Pick Me Up

If there was anything Persephone Appleyard was known for, her punctuality was not it. This was perfectly demonstrated as she hit the snooze button on her alarm for the 5th time in row one morning. Finally she groaned and lifted her head to see the time, only to find herself groaning a little further when she saw that her cell phone showed it was 8:37am, which meant she was already 7 minutes late to work, once again. This was the second time this week.

“Awesome.” She said as her voice cracked.

She slowly sat up in her bed, ran her hands through he long blonde hair, and coughed for a good minute. She must have smoked too many cigarettes again last night. That’s usually what happens when she gets drunk, she looses count of the fags she buys and nicks off others. She became even more aware of the slight burn in her throat as she threw her bare legs over her tiny twin bed in her dorm room and walked across the cold wooden floor to her closet. After a minute, she finally found the horrendous uniform she had to wear for work. Which ‘Wich, the local sandwich shop, was not the most glamorous of jobs she could have found while at Uni in Leeds, but it was a job. And as much as she hated to admit it, she desperately needed the money.

With no time left to she shower, she looked in the mirror, took a make up remover wipe, and wiped the left over eye shadow and liner left from the night before away from her crystal blue eyes. Then quickly put on her uniform, and sighed. She hated the way her uniform made her look. She was never stick skinny girl, she had always had curves in her hips and larger breasts than anyone really needed, and it made her feel like she was on display in a window because her uniform hugged her in all the wrong places. Not ‘dressing for your shape’ in anyway.

Just as she was about to leave, her roommate walked in with her lush silk bathrobe and shower trolley. Donna, the spoiled bitch.

“Didn’t know you were part raccoon Perce…” said Donna with a rather snide smile.

“Shit.” Percy muttered as she checked herself in the mirror again, apparently, she hadn’t completely cleaned herself up. She grabbed another wipe and tried to get the rest off under her eyes. “Better?” she turned and asked Donna.

“I guess.” She sat down on the opposite bed and started brushing her wet mousy brown hair. Donna was not horrible looking, but her personality made her revolting. Spoiled rich daughter of some oil tycoon in the Middle East, but her British mother insisted on her studying in England, lucky for Percy. They didn’t get one from day one. Donna felt that she was entitled to everything, which meant, instead of being able to use half of their tiny dorm room, Percy was using about ¼ of it.

“Late for work again? What is that, 12 times in one month? Surprised they haven’t fired you yet…”
“What? Sorry, can’t hear you… Got to run.” Percy’s voice trailed off leaving the room and slamming the door. The less time she spoke to her roommate, the better the day would end up being. She raced down the stairs and out the door, making a quick stop at the coffee shop, Coffee Goblin, a few blocks away from the sandwich place. She was going to be late anyway, she might as well grab some caffeine to deal with her mild hangover and the 8 ½ hours she would be spending making food for other people who she learned to despise since the start of term in September, it barely being November now.

Being from Yorkshire, she knew the weather was always crappy at this time of year, but in her rush to leave her dorm this morning, she forgot her coat. So by the time she walked into the coffee shop, she was very much excited to be inside a heated building. Since it was a Sunday morning and most of the population had been out the night before (Percy included), the small coffee shop was packed. She was getting more and more late for work as she waited patiently in line, but lucky enough, as soon as Chase saw her waiting in line, he called her up to the front.

“Hello Love…” Chase, the owner of Coffee Goblin, greeted her after she made her way to the counter. He was an older man in his early sixties who had long graying hair tied back in a ponytail, a matching beard and half-moon spectacles. And, for some reason, he had taken a liking to Percy. Maybe he took pity on the tiny blonde girl who was always late and was always ordering coffee for her whole shop as a way of saying ‘Sorry’ every time she was running behind.

“Hi Chase.” Said Percy with a wide smile.

“How late are you today?” he asked.

“’Bout 23 minutes, so far.” She answered back, glancing at her phone.

“Well, lets not make you anymore delayed than you already are.” He laughed, “What can I get you?”

