Chapter 1 - New Employee

Thursday 8:40am

Cloud Café

The bell on the door of the café's front entrance could be heard chiming as a customer entered the building. The customer walked up to the counter where she was greeted by the cashier with a smile. "Hello Ma'am, my name is Sophia. Welcome to Cloud Café, may I take your order?"

"Oh Sophia, you know you don't have to greet me like that everytime you see me." Mrs. Richards said, blushing. The staff at Cloud Café always knew how to give a warm welcome and let everyone feel right at home. "Oh come on now Mrs. Richards, you know I can't do that, the boss would kill me." joked Sophia.

"Come on now Sophia, a little louder and you'll have people thinking that I'm mistreating my employees." laughed August who was making his way down the stairs.

"Come on August you know I'm just joking." laughed Sophia who turned to face Mrs. Richards once more. "Would you like your regular Latte and four French toast, five Bacon, one Omelet and three Crepes from the build your breakfast menu?" asked Sophia kindly for confirmation. Mrs. Richards might be small but her appetite certainly wasn't.

"Oh, you know me so well Sophia." she complimented. "How could I not? You've been coming here for years Mrs.Richards, what type of café would we be if we didn't know what one of our regulars ordered by heart?" asked Sophia feigning offence.

"All right, all right. How much is my total?" asked Mrs. Richards going into her purse. "$44.25" "Here you go darling, keep the change." she said handing over a $50 bill. In return Sophia handed her a ticket and told her that her order would be done in about five to fifteen minutes.

Mrs. Richard took the ticket from Sophia before going to sit in a window booth.

"August, can you take over for a bit? I need to use the restroom." asked Sophia from around the cash register. August, who was now seated at an empty table near the door, nodded before stretching and heading around the counter to take over. "Sure. It's not an issue."

Sophia quickly moved from around the register and rushed to the employee's bathroom.

The bell on the entrance door or the café chimed for an extended period of time indicating that a group of customers had entered together. The group made their way over to a booth where Sebastian, Cloud Cafe's waiter, went over to assist.

Around five minutes later Sebastian came to the counter to give August his order. "What did they order?" asked August as he prepped the register. "Get ready, cause this is going to be a big one." he started. "Is it one bill?" Sebastian shook his head as he gave the orders one by one.

"One Latte, three Croissants and three Crepes, order complete. One Blueberry Lavender, four French Toasts and one Croissant, order complete. One Sweet Potato Pie, three French Toast and two Waffles, order complete. One Doppio, four Bagels and one Toast, order complete. One Latte, four Macarons, two Omelets and three Bacon, order complete. Did you get all that?" asked Sebastian, putting his notepad back into his uniform pocket.

"Nope." Sebastian looked at August in disbelief only to see the smirk on his face. "I hate you sometimes." mumbled Sebastian as he waited for August to print the receipts. "Love you too, the totals are $37, $36, $36, $25 and $31.75, respectively." said August handing the receipts over to his cafe's waiter.

By this time Sophia was back from the bathroom and ready for the register. "Why do you keep teasing Sebastian?" asked Sophia shaking her head as she took her seat behind the register. "Why do you keep denying his advances?" teased August causing Sophia's face to go red.

"August, leave Soph alone and bring these to Mrs. Richards." said Daejanel, the cafe's barista, pushing a serving tray into August's hands. August laughs before taking the tray and walking over to Mrs. Richards table. "I believe this order is for you, beautiful." said August sending a playful wink Mrs. Richards' way as he slides the tray onto the table.

"Oh, you little charmer." smiled Mrs. Richards. "I know you run a café but don't forget to stop by my house Sunday for candy for you and your staff." she smiles. "Of course, how could I forget?" he asked. He gave her a small wave before going to have a seat at a nearby empty table.

The bell chimed once more indicating that someone had entered the café. It was a beautiful, average height female that seemed as if she could be in college. She made her way to the counter where Sophia greeted her. "Hello Ma'am, my name is Sophia. Welcome to Cloud Café, may I take your order?"

"Actually, I'm not here to order anything, I saw online that you had a job opening and was wondering if it's still available?" she asked politely. "Oh, you're here about the job opening, yes we are still hiring but the person you need to speak to is our boss. The man in the white shirt and light blue apron is our boss. Please speak to him." Sophia directed the lady to August who was on his phone doing only heaven knows what.

The brunette made her way over to August who was laying on one arm while looking at his phone. "Hello, my name is Emma and I'm here to apply for a job." she introduced herself briefly. August got up off his hand, placing the phone in his pocket and stared at the beautiful lady.

"Good afternoon, please follow me to my office for an interview." he stated, standing up and motioning for her to follow him. She did as she was signaled to and followed him upstairs into the last door on the hallway.

A few minutes later the pair descended the stairs. "Dae please show our new employee Emma around, she'll also be staying in the dorms please make sure she gets the hang of everything." August instructed going around back to take over for Daejanel as barista.

"Will do boss." Dae said as she playfully saluted her boss before taking off her apron. "Let's go Emma, I'll show you around starting from the dorms."

…

The day flew by quickly with customers coming and going, and Daejanel showing Emma around. Luckily for him Emma was a quick learner and made limited mistakes. It was ten minutes past closing time and everyone was rapping up, this meant that they were closing doors, closing the window shutters, cleaning tables, stoves and checking off.

Once they were done, they congregated at the table and waited for August to speak. "Today Cloud Café gained a new employee, her name is Emma Coleman and she'll be staying in the dorms. She's not here tonight as she-"August was interrupted by a knock on the door. He walked over and shifted the shutters on the door to see that it was Emma.

"Emma, I thought you said you'd be staying here starting tomorrow?" questioned August confused. "I know, I know, but something has happened, will it be a problem for me to stay here starting tonight?" she asked hoping the answer was no.

"It won't be a problem. I believe Dae already explained everything to you earlier today. Just have a seat at the table then you'll be free to go." said August as he closed the door behind Emma. Emma greeted the other employees before taking a seat.

"As I was saying, today Cloud Café gained a new employee, her name is Emma Coleman and she'll be staying in the dorms. Please show her an equal level of respect as you do for each other and help her where she needs it. That's it for tonight's meeting, goodnight." said August making his way up the stairs.

The group then familiarized themselves with the new employee before deciding it was time for bed. They ascended the stairs and as they entered their separate rooms, various goodnights could be heard upstairs followed by the sound of doors opening and shutting one after the other.