My first week of work was, in a word, hell. 

Long lines, loud noises, screaming customers and frustrating coworkers had me about ready to lose my mind. Several times I seriously considered walking out and just going home. The only thing driving me forward now was the overwhelming feeling that failure was not an option.

Kris and her family had done so much for me, taking long shifts at their respective jobs just to keep the household afloat with another mouth to feed. Plus, Taylor had taken time out of her life to help me apply to colleges and even helped me with making my resume seem just a little less sparse. I felt a bit obligated to succeed after everyone had worked so hard to get me here.

The blaring of my phone alarm pulled me from my self-pity. Groaning, I groped around under my pillow to silence the little black bastard disrupting my inner monologue. I turned off the alarm and looked at the time. Damn, I only have 30 minutes to get ready for work. Willing my aching bones to leave the comfort of my bed, I stood up and shuffled to my dresser. 

Every step on my tortured feet was angry, a reminder of the long shift I'd worked the day before. Even a full night's sleep didn't rest my aching muscles; they burned and creaked in protest as I went through the motions of forcing the shirt over my head and sliding into my khakis. I had to wash my uniform tonight when I got home, as I only had one pair of pants and had been washing them every other day.

After I dressed, I sprayed some deodorant on, no energy to spare for a shower today. It would have to wait until tonight after I got home, or tomorrow morning, which was one of my precious few days off. After figuring out I did indeed show up to work, Tracy had been calling me in whenever one of the crew didn't come to work. I was exhausted, but looking forward to my first paycheck.

Shoving my swollen feet into the worn non-slip shoes Kris had given me, I made my way through the house and out the door, where I knew Kris would be waiting for me. Ever the early bird, Kris was always ready for work an hour in advance and liked to be no less then 15 minutes early. As I dragged my half-dead carcass into her passenger seat, she smiled at me. 

"You look about as good as I feel today." I could see her nose and eyes were red, so she was probably coming down with a cold or just getting over one. The grocery store usually stole Kris from registers to unload trucks in the freezer section due to her uncanny ability to Tetris boxes of frozen goods in ways that defied physics. Unfortunately, this also meant that with cold and flu season rapidly approaching, Kris would catch any bug within a 3 mile radius. Her subpar immune system was unable to compensate for the abrupt temperature changes. Regardless, Kris loved the freezers, not having to deal with customers for a few hours and being able to pop an earbud in helped keep her sane on her double shifts.

"I got called in again last night. Taylor took me in after she got off work and I helped close." I yawned, looking out at the road blearily as Kris pulled out onto our road. 

"Oooh, god. Closing is the WORST!" She groaned. "I used to hate closing when I worked food service. Stupid people, gross old food and lots and lots of dishes." Her face wrinkled in disgust.

Closing actually didn't bother me all that bad. Aside from the dinner rush, the vast majority of the shift was peaceful and I was able to clean and go about my duties without being overstimulated. I often volunteered to hang out in the back and wash the endless mountain of dishes, singing along to whatever song was on the radio. The calmness of the night shift was a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the morning and afternoon shifts.

Sometimes Taylor would stop in and order a burger. My manager had learned the bluenette's routine and usually would let me take a break and go eat with Taylor for a while. Most times, she came to pick me up from work and take me home. I was happy for the ride, but I couldn't help but ask myself why she would take an hour out of her day just to take me home. 

I was pulled out of my thoughts by us pulling into the parking lot of BurgerByte. I reluctantly pulled myself out of the passenger seat and drug myself towards the door.  I waved, smiling over my shoulder to Kris and headed inside. 

BurgerByte was a flurry of activity in the mornings; our breakfast burger was locally beloved and hundreds of people came through every day just to enjoy it. Sliding behind the front counter, I donned my hat and apron before greeting Tracy. "Morning Trace!" 

The chubby, greying brunette had her nose in a clipboard, as per usual. She grunted a reply, scribbling furiously.  "Abby! Pull 50 more frozen eggs and sausage patties and get them prepped! Luna, get on dishes! We're gonna have the Sunday church crowd coming through in a half hour. Lets GO, GO, GO, people!" 

The snotty cashier I had met the day of my interview scoffed, but walked back to the freezers to pull the requested breakfast foods. Making my way through the chaos of the kitchen, I went back to Tracy's office to clock in, before walking over to the industrial sink which was overflowing with dishes already. 

Whilst washing dishes first thing in the morning wasn't really my idea of fun, I greatly preferred it to being up front or in drive through with the customers. I fell into a routine with each dish; spraying off stuck on food, Scrubbing it with soap, rinsing it and then dropping it into the sanitizer. The tinny beat of an old 80's song had me swaying and bobbing in time with the music while blasting bits of stuck on food off of the various dishes. 

