The Road to Adaline

Chapter 3

Chapter 3-

    Work at the restaurant seemed to drag on this week, as my upcoming Thursday off loomed a day away. Just needed to make it through this shift. Wednesdays were not a busy night, but still the potential for money was there. The restaurant, Italian Delite, was nice enough. It had the homey feel of a casual establishment, but their food was actually rather fresh and upscale. It had brick walls and Italian paintings hanging decoratively around, along with an Italian flag in the shape of Italy by the front door. My favorite part of this place though, was the huge, wooden Italy that had all of the major cities engraved in it, and a mark over the town where pizza was invented. I was staring at it apathetically when a group of boys walked in, and of course it was my turn in the seating rotation. They were around college aged, but dressed much more maturely. Almost business casual. The tallest man was around 6'2 and buff, with a dark complexion and features. The other two were still massive, easily 6'0, but similar looking in the face. They had to be brothers, both sporting vibrant blue eyes and blonde hair. Hopefully they tip well, I laugh in my head as I walk up to greet them.

    "Hi guys! I am Adaline and I'll be taking care of you tonight! Can I grab you something to drink?" I recite my well rehearsed line. The tall one answered for all of them.

    "We'll have three Pepsi's" he replied curtly.

I walked off with a quick okay and headed back towards the kitchen to grab their sodas. I was tired and ready to go home, not particularly in the mood to deal with a crabby customer. I dropped the cups back on the table and continued on with getting the rest of their order written down and into the POS system. Really I was hoping to get them out of here as fast as possible so I could get out of here. My thoughts were already taking me back to Adaline Priestly and the history of my family's Clan that has gotten lost through the years. Not to mention the murky waters surrounding her death, and now wolf dreams, My Mom-mom always said she felt connected to the wolves, like they were our family's spirit animal. When I turned 14 she even purchased me a wolf from a reservation, obviously I could not take her home but we did drive up there one time to see her, she was a beautiful creature. She was quite small for a wolf, and she sported beautiful, brown fur. I can say I agree with my mom-mom when it comes to them being strong and fascinating creatures(especially after that dream the other night—Yikes).

I was lost in thought when I heard a beeping from the Kitchen, letting me know that my new, and hopefully last, table's food was ready. Carefully, I grabbed the three plates  and balanced them on my arms. After a few years, ya really can pick up a knack for keeping everything attached to your arm the whole way to the table. My first day out of training, I definitely tried to be a miss overachiever—let's just say a party of 6 got their meals for free.

I smiled, laughing at the memory now, and approached the table, easily setting down the delicious smelling food.

    "Is there anything else I can get you guys while you're eating?" I keep a smile plastered to my face(Hey–-you gotta play the roll to get the dough). The tall one again speaks for the group

    "We are fine for now with the food, but may I ask you a personal question?"

I rolled my eyes, here it comes, the good ol let me get your number. I open my mouth to reply a quick no but he beats me to it,

    "I can't help but to feel like I've seen you somewhere before, you said your name was Adaline, yes?" He says, his eyes glancing at my name tag that I suddenly wish wasn't there. Most people do not pay attention enough to the introductory name informing, the name tag is a reinforcer.

Well now I admit I feel stupid, although a part of me feels like it may still be going in that direction. Whatever, though, I'll entertain it for now, the shift is almost over. I do give him and his friends another once over, none of them look even in the slightest bit familiar. In fact, I am not sure if I've seen any of them in this town before, and quite frankly the town is not that big. My intuition was screaming that there was something more going on here, but I felt like blind to it.