Please, anything but not this - part 1

This is the prequel to a story with the same title (i realize how wrong that sounds, but i don't feel like changing it) on my DA. Expect a second part later this month.

[part 1]

The morning rush hour had ended no more than half an hour ago. Lucy was so busy preparing the floor for the next rush of customers in about an hour, that she didn't notice a lady enter the coffee shop.

"Ahem" the sound startled her. She turned her head to see a blonde woman staring at her with an annoyed expression. "Oh sorry, i didn't see you there!" Lucy replied, apologising for her distraction with her best smile on her face. The woman didn't seem to even acknowledge her apology, and kept staring at her, without any remote sign of amusement. The two looked at each other for a bunch of embarassing seconds that seemed like an hour, until Lucy decided to ask to the already obnoxious lady what she wanted for breakfast. Of course she ordered the most complicated cappuccino, and an apple pie crust. Lucy was going to serve her from behind the counter, when she noticed that the blonde had decided to just drift off to a table the second after she'd paid. "Excuse me miss, we don't do table service". The lady turned her head, visibly annoyed with her words. "Nobody's in the shop, and it's the least you can do for making me wait" She answered in a posh accent while walking towards the farthest table. 

Lucy had no comeback for such rudeness, and decided it was better to just do what the annoying customer had asked than risking another reprimand from her manager. The second in a week wouldn't make anything good for her career, and she needed to make rent. She had almost completed the overly complicated order, and was ready to bring it to the table, when customers started entering the shop little by little. For some reason, the second wave was earlier than usual, so Lucy hoped that the woman would be so corteous to walk to the counter and get her stuff. Of course she didn't even bother looking in her general direction, so she decided to just hurry and give her what she wanted. She practically ran to the table, left the stuff on top of it, and rushed to serve the increasingly impatient customers. The woman didn't even say thank you. She only looked at her for one second, with an expression that seemed to say "Ew". God, what a bitch.

It took her another half an hour, but the second wave had passed. Somebody was sitting at the tables, but the floor had become manageable. A single, obnoxious click of the fingers, came from the blonde. Lucy had to fight with all her instincts not to scream to the woman to go to hell. She went to the table, and asked her in the most polite way if something was wrong. "I don't like this" the woman said, barely raising her head from her phone. "It's not the same they make at starbucks". Lucy fought her instincts, and politely explained her that that place was a local coffee shop that strode to differentiate from corporate standards. The woman gave her an unconvinced look. Then her eyes fell on her sandaled feet for a second, and she scoffed. Lucy knew she had her toes painted in two different colors, and she considered it to be a fun quirk. A lot of people had pointed it out, and most found it funny, but nobody had ever looked so bothered by it. "Just call me your manager" the older woman said, making Lucy worry all of a sudden. "Why madam, something's wrong?" she asked, actually preoccupied with what she could say. "Call me your manager. Do you want me to spell it?". 

Lucy wanted to kill her. The funny thing was that she actually could do it with ease. She had found out about her peculiar ability when she was twelve, but she had kept it a secret from anyone including her family. She could actually shrink people. She had done it a few times, and she was tempted to do it now, but there were too many people. She gritted her teeth, and went to fetch her supervisor. She watched as the woman complained to the guy, not hearing fully what she was saying, but for sure they weren't nice words. She saw Robert apologize, and come back for her. He brought her to the back of the shop, and said that while he knew that the woman was full of shit, she was supposed to apologize to her. Lucy complained, but she knew what she had to do in order to keep her job. "Just give her a coupon or something" Bob told her while she was going to the table, making Lucy come up with an idea.

She reached the table, and gave her most profound fake apology. The blonde seemed satisfied, but Lucy decided to play her cards. "If you can come back tonight at closing time" she said, "The company would like to offer you a token of our apology." It seemed to make the woman curious. "A year of free breakfast" The lady smiled, it was far more than she had expected, but she would be a fool to renounce. "Why can't you just give it to me now?" she inquired. One of her bracelet would cost more than Lucy's car, yet she had the nerve to accept free breakfast for a year, and be a bitch at that too. "I have to prepare it, madam. If you give me your info i'll make sure to deliver it to you personally tonight. I'm on a double shift so it won't be a problem". The woman looked annoyed "Can't you email it to me or something?". God she was insufferable. "As i said, madam, we're a small company. We try to do things the old ways." The lady seemed to believe her words. She gave her her name and address, which Lucy pretended to note down, and left, happy like a kid. Lucy saw her enter in a white mercedes, and leave. "See you tonight, Deborah" she thought to herself.

She wasn't surprised to see her actually come back. It was way past 7, nobody was in the coffee shop but her, and Deborah was sure she would get what she wanted. It was more than perfect. "I'll be with you in a minute, please sit wherever you'd like" she said from behind the register. She walked to the table where the woman had sat, and noticed another quick glance at her oddly painted toes. She sat in front of Deborah, and got rid of her apron. "You can't imagine how long today was" she complained to the woman, who made sure to make apparent that she wasn't there for small talk. "My feet are killing me" she said, while propping her legs on the table in front of her. "What the hell is all this?" Deborah inquired, disgusted by the sight. "I couldn't help but notice that you looked at my feet" Lucy said, wiggling her toes in her sandals. Caught off guard, Deborah answered "Yeah, they're different and all that, i get it. Now give me my coupon so i can leave. I have stuff to do you know?" she said, having lost part of her arrogance in front of such an unexpected behavior. "Sure, sure, i'll give it to you in a few minutes" Lucy said, amused. "Would you be a doll and give me a foot massage in the meantime?". 

That was the last straw. Deborah rose to her feet, determined to leave the shop. "This little stunt just cost you your job" she said, to a weirdly calm Lucy. "I was going to go easy on you because you're so young, but you brought this on yourself!" She said, while turning towards the exit. It was a lie, and they both knew it. The only reason why she had stopped complaining to the company was because she thought she was going to get free stuff. Suddently, she didn't feel too well. Had she risen too fast from the chair? She turned, only to notice that Lucy had stood up too, and was smiling. "What's the laughing matter?" she wanted to say, but no words left her mouth. Lucy, who had been a good span shorter than her up to a minute earlier, now towered over her like a pro basketball player. 

Lucy loved this moment. The confusion, the fear, the sheer inability to accept such a reality-bending event. She had kept the process slow, so Deborah wouldn't be aware right away, but now she was ready to finish the job. She didn't need to, but she snapped her fingers right before speeding up the process, to increase the dramatic aspect. She saw Deborah rise her eyebrows in surprise while falling through her expensive dress. She fished the dazed woman from a pile of exquisitely crafted clothes, and decided to keep the jewelry. Since she wouldn't fit into her clothes and shoes, she just decided to get rid of them, despite how beautiful they looked. 

"What... What have you done to me!" Deborah managed to cry out from the vicious grip of the woman who'd just shrunken her. Lucy looked at her, and while smiling, she answered "I'm just making sure i get that foot massage"

[continue...]