Perky Cups

BEEPbeep, BEEPbeep, BEEPBeep, BEEPBeep….

..morning, already?!..Lola grumbles to herself as she slides across the plush queen-sized bed to slam the obnoxious alarm clock against the wall.  Please let today be easy for once, she sighs to herself.  Lola leans up to look outside of her window.  It is still pitch-black dark.  Lola lays her head back on her pillow, wanting to go back to sleep, but there was a long day of coffee-slinging calling her name.  Oh alright. Lola stumbles toward the bathroom, still half-asleep, hoping that a long, hot shower would wake her up.  

While waiting for the water to heat up, Lola grabs her pink toothbrush from the red coffee mug that was given to her from an old boyfriend.  Lola hates to be reminded of him, but that coffee cup has been everywhere with her—college, first apartment, and first house—so, she never threw the old thing away.  As Lola brushes her teeth, she makes a quick glance at the mirror.  Ugh…who would want to be with this girl? Lola says to herself.  With that thought, Lola hops into the shower.  

Lola sticks Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti into the cd player for the 30-minute commute to Perky Cups.  As Kashmir blares through the speakers, Lola envisions her day being full of rude customers that don’t know the difference between a mocha and a latte.  Nevertheless, Lola was determined to have a great day as the sun was shining with all of its glory.  Today will be a good day. I know it.

Once Lola enters Perky Cups, her manager Cody calls her back into his office.  Cody is a laid-back kind of  a guy that’s not too much older than Lola.  Cody hooked Lola up with a barista position when Lola first moved into town.  Ever since, Lola comes in at least fifteen minutes early for work to help set up supplies.  

“Lola, I’m promoting you to become a manager.  You’ve done so well in the last six months and you’ve proved yourself that you are up to the task.  What do you say?”  

“Ummmmm, yes?”  Lola was unsure about her abilities, but if her boss thought she could do it, she would do her best.  

“Great, I’m going to hire someone new today that will take over your spot.  I will train you starting today as well.  I hope you’re ready.”  

Lola wondered who would take over her position.  Perky Cups hasn’t hired anyone ever since the old girl, Bridgette, was fired for stealing money out of the cash register.  Lola hopes that whoever is hired will be a valuable team player.  

As Lola waits for the new person to show, she gets into her daily routine of perfecting steam art on finished cups of lattes and mochas.  Her customers always tipped ever so graciously as they were amazed with Lola’s works of coffee art.  

Just then, a familiar face walks into Perky Cups.  “Blaine, what are you doing here?”  Blaine was Lola’s old boyfriend, who she hadn’t seen in three years.  “I’m here for a job.  Cody called me earlier and told me to start today.”  Oh great.  I’m going to have to quit.  “Well, Cody is in the back if you want to talk to him.”  Blaine heads toward the back. “Lola, you can pretend that you’re happy to see me.”  Lola rolls her eyes.  

Cody shows Blaine where everything is in Perky Cups, explaining how things are ran in the shop.  Lola sees Cody and Blaine coming her way.  “Lola, this is Blaine.” Cody says.  “You will be training him on how to run the cash register and make coffee.  I know you will train him well because you are the best at what you do.”  “Yes sir.  Come on Blaine, I’ll help you get started.”  Cody walks back to his office.

“Blaine, if you are going to work here, you are going to pretend that you don’t know me.  Got it?”  Blaine answers back sarcastically “Yes, boss”.  “I’ve been fine without you around.  It’s going to be difficult to work with you but I’m going to have to make it work because I need this job.”  “Don’t sweat it.”

Luckily, Blaine was a fast learner.  It only took an hour for Lola to show him how to prepare coffee the Perky Cups way.  Lola goes to the office to report to Cody.  “Ok Cody, Blaine is trained.  When do I start?”  

“Shut the door.”  Lola did as she was told and sat down in an empty chair.  Cody walks over to where Lola is seated and kneels down.  “Take off your shirt.”  This is coming from nowhere.  “What?”  Lola always thought Cody was a carefree boss.  He was always so nice to her.  “I said to take off your shirt!  If you really want to be a manager, you will do as I say.”  “Cody, I don’t understand why you’re being like this.”  “If you don’t take off your shirt, I will take it off for you.”  Lola reaches for the door, trying to escape, but Cody blocked the way.  “Lola, you are a beautiful girl.  I’ve wanted you since the first moment I hired you.  Why do you think Brigette was fired?”  “Didn’t she steal money from the cash register?”  “No, I fired her because she wasn’t being a good girl.  She could’ve kept her job if she’d let me get a piece of her.”  Cody comes closer to Lola.  Lola didn’t want to cause a commotion in the store as there were customers around but she had to so she could be free from this psycho.  As Cody reaches for Lola, Lola screamed for help.  “No one is going to believe you.”

The door opens.   It was Blaine.  Lola feels a little relief.    “Dude, what the hell are you doing with my girl?  Come on Lola, let’s get out of here.”  “I want to call the cops first.  I want to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”  

Within ten minutes, the cops were at Perky Cups.  They got Lola’s statement, and then arrested Cody for sexual assault.  

“Blaine, thank you so much.  I don’t know what could have happened if you didn’t show up.”

“You know that girl Brigette?”

“Yeah.”

“She found me on Facebook and was worried that you were in danger.  So, I called Perky Cups and asked if there were any open positions.  I wanted to keep an eye on you.”

“Wow, I thought you were over me. “

“I just needed some time to be me.  I want to do the things that I want to do before I settle down.  I hope we can be friends for now and see where things go down the road.  Is that okay?”  

“That sounds good.  I need someone around to keep these psychos away from me.”   

Blaine laughs.  

“Well, you know where to find me.” Blaine says.  “Don’t be a stranger.”

Lola makes the 30 minute commute back to her house.  She pops in Disc 2 of Physical Graffiti and skips over to “Ten Years Gone”.  Lola hopes things will work out with Blaine, the only guy that has her heart.  Until then, Lola needs to find a new job that pays the bills.  

What a crazy day.