Venom

06

"How was the meal?" I asked, customarily.

I couldn't care any less if the creep and the Salad had enjoyed their meals or not, but I earned a lot more from good tips.

Greek Salad offered a subtle nod of what I assumed was satisfaction with the food.

"It was fine, would've been better if you'd fed me." The old man smirked.

I threw him a disgusted look, not bothering to mask my reaction. Who did he think he was?

"Do you want to pay cash or debit?" I asked monotonously.

"Aren't you going to offer us dessert?" The old man asked.

"We don't typically serve dessert with our lunches, however, I'd be happy to get you whatever you'd like from our dessert menu."

I excused myself, before returning with the dessert menu.

The old man requested a slice of red velvet, throwing in another crude remark.

Greek Salad didn't ask for anything.

After serving the red velvet, I returned to the cash register, running past Ellie. I begged her to deal with giving the bill to Greek Salad and the creep. She reluctantly accepted.

About fifteen minutes later, I looked over at Greek Salad's table. He was still there but his guest was nowhere to be seen.

Perfect, I could ask him something that had been in the back of my mind since he stepped into the restaurant.

I made my way towards his table.

"If you're getting evicted, how can you afford to lunch here?" I asked as I cleared the dishes. Mastro's was probably the most expensive restaurant in Beverly Hills. Our most common customers were rich and old white men.

Greek Salad looked up at me in annoyance. "Not that it's any of your business, Girl Scout, but my friend offered to pay."

"Stop calling me weird names. I go by Charlotte." I snapped, pointing to the name tag on my uniform for emphasis.

"I'll call you what I want." He shrugged, looking suddenly disinterested in our conversation.

"You should be nice to the people serving you, who knows what they'll do to your food otherwise?" I replied.

Before Greek Salad could respond, I felt someone snake an arm around my waist.

At first, I thought it might be Carter, no one else would dare embrace me in such a way.

But the grip was uncomfortably strong.

I turned and was horrified to find the old man breathing down my neck.

"Hello, beautiful. Were you looking for me? Miss me that much?"

"No." I snapped. "Now, get your filthy hands off of me."

"Oh, honey, is that any way to speak to someone you're serving?" He drawled out tauntingly.

"Listen here, bucko." I seethed. "I do not tolerate behaviour like yours. I'd suggest you get away from me before I call my manager."

"I like them feisty." The old man sent Greek Salad a grin.

I spared him a glance. He looked unfazed by what was happening.

Yeah, there was no way in hell I'd want to live with someone like him.

"What's it he called you? Cherry?" The old man asked rhetorically looking at my mouth. "I like it, it suits the red of your lips."