Clay stretched awkwardly and stumbled out of bed. He came over and gently shook Ash awake. Ash rolled over, moaning, and fumbled for his glasses before making his way slowly downstairs. Clay decided not to mention that he was still in his pajamas.

        Sunny’s floor piece was already empty, as Sunny liked to get up early. Glory, on the other hand, probably had never gone to sleep. Clay frowned at her unruffled blankets as he nudged Nami.

Nami sat up, grumbling at him, but stopped when he pointed at Glory’s floor spot. Nami’s face fell as she sighed and went over to the little room that served as an office. Clay followed her.

“Glory….” Nami said softly.

Glory turned around and pushed a strand of lime-green hair out of her face. “I’m sorry, but there’s so much work to do….”

“That we could just as easily do for you,” Nami pointed out, helping Glory up and half-shoving her back to their room.

Glory mumbled a few protests before allowing herself to be shoved into the blankets. Nami flung a few on top of her and sternly said “Now sleep.”

Clay followed Nami downstairs, chuckling over Nami’s fierceness.  Sunny was already taking cinnamon rolls out of the oven, while Ash hung the signs and generally fussed about getting ready.

“They’re coming in again today, right?” Clay asked awkwardly.

“Specifically Pele, right?” Nami said mischievously.

“No,” Clay said, blushing. Although he did mean Pele, actually. Kind of.

“Aww, Clay likes Pele!” Sunny giggled.

Clay grumbled.
Sunny swatted him with a napkin. “It’s okay dork, she likes you too. Way more obviously, too.”

“What are you talking about?” Clay said.

Sunny raised an eyebrow. “She always talks about you, she blushes whenever she looks at you, how did you not notice?”

Clay, in an attempt to distract Sunny, pointed at the door. “Oh look they’re coming in!”

Everyone turned to greet the six college students who were their most reliable customers.

Luna entered first, pushing a strand of black hair out of her face and clinging to a book. She waved at the others and sat down at a table, hiding behind her book.

Nicolas pushed in next, and sat down to study Luna intensely. It was obvious to everyone that he loved her, except possibly Luna herself.

Pele and Sam followed, Pele knocking over the gumball machine as she did every day. Sunny, expecting this, set it back up. Sam waved a cheerful hello to everyone, high-fived Nami, and bought a cinnamon roll. Clay handed a napkin to Pele, who had just spilled water on herself when she looked at him.

Quince and Cherry came in next. Quince went to tease Nicolas about Luna, while Cherry asked Sunny “Where’s Glory?” excitedly twirling a strand of pink hair.

“Sleeping,” Nami said glumly.

“Oh.” Glory was Cherry’s idol, for some odd reason. Cherry brightened a few minutes later and went to talk to Sam, who blushed and stuttered.

Phoebe entered last. “Hi Ash!” she grinned widely.

Ash waved a hello in her direction. He liked Phoebe and she liked him, but he still kind of liked Sunny. Teenage love is a complicated thing.

“What would you like?” Nami said to Cherry and Phoebe.

“A mango smoothie and raspberry scone,” Cherry said immediately.

Phoebe shrugged. “I’ll take some soy milk and a chocolate chip scone.”

Nami collected the scones and milk and handed them to the girls. Sunny darted over with a mango smoothie. Cherry and Phoebe said quick thank-yous and headed towards their friends.

Glory came downstairs, blinking in the light. “Mornin,” she mumbled.

“Hi Glory!” Cherry waved from her spot at the table.

Glory smiled and half-waved back. “What can I do to help?” she questioned.

“Nothing, we’ll call you down when it gets more busy. Get more sleep,” Clay said not unkindly.

“No, I can help!” Glory protested, letting herself be shoved away by Sunny.

“You need more than fifteen minutes of sleep. Go to sleep,” Ash said.

This being a near-daily ritual, Luna and her friends didn’t blink an eye.

Glory made her way back upstairs and the others set about preparing for the day. At around 7:15, the students got up, said their goodbyes, and dashed out to get to school on time.

At 7:30, the first real customer arrived, and then someone else, and by 8:00 it was time to call Glory down.

“Glory?” Sunny called up. When no one answered, she went upstairs and managed to shake Glory awake.

“You really need to get better sleep,” Sunny lectured her. She handed Glory a cinnamon roll and soy milk. “Eat this, brush your teeth, and come downstairs, we’re getting customers.”

Glory came down 20 minutes later and began helping out. Customers increased steadily until 1:00, when the lunch rush quieted down a little and the friends had a moment to rest.

“Sandwich?” Nami offered. Everyone took the sandwiches and ate them happily.

The five young adults leaned back in their chairs and quietly thought. On days like these, it was hard to recall how it had all started.