The Best Damn Thing

Chapter Eight

The restaurant was crowded with college students and Oikawa basked in the atmosphere, making easy conversation with all the tables he served and even a few he didn't. Finally, the crowd began to thin as groups took their parties to bars instead.

His manager tapped on his shoulder, whispering, "a word in my office after you've helped these customers."

Oikawa nodded and handed them their receipt with a smile that sent the three teenage girls into a fit of giggles, then followed the man to his office.

He perched on the chair across from his boss and waited to hear what he had to say.

"Oikawa, you've worked hard since I hired you on here and I'm disappointed to say that I'm going to have to cut you from the team. After the incident last week, my hands are tied. Surely you understand."

He nodded.

Oikawa had been mortified when a couple of his parents drinking buddies had walked in, immediately seating themselves in his section when they saw him. Already drunk, they'd been loud and obnoxious, making sexual remarks about how he had been worth their money and how much they would love to do him again. He'd had to hold his head high and smile, playing it off as though it didn't bother him while he asked them to lower their voices or they'd be escorted out for their were children present and the parents had all turned their glares on him as he served them. He would never remember how many apologies he said that night. Making it worse had been his arrival home, seeing one of the ladies who had decided that she waned him and had already paid his mother for it, but she eyed him expectantly when he turned to her, willing him to earn more than she'd already been given to add to the never ending fund for alcohol and cigarettes, so he had surrendered himself to giving pleasure to a woman whose name he didn't even know to fuel his mother's addiction and it was one of the few times he'd been in his parent's bedroom. He'd wanted it to end as soon as it began, hating the sound of the woman's voice as she moaned his name and the pain of her nails scratching his back, some of the marks leaving scars.

So, yes, he understood and, no, he didn't blame them for the decision. He was crushed, but he accepted it.

"Finish the rounds on the tables you've begun and collect your tips. If a table isn't ready to leave, I'll send the tips from them with your next paycheck."

"Yes, sir. May I check my phone for a brief moment?" His boss nodded and left the office. Oikawa pulled out his phone and typed a text to Iwaizumi. It was five minutes before he got off. Oikawa sent send on the small "come get me" and returned to finish what was left of his work.