Chapter 6

I saw a very large glass Cafe in the center of the street and roads were constructed by its sides, it had a big doughnut on the top of the roof facing the entrance.

It stood looking majestic over all smaller shops and kiosks in the area.

"It's big"

The man opened the door for me and waited until I entered before he stepped in after me.

"Thank you"

"There's Dusty's office" he pointed his slender finger to a glass room at the end of the building.

I thanked him and made my way over. It had head staff glued to the door.

I had just placed my hand on the knob when a lady grabbed it roughly.

"What do you want with Dusty?"

"I want to talk with him about a job" I replied carefully.

"Job application collection is over..."

"I know but I still want to talk to him, it's important"

She eyed me again, critically this time.

"Seducing Dusty won't work"

I harshly threw her hand away from mine.

"Stop thinking every lady better looking than you is going to sell her body" I snarled at her, she stepped back in shock.

I took the opportunity to turn the door knob and enter the office.

"Excuse me, can I talk to you?" He sat facing the glass to ceiling door on the other side.

"What do you want?"

"A job"

He turned in his swivel chair and assessed me.

"Job interviews are over"

He picked up his pen and started to write something on a piece if paper.

"I know..."

"Then why are you still here"

"Because Kel asked me to collect his favour"

"I don't know any Kel, so move on to the next plan; seduce me" he looked at me over his glasses.

I looked at him, he looked far older than my Dad, he would be in his late fifties or early sixties if I'm to be precise.

I sighed.

"I didn't come here to seduce you, I came because Kelvin sent me"

"Kelvin?" He perked up and stopped writing.

"Kelvin what?"

"Orlando?" I said slowly.

He sprang up suddenly from his chair and moved towards me, I stepped back.

"You're related, right? Closely related"

"I'm his sister?"

"Kelvin has a sister?" He stroked his beard and sighed.

"Of course, he wouldn't tell me"

Two women entered without knocking and moved towards me and Dusty.

"Dusty, is everything alright? I hope this 'woman isn't bothering you" the woman outside the door glared aggressively at me, the other one followed her example.

It was so obvious that 'woman was not the word they intended to use.

"Why are you girls here?"

"We brought coffee for you and the 'guest . Trying to be courteous"

"This person is no guest at all, this person is family. Meet Kelvin's sister"

They gaped at me.

"Kelvin as in..." The woman outside the door whispered.

"Kelvin Orlando" the other completed her sentence.

"Yes, that makes her family"

"Is Kelvin that famous?"

"Very famous, protector of Ozone..."

"That leaves his used clothes everywhere on the floor and cannot even cook to save his life"

"Still the same eh?" Dusty chuckled.

"Still the same"

"You could have told me we were related, I would have listened"

"I didn't know"

"Kelvin never said anything about it, did he?"

"No, not a single word, he just said collect a favour from Dusty"

"He's my Godson. Kelvin Dustin Rodrigo Orlando"

"Dustin Rodrigo huh?" I smirked.

Dusty smiled? sadly.

"What happened then?"

"An accident, a very big mistake. I miss those times we would eat at his friend's place..."

"Girlfriend" I interrupted.

"She's already his girlfriend"

"Yes, I joined them together..."

He smiled sadly.

"I didn't even get to see him ask her but I was the first one he told that he had a crush on her" he sighed.

"That does explain why he said personal services, I thought it was weird. How does a big cafe like this have issues with people and still be this big"

"Are you still interested in the job?" He asked eagerly.

"Yes please"

He signed something on a clipboard and passed it to me.

"Sign here" he tapped a place on the paper and I signed.

"Welcome to Dusty's Tasty Doughnuts. I'm Dustin Hoffman, we're family so call me Dusty"

"I will" I winked at the old man.

"About Kelvin?" He hesitated.

"Don't worry Dusty, Kelvin will be coming by sometime"

"He will?"

"Yes, he will have to pick me up sometimes, you can use that opportunity to mend whatever went wrong"

"I'm glad. Girls, introduce her to the others and tell her everything she needs to know"

"Okay Dusty"

The two girls pulled me enthusiastically towards another glass door that led to a small but spacious room.

