Since her sandwich was ruined, Tina was thankful her younger sister had arranged a different breakfast for her. She sat up, and winced with disgust as she slid her hands across her belly, which was now covered in Maxie’s slobber. With her hair, pajamas, and tummy in shambles, she deduced she had enough time to properly get ready for her day while her mom made waffles downstairs. And after retreating to her bedroom, she emerged wearing a bright blue polo shirt and khaki shorts, which she covered up with a light white windbreaker. This was her work uniform, and there was no need to waste time on makeup or hairstyling; she simply pulled her flaming red hair back into a ponytail as she walked down the stairs, a backpack slung across her shoulder.
By this time, there was a plate of waffles for her, and she joined Hillary and Brie at the table for breakfast, silently mouthing “thank you” to Brie for setting it up.
“We’re going to have to get a proper air conditioner so that Brie stops sleeping with her window open.”
“Why don’t you buy one, mrs. ‘I have a job’?”
Tina rolled her eyes, and allowed the early morning to proceed. After washing everything down with some orange juice and brushing her teeth, the teen headed to the front door, ready to put on a pair of runners and a blue baseball cap. Hillary, reading something off of her tablet on the couch, jumped up when she saw her daughter was about to leave.
“Oh, wait, Tina! I’m sorry, I completely forgot to tell you, what with the squirrel and the waffles and all. I’ll drive you to work this morning, and I’ll pick you up later. It’s the first proper day of summer, so you’ll probably be too tired to bother with the bus.”
“Aw, thanks mom.”
This bought her some extra time of relaxing, but soon, she was in the passenger seat of the family minivan driving down the road. They were heading for the Whalerock Beach, the city’s largest, most popular beach, where Tina had landed a summer job. She had started the prior month part time, but as her mom said, with summer now going full steam ahead, the beach was going to get busier. Her job consisted of a wide variety of tasks, so she was thankful that no two days there were the same. There were multiple ice cream and hot dog carts stationed along the very lengthy beach, as well as a larger café at the main plaza building. She had experience working those, but could also go mobile from time to time by walking along the sands with stacks of frozen lemonade. It wasn’t just food related; some shifts had her in the plaza’s gift shop where she’d sell or stock tourist traps and nautical toys. There was an information booth, a photography stand, activity rentals, all of which she had been assigned to at least once. The summer teens like her were expected to be able to fill in anywhere, without needing to excel or manage any one particular spot. A jack of all trades entry into the working world. And she enjoyed it; it was an excuse to head to the beach and stay in the sun, and she had made a couple friends working there.
Hillary pulled up to a good dropoff point, and hugged her working daughter goodbye before driving off; Tina entered through a staff door, and hung up her jacket, revealing the beach logo on her polo shirt. And as she dropped her stuff off into her locker, she walked by a mirror, stopped, and paused, looking herself over.
“Hmm…”
Gripping the waist of her shirt, Tina gave it a tug before pulling it out and tying the front up onto a large knot. It was too big for her liking, so she undid it and retried it smaller, which ended with a thin sliver of exposed skin just above the line of her shorts. Her deep bellybutton was barely poking out the top behind her zipper; it was a good combination of modest and stylish. Her managers didn’t care how the uniform was worn, as long as it was safe.
Tina then exited the locker room, and was immediately greeted by a jolt to the sides, as two fingers pushed into the minimum slice of skin she had open.
“EEEEP! Ahaha… I know it’s you, Ava.”
She turned around and was greeted by her friend Ava, a short Asian girl with lots of spunk. Tina was honestly not sure how long Ava was going to stick around given her reputation for being a goof, or rather bold. The managers loved the friendly aspect of her, but she had nearly yelled at a rude customer once, and was only saved by Tina literally grabbing her and pulling her back. She also knew of Tina’s ticklish streak, and had made sure to give it a test as soon as she came into work. Test succeeded.
“Good morning, happy summer Tina! Mandatory smiles all around, bosses said so!”
“That doesn’t mean tickling me every chance you get, Ava.” Tina rolled her eyes.
“Well, with such a small opening, I stepped up to the challenge. If you had shown a bit more belly today maybe you would have gotten away free.”
“I highly doubt that. Where’s your belly, hmm?”
Tina poked at her friend’s stomach, which was covered by her own uniform shirt tucked behind a belt into her shorts. Still, it was enough to elicit a small ticklish laugh, and Ava backed off, clutching her middle.
“Hey, easy. I’m in the grill this morning. No burn marks on these abs. Where are you?”
"Lemonade girl."
"Ooh, don't sunburn!"
"Don't burger burn."
It was still eight in the morning, and while the public beach was open, many of its amenities wouldn't be open for an hour. And the frozen lemonade didn't start going out until ten, when it was hot enough for customers to want some. So although the position was a good one for getting out and stretching your legs in the sun, it did require a couple hours of grinding in the morning. Lemon after lemon after lemon was chopped up, tossed into a juicer, and poured into a giant frozen slushie maker. Fortunately, she had the help of two other workers, a girl named Tasha and a guy named Roy. She wasn't as familiar with them, so not much conversation was made. Instead, a ton of lemonade was made, with more to freeze later on. By the time it was ten, their stocks were loaded, which gained them all an enthusiastic thumbs-up from the concessions manager.
Roy packed a large stash into a golf cart to take to the farther areas of the beach; Tasha took a ride with him to get the middle section, which left Tina at the main entrance third. After reapplying enough sunscreen, the redhead packed up two trays of frozen cups and headed out to the beach, instantly thankful for the effective sunglasses that were provided to the employees.
It was an absolutely beautiful day, and the beach was busy already. There were families playing in the waves, groups building art out of the sand, woman already working on their summer tans, a few groups of teens playing volleyball at a few of the courts, and that was just on the beach. Out in the water, she could make out windsurfers, and people on jetskis and parasails out in the distance. Remembering her basic training, and knowing how to spot the thirstiest people, Tina set out.
Frozen lemonade proved to be popular enough, and the teen even made a neat amount in tips, an added bonus to getting to enjoy the views of the beach. It was shaping up to be a busy, but great, day at work.
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