Rushing

Cursing as she ran around her little shop, Natasha was covered in baking ingredients. She stumbled over her clumsy feet, nearly dropping the hot pan of fresh cupcakes. She swung the freezer open and threw them inside. Turning on her heel, she rushed to the counter, eyeing the long line of annoyed customers. Leaning out, she spoke in a loud voice. Natasha knew being over informative was dull-witted, but what else was she to do? She needed to please twenty or more impatient people.

"Can I have your attention!? I'm so sorry folks, I'm working as fast as I can. My extra hand isn't in today and there's so many of you. Please give me a few extra minutes, everything is now twenty percent off!" She cringed at the last part. Hopefully having a lot of customers would help with the money reduction. She could barely keep this shop running as it was.

They all looked pleased with this announcement, and got back to looking at their phones, talking, or staring into deep space (which she noticed with a few people). The large stove beeped and Natasha hurried to open it. The familiar rush of heat greeted her as she pulled on the handle. Reaching in, the cake pan she grabbed was a sight to behold. Steam rose from the not-yet-ready dessert, and wrapped somewhat of a warm blanket around Natasha.

She sighed, smiling, then pulling herself back into reality. She rushed the cake to the freezer and pulled a pan of cupcakes, that had been cooling for the last several minutes, out of it. They seemed chilled enough to frost.

With a steady hand, Natasha frosted the crisscross pattern of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with an array of colors. Once finished, she blew the blonde hair out of her eyes and rushed to find the little molds she'd made. After being placed on the delicacies, the edible decorations pulled the sugary treats together. With no time to spare, Natasha rushed, and soon the cupcakes were placed in little boxes; noticeably stripped navy blue and yellow.

Natasha beamed at her work and rang the little silver bell on the counter. "Numbers 16, 17, 18 and 19. Your cupcakes are ready!" Two sets of couples, a woman and a young boy stepped up. They each took their small boxes, thanking her and paying their fees. With everything being twenty percent off, the money she collected was much less than usual. Just then, Glenda rushed into the shop, her hair a mess and her clothes rumpled.

"Oh I'm so sorry Nat! This morning the twins would not cooperate and it took me double time to get them to school!" Natasha shook her head. "It's alright Glen, I'm just a little behind. Mind if you frost that batch of cupcakes in the freezer? I need to get two more trays whipped up." Glenda nodded. "Sure thing," she said as she threw on her apron and got to work.

As they worked, Glenda chattered on. "Oh my goodness! I forgot to tell you! Jordan entered into the contest. You've got big competition this year." Natasha groaned, ringing the bell again to hand out more desserts. A little girl skipped up to the window and asked for a red velvet cupcake, handing Nat a wad off cash, then saying, "keep the change." Natasha walked as the girl with brown hair skirted away, unable to stop herself from smirking. She loved independent, confident children.

As she added the second and third layer to her three-tiered cake, Natasha asked a handful of questions about what her rival planned on doing for the baking contest.

They'd been fighting for about a year, when she had first opened her bakery. She'd taken all his customers, and lowered his ratings. He'd been a composed handsome man the first time she saw him. Natasha's heart had skipped a beat, until she realized who he was. Then a wave of disgust and loathing had washed over her.

He'd been trying to sabotage her for months. Tricks and pranks, but they weren't as harmless as egging a house as a young teenager. He'd caused her to replace her stove, after basically blowing it up.

With his dark caramel hair shaved on the sides and combing into a fluffy side-back brush, tanned skin and golden-brown eyes, he could have been a prince. But he was like any other player, except instead of playing girls, he played the other bakers. Most of the time sending them out of business. Every mention of his name sent bile up her throat and made hatred spark.

The cake's base was white, with yellow swirling around the base. As the swirls rose, the color changed from yellow to orange to red in a fading manner, like ombre hair. Or a sunset. Little pink roses were splattered across the cake. The top tier had a large red-pink rose, with little yellow dots at the center. It was nearly perfect. The customer buying it was a rich looking woman, blabbering on about how her daughter's birthday had to be perfect. Natasha had to carry to cake to the snobby woman's expensive car. It was shiny, black and worth at least 25k.

The sun was halfway into the sky as she walked back to her bakery. She caught sight of a certain person, sighing with annoyance. Hands in his pockets, a smirk on his face and a comfy looking sweatshirt, Jordan strode up to Natasha. "Hey, newbie." Everyone called her that, even after a whole year. It took at least two years before a baker became officially settled in an area of town. Jordan had only been there for a year and a half before Nat came along, taking his title. Now he called her it.

"Jordan." She stated, stepping around him. He stopped her with an arm. She froze. Natasha stared at his forelimb. "I just want to talk." Looking up at him, she studied his face. She couldn't stop herself from thinking, wow is he beautiful. She mentally scolded herself. "About what paying me back for my stove?" He chuckled. "Holding grudges isn't good for the soul." She rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, I was wondering if you're free some time? I need a little help re-designing my website...it got hacked." She couldn't help the laugh that escaped. "Serves you right. Guess karma is a real thing." It was his turn to roll his eyes. He cleared his throat. "Anyways, wanna help me out or not?" She acted as if she was over-thinking it. She already knew her answer, though. "Hmm... maybe if you pay me back for the damage you caused." He sighed.

