Harmless

Chapter 2

JARED

"He did what?" Noah shouted, nearly choking on a mouthful of cool water.

We were sitting at a table at the BullDog Diner, deciding what to order, when Noah was suddenly taken aback by what I said.

"I know, it pissed me off so much," I said, understanding how Noah felt. "It feels like a death in the family, like, me and Gracie bonded so much and now that's all just disappeared."

"I hear you, moment of silence for Gracie."

We both bowed our heads. I heard footsteps approaching our table, and a clearing of someone's throat grabbed our attention. I snapped my eyes open to find myself faced with a waitress, her dark hair tied up in a hair net with thin strands sticking out. Blue eyes, with a hint of annoyance stared back at me impatiently.

"Quit staring at me and tell me your order!" she commanded, ending it with a kiss of her teeth.

"Oh, I'm not..." I stumbled over my words, shocked at her attitude."I mean-"

"What he means is-" Noah squinted at her name tag. "Harm?"

He paused, shock etched on his face, my expression mirrored his.

"Your parents named you Harm?" I asked in disbelief, my eyes moving from her face to her tag, waiting for her to suddenly burst out laughing. She rolled her eyes tiredly.

"You ask too many questions. I will be back when you're ready to order."

What? I only asked one question. Harm turned her back to leave.

"I can not believe her parents called her Harm, like who does that? Well, unless her mother was drunk while naming her or maybe they didn't even love her at all." Noah said not realising Harm hadn't walked out of earshot.

Her eyes, filled with anger, snapped in my direction. She marched her way back to our table, slamming her notebook full of orders onto the hard surface. The cafe fell into an awkward silence, all eyes were on her, as if she was a ticking time bomb ready to explode.

"And who are you to judge me?" she demanded, her finger painfully poking into my chest with every word.

"I didn't-" I looked across at Noah for help but all he did was flash his pearly-white teeth at me, amusement glinting in his brown eyes.

"You really don't want to get on the wrong side of me, trust me." She hissed slowly, her breath tickling my ear.

"Like your good side is so much better." I sneer back with the confidence I seemed to have lost.

Frustration flooded her face. She raised her fist and slammed it into my nose. I hissed in pain as blood flowed from my nose and dripped down to my clothes as well as the pristine table.

"Shit!" Jared shouted, grabbing napkins from the table.

"Pretty good job, I'd say." She grinned, leaning forward and examining my nose.

"What the hell?" I screamed. "Why did you hit me?"

"I'm not sure if you noticed, but you insulted me!" she responded sarcastically.

"But I didn't-" I started but got interrupted once again.

"Harmony!" The short plump lady stood between Harm and I.

"What do you want Vicky?" Harm asked rudely. "You're blocking my view."

"Get out. You're fired," she announced sternly. "You can forget about saving up for that stupid motorbike if you're going to treat customers like that."