A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight series or anything affiliated with it.
"Hello, welcome to Spice." I greeted an elderly couple at the door, charming them with my legendary smile and soft expression. People loved being greeted at the door by a done-up woman eager to meet their every need. "Do you have a reservation?" Spice was always packed, but not more so than Wednesday through Saturday nights, and so my job here was pretty secure. Sure, we all feared that budget cuts would be made with the stand-still awful recession we were in- and of course, an owner would first fire a non-beneficial door stander before they actually fired a floor worker. I always assumed in such a case, I would just resume a waitress position. When the couple gave me their name and I found it on the scribbled list, I ushered them to an open table beneath the large wall of wine bottle. Decoration purposes only, of course. I strolled back to my wide expanse of a desk and began to check off on the names that had already arrived. University was a great experience and my monthly financial aide was sufficient, but there were just bills I had to pay and no other source of income. My parents were just finished paying off my dad's boat and mortgage on the house, so I didn't want to be any more of a bother than I already was.
Working four days a week wasn't so bad, and my hours were flexible enough. From six to twelve every shift, I always had enough time to study in the mornings and afternoons, plus my off days from Sunday-Tuesday. In college, my mom had a full-time job, no government aide, and less supportive parents than I had- I knew I would be able to make it in my circumstance! "Good evening, welcome to Spice." A group of five walked in, all the statuesque of night-goers and hipster college guys. "Do you have a reservation?" Keep smiling, Bella, I had to remind myself. The only part of this job that I didn't like was the stares and ogling- I always kept my nightly outfits and demure and creative, but alas stares always happened. I touched at my loose bun gingerly and began to blush.
The tallest male with a red, plaid long sleeve cleared his throat and leaned against my high-placed podium. "Yeah, under Ryerson." I went down the list, gulping silently as I skimmed over the different names of the night. I felt all of their eyes on my backside as I served them at a table in the farthest part of the room, the outside patio area gated from the busy cobblestone sidewalk. "Thanks, beautiful." He winked suggestively (with an echo of howls and melodramatic gasps from his friends) and I bit my tongue- he didn't mean that, the word beautiful. I could tell by the way he hung onto his lower lip and spoke to my chest more than my face. Instead of saying something rash, I smiled and stepped away from the scene and back to my home place. I hated when people abused the word "beautiful"- it was such an innocent and lovely word, why ruin it?
"Why the long face, girl? Someone step on your shoes again?" Lauren, in her black and white uniform, leaned on the desk part of my area. I shook my head and stayed at the podium, checking off another name. Alice never wanted to work here, as she didn't like taking orders or working with her mother, but when she did come she spent most of her time in the kitchens, entertaining Chef Lahote (Paul was her long-time crush, unadvisedly). I had to make new friends when I first started working here last year. I sighed as I realized I was so close to wrapping up my second year at Uni and still didn't have much to show for time. Other than almost straight A's, almost a full time job, and almost a nice apartment- things weren't falling into place like I thought they were. Mrs. Masen walked down the carpeted hall to my desk and eyed both of us critically. Sometimes, she was an evil witch with a wicked temper. Other times, she was a sweet pea with a heart of gold. It was a no-brainer why Alice didn't want to work here. "Good evening, Mrs. Masen." I murmured sweetly, not wanting to trigger a bad mood in the wake.
"Good evening, Jane." Lauren added with unnecessary acid. Since Lauren was promoted to Head Barista, things between she and our boss went downwards. It some hatred or another, seeing as Lauren was the only one of Riley Masen's squeezes that seemed to last. Riley worked in the back office as the Financial Advisor, Activities and Press Coordinator, and the official peace keeper of his mother and Lauren's spats. We knew Riley was overqualified for the kind of work he did, but his mother trusted very few people in this world. She made that clear every employee meeting. Speaking of meetings, we had one after closing today… I internally rolled my eyes.