"How much was it?" She shrugged. "Ten hundred. I mean a thousand. One K. Whatever you want to call it." She stared him in the eye, watching his expression.

He seemed sympathetic. "Sorry..." he mumbled, then said "Yeah, I'll definitely pay you back." She nodded once. "Five?" She asked, knowing at least she'd be off by then.

"Alright, it's a date," he said and stalked off before she could respond.

---

"It's a date? Who says that?" She shuddered, watching Glinda's reaction. She merely shrugged. "I don't know, probably got it from his dad. He used to be the mayor, y'know." She nodded, her mind elsewhere. People came in in slow waves, normal for a Saturday. Natasha hated working on weekends, but it was the only way to keep the shop running.

The hours passed slowly, and eventually she was getting ready to leave. The clock hanging on the navy blue walls said "4 O'clock." Natasha sighed, hanging up her apron. "Alright, close up for me tonight?" Glen nodded and waved her off.

Her small apartment was homey enough, light beige walls, decorated with cute things. Natasha stared at herself in the mirror. She'd never been very skinny. Although, she was taller than a lot of girls, her chest was large, and her hips prominent. Not to mention, she had an actual stomach. She wondered how so many girls were twigs. One slice of cake caused her to gain a bit of weight.

Her face reflected back at her, and Natasha shrugged. She'd lost her insecurities when high school ended. Everyone had always told her she was beautiful, she didn't believe it as a teenager. Now she could partly agree. Her eyes were a pretty hazel, and her face had been dusted with freckles. She had slightly chubby cheeks, and partially long eyelashes. Her honeycomb blonde hair reached just above her hip. She'd been growing it out for years, loving the thickness. Although, her hair had grown darker, and she didn't like it that much. Blonde or brunette, she would still look pretty. She sort of shocked herself when thinking this, but smiled.

---

When she arrived at Jordan's shop, her heart began to patter. She ignored it and stepped inside, looking around. The walls were light red, borderline pink. They were decorated with aesthetic pictures, framed. They all had a red tint to them. She guessed his favorite color was red. Jordan met her at the shops counter, smiling crookedly. "Hey. I already got my computer started up." Natasha stumbled into the kitchen, standing next to him at the back counter. They were mostly silent as she worked on the website, designing it with red colors. She was a tech guru, loving the way computers worked so quickly. She'd had an old computer when she was about ten, and still appreciated it's slowness then.

It took about thirty minutes, and they dragged on. When she closed his laptop, her eyes were stinging. She rubbed them and yawned. Jordan was staring at her. "What?" Natasha asked, blushing. He shrugged. "You're kinda cute, y'know." Her face flamed, and she looked away. Maybe he did play girls.

Changing the subject, he spoke again. "Want to cook something?" This lit her up. "Sure."

They decided on a simple one tiered cake, making up sketches of it as they went. The ingredients were mixed in by Jordan, and Natasha got the molds and decorations ready. The frosting was deep blue, and blueberry flavored. When the cake was slid into the oven, Natasha was feeling awkward, so she decided to lighten the mood. The flour in her hand was fluffy, and it puffed into the air as it impacted with Jordan's back. He turned around slowly, eyes wide. Then he chuckled and took his own fist full. Natasha giggled as the flour covered his kitchen when he barely missed her as she jumped out of the way at the last second. They fought with the baking ingredients, laughing and having a good time, till Jordan threw a handful of flower and hit an older man who looked almost exactly like him.

They both froze, eyes wide. Natasha assumed this was Jordan's father. They had the same nose, eyes, and skin color. Jordan didn't shrink in his fathers presence like most boys would when their father gave them the same death glare his father was giving him. He started to laugh.

Right.

At.

His father.

Without even realizing, they were all laughing within seconds. Natasha took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Opening them, she found the two men staring back at her. "What?" She asked and opened the oven to check on the cake. It was nearly ready. "They both merely shrugged as she dusted her hands off on a clean part of her jeans.

Five minutes of awkward silence, and the oven beeped. Natasha allowed Jordan to pull it out, and an amazing smell wafted through the air. Five more minutes as the cake cooled in the freezer, the father and son were talking quietly. They didn't even try to strike up a conversation with her.

Not in the slightest way annoyed, she frosted the cake with an even hand, finishing it off with the flick of her wrist. She pulled some blueberries out of the fridge and placed them on top, barely aware that she was being watched. Once finished, she smiled, turning towards them.

"Done. You wanna save this to put on display, or eat now?" Before Jordan could reply, his father spoke. "One slice couldn't hurt..." And then their fingers and forks were covered in blue frosting. It stained their lips- a little too much coloring Natasha guessed- and fingertips. All too soon, the night seemed to end and she was walking to her car. In a near dream state, Nat sat in the driver seat of her car, pondering the events of the night.