Eva tucked her purse into a small cubby under the front desk and began helping set up for the evening's dinner service. The restaurant in which she worked was only open a few nights a week, serving exclusively dinner with the exception of brunch Sundays. It was a quiet place, a little on the expensive end, but well worth the visit with its superior staff and customer service.
That was what their Yelp reviews said, anyway, but Eva believed it to be true for the most part. The owner was gruff but chivalrous and fair, and the head chef had a soft spot for her, despite being short-tempered in general. The other hostess, a niece of Arthur, the owner, was spunky but easy to get along with, and did a good job despite her young age. The serving staff was equally talented and friendly, both towards guests and herself, particularly—
"Hey hun," Eva was greeted casually by the tall, lanky server approaching the hostess stand. He grinned slyly at her, normally unkempt hair slicked back neatly in a style more fitting to the more formal atmosphere of the Zucchero Bistro. She could see right through his polished appearance, though, and shot him a shy smile.
"Hi Gilbert, how are you?" she asked politely as she continued to polish the wooden desktop of the host stand, feigning indifference towards him despite her rosy cheeks. Smiling to herself, she checked her notepad to recite his section for the evening: "Tables 1-6; Mei is your neighbor, she has tables 11-16."
"Aww, did you put me up near the front so I'd be close to you?" he teased, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and squeezing her gently.
This kind of physical contact would normally be unwelcome for Eva, but with patience, Gilbert was somehow able to wriggle his way into her affections. They weren't necessarily friends—Eva tended to keep to herself outside of work—but they had a unique, close acquaintanceship. She never truly rejected his flirting outright; humming vaguely or replying curtly despite an embarrassed smile and pink-dusted cheeks.
"I don't delegate tables, you know that," she replied softly with a slight scolding tone, leaning slightly into the brief side hug.
"I know," he conceded in a sing-song tone, rubbing her arm before releasing her and stalking back through the swinging double doors to the kitchen.
Conversations with servers were often disjointed and cut short; they could only linger at the host stand for so long until they had to attend to their tables or run food—not to mention that Arthur would fuss at them. Despite her inner denial, she found herself waiting more eagerly for Gilbert to return to continue their conversation than the other waiters.
An introvert in her high school years, Eva never received much attention from boys. She had only a handful of friends and despite being polite and hardworking, found it difficult to befriend others. Gilbert was one of the first to reach out to her when she began hosting at the Zucchero Bistro. He did so in his own way: shameless teasing. In response, Eva grew thicker skin and let his honeyed words roll off of her back; even so, his sweet-talk stuck in her mind like honey itself.
Eva didn't realize she'd been spaced out staring after him until—
"When's the wedding?"
She just about jumped out of her skin, wheeling around to see tousled blond hair and a goofy grin. Eva shot him the dirtiest glare in her arsenal, while somehow simultaneously smiling, face so hot it could fry an egg.
"I'm only teasing, kid," he chuckled, ruffling her hair affectionately, "He's bad news for a sweet girl like you, anyway."
She pouted a little, combing her fingers through her hair before mumbling, "I'm an adult, Matthias; I'm in uni! I can take care of myself…"
The Danish waiter shook his head, smiling, before going back to setting his tables.
Despite being poised, quiet, and polite most of the time, Eva often became flustered and defensive when confronted about her feelings towards Gilbert. Matthias was right; there were so many reasons for her not to like him.
I don't like him. she reminded herself. He just likes to push my buttons...
On top of it being unprofessional—what would her boss, Arthur, think?—she didn't have the time for it. She was in her third year of university, planning to double major, and she worked several hours a week at the restaurant. Oftentimes she got off work too late to have a social life after; besides, her older brother was adamant about her focusing her energy on her studies.
Not to mention what he would think of a character like Gilbert; he dropped out of college, always smelled like cigarettes, and drank heavily, on top of being a full four years older than her in a dead-end job. Vash didn't want her dating at all while she was still in university, let alone an uneducated, working-class punk.
Her brother didn't do this simply to be cruel, or because he wanted her to be unhappy; on the contrary, he loved her a great deal, but he wanted her to have the best opportunities for a happy and successful life. According to him, these opportunities came from a good education, a good career in a lucrative field, and, if it suited her, marriage and children once she had enough money to support herself. Of course, her suitor must meet certain requirements as well: equally or more educated than Eva, no unsavory habits or vices, and a put-together appearance.
