Elena groaned and reached over to shut down the sound of her alarm clock. She felt like she had just slept for 2 minutes. It was 6a.m and it was freezing. Elena scrunched deeper into her bed before sitting up and hissed when the cold breeze attacked her skin. She put on a thick sweater over her tank top, slipped her feet into the slippers and lazily dragged herself to the bathroom. 15 minutes later, feeling a little bit less miserable and zombie-like thanked to the hot shower, Elena were all dressed, as she was pouring some cereals into her bowl, Bonnie stepped into their tiny kitchen, still in her PJs
"Hey! Morning classes today?" Elena smiled and greeted her flatmate also her best friend for over a year now.
"Yeah" Bonnie went over to give Elena a hug. "Don't know how you can do it everyday. Especially in this dreading weather" She shivered, turning on the coffee machine.
"Well, I got bills to pay." Elena sighed, thinking a while before added "and a teenager to take care of to" She glanced at the photo of her and Jeremy pinned on the fridge door.
"I know, you're a good sister" Bonnie gave her an encouraging smile.
Elena smiled back and rinsed her empty bowl, walking over to grab her bag on the counter, kissed Bonnie on the cheek and headed to the door.
"Remember to spread the flyers! We're still needing someone to share this flat with" . Bonnie spoke after Elena as she was walking out of the door. She nodded and headed out. Their other flatmate left the place and they, well, Elena needed another fill in as soon as possible, she couldn't afford if they had to share haft of the rent and bills even if it was for quite a cheap and super small apartment in Brooklyn. 18 months ago, Elena lost her parents in a fire. They said it was due to a malfunction in the gas system, an accident. Jeremy and she were out that night, at a house party with the folks at her college before they went home to ruins and loss. The house was completely burnt down. Elena would forever remember the burnt smell penetrating her nose, the sight of a brutal explosion where once used to be her home, how someone came to her and said her parent's bodies were too damaged to identify. They were left with literally nothing, not even a piece of clothes or a chance to look at their parents for the last time. Added to the situation, John, her father's dear brother took advantage of their naïve, took over her father's company, sold it out and fled out of town. Jeremy lost it and became depressed, drown in drugs and alcohol, then at sometimes developed self-harming until she had to take him into an institution for help. Elena couldn't blame him, he was too young, she thought she had gone mad at some point too. The money they had left after the funerals and John's fraud were just enough to maintain them and put Jeremy in the institution for the next 4 months. And so Elena Gilbert, once a spoiled child, well provided by her parents, now had to get up 6 in the morning every day to take a bus from Brooklyn to get to the East Side and work her shift at a fancy restaurant then ran across town to take her classes at a community college before rushing back into the lights of the city and reach to her night-shift at an exclusive lounge bar. That how she afford her college fee, her rent, her brother's cost with the bare minimum monthly financial help coming from the government considering her special situation.
Elena jumped into the bus, panting as she had to run to catch it in time. She sank down a seat, catching her breath, looking out the window. She'll make it in time to her job, she'll make it through.
Elena tried to hold back a yawn when she took the drinks from Matt, the bartender. It was a long day, she missed half of her Law class in the afternoon due to traffic. It always bugged her if she ever missed out or lacked off on her study, she chose to kept her education going because Elena well acknowledged that a degree was the only way she could get to a real job, with real wages so she could take care properly her brother and herself in the future.
"Don't fall asleep on your feet!" Matt teased.
Elena ignored him and started heading to the VIP lounge area. Great. She told herself today would finally worth it with the tips coming. She opened the glass door with one hand before stepping into the big oval room. She realized immediately who were in the room. There were about 6 young males, all in suits, and a … bunch of girls, all in some fancy cocktail evening dresses, some more revealing than others. One of them was Damon Salvatore, the most eligible and wanted bachelor of the year according to one of Bonnie's gossip tabloids she read at some time while chewing on her microwaved dinner, if not those on several articles, most having to do with women, parties, and other juicy scandals stuff. Other than that, his name was also mentioned in last year's Forbes list. All that, and his being ridiculously hot looking had nothing or everything on why the media was so interested in him.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We will be at your service tonight." Elena slightly shook her head and straightened her back a little as the lounge manager's voice brought her back from her train of thoughts. She stood professionally behind him as he went on greeting their guests. Her eyes accidentally went to Damon's and she blushed a little as he was staring intensely at her before his lips twisted into a smirk when she caught his eyes. What the hell? Elena felt uneasy under his stare, took her eyes off him and stared at the manager's back instead.
The rest of the night went on quite easily, Elena worked on a professional manner to her guests even though she felt disgusted by lustful sexual vibe that was in the room between the men and the women as the wine's gone more and more. Elena looked through the corner of her eyes to see Damon Salvatore was stuck in between two blond chicks with their boobs about to fall out of their tight dresses, hands all over him. Elena turned to them to pour more wine into their glasses when one of the glass tipped over and splashed on the lap of the girl on his left, who was sticking her hand under his shirt.
"What the hell?" The girl snapped at Elena when she jumped up and started brushing the liquid off her dress.
"I am so sorry, miss" Elena tried to make herself sound more convincing and genuine. Her manager was about to rush over with apology on his lips when Damon waved him off.
"Oh my God! Do you know what you're doing? You know how much this cost?" The chick went on shouting at her before turning to Damon pouting dramatically.
"What's your name?" Damon asked, acting like the girl was vain air.
The girl that got soaked looking like someone just hit her with a pan straight on her face before storming to the bathroom cursing under her breath.
"Jenna" Elena talked with the first name came to her mind before adding "sir."
"Then I guess you're wearing Elena's name tag." He said casually rising his eyebrow in an innocent expression.
Dammit. Elena gave herself a mental slap but said nothing, continued to pour wine into his glass. It was not like no one had ever hit on her before on her shift. She was not a stuck up self-praising little twat, well, she used to be , but she knew she was in the good-looking range when it came to appearance. Her natural olive skin had a healthy glow, her long dark thick hair, her face with fine features and her overall slender figure. That was after all the main reason why she could get jobs at these fancy places, serving these fancy vapid people, getting fancy tips from them. She didn't know what got into her that made her lied about her name. But he looked even hotter at a close distance, she noted. Elena walked away from him to get to the counter and put the bottle down. She looked at her watch and sighed in relief knowing her shift was over. Some night she would take the late shift for extra pay, well, not tonight. She went over to her manager to get his permission before heading out of the room.
"Has Melissa come? I'm done for tonight." Elena said, taking off her nametag and letting her hair down from the ponytail.
"Yeah, she'll take your place for the rest of the night. Now you go home and get some sleep." Matt added when Elena let out a big yawn. It was almost 1a.m.
"Yeah. I'm gonna run or I'll miss my train" She gave Matt peck on his cheeks.
"Night, sweetie, I'll keep your share of the tips for you when they're done ok?"
"Thanks. Good night, Matt" Elena said and ran to the staff room to change.