Wrong for Me

01|you don't know my name

NAOMI COLE—MAY

WALKING OUT OF MY only class for the day, a grin grew on my face knowing that I was done with all of my classes for the week. I've loved learning and academia my whole life—but I really needed a break.

After graduating college with a degree in English, I continued right on to graduate school, not wanting any gaps in my education. Still, I was clueless as to what I wanted to do when I graduated, but I hoped I would come to my senses soon.

Once I had crossed the parking lot and reached my car, I let out a sigh as I pressed my head against the steering wheel—my horn blaring suddenly. A few people looked over at me angrily and I didn't even have the energy to send back a glare. Although my classes were done for the week, my job was still there waiting for me and I was not excited about it.

In order to pay for my few graduate school classes, I acquired a job at a fancy restaurant in my city not far from my school or my apartment. Luckily for me, because the restaurant had such expensive clientele, my pay was amazing, but my tips were even better. Old white men always seemed to be the ones to give me the greatest tips, but I couldn't blame them—I was a great waitress and I was pretty cute.

Just minutes later, I was walking into La Margherita and rushing to the back room to change into my waitressing uniform.

"Naomi!" My best friend, Veronica, called out as she picked up a few plates to take to the dining room. "You take notes for me in class today?"

Veronica and I had been best friends since our freshman year of college when we were roommates. Ever since then, we've been inseparable—so much so that we even chose to go to the same graduate school and rent an apartment together.

"Of course. Professor Nicks is gonna start realizing you don't show up for class every single Thursday," I reprimanded her as I clocked in for the evening.

"When she's the one signing my paychecks, she can be mad about it," Veronica spoke, making me let out a laugh before we went our separate ways.

"Naomi, clean up table five and then there are men at table six who need served!" My boss called out to me as I grabbed my notepad and walked out to complete my tasks once I was dressed.

As I cleaned up table five, I sang along to a song that had been stuck in my head for days—You Don't Know My Name by Alicia Keys, a song I've loved since I was young. For as long as I can remember, I've loved singing, but I was never good enough for it to develop into a career, which I was perfectly fine with.

"You have a beautiful voice," a deep voice spoke from the booth beside me, sending shivers down my spine. In just seconds I had completely forgotten about the table I was supposed to be serving next.

Turning to look at the source of the voice, my gaze landed on three gorgeous men seated at the booth, all of them with their eyes on me. I could only guess that the most attractive one had been the person to dish out the compliment with the way his eyebrow was quirked as he sent me a smirk.

My eyes scanned his face, taking in as much information as I could about him. Although he still appeared young, he couldn't be younger or older than his early thirties. He had a perfectly symmetrical face, with sharp cheekbones and a chiseled jawline. What stood out to me the most however, was his chestnut brown eyes that were shielded by the prettiest, long lashes. He had an olive complexion that perfectly contrasted his dark brown—almost black—hair and his plump, pink lips.

"Thank you," I finally managed out, a smile somehow making its way on my face while I still marveled at how sexy the man was. "I'll be right back to take your orders."

As I walked the dirty dishes from the other table to the kitchen, my heart pounded in my chest at the thought of having to even talk to those men again. If their looks weren't intimidating enough, their all black suits and the intense looks in their eyes made up for it. They all seemed to be people of importance.

"What's got you looking so flustered?" Veronica inquired once I was about to walk out and take their orders.

"The men at table six," I replied in a hushed tone, widening my eyes at her before continuing out to the main room.

With a deep sigh, I approached their table, their conversation ending as soon as they saw me standing there. I refused to look in any of their eyes, although I knew all three pairs were staring right at me—I could feel them.

"W-What can I get you three?" I stammered out, finally looking up and locking eyes with the most attractive man, feeling weak in the knees.

"I would like to have the...branzino."

And I would like to be under you right now.

"And for you?" I spoke, turning to face another one of the men with a grin on my face.

That grin fell however, when I saw that his gaze was locked right on my breasts. They weren't even popping out of my shirt or anything!

"Sir, my breasts aren't taking your order, I am," I said a little bit too harshly for speaking to guests, but it pulled his attention away from them nonetheless.

One of the other men chuckled while he simply gave me his order as if nothing had happened. My blood practically boiled at the fact that this was funny to them.

"Apologize to her," the most attractive one said to him just as I was about to walk away and give their orders to the chef.

Honestly, I was grateful that he had enough common sense to realize what his friend had done was wrong, but his sorry apology wouldn't help anything. He should have had the decency to not do it in the first place.

"Apologize," he said again, this time with much more force when the man simply shook his head and waved me off dismissively.

"I don't need his apology. Your food will be out shortly."

With that said, I turned my back and walked into the kitchen where I gave the orders to the chef before continuing to clean and wait on a few other tables.

Veronica had already left to attend one of the classes I wasn't taking with her, but I would definitely be telling her about the interaction later. It wasn't uncommon for those things to happen where we worked, but we still gossiped about them nonetheless.

"Naomi, food for table six!"

Grabbing the plates for the men, I balanced them on my arms and hands as I headed over to their table.

"The branzino for you," I smiled softly, placing it in front of the gorgeous man, relishing in the wonderful smell of his cologne when he leaned in towards me.

The afternoon rush slowed down after I had served them, giving me time to do some of my assignments in the break room until I had to give them the bill. I checked on them a few times, but they never needed anything more.

"Here's the bill," I smiled, placing it on the table and turning to head away, stopping when the man called me back.

He swiftly signed the one of the bills before passing me a card to use for the meal. Back in the kitchen, I swiped it and filled in everything necessary before taking it back to the table.

"Have a nice evening," I spoke when I passed the card back to him, only looking between the two men who hadn't disrespected me. I couldn't care less about the third man and what kind of evening he had.

With that, I turned away from the table so that they could leave a tip and leave, feeling their eyes on my frame as I sauntered away.

After quickly helping another table, I went back over to clean the table and let out a gasp when I saw the tip that had been left for me.

Two hundred dollar bills were placed on the table, as well as the other bill which had writing on it.

'Sorry about my friend. Thank you for the service.' -DM

I smiled down at the note, realizing once again that my heart was still pounding. A guy hadn't made me feel that way in a while with just a few glances, but something about him was just so captivating.

And it sucked that I would probably never see him again.