Bittersweet lemon & lime mousse with pink sparkly sugary candied limes

Steps

1. Hii how may I help you?
2. Sweet and sticky and syrupy swept up in splashes of sweet nectar. Sweet and sticky and sickly, just like the high pitched singsong intonation of my voice behind the cash desk.
3. Hii-ii how may I help you?
4. (smile sweetly and compliment every customer) Have a nice day! Hope to see you soon!!
5. Sweet and sticky and syrupy like the smells of perfume that stained our clothes—verbena with notes of pomelo, spearmint and peach nectar—delightfully scented with lemon zest, strawberry and whipped vanilla.
6. (sweet and submissive) Let me know if you need any help with anything?
7. Our faces caked in makeup, orange splodges under our jawlines and residues rubbing and staining clothes—sienna stardust and dramatic crimson—lunar lush pearly lips sticking together.
8. (smile sweetly and speak slowly and softly)
9. Sweet and sticky and syrupy. Fair neutral concealer with silver highlights to cover tired eyes. Have a nice day!!
10. Cute cupcakes left to go stale in the staff canteen. Smooth sickening sugary sweetness. Light rose buttercream and a sprinkling of rose petals—springy pistachio sponge with a ganache filling—fluffy creamy icing dotted with plump raspberries. Dusty cocoa powder and sweet sickly chocolate sauce drizzled over the top. Crumbs leading down the corridor and gritty sugar caught under my sunflower magic painted nails. Sunny cheery yellow shining bright under the blinding tube lights. Sparkling reflecting bouncing from the mirrors. Head pounding from the flickering beaming lights and music playlist looped and looped and looped and looped. Dizzy lightheaded low blood sugar levels and feet aching in uncomfortable pointy shoes after a ten hour shift. Hard soles clip-clopping on the floor—up and down and up and down—up and down and up and down.
11. (smile sweetly and always look presentable) Shrill chattering voices and giggles.
12. Good work girls! her booming voice would ring out as she paced around, up and down up and down. Neatly folding and tidying and smoothing creases, spacing hangers. Tap tap tap. Twisting the little spouts of the bottles until they were perfectly aligned. Dusting away dust in a frenzy.
13. Smile sweetly, girls! Compliment every customer, girls!!!
14. Lipstick tops sharpened with a knife and the edges polished with alcohol. Blissful berry—fiery ruby—peach passion—neon rush.
15. We’d line up at the end of the day and crowd around the sink together. Warm water washes away the unpleasantness of the day. Wads of 100 euro notes crawling with bacteria. Security cameras zoom in on our delicate fingers as we count as quickly as possible. Hundreds of coins clinking in the cash desk. Sickly sweet soaps foam together, sugar scrub to exfoliate and scratch away dead dry skin.
16. (rub your hands together for at least 20 seconds)
17. Notes of milky coconut, warm vanilla and sweet caramel seeping into dry cracked hands. Supple and divine, scented with falling sprinkles of pink pepper swept up with sweet cotton candy. The washing became more frequent, rushing to the sink as often as possible. Touching objects touching makeup touching skin. Scrub scrub scrub scrubbing away. Afraid to touch the products and surfaces. Plastic screens put up to protect ourselves. Holding breath as they appear one after the other in front—
18. Hii how may I help you? Have a nice day!!
19. Remnant skin and germs scrubbed away with sugar scrub, scratching and dissolving tangerine sparkle. Sweet and sickly and syrupy. Surfaces crawling with bacteria sprayed with pink grapefruit all purpose cleaner, wiped down between customers. Hands dried out with crinkly skin—soap stocks running low. Worried anxious glares at the shrill chattering voices. Fewer and fewer bodies. Faces covered with masks. Sweet and sticky and syrupy. Coughs and splutters and sneezes. Spreading germs spreading smells spreading sparkles. Sickly sweet swept up in splashes of sweet nectar.
20. Gracefully scented with fresh-picked oranges—tickling sun-warmed wood—spring magnolia seeping into coarse cracked hands. Supple and divine. Ruby cherry dancing to the sound ​of wild roses. Scratchy sugar scrub, silky luscious indulgent sugar-spun flowers. Sweet and sickly. Sweet and sticky and syrupy.
21. (smile sweetly)