“Large chai tea latte, soy milk, no foam, one pump vanilla, one pump hazelnut. And for my boss, a large mocha.”

“Harry!” Chase called back to a tall, long curly haired fellow at the espresso machine who turned his head when his name was called. He had emerald green eyes and a dimple when he smiled. Percy had seen him working at the coffee shop since the start of school, he was cute, but she never paid him much time since the entire reason she was at the place was because she was in desperate need of coffee and not in any type of shape to hold a conversation with anyone, let alone a cute boy she had just found what his name was.

“Heard you Chase, coming up.” Said Harry, getting to work on Percy’s order.

“Thank again Chase.” She said, smiling sweetly at the old man before she walked over to the other side of the coffee counter and waited for her drinks to come up. As she waited, she glanced at the clock; another 5 minutes had gone by. If she could get to work by 9, she would be golden. She waited and watched her order being made in anticipation; finally Harry walked over and handed them to her. She looked at the cups to make sure the drinks were right, and she noticed her name spelt wrong.

“My name isn’t Stephanie,” she said, righting the obvious wrong.

“Sorry, I’ll get it right next time.” Said Harry, as he winked at her.

“You get it wrong every time I come in and I come in every day, just about.”

“Sorry princess…” he replied, shrugging her off as he went back to work.

“Git.” She muttered under her breath as she left and rushed the two blocks to work.

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She made it right in the doors a minute before it turned 9am. She let out a sigh of relief, but it still didn’t make a difference. Her boss, Jack, who was only a few years older than her and too his job way too seriously, was glaring at her as she strolled in, like there wasn’t a care in the world.

“You’re late.” He said, as if she didn’t already know that. But still he stood there, his arms folded at his chest and his face going into his constant scowl, making his acne scars more profound.

“I know…” she said shyly, approaching him with caution.

“The second time this week…”

“The line at the coffee shop was long…?”

“Well I don’t believe that for one minute.”

“But, I come baring gifts.” She said extending his drink towards him.

“Free coffee can only get you so far Percy.”

“You really do love me though, how else would you brighten this place up? Not with your dazzling personality at least.” She said while putting on her visor and apron.

“Adding insult to injury? You’re already on thin ice.”

“Don’t try that with me, you know you could never fire me. I am too much fun. Let’s not forget your birthday last month…” Percy said, with hopes of trying to get him to warm up a bit.

“Can you go one day with out mentioning that so called ‘party’?”

“Never.”

“Right, well… get to prepping. You have to slice lettuce and sort the tomatoes. Don’t forget to stretch the bread when the timer goes off.”

“Yes sir. Right away sir. Anything you say sir.” She said sarcastically. Jack just rolled his eyes and continued to count the money in the safe.

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8 ½ hours later, Percy walked out of work in triumph. She had managed to keep her job for one more day. It was a tiny win, but it was enough. As she walked back to her dorm, her phone rang. It was her best friend, Jo.

“Hello darling.” She answered semi-sweetly/semi-jokingly.

“Hello sweetheart.” Replied Jo, “With the lack of texts I assume you made it to work on time?”

“Barely.” Percy snorted. “How’s you?”

“Grand. Laid in bed most of the morning, got up around noon and went to the commons for some greasy hangover food.”

“Didn’t stay at Kyle’s last night?”

“No. I did. Just crept out around 5am. That man snores like a fucking lion.”

“Sounds like his charm has worn off.”

“You’re telling me. You coming round today?”

“Yeah, after I finally shower last night off.”

“Okay, see you in a bit angel.”

“Alright love bug”

Percy raced home, jumped in the shower, properly dressed this time in a long sleeve white V-neck shirt, jeans, black boots, and her heavy jacket and began the 20 minute walk to Jo’s house.

She and Jo had hit it off since they met in high school. She was almost the exact opposite looking of Percy. She had short brown hair that always looked well groomed, and hazel eyes that stuck out. She was also 5 inches taller than Percy, making her 5’9 and supermodel status, but she never acted like it. Even though she could have been a right popular bitch, she decided to be true to herself and not be stuck up. Her family did have money though. That was one thing that she envied most.

