Carly's Ride (Burning Knights MC) || Watty's 2019

Chapter 7 - Carly

After my run in with the biker yesterday I went home as quick as I could and got Jay settled and into bed. Today I'm in the kitchen, whisking the batter I made for pancakes. Today was a fresh start and I was going to take it by the balls and rolls with it!

I smile and look up as my sleepy head stumbles into the kitchen, making a bee-line straight to me, wrapping his tiny arms around my legs. "Morny Mumma" he whispers, his voice thick with sleep. I grin and smooth down his unruly hair with one hand, the other sitting the batter on the bench. I bend down and pick my boy up, smothering his face with kisses, laughing as he squeals and pushes at my face. "No mumma, I's a big boy!" he says breathless as I sit him back down on the floor.

"Oh yes, I forgot how you grew up so quickly" I say with a shake of my head, "Up to the table baby, mummy's making magic pancakes!".
Jay scrambles over to the table and climbs on up, clapping his hands with joy. 

I turn back to the bench and grab the bowl of pancake batter and move to the stove. An already heated pan on the hotplate. I add a dollop of butter and melt it around the pan. Carefully I scoop out multiple ladels of batter, spooning them into the pan. Humming along I wait for the bubbles to appear on top of each pancake then flip them over. As soon as they finish I flip them onto two separate plates, squeezing maple syrup on both stacks and adding 100's and 1000's to Jay's.
I sit down at the table and hand Jay his plate, "Ta-Da! Magic Pancakes" I exclaim, handing him a fork from the cutlery rack in the centre of the table. My little man thanks me and quickly digs in. I smile and dig into my own meal.

All too soon we're both finished. A quick shower later and into our clothes I'm rushing out the door with Jay hanging from my hip. I quickly buckle him in then hop into the car, starting it and heading on my way. I drop Jay off at his daycare, leaving him with lots of hugs and kisses and promises to be back soon. 
So, with a sigh and a smile, I head off to work. 'New day, fresh start. You can do this Carly!' I think to myself. Pulling into the diner I plaster on my best smile before hopping out of my car, locking it behind me. The now familiar bell chimes above me as I make my way inside, Ruthie's head popping out of the kitchen instantly. "Hey Ruthie!"

"Hey there, come on back here and I'll give you the run down" she says.

I nod and follow her in, hoisting my bag on my shoulder. The kitchen is your averge sized commercial kitchen. Two big commerical ovens and stoves double potted deep fryer, bain marie, two door fridge/freezer and a large stainless steel table in the middle for prep. I nod my head in approval. Everything is clean and neat. From what I've seen so far Ruthie runs a tight ship and it shows in her kitchen. I look up, a man enters from the back door next to what I believe is a cold storage room. "Yo Ruthie, everything's prepped and ready to go if ya' wanna' open up" he says, suddenly noticing me. He wipes his hands on his apron quickly then holds a hand out to me. "I'm Jackie Boy, cook extraordinaire"

I giggle as Ruthie rolls her eyes, I take hold of his hand and give it a quick shake, quickly releasing his hand. "I'm Carly, I'm the new waistress Ruthie hired." I say with a small smile, smoothing my uniform Ruthie had given me yesterday just before I left. The uniform was a gross bright yellow with white apron dress, the bottom of it frilly and sickly. But it did suit the rest of the diner, which I'm guessing was modelled after some old 80's rollerskate diner.

"Nice to meet ya' love, anything you need ask." He says, respecting the distance I put between us.

"Just ring up your lunch 20 minutes before each break so it'll be ready on time. It's on the house too. None of my workers are paying for their lunch, especially if they're doing the job right, okay?" says Ruthie.

"Okay, and thank you. It'll be a lot easier to get ready in the morning without having to worry about two lunches" I say, smiling. Ruthie just nods and retreats out of the kitchen, making me follow behind her after she quickly shows me where to put my bag.

