by the time the waitress got to their part of the table, salem was conversing with merlyn about how he bought fish shoes.
"on the red carpet? really?!" salem covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her loud laughs.
"excuse me, ma'am, i'm gonna have to ask you to quiet down." the waitress flashed her a fake smile. "now, what would you gentlemen like?" she asked, completely ignoring salem.
salem scoffed, crossed her arms, and leaned back in her seat. she made eye contact with kevin and rolled her eyes, signifying her obvious irritation. the waitress turned toward salem and sized her up, the superficial smile still on her face.
"my bad, didn't mean to forget about you. would you like an apple juice, or do you prefer chocolate milk?" the waitress spoke to her in a tone used to speak to a child.
ciarán was watching the whole scene unfold silently. he didn't understand what the fuck her issue was, and he would've spoken up about it, but he knew not to get involved.
"actually, i'd like some white wine." salem said, trying to hide the bitterness in her voice with an overly-sweet tone.
"i'm gonna have to see some i.d."
salem put her purse in her lap, and searched through it for her i.d. she handed it to the woman, reciprocating her fake smile. the waitress gave it back to her with a look of agitation on her face. salem shrugged, looking at kevin, "guess i look younger than 23."
a look of delight replaced the agitation on the waitress's face once her eyes came across ciarán. "and for you?" she asked, biting her lip.
salem almost let out a noise of disgust at her body language. she was pretty sure everyone around her was aware of her flirtatious attitude toward ciarán.
"i'll just have some water." ciarán said simply.
"good choice, ciarán." kevin applauded him from across the table. "i'll have the same thing." he told the waitress before she took off.
as soon as she was gone, salem finally let out her frustration. "who the hell does she think she is?" she asked through clenched teeth.
"salem, don't worry about it. you handled the situation perfectly." merlyn said, wrapping an arm around her and grinning.
merlyn's joy was contagious, and soon, salem was smiling too. it wasn't a fake smile either. "i just don't get why she was so bitchy to me for no reason. all i did was laugh!"
"she could lose her job for that." kevin said.
"she just might if she keeps that shit up."
at this, ciarán let out a chuckle. salem never failed to amuse him.
salem continued ranting about the waitress until she came back with their drinks. she asked them what they'd like to eat, and everything went smoothly—until she got to salem, of course.
salem had ordered a filet mignon, and the waitress just had to put her two cents in. "you know, becoming a vegan is a better option than continuing to eat meat."
"and minding your own business is a better option than being up my ass." salem snapped, which earned an 'ooh' from merlyn and a snort from ciarán.
"just sayin'." she mumbled before moving on to ciarán. salem gave her the side-eye as she asked ciarán for his order.
once ciarán finished ordering, the waitress had asked him: "is that all?" to which he nodded yes, but she didn't stop there. "how about i give you my number too?"
"listen, i'm not remotely interested," at his words, a look of shock made its presence on her face. "and you better start treating her with some fucking respect." ciarán finished, pointing at salem with his thumb.
he finally had had enough of listening to the waitress treat salem like she was a child.
salem let out a low whistle, bringing her wine glass up to her lips for a sip. the waitress just stared at her speechlessly, her mouth agape. "you heard him, hop off my dick." salem said smugly. the waitress seemed to stomp away furiously, causing salem to let out a giggle. "thank you, ciarán."
"not gonna let anyone treat you like that." ciarán mumbled under his breath, but salem still heard him.
salem's cheeks and ears grew hot. knowing ciarán still cared about her, despite all that's happened, made her gleeful.
maybe it was the wine that was starting to affect her, but for the rest of the dinner, salem was in a chipper mood. the waitress still served their table, but avoided their end of the table every chance she got.
once the bill was paid, everybody got up to leave.
ian walked over to salem, "how was it?"
"better than i thought." she smiled, thinking back to ciarán defending her.
"i saw you were smiling a lot more after that waitress was gone."
she nodded, "ciarán told her to treat me with some respect."
"did you even talk to him?" ian glanced at ciarán, who was talking to kevin.
salem bit her lip, "i told him thank you; does that count?"
"no! the fuck? you're coming over after this, and that's that."
a/n:
siren seemed to redeem himself in this chapter 😌
