THE BALMY RAYS of the afternoon sun gleamed on my skin, slowly building a soporific feeling within me. Yet, in as much as that was meant to be calming enough for anyone, I just had one little problem.

"Excuse me," the lady behind me said.

I hurriedly stepped away from the front door of the cafe, holding the strap of my black tote bag, "Oh, I'm sorry."

As the lady opened the door and walked into the cafe, the bell which was attached to the door jingled softly.

"Are you coming in?" She turned to me, still holding the door open.

"Yes, but not now," I replied from outside the cafe, "Thank you."

She stared at me for a long second and shut the door, leaving me all alone as I returned to my stance in front of the cafe door.

Occasionally, cars sped past the road before the cafe building and the roaring sound of their engines reminded me that I was taking an awfully long time to make a move. A few people walked by on the sidewalk in pairs and lone numbers, staring at me with weird looks on their faces. To be fair, it was weird for someone to stand in front of a cafe door without doing anything.

I tightened my grip on my black tote bag. I should have come early.

The bell jinged softly as the cafe door opened again and a middle-aged man was just about stepping out of the cafe with a take-out bag when he noticed me.

"Are you coming in?" He asked in a Scottish accent, holding the door open for me.

Well, I didn't want to but I couldn't stand out here forever, could I?

Softly exhaling, I nodded, "Yes, I am. Thank you."

I walked into the cafe while the polite man closed the door behind him as he walked out. Just as I had expected, the cafe was brimming with a decent amount of customers. I could audibly hear the discussions of some of the people seated, since it seemed like they were never taught how to speak quietly.

I hated days like this. It was Monday, I was so stressed from attending lectures and now to top it off, there were over twenty people seated in the cafe.

As I walked further down the aisle that led to the counter, I turned to stare at my right and jammed gazes with one of the customers who was seated with a cup of coffee before him. I slid my gaze over to the left and realised that the lady who opened the door for me earlier was also staring at me— just like everyone else in the cafe. I quickly averted my gaze and stared at the tiled floor as I hurried towards the counter.

I hated days like this.

"Hey, Clara," I said to the only attendant behind the counter who was working the cash register by the left.

She was a cute blonde whose eyes shone auburn; a boy magnet.

"Hello, welcome to..."

Clara paused in her speech as she shifted her gaze from the cash register and saw me. Her formal smile immediately dissolved into a frown.

"Why are you so late?" She leaned in and spoke in a hushed tone, "You made me lie to the manager!"

"I couldn't decide on what to wear," I randomly said.

Lies. I didn't want to come at all.

"You couldn't decide on what to wear with the same old black and white uniform?" She laughed.

"I have so many to choose from, Clara," I rolled my eyes and ended them with a stare at her attire.

She had on a plain white shirt that managed to slip underneath her black fitted skirt without any crease, and her whole outfit unsuccessfully hid behind the customized brown apron she was wearing.

Simple but still eye-catching.

"You make me wonder how you choose the perfect outfit when you're going out on a date," Clara commented, stepping away from the left cash register to join me at the main counter.

I paused, staring at Clara with guilty eyes.

"Wait," Clara said, looking back at me with an astonished gaze, "Don't tell me-"

"That I've never been on a date before?" I asked taking the words out of her mouth, "Okay, I won't tell you."

"Are you serious?" Clara yelled in a strident voice, grabbing the attention of a few customers.

Eyes. I could feel their eyes on me, jabbing at my back. Even without seeing their faces, I knew the expression they had on at the moment. It was an expression that spat disgust at me.

I squeezed the handle of my tote bag.

"I... need to go change," I said to Clara.

"Take your-"

I had hurried into the back room before she could even complete her statement. I shut the door behind me and rested my back on it as I tightly closed my eyes, rubbing my temples.

Kids, please don't have social anxiety. It isn't fun, I promise.

I took deep breaths as I gradually opened my eyes and stared through the lenses of my round pair of glasses. I was in the back room- not in the main cafe where the judging eyes of the customers were focused on me, just the back room.

I stood upright from the door and walked past the kitchen area, heading into what I liked to call 'the private room'. The fairly large room was almost desolate as all it had were eight lockers, a small rectangular-shaped table and two chairs. Still, it was my favourite part of the cafe.