"Do you not have a drink to concoct, Mrs. Mallory?" Lauren simpered off in a huff, obviously hating the belittlement Mrs. Masen was always capable of. "Very good evening, Isabella. Keep up the good work." Her Bi-Polar ass walked away with that and I was left my all-consuming thoughts again. It was a good thing Jane Masen only had one son, so I was clear for take-off in the sense that I would never step on her toes in my love life. My phone began to vibrate loudly in the pocket of the silk dress I wore, but I pressed the "avoid" bar without hesitation. Every time she caught us on our phones during a shift, we were assigned bathroom duty/vacuum duty/silverware cleansing/kitchen floor duty- which ever option pained us most. I had only been caught twice, once right before my shift ended and twice when I accepted and emergency phone call from my mother. Turned out, emergency meant her favorite star dying off of a TV show. I was assigned kitchen floor mopping first, and bathroom duty the second. Each took a good hour to finish (not overtime, of course), and I realized that the regular janitors that cleaned such places really did deserve their props. By the end of the night, dirt and muck was in places they shouldn't have been.
The night waned on, with customers entering and exiting the front doors with expectant smiles on their faces. I refused to take my cut in the daily tip spliting routine, as I doubted I deserved a dime of that money. My salary was enough and all I needed. Mike and Jessica emerged from the restrooms together five minutes till ten, when both of thei breaks ended. I pretended to ignore their romance spreading, but it was too difficult ot act blind. Mike Newton was a suckery fellow with sticky hands, but it wasn't like I really expected anything great from our one and only date a few weeks ago. He was nice enough even if he expected sex and breakfast- I nearly kicked him down the stairs and promised myself I would no longer date people I worked with. And then Jessica caught wind of our cheesy date at the pub around the corner and decided she needed to sink her claws in before it was too late. I figured the only thing late was her period. "Hey." Jessica Stanely offered politely as she walked on by and immediately tended to an impatient-looking old man.
All walks of life came through those doors, including the very ritzy and infamously known. "Good evening, sir." Mr. Santiguirmoe, a very good friend of Mr. Masen's, walked through the door with a team of bodyguards flanking him. He was an older man with speckled hair and very, very pensive black eyes. "Your table is this way, sir." The younger woman on his arm and a relatively close business associate eyed me speculatively, as If I was the one rolling around in Mafia money.
I hated this part of working for the Masens- Mr. Masen knew dirty money and allowed the likes to dine and wine at his own place. "Is there anything I can fetch for you? Perhaps complimentary Mescato while you consider your order?" I offered in a sickly sweet voice, the one men loved to hear; he shook his head and bade me away from his private table in what we, as the employees, considered the "VIP Lounge"- basically the special treatment tables where Mr. Masen sent his clients and colleagues to spend the evening of their life in pure luxury and had no wanton that a waiter couldn't meet. I was never here during the day for the female soprano singer, but the male opera voice during the evening was grand enough to listen to all night. The melodies were always the same, but Aro and his young viola-playing son Caius were always putting something different into things. Another two hours passed by quickly, and when the last group of the night simpered off, I plopped myself on my cushioned chair and ripped my stilettos off. These guys were torture in pure beauty form! "Not easy bearing the pain for the beauty?" James, our Head Waiter, quipped tauntingly from behind his black half-apron.
I shrugged and pulled out my cell, trying to ignore his presence by going through my phone. The clock read 12;01, just one minute after my shift ended. There was no way that witch could complain! "Of course not." I mumbled quietly after replying to a few emails from my old friends at Forks High, along with one of my uncles out in Arizona. Angela sent me a message over Dotcom, the most recent "social networking" site out there. The only reason I created a profile for myself for the new job opportunities professors led us on to believe came with putting yourself out there. I had my resume, former job references, and college certifications all on the site- but since my activation a year ago, I realized that perhaps a site used for dating, hooking up, and talking trash wasn't exactly the greatest scene for new job scouts. "How's Vicky?" He used to bring Victoria around all of the time, whether it be for meetings, barbeques, or holiday parties. But now that she was pregnant, she was more of a stay-at-home deal.
