Salted Wound

Chapter 59 Anastacia- Mar 28, 2019

"Two short stacks of cinnapancakes with a side of hashbrowns, two scrambled eggs, and bacon," I say the order as I place the plates on the table.

    The young woman sitting at the booth starts fidgeting in her seat as she sees her food being placed on the table. The man licks his lips and doesn't take his eyes off the mountain of calories.

    "Thank you," the couple says in unison.

    "My pleasure. Is there anything else I can get for you guys?" I ask.

    "No, we're good. Thank you, though." The woman responds, taking her fork and stabbing into her pancake.

    "No problem," I say with a smile and walk back to the back counter.

    I find my co-worker, Emma, scrolling through her phone. "Better not let Kaylee see you on your phone," I mention our boss. Kaylee is pretty cool with us but absolutely hates seeing us on our phones when we're on the clock.

    "She went out a while ago, and there's no one to feed. So we're good for at least an hour," Emma smiles, looking up from her phone. Her blonde bangs sway when she moves her head along with her long ponytail.

Emma is around the same height as me but she's a lot thinner than me. She used to go to North Shore but graduated last year. She's currently attending the community college and has been working at Benny's for the past year. She's pretty cool, but she has her moments sometimes.

"Just don't get it taken away like last time," I tease.

"She's stupid stupid for doing that. It's my phone either way," she rolls her eyes.

"I guess,"

The bell rings from the door and I exit the back to serve the customer. I walk around the counter and look around for the customer but can't seem to find them. They usually have to wait to be seated at a table or booth, but they didn't seem to understand the sign. I turn to walk back to the counter but I feel something fling to my hair. I turn and see Zamari chilling at one of the booths, giving me a crooked smile.

"You know you have to wait to be seated, right?" I tease.

"I mean I don't see the problem. I just popped an open seat that I found," he gestures the room and I see that many of the tables were empty. We are usually slow on weekday evenings.

"Very funny," I say and walk over to him. As I approach him he pulls out a white plastic bag. "What's that?"

"This is a little surprise for your hard-working-ass," he says and gives me the bag to open.

I give him wary eyes and don't really know how to respond. "I'm scared," I say and take the bag I open it and peek inside. It's a food box.

"You know that I work at a restaurant, right?" I tease.

"I clearly didn't," he jokes back. I shake my head and open the box. They are pancakes.

I nod my head and bite down on my lip trying not to burst into laughter. "Alright, Zamari. Lemme go check out for a break," I say and close the bag and walk backward.

"Don't take long, I don't want these delicious pancakes to get cold," he smirks and I roll my eyes.

I walk back to the counter and sign out of my account. I yell over to Emma and tell her I'm going on break. I walk to the soda machines and grab two cups of vanilla bean soda and a plate with bacon. I take it back to the table and place the plate and cups down

"Just so it can go with our entree," I mention.

"What? No appetizer?" He smirks.

"I brought bacon, so eat up,"

"Awesome. Anyways, I hope you like your pancakes. They are the best in town,"

"Mmm," I say as he takes the box out. He takes a pancake out and places in on the plate in front of me. He takes the rest of the box and puts some bacon strips inside.

We sit and chat about the pancakes and other food. He tries throwing a piece of bacon at me but I catch it in my mouth instead. He mentions how he can't wait for graduation and I agree.

"Honestly, I'm tired of being forced to be in a single place for hours a day. I've always hated being told what to do," he mentions, closing his box.

"I can see that. I mean I'm hoping to be in a classroom teaching people, but I'm tired of being the one forced around. I don't know, I'm kind of excited for college," I say looking up. "If I even go." I look back down at my plate.

"What do you mean? Of course, you're going to college. You're going to be an excellent teacher, too," he says. "I mean as long as you aren't teaching me." He teases and I laugh.

"Funny. I mean we'll see how it goes with Strella and the baby, but there's no guaranteed plan for next year," I say putting my plate to the side.

"Just focus on what's coming up. Baby steps," he mentions.

"You're right," I say, smiling. I put my chin at the palm of my hand. He continues to stare at me and I feel my face flush. "What?" I ask, my voice going up.

"I don't know. You look kinda cute." He says.

I bat my eyes down and lick my lips. I move my hand to the table and push myself out of the booth. "Well, this 'kind of cute' girl has to go back to work," I say.

He looks up at me with a grin. "I mean you don't have to go. You can always quit."

"You're funny," I tease and grab the plate and trash off the table.

"I'm kidding. Go make that shmoney," he says and I laugh.

"Bet," I say. I walk over to him and run my fingers in his hair to mess it up. He moves under my hand to keep me from damaging his hair more. I let out a giggle and he smacks my hand away.

"That's not funny!" He calls out as I start making my way to the counter.

"See you tomorrow!" I call back and enter the kitchen.