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Outer Banks, the Wreck July 12th, 2020 4:09pm
"Janel? Can I talk to you for a second?" Mike Carrera approached me as I was washing the dishes in the sink, behind the counter.
I nodded, a polite smile upon my lips, even if it didn't sound great. "Yeah, sure," I mumbled.
He looked around at the still crowded room and sighed. I could feel he was embarrassed and searched for the right words to use with me. "Janel, you know how satisfied I am with your work right? You know you're my best employee," he began.
"Well- thanks," I laughed awkwardly, unsure what the point he wanted to express was.
"Tourists keep on asking me for tables, families arrive every minute, they want drinks, desserts, and they want it quickly. I know you're supposed to have your night off, and I promise I'll make it up to you, but please, can you stay here for tonight's shift?" he asked me.
My face must have gone livid when I realised he asked me to work for so many more hours, but when I stared at the amount of people around us, I couldn't give up on him. I bit my lower lip and nodded, which made him smile almost instantaneously. "Yes, I can," I voiced.
"You're the best. I'll pay you double, or triple, I swear," he told me, before kissing my forehead and walking away.
Once I made sure he was far enough, I took my face in my hands and felt tears pecking my eyes. I was working so much, barely had time to spend with my friends, and this very one time I had planned to go surfing with JJ, I had to cancel it. It was so hot in the restaurant, the noise made my head hurt, but now that I had accepted to help Mike, I couldn't stay here, crying over my shitty day.
"Hey pretty girl, you good?" I heard a voice asking, from the other side of the counter, and I didn't have enough strength to argue.
"Excuse me you-" when I looked up, noticing who it was, my heart dropped to my knees, and my legs felt weak.
Why did Rafe Cameron impact my body so much? Of course I wasn't fine, but he didn't need to pretend he cared or to call me by stupid nicknames to get my attention, and he probably knew it. I kept quiet, not knowing how to finish the sentence I had started a few seconds earlier. "I..?" he laughed.
"You're everywhere I go, it's annoying," I just said. "Plus don't call me that, it's cringe"
I washed my hands with cold water, placing my forearms under the faucet so it would reduce my body heat. I was probably sweating, my hair looked probably greasy and I for sure smelled like crab and shrimp soup, but him, he looked so perfect. "I see you like my Polo," he smirked.
My mouthed opened when I realised what was going on and I tried to stay as confident as possible. "Well, it's not like you begged me to keep it," I told him.
We both smiled and I tried so hard to fight it, but I couldn't help being attracted by the way he looked at me.
"You look tired," he stated, out of nowhere, reminding me of how bad I probably looked in this moment. "But at least you seem in a better physical state than yesterday"
