Chapter 2
Lucy and Levy arrived for their first day ten minutes early, coming through the side employee door as they'd been instructed. Levy wore dark blue jean shorts that hugged her plump rear and showed off toned legs. Her apron slung low on her hips and fell longer than the shorts did. No show socks were hidden inside her black, non-skid sneakers. Her orange Fairy Tail Bistro shirt was form fitting and complemented her skin tone and blue locks. Her hair wasn't really long enough for a ponytail, especially with the layers, but a red ribbon kept her wavy mane from her face and, hopefully, out of people's food.
Lucy had pulled her long yellow hair up into a single pigtail on the left side of her head and tied it off with a baby blue ribbon. Her hot pink shirt stretched with her ample bust and showed off the curve of her sides and taunt stomach. She wore dark shorts and black shoes similar to Levy's. Each girl had their own server book, notepad, and an array of multicolored pens tucked into their aprons.
The side door brought them to an area hidden behind the bar, an archway to their right leading into Mirajane and Cana's domain. A computer sat on the counter in the hall specifically for the employees to clock in and out. The girls punched in as Mirajane had showed them the day before. An archway at the end of the hall opened up to the kitchen, with the dining room to their right. Separating the kitchen was what was known as 'the line," a long stainless steal counter that came up to Levy's shoulders. Shelves were built into the side facing the girls, stocked with various items like wine bottles, jars of extra virgin olive oil, and refills of flavored syrups used for drinks. The side facing the kitchen was the prep line, containing all the ingredients for the dishes the chefs would need, all separated in metal containers, with coolers below them for items that needed to stay refrigerated. There were three chefs in the kitchen at this time as they cooked for the lunch crowd that was slowly beginning to disperse and would mostly be gone by three thirty.
"Hi, there!" They were greeted boistrously by the pink haired chef they'd seen the day before. He was currently standing in front of a large industrial gas range covered with five saute pans, each filled with different ingredients. He looked back at them over his shoulder as he held one pan by the handle, tossing it to mix the sauce, pasta, and mushrooms together.
"I'm Natsu!" he told them.
"HEY, FLAME BRAIN!" the girls heard Gray yell, and jumped slightly. Gray had started to pick up plates from the kitchen's deck, but tossed one back.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT, DROOPY EYES?" Natsu's smile for the girls vanished and was replaced with searing hatred towards Gray.
"This was supposed to have no onions, idiot! Read the damn tickets before you just start throwing things into the fire!" he yelled at his coworker.
"Ring in the order right and it'll get made right, dumb ass!" Natsu growled back.
"I did ring it in right, stupid!" Gray argued.
"Gray!" Cana suddenly said from behind Levy and Lucy, a box of beer under one arm, "Keep your shirt on!" Gray's angry face blinked and turned soft again as he looked down and realized he'd started pulling his shirt up. Lucy and Levy's eyes bugged at the sight of his muscled abs and the V shaped dip of his hips.
Gray blushed and quickly tucked his shirt back into his jeans.
"Just make it again," he then slurred at Natsu, "NO ONIONS!" And with that, he grabbed a group of plates from the deck and stomped off towards his tables on the other side of the restaurant. Luckily this side of the dinning room was empty, and no guests could hear the confrontation. The other side, where most of the booths were, was full however.
"What on earth have we gotten ourselves into?" Lucy said chuckling.
"Those two are always like that," Cana said, shifting the beer in her arm, "Don't let them fool you though. They act like they hate each other, but they're really best friends." She winked at the girls and carried the beer towards the bar.
"WHAT?!" Natsu shouted, "I am NOT friends with that ice prick!" he shouted after Cana who ignored him as she sashayed off. Levy and Lucy erupted into laughter.
"Hi, girls!" Mirajane greeted then.
"Afternoon, Mira!" The girls replied.
"Come on, I'll show you around before we get started on the class," she told them and beckoned them to follow her down the line. Past Natsu's saute station was a brick oven and a grill station; a middle aged man with dark purple hair and mustache was tossing pizza dough in the air to round it out. He gave the girls a friendly smile and nod. Towards the end of the line was one more station where another middle aged man with brown hair was putting sandwiches together.
"So we have three cook stations," Mira explained. "Saute, Pizza Grill, and pantry. All the pastas will come from saute. Pizzas, obviously, steaks, and the like will come from Pizza Grill. And sandwiches, salads, and desserts will come from Pantry. So look for your foods at their respective stations. At night when it's busier, we have an expo to organize all the food and tickets and a food runner to help take it all out. The servers rotate being expo and food runner, so you'll sometimes have to do those jobs too. As expo you'll make an hourly wage, but food runners get tip share," she said giving them the run down of the kitchen.
