Mason Maloney

Sometimes I felt like I was living in the shadow of my brother. We looked the same except for my scrawnier build versus his athletic one. But still, it was him that got all of the attention whether it be from girls who wanted to be with him or guys that wanted to be him. Being the star quarterback, he was the pride and joy of our town.

Me? Well, I wasn't the star of anything, except maybe at the bakery I worked at. There were very few employees there and because of that we were all considerably close. The bakery was a place where I felt like I belonged. It was only a bonus that I got paid to be there.

After school, I sat in the passenger's seat of mine and Nathan's shared car, waiting for him to drive me to work. I let out a heavy sigh as I looked through the parking lot, hoping to find Nathan among the crowd. Eventually, I saw him running toward the car, pushing through people standing in his way. He threw himself into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut when he reached the car. Nathan wasted no time starting the car and peeling out of the parking spot, getting beeped at as he cut people off.

"Can you try not to get us killed?" I asked worriedly, gripping onto the handle above my head.

"I only have fifteen minutes to get back for practice," he explained hurriedly, rolling through a stop sign.

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head in annoyance.

Nathan barely stopped the car in the bakery parking lot before I rushed out, throwing my backpack over my shoulder. The tires screeched on the pavement as he speedily left back toward school.

I ripped open the bakery door and hastily walked toward the back room to throw on my apron.

"Hey, Mase," Charlene, the owner, greeted with a wide grin as I walked to the front.

I smiled sweetly. "Afternoon, Charlene."

"Before I forget, I wanted to let you know that we have a new hire starting tomorrow and I'll probably have him training with you," she told me as she took a pan of muffins out of the oven.

"Really?" I asked, feeling surprised.

I had never trained anyone before, not that we usually had new people working here. I hadn't been here the longest, nor was I the most experienced.

"You two are around the same age, so you'll probably have most of your shifts together," she explained, placing the muffins in the freezer to let them cool.

It was hard to stop myself from groaning at that. I hoped that it wasn't anyone from my own school.

"Got anything for me to do?" I decided to ask instead of commenting on what she had told me.

She stood silently for a moment as if she was trying to think. Then, Charlene looked at me and snapped her fingers.

"I need you to take the muffins out of the freezer in two minutes and then I have a cake for you to decorate," she let me know, walking toward the front counter.

Charlene grabbed a paper out of the binder of orders and brought it back to me. I read through the paper to see how the cake needed to be decorated and then set it down on the counter I was leaning on.

"I'm going to head out," Charlene started. "Sandy should be here soon."

As if on cue, the bell on the front door rang and Sandy came barging into the kitchen a moment later, looking disheveled. Sandy always acted as if she was running late, even when she wasn't.

"Sorry I'm late!" Sandy exclaimed, throwing her apron on hastily.

Charlene and I shared knowing looks, chuckling slightly. Sandy quickly made her way to the front counter to man the register. Charlene waved goodbye and she was soon out the door. I took the muffins out of the freezer and brought them to the front to put them on display.

"Did you hear about the new hire?" I asked Sandy as I placed the muffins in the glass case.

Sandy nodded. "Charlene told me about him yesterday."

"Do you know who it is?"

She shrugged. "I didn't ask."

I sighed, closing the glass case and turning to look at Sandy.

"I'm going to go decorate a cake, call me if you need me," I told her, heading back to the kitchen before waiting for a response.

When I got back to the kitchen, I picked up the order sheet. I had to have the cake done by five o'clock when the customer would be picking it up. Charlene had already made the cake and it was sitting in the cooler, lathered in buttercream frosting.

I took the cake out of the freezer and brought it to the decorating table. I smoothed out the frosting that was already on it before grabbing the piping and colors I would need to decorate the floral pattern that was requested. When I first started working here, it took me forever to get the hang of decorating the cakes, but now it was like second nature.

I slowly and carefully piped pink and purple flowers on the circular cake. It was important for me to take my time so that I could perfect each flower. Once I was finished, I placed the box it would leave in.

"Mason!" Sandy called out.

"Yeah?"

"The woman is here for her cake!"

I smiled down at my creation before closing the box and bringing it out to the front counter along with the order sheet.

***

Even though the bakery closed at seven PM, Sandy and I don't get to leave until eight as long as we get everything done that needs to be. We need to clean up the entire shop, count the drawer, check inventory, and get rid of everything that didn't sell.

"I finished my stuff, Sandy," I told her, looking out to the parking lot to see Nathan sitting out there in our car.

"You can go," she said, looking at the computer. "I just have to finish my drawer."

I bid Sandy goodbye before heading out the door with my backpack and a bag of sweets. I waved to Nathan before slipping into the passenger's seat of our car.

"Finally," Nathan said with a groan, backing out of the spot that he was parked crookedly in.

"I'm out early," I pointed out, gesturing toward the clock.

"Doesn't feel like it," he muttered, driving toward our home. "Did you bring food?"

I rolled my eyes playfully, shaking the bag of sweets and opening it so he could grab something out of it. He shoved the first thing he grabbed into his mouth and moaned happily at the taste.

