| 𝙾𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 | - '𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝙱𝚘𝚢𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍' 𝟷𝟾+ 𝙵𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

Table For Two - Part Three

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"Another coffee refill for you, sir?"

"Here's a few napkins for you guys!"

"Would you like some extra syrup for your pancakes?"
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It's eleven AM on a Friday. The diner is packed to the brim with early risers hungry for a good breakfast. They're mostly eldery folk looking for a senior discount; who smell like mothballs and consider two dollars to be a 'good tip'. The other scheduled servers both called off last minute, leaving me and TK to fend for ourselves against the rowdy crowd. Don't let their sweet little faces fool you; these people were monsters in disguise. Just a bunch of grumpy old farts waiting on Death's doorstep.

Tk was running around like a maniac the whole rush; taking tables and running the kitchen at the same time. I was doing what I could to keep up with them. Fixing milkshakes, putting together sandwiches, and overall, just making sure the restaurant didn't fall apart. It was a steady flow of customers for about three hours until the last table cashed out; leaving the diner empty and it's only two employees drained.

Me and TK collapsed into a booth, both of us exhausted beyond belief. We looked like we had gone to hell and back with our frazzled hair and messy clothes. Tk rested their head on the table, groaning out a cry of relief.

"Thank god it's over! That was fuckin' awful!" They whined, pulling at the brown and green strands of their hair, "Why did everbody and their mother decide to come to this shithole the one day we are this understaffed!?"

TK flailed their arms aggressively, before smacking their head down onto the table again. I could almost laugh at their adorable frustration, if I wasn't so damn tired myself. A server calling off here was normal, and a day hardly ever went by where somebody didn't come up with an excuse to not work. They had a headache, or their grandma's best friend's son's cousin died, or a flat tire despite living a block away, ETC. What wasn't normal was both of the servers calling off at the same exact time, on top of Marcus not showing up either. Only on a day like that would we get slammed as hard as we did. Lady Luck was a cruel mistress sometimes.

"Who knows? Plot development?" I responded, resting my head against my propped up hand, "Or maybe there's a stupid holiday going on that we didn't know about. Like 'goldfish appreciation day'. Everybody is coming out to celebrate it."

"Fuck those stupid goldfish.." TK mumbled with a sour expression. I giggled and nodded my head in agreement. These were the moments that made this diner worth staying at. The meaningless conversations me and TK had when the restaurant was empty and we had nothing else to do. The laughs and good times we shared when we hung out together. If they weren't here, I sure as heck wouldn't be, either. My letter of resignation would be in faster than Marcus could ever realize.

TK opened their mouth to speak again, but abruptly stopped before they could utter a single word. They peered out the window behind me with narrowed eyes, before exhaling a heavy sigh of annoyance. They stood up from the booth and offered their hand, nodding their head towards the door.

"We got another one coming in. Let's go, Y/n. If we're lucky, maybe they'll just grab a milkshake and go."

I groaned and took a hold of their hand, letting them pull me back up to my aching feet. My tired legs wobbled like flimsy jello as I struggled to regain my balance. Couldn't we just have a few minutes of peace? I really didn't want to deal with another crappy table right now...