Dana comes bustling in, all smiles and makes her way over to me. When she reaches me she puts her arms around my waist from behind, rests her chin on my shoulder and squeezes me tight.
"Max I'm sooo so sorry I'm late! I hit sleep on my phone instead of snooze." She says appologetically.
I turn my head to look at the time and it's ten o'clock. So only an hour late... not too bad for Dana!
I'm about to reply when she continues, "But I totally blame you for it!"
"Huh... Me?! Why!?" I question in slight disbelief.
"Well Yeah! You were the one who decided to bring party favours over to my room last night. Knowing full well that I was working today."
I nudge her head playfully with my shoulder, "Oh please girl! I was just coming over to chill with some green. Then you and Rachel here kept banging on and on to me to get some alcohol. Which, I might add, no-one forced you to drink."
Rachel snorts as she says, "Ha yeah, she ain't wrong Dana. And you were really downing those drinks too."
Dana just pouts, nuzzles my neck and waves Rachel off, as she mumbles into me, "Fine whatever!"
In a teasing tone I say, " Oh come on Dana, don't be salty. It's not like I posted the vid of you and Rach dancing for me!"
I start laughing as both girls snap there heads to me and I hear Chloe snort a laugh and raises her eyebrow when I look at her.
Dana lets me out of her arms to come around and look at my face. Probably to see if I am lying or not when she says, "NO. WAY. We so didn't? I... When?" And it just makes me laugh harder.
When I have gained some composure I state, "Yes indeed you did. Although I'm not really sure what you two were doing really qualifies as dancing!"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? I am a shit hot dancer!" Rachel yells slightly in question.
"Well first off you decided to put this really shitty, cheesy pop song on. Which, by the way you know how much I detest that pop shit. Then you subjected me to a step by step dance routine too... what the fuck is it called again... macc, maca, macaaa."
And then in unison, with eyes wide, faces horrified, they both say, "Macarena!"
I start wheezing with laughter. As there collective minds come to some kind of realisation. Even Chloe has started laughing with me.
She turns to me and asks, "And you got that shit on film?!"
I chuckle through the remnants of my laughter, "Totally dude! It has the whole thing - singing also included. It's fucking hilarious!"
"Oh man! You have so got to send that to me!" Chloe asks with a grin.
"It would be my pleasure." I reply and hold my fist out for Chloe, to which she happily bumps with a giggle.
"Assholes!" Rachel grumpily says with her arms crossed.
Dana smiles sweetly at me coming over and hugs me tight, "You wouldn't do that to me, you love me too much!"
I chuckle at that, knowing I wouldn't post it but tease, "Maybe... maybe not."
Dana, "mmms" on my shoulder, squeezing me.
I snicker and ask, "Jeez girl, what's with all the hugs and that this morning? You been baking or did you not sleep everything off from last night?"
"Oh shush you. You love my hugs and affection! And you didn't mind last night, while you basically straddled me and Rach whilst falling asleep!" Dana replies with a smirk evident in her voice.
Rachel chimes in, "Ha yeah, totally! You get all cuddly and affectionate when you have a load to drink or smoke, it's really nice. Total contrast to how you are completely sober. I don't barely even get a hug or anything. Which is hella unfair. But you're such an adorably mushy drunk!"
I just roll my eyes and scoff with a, "Whatever!"
Jay comes over and bids a, "Morning ladies. Will you be serving anymore today or is this just a one man show here?" He teases playfully.
"Ha, oh yeah totally forgot about working!" I say.
Jay just rolls his eyes and walks off saying, "Maybe I should put in for a raise for doing a three man job!"
I just give him a, "Ha yeah right! Fat chance man!"
"Yeah the owner can be a right tightfisted grump!" Jay hollers back.
"Don't I know it!" Dana says and grins smugly at me.
"Tightfisted grump, really?! Hmm, maybe we need some new staff in here. Freshen up the place a bit!" I tease back jokingly.
I notice Chloe give me a strange look when I suddenly remember our newest member starting here soon.
"Oh dude! Check it! I just remembered. We actually do have a new one starting here soon. With a new outfit and everything." I say with a chuckle.
Dana looks at me confused, "What new member?! What new outfit!?"
I start to laugh at Dana's confused and adorable face, "You're so cute sometimes. Go gather up the empties and see if Justin and Trevor need anything else okay?"
"What?..." She questions, I chuckle and she continues the question again, "...What do you mean! What about the newbie and the new uniforms? And also... I am always cute!"
I just, "Pfft", roll my eyes and turn her around and usher her to the other side of the counter, "Yes Dana. Of course you are! Now go earn your money and work. I'm sure they will love to see you."
She gives me an irritated grumble, "Who died and made you boss!? And why wouldn't they love to see me?! Everyone always is!"
