A rumor

Beep! Beep! Beep! Sounded the alarm for the umpteenth time, but Avery stubbornly kept her eyes shut, not even bothering to turn off the alarm as she savored the comfort of her bed.

She wished she could just stay in bed, even if it was just for a few more minutes, but then, she would only be putting her newly gotten job on the line, and she wouldn't want that, now would she?

With a loud groan escaping her lips, she finally forced herself to sit up on the bed, and turned off the annoying alarm. "I'm so tired!… who on earth wakes up as early as 8:30 in the morning?" She complained sleepily.

"Oh my god! It's already 8:30!!!" She yelled in astonishment as she immediately sprang out of bed. "Oh shit! I'm so very late. Mr. Ben sure is gonna fire me today."

She quickly dashed into the bathroom, and in no time, she was already out of the bathroom after a rather quick wash. She then ran to her closet next, and started ransacking her closet for appropriate clothes for work.

At the end, she settled for a pair of black pants, and a white blouse. Putting them on in a jiffy, she then scurried off to her standing mirror to brush her hair.

Despite how much of a mess Avery thought she was, she just couldn't help but smile at the captivating image that reflected back at her as she stood before the mirror.

Her amber colored eyes were sparkling with radiance, framed by long flowing locks of hair. With each brushstroke, her silky black hair danced in harmony as if it had a life of it's own. She was literally boosting with confidence, and grace, and the mirror stood as a silent witness to her beauty.

"You are crazy, Avery. Now isn't the time to gush at yourself like a lunatic!" She spoke to herself through the mirror, as she remembered she was supposed to be at work at exactly, or before 9AM.

She picked up her phone, and then rushed out of her room. She was in such a hurry that she ended up bumping her head against something hard in the hallway.

"Ouch! Watch where you are going. You aren't even supposed to be running in the hallway." The person she had bumped into sounded annoyed.

Avery looked up at the person she had bumped into, while massaging her head that was hurting like hell. It felt like she had hit her head against an iron, but it turned out to be a head-to-head collision with her twin brother, Owen.

"What is your head made of? Iron?" She fired back at him with an equally annoyed tone.

"Iron? Nah, sis! My head is made of solid steel! It's like a fortress protecting all my brilliant ideas! Unlike yours which is…" He suddenly paused as if he remembered something, "wait, aren't you supposed to be at work before 9AM?" He gave Avery a questioning look.

"Duh! That's exactly where I was running off to, and I would have been there by now if you hadn't bumped into me." She resorted to putting all the blame on him.

Owen shook his head as he sighed, "I'm sure mom lied to us that you were born first, because I'm clearly more mature."

Avery opened her mouth to retort, but got interrupted by Owen as he wasn't done taking.

"So, as the older twin, I'll take you, my little sister to work. I want to try my luck with the prestigious GameHive company, so if you are interested, I can totally drop you off at work on my way there."

"No, thank you!" Avery turned down his offer without a moment thought, and then she walked away, but she paused when she heard his next words.

"Sure! No problem. You could take a taxi, and risk getting stuck in traffic. I can imagine the smug look on Mr. Ben's face as he fires you for being late for the second time in two weeks." Owen spoke in a taunting voice, then he chuckled as he walked past her, and went down the stairs.

Avery looked at her phone's screen, and saw that it was already 8:45. "Wait for me!" She suddenly called out as she hurried after him.

…

A roaring sound came from the engine of a motorcycle, as the rider expertly applied the brakes, causing the screech of the tires against the pavement of the Cuppa Joy café.

Avery jumped off from the bike, immediately the motorcycle halted, and removed the helmet on her head, handing it to the rider, Owen. "Thanks for the ride, and good luck with whatever you are planning to do at GameJive."

"It's GameHive, and I'm seeking for a job." Owen corrected her, but she barely heard him as she was busy hurrying off to the entrance of the café.

Avery stood before the glass door of the café, the open sign was already on and was blinking cheerily as if mocking her. She looked at her phone screen in panic, and found out that It was already a minute past nine. 'Oh lord, I'm so getting fired today.'

