Grunting, I left up the full box napkins and held them on my hip and I backed through the door of the kitchen. I just needed to fill them up for the breakfast shift and I would be good to go for the night.
As soon as I walked through the door, a prickling of m
y skin up my back made me hyper aware I wasn’t alone. I dropped the box on the floor with a loud thump and turned around, the knot in my stomach only tightening when it was who I expected. Or maybe hoped.
He leaned against one of the booth tables, his arms crossed against his chest in a dark blue tailored suit. His eyes stared at me with a dark intensity that warmed my center. God I had started to forget how beautiful he was.
“Your purple hair friend w
“Are you insane!” I screech. “Get off the floor right now.”Derek smirks and it has me pausing the full panic meltdown that was about to ensure.“Why are you smirking? This isn’t funny. You don’t just propose to someone.”He laughs as he stands back up, but I could see the small black box he was fumbling with in his hands. I think he was serious about the proposal the longer I stared at it.“Because never did I think I was going to propose to someone and then they reject me, but to be honest I expected it somewhat.”“Somewhat? There was a part of you that thought I was
“Can’t… breathe..” I croak Natalie lets go of me and takes a step back, holding onto my shoulders. “You know I hit him with one of my pans.” My eyes widen and I look at Derek, who nods wiping his mouth to hide a smile. “Umm.. thank you?” I laugh softly. “Well he deserved it so no thanks needed.” She pushes my shoulders back and looks me up and down. “You been eating? You looking a bit skinner?” Linda is standing awkwardly to the side of us as we’re all gathered in the kitchen. She’s kept her gaze down and hasn’t spoken a word since we got in. “Yeah. I have been. The first couple of days were rough but I found a place to stay and she kept me fed.” “Where’d you go?” Natalie asks, giving Derek a hard stare. “I ended up in Arizona.” Derek kisses my temple and squeezes my forearm as he passes us. “I have a few calls to make. All your stuff was moved to our room.” I narrow my eyes at his statement as he chuckles and walks towards his office in t
It’s easy to see the flashes from outside the tinted windows of the car. “Can they even see us?”“No.” Derek says, his hand intertwined with mine. “So they’re just taking photos of a car?”Derek sighs. “Yeah, they just rapidly shoot in hopes of getting the one perfect shot. You ready?” He glances at me wearily. No, not really. I nod anyway and he lets go to open the door and climbs out. The people surrounding the small sidewalk in front of the restaurant instantly start yelling for his attention. He holds out a hand for me to grab and I hesitate. I don’t know what I was thinking by wanting this. I’ve always hated attention and this is like being put under a microscope. Derek is watching me with a hint of sympathy and I take a deep breath, putting my hand in his. I’m thankful that there are men blocking the people with cameras flashing because I think without them they wouldn’t even allow us to walk in the restaurant
An impatient man in the corner of the coffeehouse loudly snapped his fingers. I cracked my neck in annoyance as I tried to tune him out so I could take the customer’s orders. He continued to snap as I walked behind the counter making the drinks for the couple.A hand slapped the counter loudly with an exaggerated scoff. I jumped at the sound, nearly dropping the cups.“EXCUSE ME!” The man spat out “I’ve been calling you”I gave him the best fake smile I could muster, scrunching my nose a bit. “No you were snapping at me like I was a dog. I will be with you as soon as I can though.”
I worked the rest of my shift in a constant state of anxiety as I kept watching the door for ‘Linda’.When the afternoon rolled around and nothing came, I figured he was just messing with me and left for the day.I made my way through the streets, heading towards my bus stop, plopping down onto the bench.Jeremy handed me half of his sandwich. We always got off work at the same time and since we lived at the same apartment building, we usually brought each other meals at the end of our shifts, splitting them to save money. Today was a Tuesday which meant that Turkey was on sale. I savored my sandwich, knowing it would be probably be till tomorrow I would eat again.“I had a
As I approached the coffeehouse, I noticed a woman standing next to Mrs Reynolds. I paused before getting in view of the window, I debated I had a sneaking suscipion who she was. After a 30 seconds, I convinced myself I really wasnt that important and that man was just saying it to get a response out of me.I walked in carefully, hoping not to disrupt their conversation and bring attention to me. Unfortunately, it did not work.“Avery” Mrs. Reynolds hissed. “This woman is telling me, you accepted another job.”I looked at the young woman, she was not much older than me. I presumed she was Linda. “Accepted is a bit presumptuous” I said,
"Well Avery... It will certainly be a pleasure to work with you.” Derek said.I narrowed my eyes, unsure how to take that. Fortunately I was saved by Linda softly knocking.“I have her stuff ready.”Derek waved her in, walking back behind his desk.“Go ahead, take her. Tell Matt I want to talk to him if you run into him.”Linda nodded, pulling my elbow to lead me out of the office. We walked back toward the apartment style space again and into a small bedroom. Well, smaller. This bedroom was still larger than my entire apartment. An outfit we had picked out at the store was laid neatly on the bed.
After trying to find Linda and being unsuccessful, I headed back to my room. There was a thin pretty brunette in the kitchen and I decided to head there instead. She greeted me with a smile as I hopped up on a barstool.“You must be Avery, I’m Natalie” She said, as he placed a bowl of grapes in front of me.“Are these for me?” I asked her, confused.Natalie nodded while she continued to cut and prepare other food on her counter. I picked the grapes, and they were delicious. It had been a while since I had fresh fruit. Ms Reynolds swapped for only baked goods since there was less waste because we could freeze them.“How long have you worked for Derek?” I ask