"Levy, you will train with the expo tonight to help you learn the food. Lucy will do the same tomorrow," she told them. As they reached the end of the line, there was a space along the right wall hidden from the guests for everyone to grab soft drinks. It was stocked with an ice bin, soda fountain, two tea urns, one labeled 'sweet,' a urn full of yellow lemonade, and an array of different flavored syrups. Below was a small cooler where Mirajane showed them was milk, juices, and chocolate syrup. To the left of all the beverages were stacks of racks full of clean glasses.
"We do flavored 'Italian' sodas," Mira told them, doing air quotes when she said Italian, "But really it's just soda water with two pumps of syrup flavor. They taste good though. My favorite is the blackberry. People like the flavors in the tea, too. You'll get a lot of mint or peach teas, and strawberry lemonades too."
"Mint tea sounds really yummy," Levy commented happily.
"It's good to sell those too, because there's an extra charge for it. But we get free soft drinks while we're on the clock, so help yourself whenever you're working. Use the to go cups there and just write your name on it so it doesn't get mixed up. As you can see, you can set them around that computer there," she explained, pointing to the computer station next to the beverage area, Styrofoam cups littering the area around the computer.
Along the back wall was a large dishwasher, and well, a large dishwasher. An over weight man with black hair and a soft tan was rinsing plates and loading them into a rack to send through the machine. In front of him was a stainless steal table stacked with dirty plates. A large bin held silverware and there was a large trash can where the servers scraped off the plates before stacking them. There was a rack above the table full of dirty glasses.
"That's Droy," Mirajane told them, pointing to the heavy set man, "When the glass racks get completely full like this one is," she said, gripping the base of a full rack of glasses, "Yell 'Glasses!" After she yelled, Droy turned towards her. She lifted one side of the glass rack and tipped it over a steal bar so that Droy could grab the other side. He slid it towards himself and then pushed it into the dishwasher before continuing to rinse off plates.
"The manager's office is there," Mira pointed to the door on their left, "And back that way is the prep and walk in fridge and freezer. If you run out of milk up here, you'll find it back there. The juices and chocolate syrup don't need refrigerated until you open them so they're stocked on the line shelves."
Mira lead them back to the bar and showed them where they'd pick up drinks when they're guests ordered cocktails and then took them to one of the computers to show them how to ring things in.
"It'll take a little time to get used to, but everything is organized pretty well," she said, showing them how the system had the items listed under types, like sandwiches, salads, grill, and saute.
"There's lots of modifier buttons once you press an item," she told them, clicking on a random food item and showing how the system then listed all it's ingredients, plus sub categories for if a guest wanted to add a different ingredient that it didn't already include.
"Seems simple enough," Lucy commented, "We had a similar set up at our old job." The girls felt confident that they would be fast learners.
After Mirajane finished going over the basics, she led them to the restaurant's private dining room towards the back near the restrooms. The room was reserved for private parties and could seat up to fifteen guests. She gave them each booklets with all the menu items that had more detail descriptions of each. The girls got the chance to try some of the items too, and were told to pick a few things to share and taste.
It wasn't long before Natsu himself brought out the dishes they chose since the lunch rush had died down. He placed them all in the center of the table since the girls were sharing.
"Eat up! I made it all myself, so you know it's good!" he said with a confident smile before returning to the kitchen. Levy couldn't help but notice they way her best friend's gaze lingered after Natsu as he walked away. Lucy turned back to the table to find both Levy and Mirajane smirking at her. Her cheeks immediately flushed, but she ignored them and lifted her fork, digging into the food.
The girls tried the assorted dishes and Mirajane went over their flavor profiles, telling them good ways to describe the food to the guests. The girls found that Fairy Tail Bistro was more about quality as apposed to quantity like the diner they'd worked in before. They wouldn't just be gophers grabbing the things people asked for. They were expected to make suggestions, and answer any guest questions. They were meant to up sell appetizers, alcohol, and desserts as well. The booklets Mirajane had given them were meant to be taken home and studied, as well as the wine and cocktail lists.
"I know it's a lot of information, but we don't expect you to master it in a day," Mira assured them, "But we want you to be as knowledgeable as possible." If there was one thing that did not frighten Levy or Lucy, it was studying. Both girls had been exceptional students, and they didn't expect any trouble from the task.
"We try to stick to four table sections," she told them, "It's harder to spend as much time with each guest if you're running a five or six table section. Not to say that it never happens, but we understand if you have a harder time up selling when that happens." The girls both nodded their understanding, both confident and ready to get into the hands on training.