I just say, "Ha yeah! You keep telling yourself that!" With a cheeky grin.
I then turn my attention back to Chloe and Rachel when Rachel puts her hand on my arm, "Are you really getting new uniforms and a worker?!" She asks intrigued and slides her hand down my arm to my hand.
"Well kind of..." I start to explain mischievously, "...You see, I managed to win a bet with Trevor and get him to work here for a couple of weeks..."
Whilst explaining Chloe butts in with, "No way, really?! Trevor!? As in, stoner, lazy ass, can't make it to class Trevor!?" She doesn't say it in a nasty way. More with humour and a bit of affection.
I reply with, "Yep! That's the one! I know Trev and Dana have a thing for each other, but neither of them will just go for it. So... Get 'em both here working together and stir the pot". I end with a grin.
Rachel gives me a sly smile and says, "Oh that's good Max." And squeezes my hand.
I'm about to reply and pull my hand away, when we hear Dana burst out laughing, swinging her head left to right and giving Trevor a playful push to his shoulder, letting her hand linger longer than normal.
"Ahh... and so it begins! She is such a flirt!" I say chuckling.
Rachel turns to me with a knowing smirk, eyebrow raised as she replies, "Says you! You're like the biggest flirt I know!" Then squeezes my hand again and leans forward a little.
"I can neither agree or disagree with this accusation." I reply with a toothy grin.
"Wait, wait, wait. So, you and Dana are not together then?" Chloe questions.
Rachel gives a loud, "HA!"
"Oh, what, NO! Most definitely not! Why would you think that?" I reply a little screechy.
Chloe crosses her arms across her chest, cheeks slightly pink and not meeting my eyes, as she mumbles out, "Well yeah. I just thought you were, the way you are together. Good, well, no not good... Wait I mean..."
"So knew it!" Rachel says under her breath, barely loud enough for both of us to hear - but we do.
Chloe goes a darker shade of pink. Damn she is so adorable when she is embarrassed. I think to myself.
Chloe then turns to Rachel with a pointed look, narrowed eyes and with a huff, "I'm going to sit with Justin and Trevor."
She then turns her head to me, still not meeting my eyes, and says, "Erm, I can, I coffee. Yeah, bread, meat. Err... yeah." And leaves to sit with the other guys.
I watch Chloe walk away, or should I say, sashay away. Hips swaying as she does.
Jesus Max! Stop with the creep factor and remove your eyes off of her ass! But it's just so... I'm snapped out from my internal monologue by the sound of Rachel's airy laughter. Fuck! I am so busted!
I turn my attention to her and Rachel shakes her head, taking her hand to push her long blonde hair over her shoulder with the biggest grin on her face.
Yep totally busted! I try to play it cool by completely changing the subject. Yep that is really cool and convincing, I scold myself, groaning internally.
"So what can I get you Rach?" I ask, wishing I could step outside my own body and slap myself! ARRRGGH!
Rachel has an amused look on her face when she replies, "I know what you want! Buuuut, I will have a coffee. Lots of sugar and cream. Oooh, and one of those pastries with custard in it!" Then places her other hand on my other one.
"Sure thing Rach. I will bring it over when it's ready k?"
Rachel squeezes my hands and looks to me for a few seconds, making me raise my eyebrow at her. But she just gives me a smile, a cheery thanks and makes her way to the others.
When I turn my head and look over that way, I notice Chloe is staring intently at me. When she see's me looking her way, she snaps her attention back to the others, pink hue back in effect.
I'm brought out of my head when I hear Dana asking, "What are you smiling like that for?"
"Hmm, I what?" I lamely reply whilst getting to work on the drinks.
I put an order in to Josh for a bacon and egg butty with an extra side of bacon.
Dana serves a couple of customers that have come in and when she finishes she turns to me and says in an amused tone, "So the boys told me about the bet. That was hilarious! It's gonna be so much fun!"
I finish the drinks up, put the pastry on the tray with the butty and extra bacon then reply, "Hell yeah it is! I can't wait! He is going to look so epic!"
Dana chuckles saying, "I still can't believe that he still keeps betting against you! He never learns and he hasn't won once. And french maid outfit as well?! That was a really nice touch!"
She chuckles again and I reply, "Yeah I know! And Justin filmed the whole thing too! Trev's face was incredulous!"
Dana looks so excited and almost squeals, "No way! I'm gonna have to get me a copy of that!"
"Justin posted it on Facebook if you want to see it."
"Excellent!" Dana says and we both share a laugh as I start to make my way to the others.
"Fuck Me... Wow. She is just..." I hear Chloe say quite loudly, to the annoyance of some customers.
She is looking at a phone and when I get to the table and start putting the tray down, she looks at me, starts fumbling with the phone to switch it off and pass it back to Justin.