Three girls sat on bean bags, a cup of coffee in their hands.

"They are here" one with rimmed glasses said.

Two girls looked at me with malice.

"So this is the skank that wants to seduce Dusty"

"She's at least above average"

"No girls, we were wrong"

"She shamelessly seduced Dusty?" they asked.

"Why do all of you think that every well dressed lady is a skank that opens her skirt or trousers"

"We have seen instances" a redhead with pale blue eyes spoke sneering.

"Lily, stop. This is Selene Orlando..."

"Orlando?" Lily interrupted.

"As in Kelvin Orlando..." The one with pigtails and rimmed glasses and freckles on her face interrupted.

"Hero of the Ozone" the last asked and the rude door woman nodded.

Lily looked me from head to toe.

"I see the resemblance now, same blue eye and sexy black hair"

"You think my brother has a sexy black hair?" I asked her.

"Yes? He's quite handsome too"

"Sorry to burst your bubble but I just gave my brother to another woman, his crush to be precise"

"What?"

"Forget that, I'll introduce everyone to you. This redhead is Lily Permbton, she's British and is twenty five years old...."

"I'm twenty four close to twenty five, I haven't celebrated my birthday yet"

"Whatever, this blonde is Anne-Marie Johnson, also British, twenty three..."

"Why Anne not Marie?"

"Because this shy blonde pigtailed gal here is Mariah, sounds the same right"

"Ditto" I chuckled.

"Scottish, nineteen close to twenty on September"

"November" Mariah corrected and waved to me.

"This is Linnea Meyers, American, twenty six and I'm Elena..."

"Lena for short?"

Lena looked pleased at the shortened form, smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I like Lena for short, I'm twenty two, American by migration, Spanish by Origin. Elena De Santos"

"Well then I'll introduce myself. I'm Selene Orlando, my name is Greek, meaning Goddess of the Moon, don't know who gave me the name, Mom said she picked up the paper people cast into a basket for my naming ceremony. Orlando, Spanish by Origin and American by accent. I'm twenty"

"Nice" they clapped.

"Welcome to Dusty's"

The staff door opened and five boys walked in.

Lena grabbed one in a tight grip and he almost puked.

"Calm down sweetie, there's plenty of me to go round"

"We were meant to do the dishes and you left it all for me"

"I just went out for a quick bite, I didn't ask you for any favors"

Lena hit him and tugged his ears.

"Oww, Elena would you let my food digest before doing this"

"Did you guys go for seasoned chicken again?"

"Seasoned chicken?" I asked as I drooled a little.

"Who's the beaut?" The guy that Lena was wrestling untangled himself and snuck closer to me.

Lena pulled him backwards with his ears.

"Don't get too close to her"

"Jealous much" he snickered.

"Not one bit. That is Kelvin's sister, Selene"

"Sounds Greek" a mature voice sounded at the back.

"It is Greek" I corrected.

"This are the troublemakers of this establishment, I'll introduce them starting with the unrelenting womanizer"

She pulled him by his ears and I grinned at their relationship.

"Stop pulling, those things are too fragile" he groaned, instead she pulled harder.

I turned to Lily.

"Are they?"

"We don't know but we think they like each other" I chuckled.

"I'm sure they like each other, another work for Cupid"

"Okay, okay. You win" Carlos surrendered as he tapped Lena's hand.

"So as I was saying, this womanizer is Carlos, he's Spanish and is twenty three years old"

Carlos bowed his head and pulled my hand before placing a kiss on the back of my hand.

"I can take you to the ends of the earth, my lady. Run a thousand miles for you, swim a thousand seas for you"

"I'll pass" I spoke nonchalantly.

"Ouch" a guy with low cut rubbed Carlos' back sympathetically and Carlos elbowed him in the ribs.

"Do you want your testicles cut out and spread to dry then preserved?" Lena warned Carlos, who shuddered at the thought and backed off from pestering me.

"That guy there with the low cut is Jameson"

"James for short" he spoke rubbing the bruise and waved a short hello.

