I wake up to the sound of my phone vibrating. The clock reads 8:06am. Shit, i'm late again. I grab my phone to see who's calling. It's Lexi, one of my closest friends (and co-worker.) "Hello?" I answer, trying my best to sound like I've been awake for ages. "Anna! Where the hell are you? Did you sleep through your alarm again?" I guess I wasn't convincing enough. "I know, I know" I stammer, already cramming my shoes on.
"Stall for me, okay? I'll be there in five."
"You owe me one man."
"Whatever you say. Alright, gotta run!" With that, I hang up, grab my keys and run out the door.
I pull up to the parking lot of the Maple Ridge Diner and notice Lexis bright red moped in the space next to me. I sneak inside through the back door. Luckily, it's just me and Lexi working this shift. Gwen, our manager, would have my ass if she knew I was late again.
"Hey bitch!" I hear Lexi before I even see her. "Morning. Sorry I was late...again"
"No problem. Hey, remember that favor you owe me?" I roll my eyes, this better be good. "yeah. What do you need?"
"So...ya know how there's that new girl coming in today?" she says in a sickeningly sweet voice. I know whats coming next. "well...i'm supposed to show her the ropes and...you know how I get with people an-"
"and you want me to show her around so you can sneak off and hang out with your boyfriend."
"I-well you're not wrong." She admits. "But can you do it? Please!" She tilts her head and flutters her eyelashes at me like a little kid. I sigh, "Fine. But you're buying lunch today."
"Oh thank you thank you thank you! You are a freaking gift from god!" She's practically jumping up and down. "Excuse me?" The voice of a clearly pissed of old woman in need of her morning coffee echoes from the front booth. "Not it." Lexi whispers, putting her finger to the tip of her nose. With a sigh, I grab my apron, notepad, and little golf pencil and walk over to the booth. Okay, customer service time, I tell myself. I put on my waitress smile and look at the woman. "Hi, welcome to the Maple Ridge Diner. My name is Anna and I will be your server this morning. How may I help you?"
"I've been sitting here for over 20 minutes and still haven't been served." I know for a fact that isn't true, since we only opened 15 minutes ago, but as Gwen says, "the customer is always right. Even when they aren't."
"My apologies ma'm. Are you ready to order?"
"Coffee, black." She scoffs at me. I'm really starting to not like this woman. "Scrambled eggs, and a glass of orange juice. Don't you dare even think of giving me apple juice. Last time I was here someone with a lip piercing gave me apple juice. I hate apple juice...and lip piercings." That was definitely Lexi. She has a ring bigger than Saturns wrapped around her lip. "Sure thing, will that be all?" I say, writing her order down on my notepad. 'NO APPLE JUICE' is written in bold, just to give Lexi shit. "yeah, I guess that's it." the woman mutters bitterly.
As I walk away from the booth, I rip the paper containing her order off of my notepad. When I get back to the kitchen, I hand the paper to Lexi. "Orders up."
