"That will be four dollars and fifty cents."
Sasha brushed her dark hair out of her face and reached out to take the money from the patron. Every time Sasha got a new customer she would look them up and down and immediately make a judgment as to what kind of customer they would be. Sweaty and breathy meant there was no time for small talk. Designer clothing and a good dye job meant the world had to come to halt for his or her needs. Then there were the few oddballs, the kind of people you don't really expect to see in Merry Mary's Muffins Pastry Shop.
For instance, there was a woman would wear her headphones with the sound turned all the way up and she always wore and inexplicable windbreaker, despite it being either too hot to be tolerable, or insufficient against the cold wind. Her name was Mary Beth and she would peruse the display before, inevitably, ordering only a small coffee. Then there was Bruce, who was always on his phone, openly discussing with one mistress or another how he was planning on leaving his wife. To Sasha's knowledge, Bruce was not married, and was rotating approximately five would-be mistresses.
Sasha handed Lenny, a older blonde and lanky regular who always ordered a blueberry crumble muffin and a black coffee with a dollop of foam, his order. He flashed her his usually half smile; of course this was in conjunction with the quick glance at her breasts. After two years of seeing Lenny do this, Sasha was actually wondering why he doesn't she openly gawk like she suspected he wanted. When Lenny left the shop was empty, save for Alex in the back. Sasha felt grateful that closing the shop was going to be easy that night. Trying to close while dealing with a long line of customers who don't what they want was a nightmare.
Sasha drew a deep breath and reached for the keys to lock the front door from behind the register. She walked over the front door and locked the deadbolt. She looked up the glass and studied her faint reflection. Overall, she felt happy with her looks. She had an olive skin tone, which was nice and even. Though she not the thinnest woman in the world, she was by no means overweight. She had a soft elegance about her - her almond shaped eyes fit well with her pouty lips, the arch of her waist met smoothly with the curve of her hips creating and hourglass figure. Though Sasha would have given anything to be a bit taller, standing at 5'1 made reaching things on the shelves difficult and made it hard to be taken seriously.
She began to collect the trash and dishes not picked up in the last sweep. Alex, her friend whom had gotten her this job, was working in the back scrapping out plates and throwing away unsold pastries. The policy was two days, and it had to go.
"Hey Sash, would you mind bringing me the trays in the display cases? I think those scones have seen better days." Alex called from the back kitchen.
Sasha gathered two trays, all she could hold, and walked through the double doors. Alex had taken off his work polo, and was wearing and undershirt. Sasha could never understand how Alex could have such a toned and tanned body despite being the laziness son of bitch she had ever met. He worked the bare minimum, and when he got home all he did was smoke pot and, well, that was it. With his dark blonde hair, brilliantly hazel eyes and beautiful body made him almost unreasonably attractive. Their coworkers all found it extremely odd that Sasha had never slept with him. Sasha did, too, in fact.
Alex looked at Sasha with irritation when he saw at her bounty of two trays.
"God damn it, I forgot you're a munchkin who can't carry jack's worth of shit. You stay here and bag all of this, I will bring back the trays or else we'll be until midnight."
"It's only five-thirty smart ass." Sasha sniped back.
"My point exactly!" Alex quipped.
"Screw you!"
Alex raised an eyebrow as if to say "yeah?"
Sasha turned away and felt her face get hot. The real reason she had never slept with Alex was because she was too intimidated. What if she was bad at it? What if he saw her naked body and immediately decided he could do better? She was no virgin, but damn if he didn't make her feel like one.
Sasha turned back to face Alex but he had already gone through the double doors, back into the shop front. Another shot lost.
Feeling slightly defeated by her own sheepishness, Sasha turned to bag all of the old pastries when she heard a terrible cry and crash come from the front. It was Alex's voice. The scream sent an immediate chill through Sasha's body. She ran as fast as she could through double doors and surveyed the scene. There was a spurt of blood on the front display case near the cash register and a pool of blood slowly oozing from behind the counter. Sasha ran over, not knowing what she would find. As she made her way around the corner of the counter, she slipped and fell sideways into the large pool of blood that had collected around Alex's body. As she struggled to become grounded in the warm and slippery horrific mess, she crawled over to Alex who was attempting gasp for air, but could only manage gurgle through a large gaping rip in his neck.
Sasha grabbed him and pulled him up to her lap. Hot tears and sharp gasps washed over Sasha as she struggled to make sense of the tragedy that was unfolding. A moment ago she was closing the store and grateful for the quiet. Now she was holding on to her friend who was drowning in his own blood.