"He's British, twenty"

"One. I'm twenty one"

"We have a very close age range here. Did anybody notice" I asked as I looked around.

"Yes, that's why we get along" the same mature voice spoke.

"This overly mature and ripe mango..."

"Hey!" Lily glared at Lena.

I smirked at Lily and wiggled my eyebrows.

"It's not that"

"That sounded a little breathy" I teased her, imitating a breathy sound.

She turned red and coughed to clear her throat.

"As I was saying, he is Daniel Sanderson, he is twenty seven years, right Daniel?" Lena shook her head and continued.

Daniel nodded then gave me a warm smile and grasped my hands.

"Welcome to Dusty's, we are glad to have you on the team" Lily glared at our conjoined hands, looking a little too uncomfortable.

"Too much contact" she spoke sullenly.

"I don't know, I might just scoot a little closer" I said and I inched closer to Daniel, Lily placed herself between me and Daniel.

I laughed and let go of Daniel's hand and moved away.

A pale guy looked blankly at me.

"And you are?" I asked him.

"Blake" he didn't say anything else.

"American?"

"He's actually French with an English name" James said from behind me suddenly, startling me.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you"

"It's alright"

"You said?"

"He's French with and English name"

"Amazing" I said.

I looked around my eyes fell on a guy leaning against the glass wall smoking a cigarette.

"And he is?"

The group turned and quickly pulled my head away not before me and the guy made eye contact.

"His name is Troy, he's an ex convict, they say he burnt down a house and the family inside it alive, cause they pissed him off"

I peeked at him, he had dyed his hair pink with spiky ends and had deep onyx eyes, tattoos crept up his hands and neck and his clothes looked like they were choking him.

He felt someone looking at him and his eyes met mine again, I looked away not wanting to annoy him.

"He's kinda hot, if I should say so" Lena smiled and nodded her head.

Carlos looked at her expression in annoyance.

"He's not, not even one bit. Just a thug that gyms"

"That's a solid body" Lena argued.

"I have a solid body" he pouted and Lena burst out laughing.

"Solid body my ass"

"Lena, it's not nice to laugh at Carlos, you know that, he's frail and fragile" Lily warned.

"Who the fuck is Lena?" Carlos asked stupidly before even thinking.

Lena fisted her hands and grabbed Carlos' ears.

"I'm the one, you dumb fuck. Think before you talk, you stupid woman plaything" she wrestled him to the floor and got Carlos tapping frantically at her hand.

"Cute, you two look cute together" I laughed at how cute they acted around each other.

Carlos and Lena turned red and hurriedly let each other go while keeping a safe distance between themselves.

"Ohh, c'mon now, don't be shy"

"Selene! Stop playing matchmaker" Linnea growled at me.

"Sorry, Mrs? Meyers"? I grinned mischievously.

She just shook her head.

Dusty entered and clapped his hands.

"Back to work, break's over and Troy, your therapist is here. How many smoke have you had today?"

"One"

"Good, that's an improvement. Go on now, she's waiting"

Troy cast one more glance at me before leaving.

"Did it seem to you guys that Troy looked this way"

"Nah, impossible"

"I have to get going now, it's getting late and I will need to prepare for tomorrow"

"Bye, see you tomorrow" I left the staff room and saw Benjamin sitting on a chair far from the window, I walked up to him and sat across him.

"Hey, you haven't gone yet"

"No, not yet"

He looked behind me and smiled.

"To attract a potential boyfriend on the first day of work, interesting"

"What are you talking about?"

"Who's that guy that's looking at you like you're his whole world?"

I turned and met Troy's eyes, I looked away on instinct.

"He's not my type, we are barely acquainted"

"I'm leaving now, I'll see you around"

He nodded.

I walked a short way, using my memory and stopped at a crowded street but I couldn't shake the feeling of being followed.

I looked over my shoulder and saw two suspicious men standing a little way off, I turned and shrugged it off.

"Safe to say it's safe"

But the feeling persisted and I turned and discovered them again.

This time I was sure they were following me.

I waved a taxi and jumped in, they ran after me, I slammed the door and asked the driver to get going.