The Mayor

Corania White gazed at her distorted reflection in the black marble counter top. Only a week until graduation, she thought, while rubbing the sleep from her eyelids. She had stayed up extremely late last night putting the finishing touches on her three hundred page thesis paper on "The Modern writer and their hardships". Standing straight she arched her back until she heard the satisfying 'pop' of her spine. When she had entered college she had decided to take up a major in English.

Customers lounged around the average-sized coffee shop. While a smooth jazz song played in the background over the speaker located in every corner of the room.A small cloud of vapor smoke hovered overhead as the customers parted their lips and exhale into the air. The air smelled of vanilla bean and roasted coffee beans wonderfully mixed in with the smell of fried fries and cheese dripping burgers.

For four years straight Corania had come to associate those smells to a dingy small hole in the wall burger and coffee shop that reminded her of good times and great food. Her boss Joey aka joe had given her the job when she looked like a half-starved undergrad who could barely pay her bills. And her favorite food had been ramen noodles and cheap greasy pizza and that wasn't by choice. So she was hired and didn't regret her time spent here. She would definitely miss the place. Hopefully, she could stop by when she started her teaching job next year.

Corania had wanted to start in a big publishing house becoming a well-known editor and writer but things didn't always work out in your favor. So with the help of her mother who was a retired high school teacher, who was able to get her a job at the school teaching 11th grade English. It wasn't the glam of being an editor but it would pay her bills until she landed an editor position.

Walking around the counter She headed towards the back of the room to take the order of a customer who had just arrived. If you asked her the girl looked flustered and downright hopeless. Her hair resembled a stack of dry hay that had been drugged through. Her backpack was filled to the brim with textbooks and she almost fell on her face trying to balance through the tables. She screamed 'FRESHMEN'

Smiling to herself she smoothly flowed through the round metal tables and stood in front of the booth.

"Welcome to 'wacky coffee n Burgers', the best place on campus, what can I get you today?" she asked, her pen hovering over her small rectangle shaped pad.

"Uhh, I'll take a veg burger with sweet potato fries? How much would that cost?" she asked while nibbling on her fingertips.

"It's on me today, no worries," she called over her shoulder while going to put the order in. It was her last day so why not? She thought.

Since she would be handing in her black and white striped apron soon so she would try to pass on the torch to another suffering freshman. Her shift was coming to a close soon as it was time to close up shop.

After she cleaned the tables she spotted Joey heading from the kitchen.

"Hey kid, it's about closing time ..." he said while rubbing the scuff of his Santa beard.

Joey was a big and burly guy with tattoos cascading down his arms. His grey hair was buzzed cut on the sides while his hair in the center was gelled back. He wore a white shirt that read 'coffee and whiskey' in bold black. He was in his late forties and was the perfect picture of a forever biker boy. He had stopped the biker gang life when he met his husband Samuel and they had decided to settle down and start a family.