Coffee Break

COFFEE BREAK

“Coffee break!!!” Jackie suddenly yelled out.
I work in an Oxfam shop, in the back room. Today, I was sorting through the books, while Jackie was going through the bags of clothes, Chantelle was checking all the kids toys, and Chris was looking at the CDs, DVDs and videos. Poor Shelley was working on the till, dealing with all the irate customers who were constantly shouting and having a go at her.
“Who wants a cuppa?” Jackie was asking.
“Yeah, I’ll have one,” the other two chorused.
“I don’t like coffee,” I told Jackie. “I’ll have a cup of tea instead please.”
“Okay, that’s three cups of coffee, plus a cup of tea. Oh, I’d better make Shelley a cup of coffee. It’s thirsty work being on the till.”
Once Jackie had made us all drinks, and taken one out to Shelley, we all stooped our work, to have a break.
“Poor old Shelley,“ Jackie laughed. “There’s this one customer who’s trying to tell her a book cost 2.49, when it’s actually 2.99. Shelley’s just shown me the book, and it is clearly 2.99, not 2.49. God, he was rude, cussing under his breath as he left the shop. So anyway, what’s everyone been up to, recently?”
“I’ve got a boyfriend,” I answered.
Suddenly, my co-workers all crowded around me.
“What’s his name?” Jackie asked.
“What’s he look like?” Chantelle inquired.
“Where’d you meet him?” Chris wanted to know.
“Well, he’s called Stan, and he’s quite tall, with floppy blonde hair, almost like Brad Pitt. We met in the pub a couple of nights ago. Some guy bumped into me, causing me to spill my drink. He was standing there at the bar; he offered to buy me another drink.”
All three women were watching me with interest.
“So, you’ve been going out with him for how long?” Chris said.
“Only two days. We met last week, but it was two days ago that he declared his love for me, and I admitted I loved him back, so we became a couple.”
“Wow,” Jackie said. “It took me less time than that to get with Roger. I met Roger in the pub as well, funnily enough. I was stood at the bar, and he started chatting me up. He was a little drunk, but I kept up the conversation. He told me he was gutted because his TV was broken, and he was going to miss that night’s episode of “True Blood”. I said I liked that show, and I invited him to my house to watch TV. He said to me he’d never met anyone as beautiful as me before. We‘ve been an item for about a week,” Jackie sighed, thinking about it.
“And you swooned?” Chantelle teased.
“Oh, shush.”
“I met my fella at the computer course I go to in the evenings,” Chantelle joined in. “Peter asked me out on a date three nights ago, and we’ve been inseparable since then.”
We all turned toward Chris. “Come on, girl, spill the beans,” Jackie said. “You can’t be the only one of us four without a man.”
“I’m not,” Chris smiled coyly. “His name’s Steve, he’s the son of a family friend. Our parents set him up, because apparently we’re both lonely. And we’ve been going steady for about five days now.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s all four of us. Maybe we should start a club.”
We all giggled.
At that moment, there was a knock at the back door. I stood up, and opened it. Standing there was Stan. He’d told me earlier he would come and visit me at work. He was holding a large box of chocolates.
“You know you can come through the shop,” I laughed, as I showed him in. “You don’t need to sneak through the back. Although it’s lovely to see you.”
He started to say something, but stopped as he caught sight of my friends.
“Girls!!!” He cried out, looking incredulous.
Just as incredulous, my friends all shouted out at the same time: “Roger? Steve? Peter?”
I turned toward Stan, but he had done a runner, the box of chocolates on the floor. I picked up the box and there was a card attached. I pulled the card off, and opened it, and read the inside:

“I’m so sorry Sam, but I feel that our relationship isn’t working out. I still love you, but my wife Shelley is getting suspicious of us. I’m afraid I’m going to have to end it. So sorry to do this to you. Enjoy the chocolates. Stan.”