Lips Made of Yarn

Brendon signed something, and his mother turned pink from anger. She burst into angry signing of her own, jutting her right hand frantically toward me a couple of times.

"Er," I said awkwardly after a moment, drawing both their attention towards me. Brendon huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at a space above my head.
Robin pursed her lips.
I tried not to freak out.

"Brendon is ready to start working now, if you’re ready," she said simply, and Brendon rolled his eyes.
"Oh, uhm, yeah...great," I stumbled, at a complete loss. Something this big couldn't have simply been forgotten by Robin, she deliberately didn't tell me.

Robin nodded her head and left, giving Brendon one last meaningful look. He scowled even more. I scratched my head, racking my brain for anything to clear this awkward silence between us. I shrugged to myself and turned, walking towards the back lounge. I had hired this guy for a reason, so I better get to it, vocal chords or not.

I noticed he wasn't following me, just stubbornly standing in the same spot.
"If you follow me, I'll give you your uniform and the basic rundown." I said kindly.

He rolled his eyes, shuffling behind me. I opened the door and handed him an old uniform. It was only really a green button-up shirt, with a coffee cup on the lapel. He took it roughly and pulled it on without question.
I showed him how to work the machines quickly, how to blend the coffees the right way, and all that good stuff. Even though he was still silently fuming, I could tell he was paying very close attention to what I was saying, tucking all the information away in the back of his mind, like he didn't want to me to know he actually cared.

"So, that's about it," I finished. "If you don't have any other questions, we have about a half hour until we open, so we can just hang out."
He nodded once, a gesture I took as he didn't have any questions. I smiled and plopped down at one of the few tables, grateful that he sat at the same one.

"So, Brendon, what made you want to work here?" I asked tentatively. He frowned again, and I thought for a horrible second he was offended. He took out a small notepad from his back pocket, along with a pencil, and scribbled 'I don't want to.' on it.

"Oh," I said, wondering what on earth I was getting myself into. "Don't tell Kranger, but I probably hate this job more than you."

He quirked an eyebrow, a critical yet humorous look on his face, as if to say 'Then why are you here?'
I shrugged and leaned back in my chair and replied, "I need the money."

He seemed surprised that I had actually understood what his face had being saying, and I felt a weird sense of accomplishment. Brendon was defiantly more interesting than anyone I had ever met. I felt a weird urge to find out if he was born mute, or if he had gotten in some type of accident. I bit back my blatantly rude questions and we sat in silence, Brendon staring at his hands and me staring at him.

Kranger shuffled in and my happy wonderings were broken by fear. Kranger will have my head for this, I just know it. But the feeling in the pit of my stomach wasn't despair for my own future, but for what Kranger would do to Brendon. He wasn't exactly the nicest person, or subtle at all. He would rip the poor boy to shreds in no time.

Kranger looked at me, shocked that I had managed to hire someone so fast. I quirked an eyebrow and challenged him to find something to complain about.

"This is Brendon." I said quickly before he had the chance to ask Brendon himself. Kranger grunted and replied. "You showed him how to do everything?"

"Yup," I replied quickly, glancing over at Brendon. He was staring impassively at the table, his thick lips pursed.
"Good, good," Kranger muttered. "Listen, we're offering a new drink, a Grande Chai Latte. Before taking any orders, you’re to tell the customer of it, or else their order is free." Kranger held up a piece of paper that emphasized his point, before taping it to the front window.

I nodded and got up, motioning for Brendon to follow me to the registers as Kranger opened the doors for business.