The class lasted till four o'clock, and they were given an hour break since the dinner rush wouldn't begin until then. After a restroom break, the girls decided to visit a few of the nearby shops since they were full from tasting the food. As they walked towards the door, they found a miniature version of Mirajane running the host stand instead of Wendy. She had white blonde hair just like the barkeep except that instead of the long waves she sported, the younger girl had it cropped short. Her face had similar features and her bright blue eyes were unmistakable.
"Are you Mirajane's sister?" Levy asked, knowing they had to be related some how. The young girl gave them a cute smile and a nod.
"Yes, I'm Lisanna, Mira-nee's baby sister," she introduced herself, and the girls did the same as they shook hands.
"I'm Elfman's little sister, too," she told them, but the girls gave blank stares.
"We haven't met him just yet," they informed her and she smiled.
"You will certainly know him when you see him," Lisanna promised with a laugh.
The girls went about their way after that, heading into the shops that dotted the street. After doing a little shopping they found another bistro with a patio, this one had blue and white umbrellas covering all the tables. Levy cocked her head as she noticed a tall man with dark messy hair held back at the base of his neck with a rubber band who was clearing off plates and glasses from the tables. Her eyes widened as he turned, revealing his piercings and deep red eyes.
"Hey that's Gajeel," she said in nearly a whisper, causing Lucy to turn her gaze towards him.
"Hmm? You mean the busser from last night? I thought you said he worked with us?" Lucy asked in confusion.
"He does, or did last night anyway," Levy said, furrowing her brow as they stepped closer to the enclosed area where he was working.
"Talk about rough around the edges," Lucy whispered, and then turned to see her friend's expression. A grin spread to Lucy's lips.
"He's pretty hot though, in that bad boy way," she said, elbowing Levy's side, breaking her trance. Levy blinked rapidly and scoffed at her friend, cheeks tinging pink.
"What?" Levy blurted, "As if."
"What're you starin' at?" his gruff voice called out, turning his gaze towards them, which lightened as he noticed Levy.
"Well, hey there, short stuff," he said, cocking his head slightly as he smirked. Levy glared at his arrogance, growing immediately agitated.
"Would you quit calling me short!" she scolded, folding her arms over her chest, but that only seemed to make him chuckle.
"Sure thing, Shrimp," he mocked. Levy's fists clenched as her cheeks puffed up in annoyance.
"I thought you worked at Fairy Tail?" Lucy asked, changing the subject. Gajeel grunted at the blonde.
"I do. And I also work here. Got a problem with it?" he said with a sneer, causing Lucy to hold up her hands in a defensive stance.
"Course not," Lucy said with a nervous laugh under Gajeel's intimidating stare.
"She just asked you a question, you don't have to be such a rude ass!" Levy said, glaring right back at him. His fierce gaze landed back to her. He was about to say something else when Lucy grabbed Levy's arm and started pulling her away.
"Come on, Levy, we gotta be getting back to work anyway," Lucy said, pulling her friend away from the confrontation.
"See you later, Shrimp," Gajeel called out, making Levy grimace as she allowed Lucy to pull her away.
"We're going to have to work with him, Levy. It's probably best not to get into a pissing match with him," Lucy warned as the girls reentered Fairy Tail Bistro.
"Yeah, yeah. I don't know why I let him get under my skin," Levy replied, her temper beginning to subside. Lucy quirked a smirk, knowing full well how Gajeel was getting under Levy's skin, even if Levy didn't fully understand herself, but Lucy said nothing of it. She'd let her friend figure it out herself.
"Let who get under your skin?" Cana asked as she reached for her purse from the cabinets in the hallway near the employee door.
"Gajeel," Lucy answered, "We ran into him down the street at his other job."
"Ah," Cana nodded, "Yeah it's a shame that stud has such a bad attitude."
"It's not really surprising though. I'd have a shitty attitude too if I was on probation," Cana said with a shrug. Levy and Lucy exchanged looks at that.
"Uh, probation?" Levy asked.
"Yeah, boy was a in a bad way a few years ago. His dad abandoned him and he got into gang stuff, ya know? Well, he got arrested and wouldn't rat on his comrades. The prosecutor really wanted to throw the book at him, but the judge went easy, giving him four years on probation instead of jail time," Cana explained the story.
"Wow," was all Levy could say, stunned. She felt sudden sympathy for him. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if her parents abandoned her.
"How do you know about it, Cana?" Lucy asked, the slightly older woman grinning at them.
"I may or may not have eaves dropped on him and Makarov talking," she whispered.
"But he's trying to keep on the straight and narrow now. That's why he does both jobs. Can't get into much trouble if you work all the time," Cana said as she headed for the door.