"Okay doll, so it's show time. You said you had experience right? Well it should be simple. Tables go from table 1-45. Starting from left," she points to the the left hand side of the counter, "to the right" she says, her finger moving along til stopping at the end booth on the right. The same booth they'd been sitting on. 

"Now, I know that idiot pissed you off yesterday, and you had every right to say something. Not telling you to be his friend or apologise, but the Broken Knights MC are like a second family to me and come here on the regular. So just keep it civil." She says, a kind, reassuring smile on her face. "Though, if Slash speaks to you like that again, go for the nuts. Not his face." 

I burst out laughing and quickly cover my mouth as I try to contain it. Ruthie grins at me, a mischievious glint sparkling it her pretty brown eyes. She shakes her head and hands me a pad and pen. "Alright girlie, here you go. Now, come round here." she says, leading me behind the counter. She quickly shows me how to find each item and log them into the til and print out copies of each order to hang on the ticket holder for Jack (and occasionally Ruthie) to see. 

I smile and nod at her, quickly seeing that this should be a piece of cake. Ruthie goes over and turns the sign over, letting the morning truckers know she's open. She holds the door open as they all flock to tables. I put on my best smile and make my way over to the first few tables, taking orders and filling coffee mugs. It's not long before I've settled in, breezing through the orders. I catch Ruthie giving me approving smiles every now and then as I do my rounds. I check in my lunch just as Ruthie said and make my way out to make sure everyone's okay. I'm quickly realising the average ammount of customers here are truckers passing through town and bring in a steady paced flow of orders. 

I make my way into the kitchen at my break after letting Ruthie know and see a bar stool pushed up to the centre steel table, my lunch of a chicken burger and fries already waiting for me. I quickly thank Jack and dig in, not realising how ravenous I was, moaning in happiness. I wipe my mouth of mayo and gulp down some of the water Jack sits next to my plate. "Thanks so much Jack, this tastes amazing." 

"You're welcome" He grins and gives me a chin lift, going back to work. As I finish off my burger and skull another glass of water, Ruthie walks in, relieving Jack for his break, handing me her pad and pen. 

"Tables are all done up for now, just go around and top em' up with coffee here and there" she says and I nod. 

Doing as she says I make my rounds before heading back around the counter, stacking the past orders neatly and tying them together with a rubber band for Ruthie. The bell chimes and in he walks. 'Slash'. 
I swallow hard and take a deep breath, plastering on my fake smile as he looks quickly at me and his eyes widen. 

"You work here?" he says

"Mhmm" I hum, chewing my lower lip as he stares at me intently. 

"Uh.. Well.. About yesterday..." he starts, but I cut him off. 

"Past tense, and I'm sorry about slapping you, it was wrong of me" I say quickly, wringing my hands together behind the counter. He grins and steps closer to the counter, a sweat breaking out over my body as goosebumps errupt down my arms.

"Only sorry about the slap? What about the screeching?" he says with a smirk, my heart beating out of my chest as I steel myself.

"No, you deserved that. But the slap was wrong. I teach my son that violence isn't the asnwer and I did the opposite. So again, I'm sorry." I'm surprised at how steady my voice is, even though my entire body is tensed up. I watch as he nods and runs a finger along his chin before staring down, into my eyes, completely captivating me as I only NOW notice the long scar going from eyebrow to chin. 

"Fair enough, so how about a date?" he says casually. 

My mouth falls open in shock "Uh...". My mouth opens and closes like a fish. 'I must of misheard' I think to myself, snapping my mouth shut. There's just no way... There can't be.. 

Did a biker really just ask me out?!

Thank you so much for reading Chapter 7 of Carly's Ride! 
I really enjoyed writing this chapter, even at 1am in the morning!
I hope you are enjoying the story so far! I sort of forgot this was meant to be a short story!
But no fear, I've sorted that out and got my head straight again. Things are going to progress quickly from here on out, and I can't wait!

Stay tuned to see how Carly and Slash turn out!

xoxoxo