Paranoid. Insomniac.

Chapter 27: He's Cute

*KATARINA

"He's cute!" Savannah whisper yells.

"You have a boyfriend, you can't say that," Stella rolls her eyes.

Savannah shrugs, taking a bite of her sandwich. Even with noise cancelling earbuds, I can still hear them fawning over the new guy. Caldwell Jacques or something French like that. He's been here a week and all the soccer girls are already in love with him. He's a BOY. Boys are disgusting morons who don't know how to respect women. What could Caldwell possibly have that you're interested in? ...Actually, don't answer that.

My friends chat about whatever else is interesting right now but all I can think about is how stressful work will be today. You'd think being in charge of a few waitresses isn't difficult but when the cat's away, the mice will play, right? Half of them don't want to do anything because they know Dominik isn't watching and won't magically fall in love with one of them. At least the chefs do what they're supposed to. And Gina, the main bartender. She's always on top of her shit. Respect.

***

The final school bell rings, signaling the start of winter break. I rush out to meet with Stella. With no Dominik, she's the only other person who can drive me to work.

Figuring I can put my books away in the car, I stack them up nicely as I speed-walk toward the exit. I turn a corner and bump into someone, causing me to stumble backwards and drop all my things. I almost fall down when the person grabs my arm. I finally pay attention to who it is. The new kid.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," He holds his hands up apologetically, "Here, let me get that for you."

The brunet boy drops down to his knees and collects my books. He returns and holds them out for me. I take them back, surprised at his kindness. Guys around here usually say 'my bad' then avoid looking you in the eye.

"Thanks?" I squint, unsure if it's genuine or not.

We stand there, staring at each other for a minute before he goes, "Uh, sorry again. See you around!"

"See you," I return.

So that was Caldwell Jacques. And he was not as much of a jerk as I expected. In fact, quite the opposite. Maybe Savannah and Stella were onto something.

I meet up with Stella and we head to her car. The entire ride to work she's arguing with one of her three maybe four boyfriends. Sometimes I forget Stella isn't an average theatre geek. I say my goodbyes and she speeds off, probably to see the boyfriend who hasn't been giving her trouble lately.

I enter the kitchen to see all the waitresses talking and laughing. Toni and Cassandra especially. "Why is no one doing anything?" I impulsively yell.

"It's not that busy," Cass gives a knowing look to Toni and they snicker.

"It's always busy by five! People are getting off work and it's getting dark. Did you guys forget you work at a nightclub?" I grab my apron and grab platters of already cold food. Hopefully customers don't notice.

I serve a few trays and take orders while nobody else does anything. Every time I walk into the kitchen and scold them, they just continue their chatting session. I exit one last time when I see Caldwell talking to some friends at the bar. Already having a bad day, I confront him,

"What the hell are you doing?" I grab his shoulder and he turns to me.

"What are you doing?" He seems just as surprised.

"I work here. And from what I know, you're too young to be in here, much less at the bar."

"You what?" Gina buts in. She takes the beer away from him and smiles at me, "Get this kid out of here, please?"