Not to mention, if he wanted to keep his hands, he'd better keep them off of her.
Eva smiled to herself as she imagined what kind of interaction Vash and Gilbert would have. In some alternate universe, of course, in which there was even the slightest chance that she and Gilbert could be together. She'd never hear the end of it from her brother about throwing her life away and that she'll be living in poverty, and that he won't take her or her live-in boyfriend (or worse, husband) even if they were begging in the streets. Having such paternal instincts, she doubted Vash would really follow that vow.
She was jolted from this strange fantasy by vigorous knocking; her heart stopped when she saw faces peeking in through the still locked front doors. Had she really zoned out for that long?! Eva breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was still a minute until the hour, and went to unlock the doors early for the regulars.
"Good evening, how are you?" she chirped as she let them in, face still a little flushed.
Gilbert was back up at the host stand when she returned from seating the early guests. Leaning against the desktop, he shot her a wolfish grin. "When you gonna seat me, huh? I thought we were friends!"
Cracking a little smile, she took her place next to him behind the host stand and looked over her clipboard. "I'll seat you when it's your turn. You still have one person ahead of you,"
"That's fine, I guess, I'll just spend some quality time with my girl up here, then!" he exclaimed, evoking a soft glare from Eva as she held her finger to her lips. Gilbert shook his head at her, smile softening slightly as he continued to gaze at her. "You worry too much about what other people think!"
"You don't worry enough," she returned.
"Life's too short not to do everything you want to." His regularly playful tone turned somewhat serious. She was a bit bewildered, especially by how he was staring.
"S-so are you doing what you want now?"
He appeared to consider her question for a moment before grinning almost sheepishly. "You've got a good point there, blondie. But I guess there's a time and place for everything. You need money and a house and food to be able to go out and do whatever you want." Gilbert smirked and flicked her bangs before continuing, "But if I have to be here, I'd rather hang out with my girlfriend!"
"Wh-what?!" Eva squeaked, flustered and flushed-faced. All of the wait staff on the floor and the couple at the nearby table turned to stare at the two of them following her outburst. Gilbert just laughed and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly as she hung her head in shame.
"You're too cute when you're embarrassed! You know what I mean, Eva." He winked and patted her on the back in a distinctly friendly manner before going back into the kitchen. Probably to go flirt with the waitresses, she found herself adding reflexively. Not that it mattered—since when did she care what he did?
Since he started giving her all these mixed signals. Eva honestly had no idea what he had meant: between calling her "hun", "sweetheart", and by her name with both flirty and friendly physical contact, she was perplexed. Everyone thought he just had a big mouth and was full of himself, but when they had real conversations, he seemed to really listen and care about what she had to say. He acted like a big shot in front of everyone, but he'd reveal personal accomplishments to her.
She smiled a little to herself; she knew that he had a pet chicken that he raised from an egg, that he was trying to quit smoking and drinking—"So I'll be worthy of my princess Eva,"—with some success, and that he was planning to go back to school once he saved up a little money—which he mainly spends on cigarettes and alcohol. Eva knew he was far from perfect, but she'd swell with pride when he'd announce to her that he hadn't smoked a cigarette for a whole week, or that he only had one beer the night before.
She knew these feelings of attachment went only one way; as much as he came onto her, he was out of her league. Not that Eva really believed a relationship would work between them—or that she even wanted one! She was supposed to be focusing on her studies and saving money for her future. No, Gilbert was just an overly-flirtatious friend. Acquaintance—coworker. she quickly corrected.
Besides, this had been going on for over a year now; if it hadn't gone anywhere by now, she doubted it ever would. Eva ignored the slight pangs of disappointment that followed that realization, or at least she tried to, and went into autopilot as the restaurant filled up for the evening. She caught his glances and offered soft smiles in return, but was too busy talking to guests and taking phone calls to continue their conversation.
I hope this introductory chapter kinda piques your interest! I absolutely love PruLiech, and as much as I'm doing this for you PruLiech fans, I'm doing this story a lot for myself. Some of the themes/scenarios in this story are inspired by some of my own experiences working in a restaurant and dealing with conflicting feelings about an overly affectionate "off-limits" person. Writing through it helps me sort out my thoughts, in a way. (Coughs sorry for being such a nerd. Please follow ; o ; ) I'm aiming to release a chapter every few days with no more than 5 chapters (but we'll see). Thank you very much for reading, and please review! c:
