West [ COMPLETED ]

XXIX

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I was finally working a few days a week serving, and the pay was much better with the tips I got.

I came back from a table around lunchtime that had only two people and they'd tipped me half the price of the whole bill.

I shook my head and smiled a little when my eyes met Dego's from where he stood behind the counter talking with Angel.

"You're not going to believe how much they tipped me Dego," I said, showing him the bill.

He just shrugged and smirked, saying matter of factly, "They thought you were pretty."

I smiled self consciously and put my tips away.

Dego retreated into the back room and Angel turned towards me, not even bothering to hide the open sneer she had on her face.

"What the hell are you waiting for, you need to go clean up the damn table, we have other customers."

I just looked at her and raised my eyebrows, and proceeded with mixing together the cleaning solution, which we both knew needed to be done because the water wasn't clear anymore.

I didn't usually grace her by replying to her rude remarks.

It almost amused me at what a jealous little bitch she was. I couldn't imagine being so petty.

"Not to be rude or anything, but I don't suggest wearing a skirt again to work because honestly it looks kinda slutty and they don't like that around here," Angel said, leaning against the counter next to me and obnoxiously clicking her pen.

I looked at her disdainfully.

"Oh really?" My skirt, which came to about 2 inches above my knees, was slightly form fitting but definitely not what I would classify as slutty; professional, classy even I had thought.

"Yeah...and personally I never wear skirts cause you can get taken...the wrong way, you know?" She said, with a false expression meant to convey that she was merely looking out for me.

"Yes, I think I know what you mean," I said, laughing. " I'll ask Dego about it."

She began to make up some faltering statement which I didn't bother to stay and hear.

The next few hours passed in a blur, but around four o'clock the rush died down and I went to the back to make myself a drink.

I'd began drinking a lot of lemon with my water, and substituting stevia for sugar, and my complexion was looking better than usual.

I turned from the bar where I was putting this together when I became aware of someone tapping on a keyboard behind me. Dego sat slouched deep in the sofa with his laptop across his legs, concentrating on the screen.

"Hello." I dropped a lemon slice into my drink and put the lid on.

"What's up Avie baby?" He asked, glancing up and smiling.

I rolled my eyes at the name, but didn't take much notice of it. I'd come to see that he nicknamed everyone.

"So, I just wanted to talk to you about it, Angel mentioned that skirts aren't in the preferred dress code here because they can give off the wrong message to customers, and I just wanted to check and see if that was the case," I said.

"Um, no, you can wear skirts if you want, what you've got on right now looks great," he said, looking slightly confused.

"Okay, thank you, that's what I thought," I said, and gave him an angelic smile, walking out of the room.

"That little bitch," I heard him mutter under his breath. I think I knew who he was talking about and it wasn't me.

Hearing that put a smug smile on my face. A small part of me hoped that Angel would hear I was going to Dego's place again tonight, just to see the helpless fury on her face once more.

I sat down for a few minutes and rested my feet.

That was one very nice thing about Dego, is he let us have little breaks when the rush died down and didn't drive us all the time.

It was interesting to compare my first impressions of Dego to the man I knew a little better now...I'd thought him affected, arrogant, when it was really just casual self assurance, and an outgoing personality. It was hard to believe in all honesty, that someone as sophisticated and attractive as Dego could be so down to earth, but that was exactly what he was.