"Doing well." And that was all he was going to unveil?
"How far along is she? Do you know the sex yet?" I had to admit, I was relatively excited for a new baby- even if it didn't belong to me, I loved the thought of new lives forming and another human in existence. James was attractive yes, but he had the way about him that automatically put you off. Alice liked to call it the "creeper" eyes he owned, but even Paul grew weary around the long-haired blond.
"She's probably… five months now." A simple shrug followed. "The doctor said it was a girl, but I'm sure he's wrong. I can only make boys." I had to hold my eye roll- what, so if this is a girl it can't possibly be yours, right? God, men like him really knew how to get under my skin! This was his first kid, why wasn't he more excited? Wasn't fatherhood supposed to be one of those things that every man doesn't look forward to until their girl is pregnant? I didn't understand why men thought the way they did.
"What makes you think that?" I had to know the method behind his madness.
"My whole family is nothing but boys. And anyway, I want a son. Daughters are far too… complicated for my liking. I want a boy that looks just like me." His lopsided smirk drove me mad- why did guys that looked like him always so negative and dense? "Can you tell Mrs. Masen that I had to skip out on the meeting tonight? Vicky's been calling since eleven." He rolled his eyes and walked off when I nodded; of course, these meetings weren't mandatory (as we weren't getting paid to be here after twelve) and they only ever lasted fifteen minutes, but the more responsibility you took on in front of Mrs. Masen the better off you were in her restaurant. We all met up at the main table of the restaurant, a fifteen-seater with an Egyptian gold-threaded table cloth. I plopped myself between Lauren and Jake, whom were laughing about something stupid a customer did the night before.
"Tonight was in excellent spirits, and I just wanted to share a word with everyone about attitude. Kindness and obedience truly make this world go round, and every time I look around at my employees I see just that! It fills me with hope for the future that this restaurant, my very first one opened, will be able to expand up and out." We clapped in procession, realizing that applause was probably what she wanted. To her, every night was one night closer to reaching her goal- but to most of us, it just meant one more paycheck to cover what we owe and supply us with necessary nutrients. "If the construction plans are accepted and reviewed properly in the next few months, we will be remodeling and building a second floor!"
My eyes grew wide. She wanted a two-story restaurant? That meant more chefs, more waiters, and more food to be handled! Surely she hadn't thought this through? Paul's sous chef Leah looked on expectantly, as if she were going to explain why. But Mrs. Masen left us there. "Are there any complaints or feedback from customers?" No one said a word, as we really never remembered exactly what a guest would say to us. Tables were numbers and faces were orders, and that was it. We didn't have time to distinguish every single person. "Great. Meeting is adjourned! I will see all of you at tomorrow's evening shift. Good night!"
I mumbled a farewell in return and unpinned my nametag from the breast of my dress as I got into my silver car. Alice sent me a text just minutes ago begging for me to come over and have a few daquiris with her, and I found that the idea of venting some with my best girl did sound splendid. I hopped onto the highway and relaxed behind the wheel. Only a few cars were out- most people were in bed by now and the night owls wouldn't be about in their cars for another two hours when the clubs let out at two o'clock. My phone rang loudly and brought me out of my dwelling reverie. "Hello?" I put the cell to my ear and answered slowly.
There was a moment of silence before his voice came on. "Hello, Bella. You said that you were okay with me calling?" Edward sounded doubtful, as if calling up another person was the greatest invasion of space there was.
I laughed quietly, not wanting him to know I thought he was really funny when he was nervous. "Yeah, of course! So, what's up?"
He cleared his throat acutely. "You are usually home at this hour, are you not?" I bit my lip at his questioning- our conversation yesterday was fine tuned and filled with all of his questions for me. Where I worked, if I liked it, what my hours were, what the customers were like… it was as if he never stepped foot into a restaurant before! And then he bombarded me with university questions, and I tried to remind myself that this is what I loved in a guy- a listener.