"I love you," Nathan mumbled with his mouth full of chocolate chip muffin.

"You better."

Once we were home, I placed the bag of sweets on the kitchen counter then poured myself a glass of almond milk.

"There's dinner for you in the fridge," Nathan told me as he walked into the kitchen, picking up another sweet out of the bag on the counter.

"That's a lot of processed sugar for you today," I pointed out, grabbing my dinner plate from the fridge.

"Let me live," he retorted with his mouth full in a dramatic tone, walking out of the kitchen.

After heating up my dinner in the microwave, I sat at the kitchen table alone to eat my food. By the time I was finished, I headed upstairs to do my homework and head to bed.

***

A loud, frustrated groan woke me up the next morning. The groan sounded like it was coming from across the hall in Nathan's room. I sighed, rolling my eyes at his dramatics. I let out a yawn before hopping out of bed and leaving my room at the same time as Nathan.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked as I followed him down the stairs. The two of us headed into the kitchen where our mother and father were sitting at the table with coffees.

Nathan looked down at his phone before letting out another groan, throwing his head back.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Dad asked, setting his mug down. Our mom smacked him on the shoulder.

Nathan and I sat down across from our parents.

"I just found out that one of our cheerleaders was screwing around with Sam Knight," Nathan revealed with a pout.

I rolled my eyes at his admittance. Nathan and the rest of his team had this unnecessary rivalry with the team from the town over, meaning Nathan automatically hated their quarterback, also known as Sam Knight. The funny thing about Sam was that his school mascot was also a Knight while ours was a Warrior.

"I don't understand your hatred for that boy," Mom said, shaking her head.

"Mom," Nathan started exaggeratedly, "he's a Knight. I'm obligated to hate him."

"Have you ever even spoken to him?" I asked curiously.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Of course I have. He's an ass."

"Nathan, language," Mom scolded. He let out a small 'sorry' before getting up to get some breakfast.

I toasted a bagel that I had brought home yesterday from the bakery and lathered it in cream cheese, then I filled my travel mug with coffee and leaned on the counter to wait for my twin. We bid goodbye to our parents before making our way out to the car.

"Can I drive?" I asked seriously. Nathan was still munching on some breakfast and he was enough of a bad driver without anything distracting him.

"You're funny," he replied, slipping into the driver's seat.

I rolled my eyes, sliding into the passenger's seat. "I was serious."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving me off and flooring it out of the driveway.

I just shook my head and gripped the door in response to his reckless driving. I was honestly surprised he hadn't gotten in an accident yet.

We arrived at school surprisingly in one piece. Nathan whipped into a parking spot crookedly and immediately got out of the car and headed off toward his friends. I let out a sigh and got out of the car, remembering to lock it like Nathan hadn't.

A few people greeted me as I made my way toward the school. Once I was inside, I instantly went to my locker to grab what I needed for the first few periods of the day.

"Hey, stranger," my friend Bella greeted me as she stood behind me with our other friend Ross.

"Hey," I answered, turning to look at the two of them. "Where's Pete?" I asked, wondering where the last of our friend group could be.

"Running late, like always," Ross told me with an annoyed sigh.

"Shut your mouth," Pete snapped, surprising us with his presence.

"You were supposed to pick me up this morning you ass," Ross shot at him with an angry glare.

Pete's brown eyes widened. "I forgot."

Ross rolled his eyes. "No shit."

"You know you have to remind me about these things!" Pete exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"I shouldn't have to you-" Ross started.

"Enough," Bella cut him off. "We have more important things to discuss, like movie night at my house on Friday."

"I have to go to the football game," I reminded her.

Bella rolled her eyes. "I know. After the game."

"We'll see if Pete can remember to show up," Ross said, crossing his arms.

Pete shot him a dirty look, but I interjected before he could start arguing with him again.

"So we will all go to Redbox after school then go get some food and head to the game," I suggested. Bella nodded enthusiastically.

After school, I leaned against the car, waiting for Nathan to drive me to the bakery for work. I sighed when I saw him hurrying through the parking lot like he always did, dodging people and cars the whole way toward me. As soon as he was in the car, we were on our way within a few seconds. When we reached the bakery, Nathan didn't even bother to park the car and decided to just drop me off by the door.

"Hi, Charlene," I greeted my boss once I stepped inside.

"Back here, Mase!" she shouted from the kitchen. I followed the sound of her voice to find her in the kitchen where she was in the middle of piping frosting onto a cake.

"The new hire should be here in a few minutes," Charlene told me. "Just show him the basics and how to use the till for now. We'll worry about him baking later on."

I nodded. "Alright."

"Sandy's off today so it will just be you and him. You shouldn't be too busy," she said as she put the finishing touches on the cake.

"Okay, I'm sure we'll be fine," I agreed.

"You will."

A few moments later the bell at the door rang and Charlene excitedly clapped her hands together. She scurried to the front to go greet who was here.

"Welcome!" I heard her shout. "Mason! Come meet Sam!"

I stepped out of the kitchen to come face to face with none other than Sam Knight.

This should be interesting.