Heart Of A Fighter

Sweet Temptations

Soon after the brotherly argument, Shavon and Kalif walked in, making Lavender understand why there was more than enough food on the table.

During the entire breakfast, Damien was on his phone while Shavon and Jacob shared angry glares at Lavender who was a little too unbothered for her liking. Anjelica and Kalif ignored the negativity from the others, holding an easy going conversation despite the tension from the others.

Lavender was the first to excuse herself from the table, thanking Anjelica. Damien silently followed her with a piece of celery between his lips as he watched her put her hair in a messy bun.

"I brought you something to wear."

On the bed, beside Damien was a sweater and sweats of his. Lavender took the sweater, oddly holding it up and wiggled her nose in disgust at the celery.

"You want me to go to work looking like a dude?" she frowned. "And it's summer. What am I possibly going to do with this oversized sweater?"

He reached up, taking it from her, and threw it aside on the bed. "Just bear with me until I get off, so we can get your clothes. We won't be able to get them when I pick you up, because I'll have to quickly drop you here and get back to work."

"What kind of work do you do?"

Damien gave Lavender a look under his lashes as if he wasn't sure if she was trying to make conversation or was sincerely interested. After a while, he stared back into his phone.

"Architecture and a little bit of carpentry. Today's actually my official first day. I worked as an apprentice a few months just before I graduated college," he explained, never looking up.

When she figured he wasn't going to say anything else, she began to pull his sweater over her head. "Somehow, I always end up agreeing with you. I wonder why."

"I have my ways. Aren't you going to tell me to get out?"

Lavender stopped with one hand in a sleeve. "To put on a sweater? Oh please, besides you're a grown man."

She flung her left hand up in irritation with her right hand now through the arm. "You're old enough to know what's right or wrong."

"What if everything I do is wrong?"

"Then your life is going to be miserable for a very long time."

"But isn't all of our lives a little miserable? You know making mistakes and growing from them."

Lavender paused for a moment, wondering if Damien was taught anything about morals. "Only to a certain extent, Damien. Some mistakes you don't grow from, it slows you down."

"But, nonetheless you still grow." He looked up at her. "I apologize for Jacob's behavior today. He's really a good kid, better than I ever was."

She carelessly shrugged; "You don't have to apologize for him. I'm used to people disliking me for the wrong reasons."

                "Listen." Jessie clapped to get everyone's attention who sat in a circle at an empty table. "Everyone meet Lavender, a new member of our team. Introduce yourselves."

A curly-headed man waved towards Lavender. "Hey, I'm Stuart. I work in the kitchen."

"I'm Omarion but you can call me Omar. I'm the bartender slash juice maker," said a dark-skinned man with an indicative smile. "Grace, Stevie, and AJ have the afternoon shift for today. The shift changes, so you'll meet them soon enough. That's Rose."

Lavender looked over at the pale faced woman with raven black hair and waved back, knowing that she wasn't going to remember all of those names right away.

Work went on smoothly now that her test was over and she wasn't working alone. Apparently, the customer's nagging was all part of her 'lesson'.

Lavender soon learned that Omar knew how to keep the customers rooted to their seats for a good laugh, and Rose was an approachable hotshot who was conversational.

"As the bartender, who livens you up when you're down-" Lavender was asking when she heard the wind chime.

The wind chime was creatively done. It was made of all sorts of colors that could easily pull someone's attention to it. It was made of metal. One eye was bigger than the next and the bigger eye's pupil was blue whereas the smaller one was black. The arms and legs were different shapes and sizes.

The person entering was Jacob, who loudly directed his annoyed groan for Lavender to hear four tables down. He was about to exit but a girl eagerly pulled him back in.

Everything about her was not your stereotypical look of how an Asian woman looked, but looking at her you just knew. She had big brown eyes so meek and bright that they were the first thing you noticed. Her face was free from any blemishes, her hair blonde and her body curvy.

"The trick is not to let outside matters interfere with work. Gotta be professional," Omar answered with a click of his tongue.

"Professional. Got it." Lavender strutted to Jacob and the girl for it was now her turn to take the order. The next customer would be Rose's and the other Lavender's and the cycle continued.

"Welcome to Strictly Awesome. How can I help?" Lavender sincerely smiled, using Omar's advice.

"You can help by going back where you come from," Jacob answered insolently.

"Jacob, don't be mean to the waitress," the girl with Jacob scolded. She apologized to Lavender and gave both her and Jacob's orders.

Lavender scribbled everything down like a pro, and then programmed the order into the computer so that Jessie and Stuart could get the order right away.

Fifteen minutes later, Selena brought their order to the table, almost dropping their drinks because she was distracted by Jacob's face. Jacob politely smiled at Selena, telling her it was okay when she apologized. Jacob's girlfriend was unfazed by Selena's reaction and sipped on her drink.

Later around three when Lavender's shift was over, Damien picked her up right on time. She murmured a hello as soon as she was in the car and dozed off into a peaceful slumber.

By the time she woke up in the same room from earlier, the sun was already down. Thirsty, she went into the kitchen and was stopped when she opened the refrigerator.

"What are you wearing?" someone asked.

Lavender twirled to face Damien, her eyes landing on his lips. Perhaps it was because she now knew how soft they felt but she couldn't help but trace her bottom lip, remembering how good he tasted.

"Clothes," she shrugged. "Your clothes."

Not giving a care in the world, she leaned over to him to graze her lips on his. The feel of his soft, inviting lips excited her, so she tugged on his lip. Before he got a chance to take over, she slipped back in front of the refrigerator.

Damien blinked twice in disbelief and grunted. "I need to get laid," he muttered, getting up.

She laughed at his retreating figure. "Too much to handle, hunnay?"