Tracy had discovered my second day that I sucked miserably in drive thru. After stammering through our specials, having people repeat themselves and screwing up entirely too many orders, Tracy banished me to the dishes, stocking and freezer work during rush times and would pull me to front counter in lull periods to get me more practice.

Suddenly, the slow stream of customers in the drive thru and front counter turned into a rush. We went from 2 customers in the lobby and one lazily ordering over the speaker outdoors to a line around the building and a dozen customers clamoring at front counter.

"LUNA, GET TO THE DRINK STATION!" Tracy bellowed. Dropping a dish into sanitizer, I dried my wrinkled fingers on my apron and made my way to the drinks. Orders came over the screen rapidly, everything from sodas and teas, to coffee and hot chocolate. I moved like a woman possessed to keep up with the orders. Churning out countless cups of various drinks in record time. I took a breath, actually quite proud of myself.

Just as fast as I could pump out the assorted refreshments, they were whisked away to their respective consumers. I felt as if I was being pulled in countless different directions simultaneously. 

Just as quickly as the rush had come, it dissipated. The sea of people in drive thru had slowed to the occasional order over the speaker and front counter was silent once more. 

The rest of the day was like that; monotonous dishwashing, stocking and various other busywork punctuated by sudden swarms of people. I disliked the rush times, but I had to admit they made the shift go by quickly. I hadn't even realized how fast the time had gone by until I saw Taylor waiting in the lobby for me. 

I hollered to Tracy in the back and let her know I was getting near the end of my shift. I grabbed a bucket of sanitizer and a disposable rag and started wiping counters around the front counter and prep areas, before turning my attention to the drink cups that needed restocking. I methodically breezed through the rest of my various tasks I had to complete before clocking out. 

Taylor was leaned up against a half wall, bemusedly watching me bumble around. The corners of her mouth turned up into a smile, letting out a giggle when I clipped the corner of a counter in my haste to get to Tracy's office in the back to clock out. 

Bursting from the 'Employees Only' door into the lobby, I glared playfully at Taylor. "You know, it's not very nice to laugh at people when they get hurt." I teased. 

Taylor shifted her weight and put a hand on her hips. "Oh really?" She feigned ignorance. "That's too bad, it's funny."

I rolled my eyes as we exited the lobby and walked together into the parking lot. The sun was bright and I winced as my eyes adjusted. Walking to Taylor's Camry, I waited for her to pop the stubborn passenger door that was giving us more trouble as of late. Sliding onto the cracked leather seats, I glanced over at the bluenette. Her hazel eyes studied me with an odd look, but before I could question her, she spoke. "So... You got any plans for the rest of the day?"

"Not particularly, no. Did you have an idea of what you'd like to do?" 

A perverted smirk crossed her lips briefly, but she shook her head to stamp down what was probably some kind of bad innuendo. "Well, I don't really want to go home yet, but I'm broke till tomorrow and have a half tank of gas. You down for a drive?"

A drive sure sounded nice. Truth be told, I didn't really want to go home just yet myself. Home meant I had to do laundry and find something to eat, shower and tidy my room. I had the energy for exactly none of that right now.

"Sure." I shrugged.

The Camry came to life as Taylor turned the key, putting the car in drive and starting our little impromptu adventure. Instead of our usual path back to the Wooding household, we casually cruised down a few back roads. 

The suburbs faded slowly into a more rural area as we got father away from BurgerByte. The roads got rougher, more curvy and narrower. Taylor produced a random cd from the center console and cranked the volume up. By now, I was used to the songs she would play, so I sang along to a few myself.

I caught Taylor sneaking glances at me from the driver's seat but looking away when my eyes darted over to her. I wondered what went on in that head of hers sometimes. Why she had taken a liking to me of all people; the sheltered church girl with no life experience. Sometimes she seemed like my friend, other times I felt like a gazelle before a lioness. I often thought back to the interaction we had with Kayce and wondered if I was a particularly difficult conquest. 

Lost in my thoughts, I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the window and stared out as we went over a hill, I glanced at the sky as the day began to sink into late afternoon. I looked over at Taylor as we pulled off the road into the parking lot of a park and nature trail. Shutting off the car, we exited the little black sedan. 

I followed the shorter woman towards a small playground, watching as she jumped onto a seat, leaning back in the scuffed plastic swing and tried to get some momentum. Without thinking, I walked over to the swing and gave her a push.

