“Keep it down! I'm still at work,” she hissed, glancing around the tiny break room.
Of course, no one had cared that she was late – Katya had never, ever been late, the entire time she'd been working there. She was also head baker, and highly sought after, at that. After a prominent magazine had featured her culinary skills, her appointment book had been full. Wedding cakes by Katya Tocci had to be booked a year in advance, other events at least three months. She could show up to work high on meth, and as long as she made a perfect sugar rose, she wouldn't get fired.
“I know, I know, but still, I cannot get over this! You had sex with some random dude, in some random club! This is AMAZING!” her roommate insisted.
“He wasn't random, I knew who he was. Kinda. Sorta,” Katya tried to make it sound better.
“Oh, whatever, don't try to downplay it, you little slut. It's great! I cannot wait to hear all the dirty details.”
“I'm not -”
“You are, and you're gonna tell me everything. Length, girth, which hole, how many times.”
“Oh jesus. I can't believe you weren't even worried when I didn't come home.”
“I knew where you were.”
“You did!?”
“Uh, yeah, you texted me about A MILLION times, don't you remember?”
“No. I told you, I don't remember anything from about midnight on.”
“Yeah, you were telling me about how fucking hot he is, and how good he gave it to you, and about how it didn't hurt as much as you thought it would,” Tori prattled off. Katya felt another bout of nausea sweep over her.
“Still. What if after the amazing sex, he'd taken me home to rape and murder me?” she pointed out.
“Oh, he took the phone from you after you started messaging gibberish. Sent me his address and phone number, just in case. He's one of the good ones, you can tell. When are you gonna see him again?”
A jingling noise came from the front of the store. The bell over the front door, meaning a customer had just come inside. Saved by the bell. Katya took a deep breath and smoothed her hand over her apron.
“I gotta go, customer is here,” she whispered.
“You can't hide from me! Everything! I want to know everything when you get home!”
Katya didn't bother with goodbye, she just hung up the phone and took a couple deep breaths. She glanced in a small mirror and cringed again. She hadn't bothered with blowing out her hair, but had just slicked it all up into a high bun while it had still been wet. Now that it was dry, it was starting to frizz up around the crown of her head. She was wearing the barest amount of makeup, just enough powder to kill the zombie look she was rocking.
She'd never been into wearing the whole chef's jacket and pants, usually opting for a pin striped apron and a smock. But that day, she'd barely managed the apron, and was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, ballet flats, and a loose blouse. Maybe normal clothing for other people, but unheard of for her. She could just imagine her mother's reaction at seeing her dressed that way, in public, at her job.
Her parents were very proper people.
But shitty clothing and hangover be damned – she had a job to do. She took a deep breath and pushed her way through the double doors that led to the sales floor. Normally, she almost never went on the floor, unless it was to meet a client. But the counter clerk was on her lunch break, one of the assistant bakers was on a delivery, and the other was on vacation. Katya was on counter duty till the other girls returned.
“Hello, welcome to Fondants!” she chirped pleasantly, though she could hear how scratchy her voice sounded. Whether it was from the hangover, or from Liam making her scream his name, she couldn't be sure. She took another deep breath and fanned at her face as she turned to look around the shop.
The place looked empty at first glance, but then she saw him. A man was standing in the corner with his back to her, in front of a display of cupcakes, and he was talking into a cell phone. The bell above the door jingled again and Katya turned to smile at the customer who came walking in, but she was again ignored. It was a young woman who was dressed in a smart suit and skirt, and she didn't even look at Katya, just made a beeline for the man in the corner. She stood next to him, leaning in close to say something softly, then she stood back and fiddled around on a tablet.
Wondering whether or not she'd actually be needed, Katya busied herself with checking over the racks in the display case. She didn't usually bother with the donuts and pastries and croissants, but she had to keep herself busy. If she didn't, her mind would wander back to her activities from the night before, and then she'd blush like an idiot for the rest of the day.
Bad enough that I'm having trouble walking normal, don't need to be red in the face, as well.
She was pulling one of the racks out of the case, determined to change out the croissants that she just knew were stale, when the strange couple finally turned around and came to the counter.
“Angel food cake.”
Katya almost dropped the entire rack. It wasn't like it was really her nickname, but still. She would never be able to hear those words again and not remember Liam whispering them while he touched her.
“I'm sorry, what did you say?” she asked through gritted teeth while she worked to get the rack back into the case.
“Cupcakes,” the man said. “Do you make angel food cake cupcakes?”
“We could, sure. What were you thinking?” she finally got the display back to rights and she stood upright, brushing her hands against her apron as she turned to face the front.
“I was thinking I'd like a couple dozen.”
Katya froze as she stared into a pair of very blue eyes. She flicked her eyes to the other woman, but that girl was still looking at her tablet, moving a stylus back and forth across the screen. So Katya looked back at the man.
Holy shit, how long has it been? Eight years? Nine?
“You do speak English, don't you?”
Hmmm, not long enough to forget he's a total asshole.
Katya knew him, or at least, she used to – he'd grown up in the house next door to her, their families had been loose acquaintances. He was about six years older than her, though, so they'd never been friends. Not that they would have been even if they'd shared a birthday – he'd always been a jerk. Smarter than everyone else, richer than everyone else, more talented than anyone else. A gifted swimmer, there'd been talk of him going on to Olympic trials, but he'd pursued a college career instead.
He'd never paid any attention to Katya and her friends, or any of the other kids in the neighborhood, even the ones his age. He'd always been aloof. Snobbish. When she'd been fourteen, she'd taken a job babysitting his little sister for the entire summer. She hadn't realized he'd be home for the whole time, as well. No matter how rude he was to her, no matter how selfish or thoughtless, she couldn't help the small crush she'd developed. He had just been too good looking, and her bedroom had overlooked his pool. Watching him swim everyday hadn't been a burden at all.