Well, today was the day. Eben and I had discussed fitting working at the store into my schedule, and today was the first day I would be waiting tables. Of course, this was also Kylie's first day of school in L.A, and I felt like a parent when I pulled up to the front doors. I gave her the whole speech. Don't do drugs, pay attention, no flirting or I'd tell Dana, the usual. Once I gave her money for lunch, I hugged her goodbye and drove off to work.
When I got there, I was surprised. It was packed for 8 in the morning, but at least I now had a good job. I woud be doing kitchen prep. I'd always loved cooking, so doing this, and singing for a living, would be a great life for me. I donned the white jacket over my outfit and chopped until my arm felt like it was going to fall off. I hadn't even been paying attention to the clock, because finally, the shift bell rang, making me jump. Of course, this was only my lunch break. I worked until 6 PM, and then I would have to drive myself to XIX for some writing time. Joy.
I peeled off the coat and tossed the hair guard and gloves into the trash, grabbing myself some food as I skipped into the main area. To my surprise, a table had been saved for me, occupied by only one person. I gave him a large grin as I sat down, setting my food in front of me. He returned my smile before leaning over and giving me a quick peck on the lips. Butterflies shot through my stomach, and I blushed deeply at the display of affection. "Well hello to you, too." I greeted as I opened up my salad, covering it in dressing before digging in.
We were rather silent, only making small talk, so I could hear a lot that was going on around me. "Oh my gosh! That's Cole Pendery! Ugh. Is that his new girlfriend? Yeah, the boy could do soooo much better. I mean seriously, look at her. It's a good thing she got a salad, she needs it." I ignored them, pretending like I hadn't heard anything. Cole seemed completely oblivious, and I was perfectly fine with that.
Finally my break was over, and I gave Cole a huge hug when he had to leave. He'd said he'd see me at XIX tonight, so I hoped that meant that he would help me with a new song. Before I went to the back, I hopped on my phone, sending out a quick tweet before I got to work.
@MamaPenguin: Gonna do an ask Charlie video later tonight! Send me your questions, Penguins!
Work was tough, but I made it through, okay. Those girls stayed for another hour, glaring at me through the pickup window the entire time. I'd been insecure before, but never this much. I was dating someone in a boyband, a well-known and highly sought after boyband, and I felt like everywhere I turned, someone was judging me because of it.
When my shift was finally over, I drove over to XIX. Kylie was waiting for me outside, and I hugged her as soon as I got out of the car. I wasn't going to tell her what happened, she'd just go crazy bitch and try to cut someone, so I kept it to myself.
We walked in together, and I asked Kylie about her day. She was whining because there was a really pretty boy in her English class, who sat right in front of her, who hit on her. She also said that she pretended not to speak English when asked if she had a boyfriend, since she didn't know if Dana wanted anything public yet, or not.
When we finally made it to the writing room, Cole was already there, spinning in a chair by the table. I skipped over, kissed his cheek, and sat next to him, spinning for a while, myself. The three of us shot around ideas for a while. I searched through my lyric bank I had saved in my phone, but it was Kylie who finally came up with the perfect lyric. We worked for hours, until Eben finally told us we could go. Of course, I would have to do the whole thing over again, but this tomorrow, Noelle would be the one pushing me to my limits.
Cole didn't stay over that night, and it felt extremely empty in the apartment, but Kylie and I did the #AskCharlie video, and it went better than planned. Of course, I had picked the questions before hand, hiding all of the negative comments people had been sending me. I'm a strong girl, there's a lot I can take, but this was getting to be too much. In a span of two weeks, my lovely penguins had turned into rabid fangirls telling me to kill myself.
