She looks tired with the bags underneath her eyes and the lack of makeup she didn’t put on today. She holds the door open as you both make eye contact. “I could go for some mandarin chicken and rice.” The fridge door opens and you stand up straight, your eyes resting on Laurens curious face. “No, we’re getting it.” Layla cuts you off. We don’t have to get it, if you don’t want to-” “Prisoner of Azakban.” You smile and add, “I’ve been craving general Tso chicken and Lauren told me that there is a good Chinese restaurant south of London. We’re continuing the Harry Potter series, right?” “You want to have a movie night tonight?” If they don’t return, then all you have to rely on is yourself. You choose not to because you needed to repay Steven and Marc in thanks for what they have done for you so far and because you were worried that you may need to use the money for rainy days or emergencies. “I have plenty saved up for the last couple of months.” It was mainly thanks to your poor self-care habits and Steven and Marc that caused you to have enough saved up that you could splurge on yourself But, you haven’t yet. You imagine her chewing on the tips of her fingers as the elevator dinged in the background of the call. “How are you doing on bills and payments?” She asks. “It’s my Friday and I am ready to begin my weekend.” ![]() You shake your head despite her not being able to see you. “And you don’t feel like you could stick it out for your full shift?” She asks. She probably just called the button for the elevator and is impatiently watching the numbers ascend. “Are you okay? Is everything alright?” The air blowing onto the back of your neck helped relax you as you listened to Layla walk softly. You close your eyes and imagine her walking to your neighbors door and opening it and shutting it behind her before she locks it shut with the spare key Jake gave her. You could hear the sounds of her feet hitting the wooden floor and the jingling of her keys. “Can you come pick me up?” Your voice cracks in the middle of the sentence and you take a shaky breath to help steady yourself. She picked up on the second ring, “Hello?” You lean your forehead against the metal shelf and shiver a bit as the fridge begins its regular cooldown process and bring your phone to your ear after dialing her. You were too frustrated to work the full six hours today and the thought of spending another hour and a half at your workplace was awful. But, you needed to be saved way sooner than that. Usually, you would send her a text saying that you were nearly done with work and to pick you up at a specific time before heading back to work until you reached the end of your shift. In the last hour and a half of your shift, you had to hide in the walk-in fridge to call Layla to pick you up. You hoped that that was the last time you’ll ever have to deal with her. By the end of her ordering, she paid the equivalent of nearly eleven American dollars and didn’t tip you. You were just a tired teenager who was one more Karen away from a mental breakdown and probably throwing a roast beef sandwich at them. You wanted to tell her that this was a fast-food restaurant and not a fancy Hell’s Kitchen or some shit place that she could boss around the employees living on more than minimum wage. Then she was very specific with her cheese and the amount of shredded cheddar she wanted. She held up the line because it had to be in that specific order and refused to move on until you put the pepperoni onto the bread and then the salami on top of that. ![]() ![]() You didn’t see the point in that because the same meat goes onto the same sandwich. She told you that the pepperoni goes on first before the salami and not the other way around. What makes it even worse was that a Karen complained to you about the rising prices as if you had any control over it and that you were making her sandwich wrong. It wouldn’t have been as terrible as it was if you got tipped well, and several customers didn’t change their order while you were in the middle of making their sandwich. You ran out of premade rotisserie style chicken and sliced cucumbers during your shift so Lauren had to go prep more and leave you on the line to serve the lunch rush by yourself. There were too many customers and not enough employees to be able to keep up on everything. It was near the end of August, so there were plenty of tourists trying to cram in their sightseeing at the end of the summer. Two weeks have passed since you last heard from Jake. Pairings: Steven Grant x (platonic) Reader, Marc Spector x (platonic) Reader, Jake Lockley x (platonic) Reader, Layla El-Faouly x (platonic) Reader
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