"Later girls," Cana said as she opened the door to head out.
"I guess that's good he's trying to better himself," Levy said sourly. Lucy nodded agreement and smiled down to her friend.
"It still doesn't make him less of an ass though," Levy said, noticing Lucy's glance, and stomped off in search of Mirajane.
"Welcome back, girls," the white haired woman greeted them. Next to her stood a beautiful woman with long scarlet red hair that she had pulled back in a braid, with only a few strands framing her face. Her uniform shirt was a dark gray.
She was the most intimidating person the girls had ever seen.
Her dark eyes scanned the girls skeptically, her expression harsh and arms folded over her ample chest.
"This is Erza," Mirajane said cheerfully, "She's our lead server."
"I expect perfection," Erza warned, making the girls begin to sweat.
"Levy!" the flame haired woman then barked, making both girls jump. Levy sheepishly raised her hand in acknowledgment.
"You will train on expo with Bisca tonight. You'll find her on the line," Erza told her sternly, "Dismissed!" Levy straightened her self and gave a small bow.
"Yes, ma'am!" she blurted before running off towards the kitchen.
"Lucy!" Erza barked again, causing the girl to jump once more, "You are following me through this evening's dinner shift. You will stay behind me and observe. You will follow orders without exception." Lucy gulped.
"Yes, ma'am!" Lucy replied and gave a salute.
"Well, I'm off then," Mirajane said, "Good luck, tonight." She waved her goodbye and headed for the employee door to go home for the night. Lucy shivered at the idea of being alone with the scary woman in front of her.
"Come!" Erza demanded, and Lucy followed.
Within an hour, Lucy was being run ragged by the strict lead server. Erza assured her that hands on was the best way to learn and so sent the girl on various errands.
"Get the drinks for that table!" Erza would command.
"Run that food!"
"Get silverware for that table!"
"Stock clean glasses!" Erza would command and Lucy would do as told.
"Go to the bar and grab their cocktails!" Erza ordered.
"Aye!" Lucy said, and quickly made her way to the bar. As she rounded the corner, safely out of Erza's sight, she let out a breathless sigh. She was sweating more than if she'd run a marathon.
"Erza trying to kill you?" she heard a velvety voice ask her. She looked up at the night's bartender and immediately blushed. He was boyishly handsome with soft looking orange hair. Blue tinted glasses framed his eyes, but Lucy caught a glimpse of their hazel color before he pushed the glasses back up his face. By far his best feature was his smile, which threatened to buckle Lucy's knees.
"Uh," Lucy stuttered. She blinked rapidly and tried to will away the flush in her cheeks.
"Um, yeah, she's really strict," she finally said, returning his smile with one of her own.
"More like down right frightening," he chuckled, his glasses slipping down his slightly upturned nose again. He bit his bottom lip briefly as he pushed them up once again, making Lucy's heart hammer. How was it possible for a single restaurant to have so many handsome men working in it!?
"Better get those drinks to her," he said with a wink. Lucy gasped, realizing she'd let him distract her. She grabbed one of the drink trays and set the two martinis on it and turned quickly to head back to Erza, but it was too late. As soon as she turned, her heart all but stopped as she saw Erza standing in the archway glaring daggers at her.
"LUCY! STAY FOCUSED!" she scolded. Lucy cringed.
"Yes, ma'am!" she stammered.
"LOKE! DON'T DISTRACT MY TRAINEE!" Erza's anger turning to the barkeep, who gave her an innocent smile before she turned to exit the bar. Lucy hurriedly followed, but not before hearing Loke call out to her.
"Nice to meet you, Lucy," he said smoothly, returning the smile to Lucy's face as she headed back into the dinning room.
Both girls were exhausted by the time they punched out at the end of the night. Levy's head was reeling from trying to remember each dish and table number as she ran food with the green haired Bisca all evening. Lucy was a bit worse for wears, having been run ragged by Erza all evening. Lucy was relieved that she would be on expo the next day, away from Erza's commands.
"Have a wonderful night, Lucy," Loke said from the archway that led from the bar into the hallway. She felt her cheeks turn pink as she turned to see his smile as he casually leaned against the frame with one hand in his jean pocket.
"Go- goodnight, Loke," she stammered, attempting to will her heart to steady. The girls exited through the door and Levy immediately started giggling at her friend.
"What. Was. That?" Levy asked her through her grin.
"Oh hush!" Lucy said, giving Levy a light shove.
"Don't set your sights on that one," Levy warned, "Bisca said he's a bit of a playboy." Lucy pouted briefly, but then smirked.
"Well, doesn't hurt to look," Lucy said with a shrug, making Levy giggle as they boarded the train home.