Clean Slate

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious.

A/N: since I'm pretty sure everyone that's going to check this out has done so already, here's chapter 4 for ya.


Chapter 4 (Working the Bar)

Her first day working behind the bar was a fairly slow day, and much different than working the tables. In the same way she saw a lot of different people and personalities, but at the bar, the difference in what part of their personality someone gave off was flagrant. Rather than well dressed and connected families, she saw men and women of all sort. Some laughed, some were silent, some even got into verbal exchanges with one another. There would be arm wrestling matches at one end of the bar while the other end might involve belching contests between two complete strangers.

The waiters were consistently helpful for her, checking on her every now and then and coming to take over for five minutes so she could check on her daughter, who was currently at her usual table with a coloring book.

As she wiped down a spill on the bar, she heard a clattering noise to the right. One of the patrons nearly knocked over a glass of beer. She straightened herself up and frowned as the man emptied his glass. He wiped his mouth with his arm and lifted his glass. "Another drink please, bartender!" He let out a hiccup and Trina shook her head while grabbing another drink.

She filled it with clean water and moved over, setting the drink gently down on the bar and speaking with a calm, but firm voice. "Why don't you try some of this." The man looked towards the water with meekness in his eyes.

"Am I that drunk already?"

"I'm afraid so." She knew as bartender it was her job to cut people off when they started to appear drunk. There was never any limit on how much to give someone, because alcohol consumption as well as intoxication was different for everyone. "Try to sober up and when you're ready, I'll call you a cab."

The man grumbled and took the drink. "Thanks." The man took a sip and scanned the bar. "Where's the usual barkeep?"

"She's been promoted, so I'm taking over for her."

He smiled, slurring over his words. "You're pretty." She chuckled softly and gave him a polite smile to cover up any sarcasm.

"And you're charming as well." She walked to the other end of the bar, grabbing up one of the empty glasses. This brought back many memories of Roger and the bar he used to own. She wondered how he and Rachel were faring these days.

As she used her rag to clean out a glass, she leaned against the bar and looked to the television on the wall. President Bannister was giving a press conference. He was up for reelection in the 2020 presidential term. One thing was certain, he had her vote. A female patron was watching as well, Trina heard the woman respond to someone that disagreed with something the president had done. "He's done a damn good job!" the woman chortled, "He put a stop to the city crime waves. I'd say he's the best president we've had."

"I bet you're drunk already!" Another patron joked. "What right does he have sending US troops into our cities?"

"Marshall law. It's about time someone did!"

She rolled her eyes at the conversation and moved over to the sink, still opting to remain silent. It wasn't her intention to involve herself in something like this, especially with her view. If not for President Bannister's order, the FBI and military would never have gone into LA, and she'd still be stuck there with her daughter.

"Hey," Casey called out to her, waving Trina off as she made her way over. "Take a break, I'll watch the bar for you." Trina thanked her and pointed to the customer with the water.

"That guy's had about six drinks and is starting to look and act drunk. I've given him some water and told him we'd call a cab when he's ready to go."

"All right. Thanks for the heads up." Trina nodded and walked over to where Sasha was. The girl looked up from her drawing with a bright smile. "Momma look I colored a butterfly!" The young girl held up the coloring book, showing off her work.

The butterfly had pink wings and a purple body with green antennae. The wings had red and brown scribbles on them, and the coloring was completely out of the lines. Trina sat down in the chair across from her and gently took the book from Sasha as she studied it. "It's beautiful, sweetheart."

"Look on the page before it, mommy." She flipped the page back and gushed at the drawing of a ballerina with a blue tutu, green leggings and brown red hair. "I always see dancers with pink tutus, so I went for something else."

"It's a beautiful picture, dear. You know something? Your father did that a lot, trying to do things differently than anyone else."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Sasha took the coloring book back and flipped over to a clean page. Trina watched the girl focus on the drawing for a minute, chewing at the back end of her pencil like Jesse used to do. In so many ways she embodied her dad, reminding her of Jesse every single day. It was in the way she laughed, her determination to get something done, her patience when listening to someone speak or trying to solve a problem. Sasha even had her father's smarts, and could sweet talk just about anyone.

Although that might just be the young child charm she had.

She leaned her shoulder against the wall and looked to the entrance to the restaurant. They opened up and a man with a sharp gaze and brown biker jacket walked in. He had shaggy brown hair that waved down along the back of his neck and curled over the tops of his ears. He was wearing long blue jeans overlapping with his black shoes, and beneath his jacket was a red shirt.

Trina recognized him as Casey's older stepbrother, Derek Venturi. He was a piano teacher at a local high school, and considered to be the cool teacher that drove a motorcycle. He was always visiting with Trina whenever he came to the restaurant, being friendly as she was a friend of his sister's. Despite having rejected him when he asked her on a date, he still talked to her like nothing happened.

She wasn't sure whether this persistence was charming or foolish.

Sasha saw him as well and instantly waved at him, "Hi Mr. Venturi!" She winced as Derek looked over and waved in return, smiling back at the two. He got along with Sasha well when she was over, even once offering to eat his steak at her table the first time the girl was over when the restaurant was truly busy. He enjoyed keeping her distracted from the horde of customers.

Derek looked over to the bar and stopped in the middle of the restaurant, spreading his arms out to the sides. "Casey! I thought you'd been promoted to head manager? What happened?" Casey looked over and smacked the rag on the bar. Trina couldn't help but to laugh. It wasn't uncommon for the siblings to annoy each other.

"I did, and don't shout in front of the customers. If you want to talk, move yourself up to the bar! You do not need to be the center of attention."

"Oh but dear sister, yes. Yes I do."