Rachel is giggling and Chloe once again gives her a narrowed eyed stare and mumbles, "Fuck off!" To which Rachel just giggles some more.
I start to put Rachel's drink and food in front of her and she says sweetly, "I fucking love these custard things Max. Thanks." And happily starts to munch down on it.
I start to put Chloe's stuff in front of her and she gives me a confused look, eyebrows knitting together. So fucking cute, I think to myself.
I answer her look and say, "Well, all you asked for was a coffee, meat and bread. Sooo... here is a coffee. I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty and guessed you might like it black and sweet. And as for the meat I went with bacon, because who doesn't like bacon!? And it has a fried egg in it too. As for the extra bacon... I, err, well... You can never have too much of the salty goodness!" I end giving a nervous chuckle because I realise I am rambling and talking kinda fast, starting to feel my cheeks flushing too. What the fuck is happening to me?!
I start to hear Chloe giggling and it is like the most girliest sounding giggle ever and her face is flushed as well. It makes me start to giggle too and I notice the others around the table are just looking at us with bewildered expressions on there faces.
Chloe lets out a, "HA!" Takes a breath, and continues. "Yeah, yeah I Hella love bacon and the coffee too is perfect."
She has the sweetest smile and gleam in her eyes. It makes me smile back and we stay like that for a moment, until I hear a voice I really don't want to hear coming from behind me.
"Maxwell silverhammer!" I stiffen my posture, standing up straight and say under my breath with a grimace. "Err, fucking kill me now!"
Rachel starts laughing and says, "Good luck with your BOY-friend Max!"
I glare at her gritting my teeth a little and notice the other three looking between me and the boy.
I groan a little, pick up the tray, turn to face him and speak in a neutral tone, "Hey Warren."
He gives me a goofy grin and starts putting his arms up as if to go in for a hug, so I put the tray up to my chest and take a slight step back.
He looks a little crest fallen but shakes it off to ask, "How are you doing Max? I haven't seen you in a little while. So I thought that I would come here and see you. I sent Kate a text too to see if she wants to come."
I'm about to say something but he gives me a sheepish grin and rubs the back of his neck. Oh great here we go, I groan internally.
"Well, I'm going to get those drive-in tickets today. I'm going to get two. I know you said you couldn't go, but I know you will really like it and it's going to be really fun to go together. And I will pick you up in my wheels! You still haven't been in them yet!" He says this all so fast and eagerly. But I am internally cringing.
You see the thing about Warren is he seems like an okay guy and can be alright if he's not trying to get a date - i mean if you like that sort of thing (obsessive stalking aside) which I SO do not! Completely wrong everything for me! He also will not take no as an answer. And I have lost count how many times I have said it now. Friends Warren seriously I groan internally.
I hear Chloe say, "Jesus! Really!?" While I am internally monologuing. Which I must have been doing for a while now.
Rachel starts laughing as they all watch with wrapped attention. I think I might be dying on the inside. This is so fucking embarrassing!
I'm starting to feel a bit irritated by all this and say with an annoyed undertone, "Jeez... look Warren... you seem like a nice enough guy, but like I have said before. You really are not my type. Why don't you ask Brooke or someone to go with you? I'm sure she or anyone else would be really happy to go."
He looks almost angry with my answer, stepping in my space and grabs my wrist tightly and makes me jump a little from the surprise of it.
He starts saying, "I don't want to ask her! I want you! And how do you know that I'm not your type if you won't let me show you?!"
Before he or I can say anything else, Chloe stands abruptly, chair scraping and comes around to my side.
With narrowed eyes and an angry expression, she barks out in an almost possessive tone, "Dude! Get your nerdy little hands off of her right now! She told you NO! So take the hint, and FUCK OFF!"
Whoa! I think, looking at Chloe in complete shock.
Warren drops my wrist, taking a step back and starts fumbling his words out, "What, I, I, who... who the hell are you?! This, this is, I was asking Max a question, not you! This is between us!"
Chloe bristles and clenches her jaw at this. She steps between me and Warren she grabs his top with her left hand and in the same tone as before says, "I told you to leave her alone! Max is NOT yours! So get the fuck out now!"
I'm so taken aback by this for a few seconds that I don't do or say anything. But I notice Warren is about to say something, so before he can, I grab Chloe's other hand and tug her back with me.
She looked about ready to knock him out, but as soon as I take her hand and pull her back she looks at me. I shake my head and smile, squeeze her hand and she smiles, squeezing my hand back.
She lets go of Warren and as I turn my attention back to him I notice he is just standing there looking to both Chloe and I in complete shock.
I clear my throat and say, " I think you should leave now ok."
Warren looks down for a few seconds thinking about something, then looks back and smiling a little he replies, "Yeah, yeah sure Max. Sorry ok. I will see you later on."