I pulled my white hoodie over my head and revealed the white shirt I wore underneath, fastening the cafe's branded apron around my waist. I picked up my nametag from my locker and clipped it on before bringing out a small glass container of concealer from my bag. I looked at my face in my little mirror as I dabbed another layer of concealer over my already-hidden freckles and the large dark-brown birthmark that covered my left lower eyelid down to the corner of my lips. A birthmark as large as that didn't need to be seen by the world. It was weird and unusual.

I stared at my plain face that hid a lot of secrets beneath a layer of concealer.

"Perfect," I mouthed.

Shoving my concealer back into my bag, I placed the black tote bag in my locker and headed out of the back room.

"You said you've never been on a date, didn't you? Does that mean that your boyfriend never offered to take you out?" Clara fired as soon as she saw me walk out of the back room, making a few customers turn our way again.

I thinned my lips. She was so loud.

I joined her behind the counter, standing directly beside her so she wouldn't have a cause to yell her words out anymore.

"Is it true?" She continued, "He doesn't offer to take you out on dates? Man, thank heavens my boyfriend acts like a gentleman. If he acted like yours and never offered to take me out, I would end-"

"Calm down, Clara," I cut in, "I never said that Thomas doesn't offer to take me on dates."

"But you said that you've never been on a date before," she said.

"Well, yeah, that's because I always refuse when he brings it up," I confessed.

Clara stared at me like I was from another planet while her mouth hung open. It was a funny sight, even as her pretty face made her expression look cute.

"What?" She yelled.

I thinned my lips. Yeah, it's me. I'm the problem, it's me.

"Why would you refuse a date- from your boyfriend at that?" She added, still yelling.

"Shh! Be quiet," I said to her, covering her mouth.

She took my hands off her mouth and wiped her lips with the back of her right hand. My eyes widened a little as I stared at her. She wiped her lips.

"Oh, please," Clara rolled her eyes, "Like this place isn't already noisy."

I stared at her with a numb gaze, torn apart on which emotion to show.

She took my hand off her mouth and wiped her lips.

With my thumb, I felt the inside of my hand when Clara wasn't watching. My hands were a little moist. Was that why she wiped her lips? Or did my hand smell awful?

"Can I get two medium-sized iced americanos?" A casually dressed man stood before the cash register by the right, jolting me out of my thoughts.

"Sure," Clara said, rushing to attend to him, "To go?"

"Yes, please."

I walked over to the coffee machine and poured out the young man's order in an average-sized plastic cup as I constantly glanced at Clara. Staring at the drink as it filled the cup, the blazing heat in the cafe gradually started to register in my brain. My arms were all sweaty and just one strand of sweat ran down my ear to tease me.

The Air Conditioning was working perfectly fine and I didn't feel a bit hot a minute ago, so what was going on?

I swallowed and took deep breaths, trying to shake off the dizziness engulfing me. And adding a little fire to the burning house was my tummy, which burned from within like I had swallowed a ball of fire.

It was a terrible idea to work at a cafe.

"That'll be $5.24," Clara smiled in courtesy as she typed his order into the machine.

The young man slid the money on the counter towards her while making sure to return her smile. He stared at her and blinked slowly with his eyes only opening halfway.

"Are you always here?" He inquired from her.

"Well, I've got a life," Clara laughed flirtily.

The young man chuckled at Clara's response, "But you're here every day?"

"Yeah," she said.

I placed his order into a disposable cup-carrier tray and focused on staring at Clara from behind, still taking deep breaths. I could melt at any second.

"I'd love to see you again," the young man's eyes trailed down to Clara's name tag, "Clara Winters."

"Not a problem, as long as you buy coffee too," she replied, smiling.

His brown eyes loudly screamed that he was mesmerised by the blonde lady before him. Well, it wasn't avoidable anyway. Clara was so pretty, she didn't even need to wear concealer like me. It must have been so fun living a life like hers.

Clara turned to look at me, "Is his order ready?"

"Yeah," I said, looking away from her.

I lifted the tray and slowly walked towards the counter. The strong scent of caffeine from the drink made my tummy rumble and I was now only managing to keep my eyes open.

What about me? Why couldn't I be a little bit as pretty as Clara?

There was so much difference between Clara and me that whoever walked into the cafe always preferred to be attended to by her. I didn't ask to look this way, I didn't ask...

As I placed the tray on the counter, it seemed like everywhere around me had started to grow dark. I couldn't carry the weight of my body, neither could I hear a thing. All I could feel was the harshness of my body crashing onto the tiled floor.

Thud!

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Tip: Wendy is two years older than Clara.