Bad Reputation | S.M.

Chapter 84

"Hi I am Nicole and I'm an alcoholic." I began, letting a deep breath out. "I am now 14 days sober and it really is no walk in the park." I shook my head and snickered a bit, holding onto the podium as tightly as I could. 

"As many of you know the past three years of my life I have struggled with being alone and not having my parents there to help me, causing me to drink . Now I used to think I was able to control my drinking, lying to myself that I could drink in moderation. I was naive. I look back at the times I did, and I knew I always wanted more, I needed more. Recently I broke up with my boyfriend and once again that led me to drink, heavily, it was my only source of comfort I guess. I stand here because I want to do better and these past few days have been really hard, I crave a drink every time someone mentions my ex or every time I remember those great times we had. To end this on a good note, the diner's renovations are going really well and we might be able to open up sooner than we expected, we even heard from my lawyer, we received settlement because of what happened at the diner, no idea how much, but at this point I'm just happy to have kept my job and diner. Thank you." 

I finished speaking and slightly smiled as everyone applauded. There were a few more enlightening talks before I left and took the bus to meet with my mom at the diner so we could finish painting the walls and receive a new shipment. 

It took a good thirty minutes getting to to the bus stop before walking over the diner that was a few blocks away. I turned the corner to see my mom and brother's in the parking lot, unloading cleaning supplies from the car and new cans of paint. 

I smiled and walked over to them, adjusting the bag on my shoulder as I approached them. I smiled and Hunter came up to hug me, causing me to laugh. 

"Hey buddy, ready to paint?" 

"Yes! I brought my paintbrush." He said and showed me his small Crayola paintbrush proudly. We walked over to my mom and I helped her with some of the cans of paint and buckets. She came over to place a kiss on my forehead and I grinned. 

"How was your meeting?" 

"It was good, I think I'm going to go to the morning meeting tomorrow." I sighed and she nodded, a simple smile on her face. We walked into the stripped down diner, a lot of work ahead of us for today. 

Yesterday we took out the booths and ripped out the floors, leaving only cement and an empty room filled with dirt and dust. I set down the things and Hunter went over to the counter and unpack his toys and coloring book so he could keep himself occupied. 

I sighed taking one last look at the place and put my hair up in a pony tail. I dumped out paint into a tray and took a look at the bright color, smiling. Jacob and I began to paint the walls with rollers, the bright color filling the diner up instantly. Hunter made it his job to paint a corner of the wall with his small paint brush, drawing figures and smiley faces. 

My mom took care of signing for the new booths and kitchen appliances, since everything was old and worn out, that were being delivered.

"Do you think we'll be finished by this week?" Jacob asked as he rolled the paint onto the wall, sweat dripping from his forehead. 

"I doubt it, maybe in like two more weeks, but we still need to pass health inspection since Mike kept paying off the inspector, with the money he stole."

"So what we'd be open by July, August?" 

"Maybe." I shrugged, cleaning the sweat off my forehead. 

"So the settlement money," Jacob added and I stopped painting, looking at him. "How much was it?" 

"I don't know, all I know is that it will be monthly payments from here on out because we sued and he owes us so much. Rob is coming over today to tell us what agreement they came to."