He turns and heads for the door, glancing over his shoulder a couple of times at us.
Wow, that was so weird, intense and incredible, all at the same time.
I turn back to Chloe to find that she is just staring at me, with this cute little smile on her face. I smile back and she squeezes my hand holding it.
That's when I realise that we are still holding hands. I squeeze back whilst clearing my throat and let go, immediately missing the contact.
I notice Chloe's smile waver and look down when I let go, but she brings it back a little when I say, "Thank you Chloe for what you did for me. I have told him on numerous occasions but he is very persistent! Hopefully he gets the message this time, after your slightly more heavy handed approach." I chuckle at the end, remembering what Chloe said and done beforehand.
She smiles shyly, cheeks in full blush, averting her gaze from mine and rubs the back of her neck, "Yeah I, er, sorry about that. I don't even know what came over me there. It's just when he stepped up to you and grabbed your wrist, I just, erm, yeah, I couldn't sit there anymore. Sorry." She trails off getting very quiet towards the end.
She sounded really nervous and almost vulnerable, like I might scold her or something.
It makes me ache a little and I kinda just blurt out, "You are too fucking cute!" Oh. My. God! Did I just say that out loud!? Fuck my life right in the ass!
Chloe looks at me when I say that, looking a little taken aback - which I am myself! She then smiles a little and smirks to try and cover it up, but her eyes and cheeks betray her.
She replies with, "Hey! I am not cute! I am Hella sexy and badass!"
I can't help teasing her a little with a smirk and an eyebrow raised, "Uh-huh! Sure you are Chlo!"
She gives me a feigned look of shock, gasping, then narrows her eyes at me, "You little shit! I so am!"
I can tell she is trying and failing to keep her smile away, "Adorable yes. Badass, afraid not!"
Chloe crosses her arms over her chest and grumbles, "I am so badass and definitely not adorable!"
I laugh at her wounded expression and decide to stroke her ego a bit.
I step up a little closer and in a low voice I say, "I'm afraid you are indeed adorably cute. But..." I step even closer and move my lips near her ear and continue, "...You are also extremely badass and incredibly sexy!"
As I am saying this, I can hear Chloe intake a sharp breath. I smirk to myself and pull away, taking a step back.
I notice Chloe doesn't move anything, but her eye's follow me the whole time. Wider than usual, with that same glazed over look from when we first looked upon each other. Her mouth is parted slightly and eyebrows raised a little. Her face and even her neck is blushing.
"Yeah! Definitely adorably sexy." I say in a hushed tone. I'm not sure if Chloe heard me or not because she is completely unmoving still and just watches me with her eyes.
I turn my head to the table and see the three faces of Rachel, Trevor and Justin - who I had completely forgotten were there, watching the whole exchange.
Their faces are a mixture of expressions going from, bewilderment to awe and then smugness. The last one being Rachel's of course, with her infuriating smirk just dying to say something - which of course she does.
"I told you! You're one hella fli..."
Before she can finish her little comment I cut in, "Oh shut it you!"
I turn to start making my way back to the counter, hearing Justin start to say, "Damn! That was so..."
"Hot! Wow..." Chloe cuts in finishing his sentence.
I feel like there is a swarm of butterflies dive bombing around in my stomach at the moment. And a weird feeling in my chest that I have no idea how to describe - it's a little unsettling.
When I get to the counter I must have the most dorkiest grin on my face, because Dana looks at me strangely and asks, "What was that all about? You two were gawking at each other again, then Warren comes over, words were exchanged, then Chloe stands up looking like she was going to kill him and he leaves! Then your both back to gawking again!" Then she gives her customer their order and turns back to me expectantly.
I just give a shrug and reply, "Yeah, pretty much!"
Dana gives me an incredulous look and my face cracks into a big grin and she says, "You bitch! That so wasn't it! Spill it girl!" and she playfully pushes my shoulder.
I roll my eyes and sigh out, "Fiiiiiine!"
As I begin, I see Chloe still standing there, until Rachel yanks her down to her seat. I laugh in my head and continue to tell Dana what happened while we continue serving customers.
After about two or so hours there is a slight lull in service. Mmm... smoke break I think to myself and turn to Dana and say, "Hey D! I'm gonna nip out for a smoke break k? Jay will be back in a sec from his and when I'm back you can take 20 okay? Oh, and tell Chloe and Rachel their stuff is on me."
Dana huffs, "Hmph. Yeah sure thing Max! I don't mind doing all the work!" Pouting playfully at the end.
I shake my head and snort, "Says the one who strolled in an hour late for work! And may I remind you that I have been here since 7 o'clock this morning?!"
Dana just, "Pfft's." Waving her hand dismissively as she says, "Details!" And Sticks her tongue out at me as I leave out the front door laughing.