The only reason she'd never met any of Casey's other relatives was because they were the only two living in New York. Although, they were in separate towns. Casey lived in the middle of the city, Derek lived in the outskirts where he could ride his Harley on the dirt roads away from other people.

Their parents, George and Nora still lived in Ontario with their two youngest children, Marti and Simon. The middle children, Edwin and Lizzie were attending their final semester of college in Vancouver and were considering a move to the states. According to Casey, Derek moved to New York because he wanted to transfer to a college here, she moved to New York for her now fiancé.

Sasha jumped out of her chair, grabbing her book and started for Derek, much to Trina's annoyance. "Derek look what I colored!" Sasha jumped up and Derek crouched, smiling at the book. Trina exhaled sharply and made her way over. She couldn't chastise her daughter because he wasn't a stranger, and she hadn't done anything wrong, but she was miffed that it meant having to cross paths with the guy. Not that she didn't like him, she was friendly for a reason.

"It's a beautiful drawing," Derek replied. He pat Sasha on the head and chucked softly. "You should meet my sis, Marti. She's an aspiring artist, she loved to draw when she was a kid."

"And yet your family never comes to New York," Trina said in amazement. David rose up and shrugged his shoulders.

"Dad wanted me to be a lawyer like him and everyone thought Casey was going to be a doctor. It's only been a couple years, so it's not like there's any big issue, we still talk to them regularly."

Casey walked over, having given the bar to one of the waiters with a bartending license-most of the waiters here had one. "Well you talk to them, anyway, they're proud of you for at least teaching. I haven't heard from them since we finished college."

"Right." Derek clicked his tongue and crossed his arms as his lips curved into a subtle smirk. "Well they are proud of you for becoming a manager. I did tell them the news."

"Look. The job makes me happy, I'm comfortable here."

Trina looked between the two siblings and reached down, patting Sasha's shoulder. "Come on sweetie, let's go back to the table."

"Okay," Sasha agreed and rushed back to the table. Trina followed her, knowing it was best not to get in between sibling arguments. She already knew the story. Everyone expected Casey to be something great, then she decided she wanted to be a bartender while pursuing a management type job at some restaurant. They were angry, all of them blamed Casey's fiancé, but Derek didn't seem to mind. Casey did have a master's degree in child psychology, but she didn't feel she could find jobs there.

After a few minutes, Casey returned to the bar and Derek walked over to Trina's table, taking a seat across from Sasha and Trina. "Sorry about that," Derek remarked. Trina shrugged as Sasha continued to draw.

"It happens. Why are your parents so upset?"

"Neither Casey or I followed their plans. They're not upset so much as they don't know how to react. Not to mention they don't want to uproot to New York. They think Casey's fiancé is forcing her to accept mediocre jobs, but he's not." Derek set his right forearm on the table and peered down at Sasha's book. After a second, he snapped his fingers and looked up to Trina. "Now I remember what I wanted to tell you."

"What?"

"You remember talking about how Sasha was interested in gymnastics and you might want to let her get involved in something?" Trina's eyebrows curled upwards and Sasha stopped what she was doing to listen. "Mrs. Reiner, one of the teachers at the high school has opened up a gym and dance school for girls ages four to twelve."

"Oh?" She nudged Sasha, "You hear that?" Sasha grinned. Sasha loved to watch the Olympics and even dance shows, to the point that she often wanted to join. Not to mention she knew her mom had been involved in gymnastics in her childhood, so that was a major contributing factor. "Maybe we'll check the school out."

"Can we, Momma?" She lit up with pride as her daughter hugged her arm. Derek laughed and Trina looked over to him graciously.

"Her school is open from eight to six Monday through Friday." He reached into the chest pocket of his jacket and set a business card down in front of Trina. "There's her phone number and contact info. She was handing them out to all the faculty with children. I thought of you two, so I asked her for one, said you had a daughter that was interested in gymnastics as well as dancing, so she asked that I tell you to stop by anytime you like."

Trina picked up the card and read the information. It was a thoughtful gesture, and she truly appreciated it. Though she was just as scared of sending her daughter to something like this as she had been when Sasha first started preschool. Separation anxiety was a killer. "I appreciate this, Derek. Thank you."

"No prob."

"In the meantime…" Her eyes flickered to the bar where Casey was leaning into her palms on the surface of the counter, glaring at her. "I think I've been on break long enough, Casey's looking like she wants me to get back to work." She stood up after hugging Sasha and asking if Derek wanted some food. "Will you have your usual?"'

"Yes please."

"I'll tell the waiter." She walked towards the bar, stopping when she met up with the waiter in charge of that particular table. "Derek Venturi's ordering the usual."

"Usual? New York Strip, right?"

"Correct." Trina crossed her arms, tapping her foot as she waited for the waitress to recite and write down the order. She struggled for a second and looked up to Trina, who continued for her. "Glazed carrots and broccoli, baked potato with chili and beans on top. Red wine merlot, and make sure the steak is cooked medium rare." She tried to memorize all the regular customer's orders, and most of the servers had Derek's usual meal down.

"Got it!" The server returned her pen and thanked her.

"Also give my daughter a kid's menu. She needs her dinner as well." The server nodded and looked to the hostess stand. "When you go, suggest any item except for the ones involving nuts. She is allergic to nuts and shellfish."

"Yes ma'am."

"Typically she just has chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks, but you need to show her the menu options." With that, the server took off to grab a menu from the stand, and Trina returned to the bar. "Sorry about the wait, Casey."

"It's fine," Casey replied, "I just need to get back to the office and check on things. Not to mention, Adam has been calling my phone." Casey swept her hair over her shoulder and shook her head. "I think he's forgotten that I'm working a couple extra hours."

"All right. I'll take it from here then."

"Thanks."


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