"Yeah, usually. We had a late meeting tonight and…" Wait, did I want to tell him about Alice? He already had a certain image of her from her binge drinking, did I want to put the icing on the cake? To me, it didn't matter what he thought of me or Alice. Edward was still that much of stranger, and I wasn't going to let myself fall all over him. "And I should be home soon." Why did it sound like we were a couple, and why did I feel like I was blowing off my wife to be a cheating husband at another woman's house?
The notion made me laugh- ha, Alice was going to shit herself when I explained everything. I was the husband always in "meetings", she was the side woman, and Edward was the doting wife worrying listlessly about her late-night hubby! "I only called to make certain that you were fine. Working at a restaurant in such wee hours of the morning isn't safe, Bella."
I had to smile at his sincerity. No one ever called to ask how I was, and not even my own parents expressed their grief over my shifts and hours. Everyone always assumed I was going to be okay- I was Isabella Swan, after all. "Aww, thanks for worrying about me, babe! But I'm okay." Another small silence filled the phone line- was it something I said? I thought about my words and how I could have rephrased them to be more sensitive about his worry for me. I could be such an insensitive bitch sometimes!
"No one has ever regarded me by a… pet name before." Oh, so that was what he got all weird over? I called everyone "babe", I didn't reserve it for certain male friends. But now that it was so important to him, I couldn't just take it away with another insensitive remark about how it was just a casual word for me. "Does every man that calls you at midnight receive the same gesture?" There was a hint of giddiness in his voice, or was I just imagining it? Yes, I figured I imagined it- no sexy, single guy like Edward got all happy over one little affectionate word!
I rolled my eyes and giggled at his remark. Oh, yes, because there were so many men calling me off the hook at midnight. "No, babe." There was the sound of his smile, and I just knew this guy was going to get addictive. I was not but five miles from Alice's house when I realized that as much as he made me happy and school girl-ish, I was still lying to him. I wasn't going home. But it wasn't like he was expecting me, right? I wanted to add, "don't wait up for me", but I just couldn't bring myself to. What if this was just it what seemed like- a caring individual calling to make sure I was alright? I was reading farther into this than I should have.
"excellent." His velvety voice was filled with brimming euphoria. "Perhaps later I will come around with some cheesecake?" My mouth watered at just the mention of my favorite dessert, but I squinted and cursed under my breath.
No! Don't do that! "Umm, actually, I'm feeling a headache coming on- it's been a really long night. Gonna hit the sheets as soon as I get home. Don't worry about me, okay? You need some sleep tonight, too!" I tried to keep my voice as light as possible.
"Are you positive? It's red velvet." I was so weak, I was ready to turn my car around for red velvet cheesecake and a sexy little neighbor on the side! But I already promised Alice I would be there for her in her two weeks of mourning, I couldn't turn my back on her now.
"However delightful your offer sounds, my headache still stays the same. But thanks for caring so much, Edward, really. It's a nice change from the usual assholes in my phonebook. I'll see you later on then?" Would anyone know how hard it was for me to decline that sort of offer?
"Of course, Bella, anything for you. Good night." I said the same and hung up quickly, not trusting myself to be able to keep driving straight if I heard his voice any longer. When I made a sharp turn for her gated community, I nearly ran over the side sprinklers in my rage. I dialed her number quickly, seeing as the Homeowners Association decided that changing the security code every five days was the best day to keep criminal out of their neighborhood! I typed in her code and drove in. Alice was her usual self, drinking her little body to the point of tipsy before finally realizing all of the things that went wrong in her relationship. I consoled her and cleaned up her daiquiri mess before sending her to bed and grabbing a cup of her instant coffee. I had homework to work on and a project to research at home, but I knew that cops were dime a dozen out here- I did not want to ruin my routine by acquiring a nasty DUI! To keep me awake as I sobered up, I switched on old I Love Lucy re-runs and entertained myself her with her quirky humor.
But it was late and I had just finished a tiresome shift, so my eyelids drooped low and my mouth hung open- sleep came all too fast for me to fight it.