Solana Forever

S6 E2

(Longest chapter yet 10000+ words)

I had woken up today feeling a little bit tired. I was tired most of the time but this time it was worse. It was probably due to a mix of the drinks I had and the fact we were dealing with a mafia leader. I had already slept through two alarms so was running late. At this point I think Joyce just expected me late. I speed walked through the doors and saw Mateo behind the reception desk talking to the Garveys boy. I was just in time to see Janice stood by the lifts giving her son a classic scary mum face.
"Get over here now!" She ordered. I heard Mateo quietly cursing in Spanish before he started to anxiously edge his way over to her. I put my hand over my face so I didn't explode with laughter.
"Not you!" Janice shouted in an are-you-stupid kind of way. Mateo quickly turned and dashed back to the safety of his desk.
"Knobhead" I whispered to him as I walked past. Yes the temptation to stay and find out why Janice was so pissed was strong but if I didn't get behind the bar in the ten seconds the guests would literally crawl over and help themselves. I quickly got into position and began feeding the five thousand. God what a long two minutes that was.

After everyone was satisfied with a drink in their hand beside the pool I took the opportunity of peace to just relax. I had had a crazy morning so far so I think I deserved just a few seconds of quiet. I closed my eyes and stuck my face into the warm sun. It was one of the things I loved about working here. Constant access to the gorgeous sun. It felt like a comforting blanket that you never had to take off.
"Excuse me?" Said a polite voice interrupted my relaxation session. I opened my eyes and saw a little old lady looking back at me. I could feel my cheeks heating up. I must've looked ridiculous.
"Oh sorry love" I apologised genuinely. She smiled softly at me.
"It's okay dearie. I sometimes get distracted on the sun too" she was such a sweat heart. I was happy with helping her instead of enjoying the sun now.
"How can I help you?" I asked cheerfully.
"I don't suppose I could trouble you for a vodka and orange" she wondered very nicely. "I know it's early but when it's free it doesn't really does it?" I chuckled at her joke.
"It would be my absolute pleasure" I grabbed a plastic cup from the stack and began to pour in the vodka. I filled it to just less then a quarter when she said.
"Sorry dearie but I've got my son in law with me. I might need a bit more than that" she laughed. I giggled at her. If every guest was like her I'd be fine working here. Sadly most would drink the vodka directly from the bottle. I did what she asked and filled it up a little bit more before adding the orange juice. It was at that moment that I realised I had no ice. I mentally facepalmed.
"You'll have to forgive me love but I've run out of ice" I explained to her feeling a bit guilty. She didn't seem bothered at all though.
"Oh dont stress it dearie I don't mind at all". Normally I would've just given them the drink without the ice but I wanted to give her the proper thing.
"I'll tell you what. If you just wait there for two minutes I can run inside a grab some for you" I offered. I could tell she didn't want the ice.
"No you don't have to do that" I was already on my way by then though.
"No it's absolutely fine. It'll be good to stretch my legs" With no objections from her I made my way inside.

In reception Mateo was still behind the desk but next to him where Joyce and Les. The was also a new face. It was a young looking ginger haired man. His features made his face looked very square which most women would think was attractive. I thought it made him look like a duplo figure. You could tell just by looking at him he was confident in himself. Far too confident. A bit like Mateo but much more self absorbed. I don't know what he wanted from Joyce Mateo and Les but that wasn't why I was there. I was definitely going to get the details from Mateo later though. All I wanted to do was get some ice for the sweet old lady. I went over to the bar but as I did I could feel the mans eyes on me. They felt weird. I started to root around in the freezer until I found a huge block of ice at the back. Now all I had to do was break it up. Should be simple. I grabbed the block and put it in a spare plastic bag we had behind the bar for some reason. Then I stepped back slightly and swung the bag around and bashed in against the surface. It made a loud thumping noise but it didn't shatter. So I did it again. And again. And again. Until...
"Gaby what on Earth are you doing?!" Joyce exclaimed from the reception desk. All four of them were staring at me. To be honest I hadn't really thought about how daft I must've looked to them. However the man wasn't giving a weird stare but more of a seductive smirk. Like the ones Mateo used to give to the guests.
"Just trying to break up this ice chunk so it will fit in peoples drinks" I answered innocently. To demonstrate I gave the block another bash. The group continued to stare. "Don't mind me. Please carry on with whatever you were doing".
"Is there no other way for you to do that?" Joyce almost begged. I thought for a moment.
"Probably. But this is the easiest" I gave it one final big bash and the block shattered into tiny shapes. I held up the bag in victory. "See". At that I returned to my thirsty guest with my freshly smashed ice.
As I approached the poolside bar the woman smiled sweetly at me.
"Sorry I took so long but I got the ice" I quickly apologised before I tipped the bag and let three ice cubes fall into the drink. Then I passed it over. "Here's you drink". I took it with a smile.
"Thank you dearie and I'm sorry you had to go through the bother of getting more ice".
"No don't apologise. It was a pleasure to serve such a sweet lady" she put her hand on her heart.
"Thank you. Have a nice day".
"You too" and with that she was gone. Probably the only decent guest I was going to serve all day.