides was barely visible because of the plastic hairnet. “Eh, maybe you should take that off…” Luz carefully said.
Matt did, wrapped his hands through his hair and watched his seductive smile in the shiny kitchen cabinet. “You can do it, Matty-boy! This is what you trained for!”
“So, who’s asking for me?” Matt asked expectantly asked Luz.
“A girl named Boscha?” Luz answered. “Look, I don’t know, Matt. Be careful. She doesn’t seem very… friendly.” Luz glanced at the door. She didn’t want her co-worker get hurt, although it wouldn't be a bad thing if his self-righteousness diminished a little.
“Boscha? Really?” He licked his lips. “Oh man, I really didn’t think this would work, but here I am and the most popular girl is asking for me!”
Luz smiled a bit awkwardly. “Yes, well, good for you, buddy! So how did you do it? I mean… no offence but you don’t…well….”
“Ow just the secret of the love master, Luz. I will tell you when you’re ready. But for now: watch and learn!” He said, while pointing two fingers to his own eyes and then Luz’s.
“Go get her, tiger!” Luz said encouragingly with her thumbs up. When Matt turned around, she sighed. For Matt she hoped it would end well, but she got the feeling Boscha would be a little disappointed by Matt’s appearance.
Unfortunately Luz was right. When Matt arrived, the confusion was clearly written on her face. Like Luz, Matt was checked out. Luckily for him he didn’t get the full roast, but it was clear Boscha wasn’t interested in him, more like, disgusted.
Poor Matt. After Boscha made it clear that he did not meet her expectations, he left and went back to the kitchen.
“I’m sorry, Matt.” Luz sympathetically said.
“No need!” He said complacently. “I couldn’t expect Boscha to be into me right away. I’m glad my plan worked. She’ll come around!” He grinned at Boscha. “Patience, Luz, it’s all about patience…”
Luz was surprised by his confidence. “Oh, well, definitely not my strongest suit, but if it works for you...”
“Oh and they asked if you could bring them four drinks.” He said, while walking back into the kitchen.
“Which drinks?”
“How the hell I know?”
“All right. Thanks!” She called friendly after him, but then sighed.
Time to go there again.
Luckily for Luz, the girls were so busy dealing with the disappointment that they forgot to make fun of her. She took the order and then quickly went back to the bar. They didn’t bother her that much the rest of her shift, but Luz was happy when she could finally head home.
But some words stuck in her mind. She wasn’t supposed to hear them – or maybe she was – but she was sure she heard Boscha say that ‘it was a pity they only hired such ugly brats and weirdo’s’.
Though Luz shouldn’t worry about it, it still hurt her.
The rest of the week the girls didn’t show up again. It stayed busy, but Luz didn’t mind. The hours flew by and before she knew it, she could head home again.
Luz was really happy, because she got her first paycheck today. It was only for two weeks work, but because of all her extra shifts she had enough savings to go get her present.
With her debit card in her pocket she went to the local jewelry store. It was rather small, but that didn’t matter to Luz, because here they had exactly what Luz was looking for: a bracelet with a little musketeer sword.
Luz smiled when she thought about it. Her mother had told her that she had spotted the bracelet in the display case and every now and then, Luz walked by and looked at it too. It was perfect! Now she had enough money to buy two of them.
She entered the store and a small bell rang. A friendly young voice spoke: “Good afternoon, I’ll be right there!”
“That’s okay. No rush!” Luz said and she glanced at all these beautiful lit displays. Everything looked so expensive and … Luz gasped up seeing the price tags, everything was really expensive. All those golden and silver rings, watches and jewelry she could never afford made her gulp.
Her bracelet wasn’t that valuable, so Luz hoped the saleswoman would take her seriously, without her having a credit card or waving around $1,000 bills.
“Sorry about that,” the friendly voice sounded closer and the employee emerged from the back, “How can I help…-“
Luz was stunned and gulped.
“-…you?” She looked right into the widened eyes of the brown-haired girl with the purple highlights.
Oh no.