With bated breath, she summoned the courage to open the door, and slowly walked in.

"Avery!" Someone from the behind the counter shouted, causing Avery to jolt, not out of fear, but from being startled. The voice didn't belong to Mr. Ben, it instead belonged to Avery's coworker, and best friend, Madeline.

"I called your line time, and again, but it wasn't going through. Is something wrong with your phone?" Madeline questioned.

"Maybe it was due to poor network." Avery answered, but as she looked at her phone, she realized it had been on airplane mode all these while.

"This is your second time of being late in just two weeks of getting this job. Do you want to get fired?" Madeline pointed out as she folded her arms, while giving Avery a displeased look.

"About that, where's Mr. Ben?" Avery asked the most important question at the moment with a nervous smile on her face.

"He left the café about fifteen minutes ago, he said he needed to be somewhere urgently."

"Oh, that's a relief!" Avery said as relief washed over her.

But to Avery's dismay, a smile of mischief suddenly crossed Madeline's face. She knew that smile just had to come with bad news. "Don't think you've gotten out of the hook so easily. He told me to report the exact time you got here to him when he gets back, and according to my wristwatch, you came a minute past nine."

Dang it! Why do I always have to be right. Avery questioned herself internally, but on the outside, she managed to keep a sweet smile on her face. "Maddie!" Avery called her by her nickname in the sweetest form possible. "What would you like me to do for you?"

"Well, you know today is supposed to be my turn to clean the tables, and chairs, but I'm too tired to…"

"Say no more!" Avery interrupted Madeline, and then she quickly went to get the cleaning equipment, and went straight to cleaning the tables and chairs, while Madeline sat comfortably behind the counter enjoying every bit of Avery's suffering.

…

Time went by, and soon, the café was already bustling with so much energy, and excitement. There were people chatting, laughter filled the air, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted around.

Avery had done the cleaning on Madeline's behalf, and in return, Madeline reported a false time to Mr. Ben. She had told Mr. Ben that Avery arrived at 8:50, and that was how Avery successfully avoided getting fired.

Avery, and Madeline stood behind the counter, attending to the customers, while a podcast was playing aloud to keep the customers entertained.

On the podcast, it was time for the sponsorship segment, and what was being advertised was a new game created by GameHive.

"Welcome back, podcast fam! I'm super excited to introduce our next segment, where we dive into an awesome game created by one of our sponsors called 'Adventure Quest'. Today, we have a special guest with us from the GameHive company who will be introducing the game to us. It is non other than the CEO of the company himself, Ethan Smith. Please give a warm welcome to our guest!"

"Thank you so much for having me! I'm thrilled to be here to share more about our game with all of you." A voice as soothing as velvet sounded through the speakers in the cafe.

"What a voice!" Madeline said while having a dreamy look in her eyes. "His voice could literally make any woman weak in the knees."

Avery shook her head as she smiled at her shameless best friend. "You are overhyping him. His voice doesn't even sound that good."

"Here's the catch. His voice doesn't only sound good, he actually looks good as well. Too good, if I might add. Too bad he's gay." Her voice went low as she said the last part.

"And how would you know that?" Avery asked, while eying Madeline with amusement.

"I heard a rumor that he hates women. He has never been seen moving with women, only men. Ninety percent of the employees at his company are men, he only employs women for the irrelevant positions which would not require them to have any business with him or his office." Madeline was in full on gossip mode.

Avery suddenly let out an exaggerated gasp.

"If what I'm saying doesn't interest you, you can just say so instead of faking a reaction." Madeline said as she rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't faking anything. I just remembered now that my brother told me he was going to GameHive to seek for a job." Avery explained, and Madeline in turn, also let out an overly exaggerated gasp.

While the girls were having their chitchat, the doorbell of the café jingled, indicating that a customer had just walked in.

It was a man, and all eyes turned towards him as they were captivated by the stylish suit he was wearing which fit him perfectly. Half of his face was covered by a nose mask, giving a sense of mystery around him as he strode gracefully to the counter.