The days seemed to drag on as of late, but of course this only seemed to happen on days she spent at the restaurant. It wasn’t as busy this time of year as it had been during the holiday season and one would think it’d be rather relieving to have a break, but when things were busy, the day just flew by. Now Cindy found herself staring at the clock for parts of her shift, wondering when the day would end. This was the time of year in which she was no longer as consumed in her work as she had been and thus started to again realize the fact that she had close to no social life and she found herself feeling rather lonely at times. Her best friends consisted of people from work and there weren’t many people she knew outside of that. Managing a restaurant was no easy task, after all, so for parts of the year she felt as though she might as well be living there.

Today was one of Cindy’s few days off and as usual, she wasn’t entirely sure of what to do with herself. She could always make a trip to the stable to see her horses, but it was little chilly that morning so she decided it might be better to wait for it to warm up a little if it decided to. Until then, she had at least planned to get herself a cup of coffee to start her day and the rest would most likely be played by ear. She donned a pair of dark wash jeans, a green turtleneck sweater and a pair of black heels. Her hair was still a bit damp from her morning shower and thus revealed her natural curls. She grabbed a leather jacket to put over her sweater. She tended to get cold easily so even though it probably wasn’t below 50 degrees outside, she still liked to bundle up. It was rather odd considering she spent several years of her life in Wyoming and the winters were far from mild there.

It took her longer than she had intended, but she eventually made it to the Starbuck’s parking lot and found a good space thanks to the driver who was pulling out just as she was arriving. She walked the short distance to the entrance of the coffee shop and was immediately greeted by the smell of fresh coffee grinds as she entered the building. She was embraced by the warm of the place and was forced to remove her jacket after only a few moments standing in line. Apparently they didn’t hesitate to turn the heat up on days like these; not that she was complaining. She ordered her usual latte and waited what seemed like quite some time before she received her drink. She could tell there was a newbie on the staff and they seemed to have chosen a terrible time to train her considering how busy it was that morning and people were getting rather antsy while waiting for their drinks.

She was bumped by a guy on her way out of the crowd that was waiting for their drinks, but she decided not to divert her attention because of it. It wasn’t rare that she dealt with this kind of thing during her morning routine, after all. After finally being able to get away from the angry mob of caffeine-seekers, Cindy was able to attempt to find a seat. There weren’t many places to sit on a busy morning like this, but fortunately for her she saw a couple getting up just as she was walking towards their table. This seemed like it was going to be a good day for her, but she must have simply spoke too soon because before she could reach the table, the same rude man that had bumped into before came rushing past her and just about knocked her over. He still managed to knock the coffee out of her hand, however, and it spilled all over the table and onto the lap of the innocent victim sitting at the table to her left. Cindy scoffed at the man who had bumped into her and muttered the word “asshole” under her breath as she watched him take the open table that she had been headed for.

She looked over at the man to her left and instantly felt incredibly guilty, even though it wasn’t entirely her fault. She had a few splashes of coffee on her clothes, but she really wasn’t the one that should be complaining right now. “Oh my god, I’m so, so sorry! I’ll ask for some rags,” she told the man before rushing over to the counter, making her way back through the crowd of people. She had to shout to get the attention of one of the baristas and it took another minute before Cindy had two rags in her hand and was headed back for the of the man that was now swimming in her latte. She immediately started cleaning it up. She didn’t expect any of the employees to come out soon due to how busy it was and she didn’t want to leave this man to fend for himself. “I really am very sorry,” she said, looking over at him with an expression of panic and guilt. So much for her pleasant morning.

It was a mystery to Cindy why some people seemed to have no conscience at all when they disregarded any and all proper manners. A part of her wanted to walk over to the table that the man was now sitting at and give him a piece of her mind, but she decided against it. Besides, there were other things she needed to be focusing on. In front of her there was yet another man, one who had done no harm, covered in her latte and even though it was hardly her fault, she continued to feel bad about it. It wasn’t her who should be apologizing; it should be the man who had stolen her table. Nonetheless, Cindy couldn’t help but feel a little guilt since it was her coffee that had ended up on his lap and all over the table in front of him. It wasn’t unlike her to do something clumsy, but this time it wasn’t her clumsiness that had caused all of this to happen.

She continued to wipe up the table frantically. All she wanted to do was to get it all cleaned up and then rush out of there as soon as she could to avoid any potential awkwardness if the man decided to get upset with her. As the man started laughing, she couldn’t help but look over at him with a rather puzzled expression. What was so funny? The last thing he expected him to do in that moment was to laugh. Anyone else she could swear would be at least a little upset, but for some reason this particular guy decided it was amusing. She was nearly finished making the table coffee-free when she heard him speak. She stopped what she was doing and looked at him for a moment before standing up straight, obviously a little bemused. “Karma?” she repeated after him before looking around her for a moment and then glancing back at him. “You believe in that sort of thing?” She had never believed in Karma herself so she couldn’t help but be a little perplexed. He had coffee all over his lap and all he could do was say it was Karma? She found it quite odd.

After a few moments an employee finally came over. Cindy looked over and noticed the line had nearly vanished. She explained to the barista what had happened and she went to grab some sanitizer and another rag as well as a mop to clean the bit of coffee that had made it onto the floor. As the girl left, Cindy looked back at the man in front of her. “I can pay for the pants, unless you can figure out how to get those stains out,” she offered. It really didn’t sit well with her leaving him there without feeling that she owed him something. Even if they said it was alright and she was off the hook, it never seemed to make her feel any better. She hoped this wouldn’t be the beginning of a bad day for her. She really felt she deserved a good one after practically living at work for the past week or so, but there was little she could do to control that sort of thing.

A deep sigh was released as she decided to seat herself in the chair across from him. She really needed a break from all the stress she had been facing for several days now. “So what exactly did you do to deserve this Karma of yours?” she decided to ask. If he wanted her to leave, he could just say so. It may bother her a bit, but in the end she would just end up ordering another drink and leaving the coffee shop to continue with her agenda for the day, whatever it happened to be. It would be nice to talk to someone for a bit even though she wasn’t quite sure who she was talking to or why. She looked over and saw the female employee coming back with the mop and rag. She cleaned up the rest of the mess, all except for her victim’s pants, of course. Cindy thanked the girl before she had a chance to get back to making coffee. Cindy had offered to clean it up herself, of course, but was told it was unnecessary. She worked too hard for her own good. She always picked up after herself no matter where she was, even if it wasn’t her responsibility. She was always offering to clear off tables at her restaurant if she had a few minutes to do so. The idea of relaxation never seemed to occur to her very often at all.