Percy hadn’t grown up in the most traditional home. Her parents were far from normal; they named their daughter Persephone for Christ’s sake. They lived in their own world, and Percy always knew her parents were hippies. They didn’t believe in money, they believed in respect for people and land, and they had no problem letting everyone know what they believed in. They built their own house in the middle of nowhere, made their own clothes, grew their own food, raised farm animals, and lived without running water or electricity. But everything changed when Percy came around. They knew they were going to have to send her to school and provide things that couldn’t be grown, but she still grew up in the same mindset her parents had planned on. She wasn’t even supposed to go to university, but when the time came, her parents let her make her own choices on everything. They always taught her to speak her mind, ever since she could talk, which got her in trouble more times than not. And although she loved they way her parents lived and thought it was a peaceful life, but it wasn’t the life she would have chosen. She wished that she had extra money like all her friends had growing up, but money was never important until she got on her own. She had to pay for her own school, her own clothes, her books, her supplies, everything. That was why her job was so crucial, but her parents never really groomed her for having a job in the real world, so she was trying her best at something she knew little about.

She snapped back to reality as she walked up the steps to Jo’s townhouse that she shared with 2 other girls, whose parents also happened to be wealthy. Jo had initially wanted Percy to move in and said she would pay her half of the rent, but she couldn’t let her best friend do that. If she was going to make it, it was going to be on her own.

Percy walked in to the house not even bothering to knock, and immediately noticed the giant haze of smoke covering all the corners of the living room. And in the midst of is all, sat on the couch, was Kyle, Jo’s more or less boyfriend. He was a tall, lanky lad, with a mop of sandy blonde hair and bad tattoos. He had been hanging around more and more lately. He had his giant bong in front of him and was blowing smoke rings. Being used to the smell of pot, she didn’t even bat an eyelash, but she could tell Jo was overwhelmed.

“Jeeeze Kyle, open a fucking window once in a while.” She said while taking off her coat and taking a seat on a stool at the kitchen counter.

“Didn’t think you’d complain about the smell Percy.” Said Kyle, halfway coughing out his words.

“It’s not for my sake, it’s for Jo’s. She is practically suffocating.”

“Sorry babe.” Said Kyle, putting down the bong and opening the window, but not before he walked over and kissed Jo on the cheek. It hadn’t completely cleared the room, but it was better.

Just then Percy noticed there was someone else sitting on the couch, someone she hadn’t ever seen before, taking another bong load.

“Who is this kid?” asked Percy.

“Oh sorry, this is Zayn.” Said Jo, The kid that she now assumed was Zayn stood up and walked over to where she and Jo were sitting. He was a little shorter than Kyle. He had black stubble around his face, which was kind of gorgeous with high cheekbones and chiseled jaw line. His eyes were brown, but almost green with black hair that was up in a quiff.

There was one word to describe Zayn, and it was cool, he didn’t even have to try.

“He is in my renaissance art class. He does some really cool tagging.”

“Tagging?” asked Percy, arching her eyebrow at him suspiciously.

“Yeah, mainly superhero type stuff. You probably saw the mural on campus.” He said, taking out a cigarette from his leather jacket pocket.

“Oh, the new one by the computer lab?”

“That’s the one.”

“Wow, it’s wicked!” She turned to Zayn, “you did all that?” she asked in almost amazement.

“Yeah,” Zayn started, “with a little help from some friends.”

Percy was eyeing his smokes, it had been almost all day and she hadn’t had one. She was jonesing from last night. Zayn caught her staring.

“Would you like a smoke?”

“God yes, I though you’d never ask.” She said with relief. But to be honest, she was more interested in the man attached to the cigarettes than the actual thing itself. He was good looking, beyond good looking and it had been a while since she had a proper crush.

