Fireflies

Chapter 12: The New Girl

Aryah

Everything seemed to happen quickly and easily. Precisely 6 minutes after declaring my intentions to stay, Sally's husband rushed through the bar doors with his medi-kit. He didn't spare us a glance; he simply headed to the back room.

Sage made a phone call home to his mother explaining the situation and she was more than happy to let me stay despite my insistence to stay in a local establishment in town.

Another hour later, Sally was propped along the bar like an old mother hen, watching and shouting orders to me as I, swathed in a fresh new apron, made my way from table to table. It all seemed easy enough. Carry around a notepad. Smile. Take an order and bring it to Sage at the bar who would then tack it onto the cook's order line.

As time wore on, Sally talked less so I thought I was doing a good enough job. It was well into the afternoon and the after work crowd hadn't come lumbering in yet. "That's when the real work begins..." Sally had warned, but I wasn't worried. I felt too good right now. How couldn't I under Sage's watchful gaze?

I felt his eyes everywhere I went and I tried my hardest not to keep looking at him like some love-sick fan girl. Instead, I busied myself trying to appear demure and sexy. I added a bit of sway to my hips as I weaved through the tables. I may or may not have leaned really low when I placed a drink order on the counter top. I casually flipped my hair every once in a while liked I'd seen the gorgeous girls in the movies do. I was THAT girl Hadi and I would make fun of standing by our lockers at school, but now I understood.

I understood why girls like THAT tried so hard. I judged them for trying too hard and looking desperate, but, in reality, they were simply coping with their insecurities the only way they knew how. They just wanted to be noticed...just like everybody else.

I heard the groan of the heavy front door, the tell-tale tinkle of the chimes above it, and a few new faces entered the bar. It seemed like everyone in this town had a designated seat in this joint. Not one person who'd come in lingered at the doorway, uncertainty creasing their eyebrows as they scanned the space for a place to sit. No, each person or persons came in with surety and bee-lined it straight to "their" table.

I liked that about Sally's. Everything was familiar. This wasn't a young crowd type of place, at least not from the customers that had come in so far. In truth, it seemed as though Sage and I were the  youngest ones in this place and he was, at least, legally allowed drink! Or at least I think he is. I didn't know how old Sage was. He looked like he could be a year or two older than me...definitely 21. While I was only a mere 18, my birthday was a few weeks away.

I added this to my growing list of things to ask Sage about: How old are you? How did you become so gorgeous? Do you have a girlfriend?

I made my way over to the older couple.

"Good afternoon, welcome to Sally's? Can I start you off with a drink?"

The grey-haired woman looked up at me startled, then a small laugh escaped her lips. From nerves or genuine astonishment I could not be sure.

"Why you've changed since yesterday, Nadia?" That must have been the old waitress.

I don't know why, but I laughed too. Perhaps to avoid what could potentially be an awkward conversation. She was the first customer to actually acknowledge the newness of my presence at Sally's.

"Uh yeah. Nadia's uh...taking a little break and I'm filling in for a little bit, but I hope that I'm able to serve you guys just as well as she always has." I didn't know this Nadia girl from shit, but I also didn't want to make myself seem more the like "stranger in the village" than I already was.