Lipstick on the cup

"Waitress!"

"Waitress!"

Heavy rock music blasted through Emily's ears as she sketched a random anime character on her notepad. She wasn't aware of the coffee-deprived customers calling out to her until her pissed manager took out one of her earbuds.

Emily slightly jumped and took a deep breath as she held her heart, "Boss Suzie, you almost gave me a heart attack."

Suzie sighed and massaged her wrinkled temples, "Emily, didn't you hear those people calling out to you?"

Emily looked behind her aunt and nervously smiled at the customers before mouthing an apology.

"I swear I won't let it happen again," Emily promised for the billionth time since she got a part-time waitressing position at her aunt's cafe.

"You say that every time and the customers complain about you the most," Suzie argued.

It was her twentieth part-time job so Emily knew exactly what was coming. She was about to get fired!

Emily quickly took up a tray with an obviously drank cup of coffee, "I swear I can be better." She raced over to a young man seated alone and placed the cup of coffee on his table.

Emily gave the young man her best smile, "Enjoy your coffee."

The man was one of the regulars at the cafe and was yelled at by Emily one too many times so he made sure to speak cautiously.

He could barely stop his eyes from welling with tears as he looked up at her smiling face, "B-But I ordered ice tea and...and there's lipstick on the cup."

Emily didn't dare yell at the fragile man in front of her aunt. The smile never left her face as she threatened the poor man, "Shut up and drink the coffee, or I'll make you drink it."

The young man gulped and still dared to argue with her, "B-But I don't drink coffee."

A vein popped up on her forehead as she whisper yelled, "I don't care, just drink it!"

"Drink it," she warned through gritted teeth once more just as the man was about to try arguing with her.

To not anger Emily further, the young man drank the hot coffee in one go without minding the burn to his tongue. He was just happy to have the she-devil leave him alone.

Just as the man was about to get up to leave, she slammed her hand down on the table which cause the young man to flinch. He was a lot more terrified of her smiling at him than her usual glare.

"Where do you think you're going?" she questioned.

"Home?" the young man unsurely responded while trying to get his knees to stop shaking.

Emily rose a brow and outstretched her hand, "You're just going to leave without even paying for your coffee?"

"But I didn't even order coffee, why should I pay for it?" the man dared to question.

Smoke gushed out of Emily's ears, but she knew she couldn't lash out on the gentleman with her aunt's eyes focused directly at the back of her head.

"You drank the coffee so you have to pay for it," she whispered yelled angrily.

He gave in after taking a good look at the death glare that shadowed her smile. The man placed a dollar bill in her hand and Emily scoffed, "No tip?"

The guy didn't think she deserved a tip, but it was between her asking nicely now and her taking it from him by force after he leaves the cafe.

He dropped another dollar bill in her hand and kept dropping bills until his wallet was empty and Emily had at least fifty dollars in her hands.

Emily's smile reached her eyes as she stuffed the bills in her apron's pocket, "Thank you for choosing Suzie's Cafe, do come again!"

The guy left quietly grumbling to himself as he cursed at himself for continuously going to the cafe and losing all his money there.

Emily turned to her aunt with a proud smile, "Did you see how much of a good waitress I was?"

Her aunt, however, was far from impressed and it could be heard in the disappointed tone of her voice. Boss Suzie stared blankly at her, "Was that after you gave Mr. Evans the wrong order and forced him to drink the coffee or after you stole all his money?"

Emily gasped upon hearing the accusation, "I didn't steal anything, as a matter of fact, I've never stolen anything in my entire life."

Her aunt was in no mood to argue with her and was already tired of her many antics so she did the inevitable.

Suzie held onto her niece's hand and spoke gently with sad eyes, "You know I love you and I really wanted to help you but-"

Emily cut her off and sighed, "But you'll have to let me go." She lost count of the number of times she's heard that line.

After pouring coffee on a blonde with too much attitude's head on her first day, she was sure it'd be at least a day or two before her aunt would get tired of her antics and fire her, but she broke her personal record and was employed for a week!

Suzie sadly frowned, "I'm sorry, Sweetie."

Suzie knew she was doing what was best for the business by firing her hotheaded niece, but it was not an easy decision for her to make since she was only trying to help her deceased sister's only child.

Emily took off her apron and took up her belongings, "That's fine, thanks anyway."

With that, she left and ignored the cheerful faces of the customers who even prayed for Boss Suzie to one day fire her.

Emily looked up at the sky that had an orange hue due to the sun setting. She sighed and spoke quietly to herself, "That's the twentieth part-time job I've been fired from. What am I doing wrong?"

Emily's apartment was a 10-minute walk down the block, so it didn't take her long to get there, but somehow she was always late for work.

She went over how much time she had before she needed to find work again to pay her rent while being in the elevator.

Emily took off the paper that was on her door and her eyes went wide as she read the contents of the notice.

"The rent is tripled now?!" she questioned in disbelief.

----

DollyRoma:

Hello Readers! Thank you so much for giving my first novel on Webnovel a read. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and already added this novel to your library. :)