“Both of you, outside. Mary Jane is one thing, but cigarettes are disgusting.” Percy turned her head to look at Jo, shaking her head and pointing her finger at the door.

“No one says Mary Jane anymore… Prude.” Said Percy, sticking out her tongue at her best friend.

“Hippy!” she retorted as they walked out of the house.

She and Zayn sat on the steps and lit their cigarettes. Percy took a rather large inhale and slowly let the smoke out of her mouth. It felt like life was flowing back through her veins. But she suddenly realized that Zayn had sat down a bit closer than she expected.

“Holy Hell, that feels good” Percy breathed out.

“Been a while?” asked Zayn, cocking his head to the side and looking at her.

“Been all day… Had not time to run and grab some on my break.”

“Where do you work?” he asked genuinely interested, she could tell by his tone of voice.

“Witch Wich.”

“The sandwich place?”

“Yeah, it fucking blows, but its money.”

“My friend works at the coffee shop a few blocks away.”

“Coffee Goblin?”

“Yeah, that’s the place.”

“I’m always there. I have a caffeine addiction.”

“Ha. We all have our vices.”

“Some more than others.” She said, smiling as she saw the light catch Zayn’s eyes. God he was gorgeous, it had been a while since she had the butterfly feelings in her stomach, and he gave them to her. It was more like pterodactyls in there.

“Ha. Yeah.” He took an inhale of his cigarette. The sun was setting and it was getting colder out. She couldn’t tell where the smoke ended and his warm breath began.
“You were out last night?”

“Yeah, Strange World… proper wasted.”

“I was there too… I tried dancing with the Dalek and almost got kicked out.”

“That was you? Ha.”
Cute and funny, ugh. She knew that he would be the death of her.

“Yeah, I think someone filmed it.” He said, flicking the ash of his smoke on the ground.

“Classic.”

“You coming out tonight?” Zayn asked, sounding a bit hopeful. “My friend Niall is having a thing. His parties are legendary.”

“I probably shouldn’t.” she said, but knowing full well she would be out again anyway. “I have work in the morning.”

“From what I understand, that has never stopped you before.”

“Oh, who have you been talking to?” she asked, hesitantly. She began to blush, what the fuck was going on with her?

“Just some stories Jo and Kyle have told me, that’s all.” He chuckled.

“Don’t believe a word those two say, all lies.”

“I hope not, the Percy they talk about seems fun.”

“All fun and games until I am blacked out and late for work, again.”

“Just come out, promise I’ll take care of you.” They were now looking at each other; cigarette’s long forgotten. “I’ll personally make sure you aren’t late for work.”

“If that’s a promise, I will definitely be there.” Turning on as much charm as she could, flipping her hair.

“It’s a deal.” He said, extending his hand to shake on in. Percy nervously put her hand in his and felt lightening shoot up her arm as he gripped it and they shook. They both got up and went back into the much less smoky house

“God, you guys smell like ash trays.” Said Jo, sticking up her nose.

“Oh calm down, it will go away.” Said Percy; taking the same seat she was at before.

“Right, well, I am off.” Said Zayn, picking up his bong and putting it into his back pack. “Thanks for smoking me out man.” He said to Kyle.

“Anytime dude. That bong you made is sick.” Said Kyle, giving him a head nod. Such male egos, gosh.

“See you tonight Percy?” he asked walking out the door, making her heart jump and skip a few beats.

“Yeah. I’ll be there.” She got the goofiest grin on her face, she looked like an idiot and she knew it.

“Cool.”

With that, he left.

“Where are we going tonight?” asked Jo, very curious.

“To a party.”

“Another night out? You sure about this?”

“Yes. Damn sure. That is one good looking boy and it’s been a while since I have had a notch in my bedpost.”

“Don’t go sleeping with all my mates, yeah?” said Kyle, defensive. Wrapping his arms around Joe who all of sudden got all girly and giggly.

“No promises.” Said Percy and she winked and got a rather evil looking grin on her face.

Notes