She squealed at the unexpected assistance, which made me giggle behind my hand as I took a seat on the swing next to her. 

Taylor regained her composure rather quickly, giving me a casual smile. Her burning cheeks gave away her embarrassment, but I decided not to pry. I kicked my legs out, swaying to and fro beside her. 

"So, Taylor... why, exactly, did you bring us here?"  

Taylor seemed a little relieved that I didn't call attention to her startled reaction and looked pensively at the sky. "Well, I used to live out by this park. Sometimes when my parents were too busy screaming at each other to pay attention to me, I'd slip out and come here."

Her reply left me at a loss for words. Stammering over a few different responses, all I could muster was a feeble apology. "I'm sorry..it can't be easy to grow up that way." Even with all the fucked up shit in my childhood, at least my parents liked each other most of the time. 

Taylor let out a chuckle. "Yeah.. it sucked sometimes. They should have gotten divorced a long time ago, but they stuck it out and now it's too late for either of them to get out so now they're trapped in a hateful marriage. I remember one time they got so pissed at each other they got into a mud fight. My dad sprayed my mom in the face with a water hose because she called him a manwhore and I mean she just full on launched a dirt clod at his head."

I stared at her in shock and she scratched the back of her head, uneasy that I wasn't also amused. "Hey, at least the trauma made me funny!" She attempted to lighten the mood again, but I ground my heel into the dirt to stop myself from swinging. 

There was an uncomfortable tense between the two of us for a while and we sat in silence. I looked down at my sneakers whilst Taylor played with one of her curls that was dangling down. 

"Well-" I started, offering her a tentative smile. "It wasn't always sunshine and rainbows at my house, either." I kicked a bit of the fading mulch under my foot, scattering wooden shrapnel a few feet into the air. "Everything was all Jesus, all the time. Pretty much everything fun was considered satanic. My mom saw a pack of trading cards in my room one time and burned them in the fireplace. When I cried about it, she made me read passages about having false idols and had me repent form my sins in front of the whole church."

Now it was Taylor's turn to look shocked, but she recovered quickly. "Damn, I knew I had you pegged as a sheltered church girl, but.. uh, I didn't think I was that on the nose."

I picked at my nails and shifted in my seat. "Yeah, I got a healthy dose of purity culture too. Most of my clothes were either a size too big or layers on layers. Do you know how hard it is to wear a dress with a slip and a bolero in the heat of the summer!?"

Taylor shot me a puzzled look. "What in the Kentucky fried fuck is a bolero?"

I couldn't stop the loud guffaw that escaped my lips. "A bolero is like a sweater to cover up your shoulders. You wear it when your sleeves are too short or when you have too much cleavage hanging out."

Taylor scoffed. "What's wrong with your shoulders showing?"

I chewed on my lower lip before answering. "Well, uh.. the way it was explained to me is that men are visual creatures and that if you showed too much skin, well, you'd cause them to stumble. Boys will be boys, that kind of thing."

Taylor looked incredulous. "That makes no sense. No wonder you looked like a deer in the headlights at the mall."

"Yeah.." I blushed a tad at the reminder of the variety of products that I saw in the back of the store. "Any kind of 'fornication' before marriage was considered sinful, even thoughts about sex were considered evil."

Taylor studied me with a strange look I couldn't place, a mixture of pity and curiosity. "So, have you ever done anything?"

The word was vague, but I knew what she meant. I hesitated and for a moment I considered lying to make myself sound a little less naïve. Deciding to be truthful I sheepishly shook my head. 

Her hazel eyes stared at me for a long time. "Have you ever even kissed anyone?"

"Oh, um.. yeah.. once. I was 14 and the pastor's son kissed me behind the church one night after youth group." I neglected to tell her that it was little more then a peck... and that it wasn't particularly exciting. 

Taylor glanced up at the sky, the first streaks of orange and pink signaling the approach of sunset, before returning her gaze to me. "I take it they weren't too hot on gay people either."

I gave her a sympathetic look. "The church shunned anyone who even 'seemed' gay. You'd better not try to defend them either. Lost a couple of my friends that way."

"Does it ever make you uncomfortable that I'm a lesbian?" 

The question took me a bit by surprise and my words came out garbled. "Uh.. Not exactly. I forget you like girls-sometimes. Then you stare at a girls butt and I remember." I laughed awkwardly.

Taylor gave me another one of those odd looks, but instead of saying something, she looked at the sky and then back to me. "We should think about heading back soon." That feeling of missing something hit me again. 

Before I could say anything she was already off the swing and headed back to the car.