"Order up!"
Ruby muttered under her breath as she stalked over to the counter to pick up Dr. Whale's pancakes. Granny gave her a stern look over her spectacles, and mouthed, Smile. Ruby lifted the corners of her lips and showed her teeth, more of a grimace than anything, as she lifted the plate onto her tray, and sauntered back to Whale's table.
Why he sat at a table every day was beyond her: it wasn't like he had any friends to sit with him. The doctor always sat alone, with only his "newspaper" (she was fairly certain he was hiding a PlayBoy in there) to keep him company. Ruby suspected he came every day, so he could leer at her, probably hoping she would flirt with him the way she did with David and Jason and Neal and Jason and Hook and Jason and Billy and Jason and Sean and Jason—
"Thanks, Ruby," Whale smiled as she set the plate down. "Hey, listen, I was thinking—"
"Awesome. Anything else? No? Great." She walked away, tottering on her heels, and went to work on refilling the sugars at the counter. She flicked her mascara-heavy eyes at the corner table, where Sheriff Graham used to sit every morning and drink his coffee before heading for the station. Ruby concentrated on holding back the tears in her eyes, so those twenty minutes in front of the mirror that morning wouldn't be wasted. She really missed Graham: she missed the way he smiled; the way he talked to little Henry so kindly when he thought no one was listening; the way his uniform fit…
Ruby smiled dreamily, not realizing that she was overfilling one of the sugar containers. She missed the way his hair curled around his too perfect face; the way his eyes managed to be innocent and extremely-not-innocent at the same time; the way he got drunk so easily… And yet—she frowned indignantly—and yet, he hadn't shown the slightest interest in her! Ruby had put in countless hours at the gym so she could wear her tightest outfits around him, and all Graham could do was mope around, thinking about Emma. Ruby growled. Emma. It always came down to Emma! Every remotely hot guy in town went after Emma: Graham, Jefferson, Neal, Hook…Meanwhile, here Ruby was in booty shorts, for God's sake, and no one gave her a second glance!
"Ruby!" Granny said sharply, rapping on the counter. Ruby looked down at the mountain of sugar on the counter.
"Shit!" she cursed under her breath. She looked for the dustpan or at least a towel—
"Order up!"
"Give me a second!" she said testily. Towel, towel, towel…?
"Can I get a refill?"
"Hang on!" she said through clenched teeth. The voices rose, her own personal hell coming to life.
"Where's my order?"
"Ruby, pay attention!"
"Where's my check?"
"I asked for home-fries!"
"I ordered scrambled, not poached!"
"Where's my refill?"
"I said, GIVE ME A SECOND!" she shouted. With a sweep of her arms, she knocked most of the sugar to the floor; then puffed out her cheeks and blew the remnants away, using the palm of her hand to wipe away whatever was left behind. She stomped over to the counter and filled her tray with plates.
"Here!" she snapped, slamming the plates down.
"What about my—?"
"Yes, I know you want your home-fries!" she hissed at the balding man as she shoved the check at the couple by the entrance.
"My eggs—"
"What?" Ruby spun around, putting her hands on her hips. She glared at the woman who had been bitching at her for the past ten minutes. The woman pursed her lips.
"I asked for scrambled, but you gave me—"
Ruby snatched her fork and mutilated the poached eggs. "Happy?" She threw the fork down and stalked over to the coffee machine to make refill rounds. She went around to every table, glowered at the customer, and—making it sound more like a threat than a question—snarled, "Refill?"
Granny waited until the morning rush had died down before dragging Ruby into the back so she could lecture her.
"Listen, girly," she said, glaring at her granddaughter. "This is a business establishment. I give you too much leeway as it is—" she gave Ruby's skimpy outfit a meaningful look of disgust—"so I suggest you get your act together."
"Or what?" Ruby challenged, raising an eyebrow. "You going to fire me?"
Granny narrowed her eyes. "You don't think I will?"
"Nope."
"Ruby, believe me when I tell you that your only job security is me not wanting to hear about you dancing on tables, or hanging off of stripper poles—"
"OH, MY GOD!" Ruby covered her ears. "GRANNY, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THE WORD 'STRIPPER' IN MY PRESENCE!"
"Ruby!" the old woman snapped, pulling her hands down. "I'm not kidding about this! You're going to have to make some changes, or you can start looking for another way to pay for your…outfits." Granny turned on her heel, leaving Ruby to stare after her, fuming. "And you can forget about your concert tonight!"
Ruby's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me?" she screeched, pounding after her. "Granny, you can't do this to me! I've been waiting to go out with this guy for months!"
"Billy will understand—"
"Not Billy!" she cried exasperatedly. "Jason!"
"Well, you should have thought of that before you decided to sabotage my diner's reputation." Granny looked at her sternly over her spectacles. "I expect you back behind the counter in five minutes for the lunch shift with a smile on your face."