Cheapskates! I thought while cleaning up one of my tables. The customers that had been sitting here had been total jerks. Making me run all over the place for their ridiculous requests, requests that my manager insisted I fulfilled that instant because of my other tables as well, and still a minimum tip. Flippin' cheapskates.
Luckily the place had died down, and with that I meant the whole restaurant was deserted. It was getting late and other people's shifts were ending, but not mine, never mine, I always worked late.
People called me the backbone of the little restaurant where I had been working for a year, pretty much full time. I knew pretty much every customer, and they knew me.
Or at least the knew the me on the nametag. Everyone just knew me as Lilly, as the girl from the diner, and nothing else. I had made sure of that, always avoiding difficult questions. They didn't know the real me, no-one did, no-one in this world anyway.
"So this has been, what, the fourth night in a row Daniel has come by?" One of my dear colleages asked. Kimberly ment well enough, and she was right. This boy Daniel, he lived down the street and had developped a crush on me. "I suppose it was." I answered, not showing any emotions. "Oh c'mon, it's a nice boy, he is smart and you have to admit, he is cute if not hot." She said while cleaning the tables. "He is a charmer." I played along, the boy was nice, but not my type. Besides, my heart already belonged to another. But that was a long story. "A catch that's what he is." Kim mumbled. "Heard that." I responded, startling her a bit. "Oh please, are you seriously telling me that you don't want a piece of that? Cause if you don't take him, I will." Kimberly exclaimed. "Go ahead, I already had a piece of that, as you like to put it, anyway. I said, with a big smile on my face. Kimberly's jaw dropped. "What? I'm not a saint! We went out, had some fun, and he became a bit clingy. I have to say he wasn't all that bad. He sure made me scream, if you catch my drift." I winked, and both of us started to giggle uncontrolably. After a while our laughing had died down a bit and Kim had cought her breath. "That good eh?" She asked. "Oh yes, and that job at the docks sure is paying off. hmm mmm." And there we went again, for a good ten minutes we couldn't look at each other without giggling.
"So if he was that good, why the cold shoulder? He is a nice, sweet guy, yet that tough dock worker type you seem to pine for. Why? I will never know, but nonetheless, I'd say he is perfect for you." When did she become all serious and stuff? "Let's just say I have a very, very specific type. Daniel comes close, but not close enough." I answered truthfully. Kimberly started walking towards me. "You know what? I think you're just picky, very picky. At this rate you'll never find the right guy." I just shrugged. "I'm still young, I'd say I got plenty of time." And with that I went back to cleaning up my tables.
This was my life, waiting tables at a small restaurant for a minimum wage. Enough to pay rent, buy groceries and do my research. If I wasn't working I could be found in the library, not that anyone ever bothered looking, who cares about a diner waitress right. Ironically enough, no job makes you as anonymous as one that requires you to wear a nametag. Perfect for someone who would want to stay below the radar.
I'm not a criminal if that's what you are thinking right now. I may seem a bit distant, closed off, different, but that has good reason. My blonde/brownish hair is never down, always a tail or bun. Clothes practical and comfortable, and make-up the minimum, if any. I am who I am, and I'm not gonna pretend to be someone else for anyone or anything. I might not be want to be found easily, but that is no reason to change who am. People take me for who I am, or not at all. My past is no secret, not something I am ashamed of, it's just not relevant to my current life out here.
My research is all that still connects me with my previous life, all that I have left of all my years that made me who I am today. And that is so much more than a waitress, I am a storyteller.
That's what I search in all those books, stories. I tell them to the children at the library if they want to listen. I tell them the usual stories, written out in childproofed, brightly coloured storybooks. But I know better, I know there is more to these stories, I've seen it, I've lived it. But who is gonna belief the word of one silly waitress at a sleazy diner? What I never said the job was perfect, it is good for now though. I am nowhere near ready to share my story, I need proof, found in literature, preferrably dusty old literature, more believeable.
I started doing this research thing about two years ago, but I've been in this world longer. Four years, to be exact. I wanted to get away from a certain someone, so I went here. A place apparently without magic and belief in anything not directly shown to you. So I have been teaching young kids to have some faith in the unkown, the uncertain. But that's the Lilly that reads to the kids, and only those kids really know that Lilly.
Here I am just another robot with a nametag. Kimberly had left to do some inventory while it was quiet, and no doubt flirt a bit with Jason, the cook. So I was all alone. I heard the door open behind me. It's 11 PM, really? You want food now? I turned around. "Welcome to our diner, can I help youuuu. Killian? What brings you here?"