Battle of the Boys

۵ c h a p t e r t w o ۵

I Want You

It was another lame Monday night, and here I was, working my butt of as a waitress in Mangellio's Italian Kitchen. My mom told me over the summer that I would have to pay half of my college tuition fees if I wanted to go anywhere- which was my only choice after high-school. Deciding that maybe now would be a good time to start saving up, I got a job an Mangellio's.

Because our food and service here is so expensive- Mangellio's is a five star restaurant- I'm able to be paid twelve dollars an hour, which is pretty high above minimum wage. I typically work three days a week, with each shift being four to five hours- meaning I make a little less than two hundred dollars every week.

But of course, my mom makes me put half of it away. Not to mention, I'm responsible for paying for my phone, car, gas, and basically anything else I need. No, seriously- my mom doesn't spend any money on me anymore unless its school related, or we go out for a family dinner.

Monday nights were usually dead here, so only three of us would work up front. Tonight, there was only me, Erica, and John. Erica and I had started the same week as each other, so we were fairly close. John on the other hand, has been working here for about two years already.

As you could probably already guess, John tried to boss the two of us around like we were his subjects- and me and Erica wouldn't take it. Besides, we already knew what we were doing.. so why does he feel the need to instruct us on what to do?

"Girls!" John gritted through his teeth, walking over towards us as he balanced two trays of food in both hands. "Can you please quit talking, and help out?"

Erica and I both looked at each other, before rolling our eyes and giving in. Erica took the one tray, and I took the other. John wiped a bunch of sweat off of his forehead, before pointing us into the direction of where the tables needing there food were.

The thing is, we aren't slackers. The rule here is to assist your own tables, and leave the other ones to whoever else is supposed to be covering them. The only people in here, were seated in John's section- and It's not our fault.

Well, actually it is. We did make sure to seat everyone at the tables John was covering tonight. Erica and I were too stressed about the start up of school today, that we really just didn't feel like doing anything else.

"So, what happened next?" She asked me, laying her head down on the hostesses stand. Erica wanted me to finish telling her the story of what happened earlier at school. Yes, I told her. I tried not too- but ended up not being able to contain myself.

"Well," I began, sighing and thinking back to the memorable event, "Nothing. He just walked away, and acted as if nothing happened."

Erica seemed disappointed. "What? Isn't he supposed to ask you for your name, or something?"

I shrugged, "Maybe that only happens in movies?"

"Not gonna lie- that sucks, Briar. I would have at least expected him to look back." Erica explained, "-And who was this guy again?"

The one thing I didn't tell Erica, was his name. I'm sure if I mentioned it, she'd know exactly who I was talking about- even if she didn't go to our school. Caleb was widely known throughout the three townships surrounding ours.

"I can't say."

"Oh, come on! It's not like I'll tell anyone." Erica gave me her puppy dog eyes, which never works on me. Still, I couldn't contain my excitement and I gave in to her.

"His name is-" Before I could finish my sentence, our restaurant doors opened for the first time in thirty minutes, and in walked-"Caleb."

As I stood there in shock, Erica took one for the time and welcomed him in. I didn't understand why he was here- or why he was alone, for that matter. Could it be, that he found out where I worked, and came in here to talk to me?