TRIS POV
A.N. The night I had at work last night is 100% the fuel for this chapter. No Iphone 4 users were harmed in the writing of this chapter.
I'm nervous for my first day at the new job, but everyone always is. I need to be at work by 330 to go over some small details with Lauren before we start taking tables at 4. I lay out my work clothes on the bed and attach a small white name tag to the shirt before deciding I should probably eat before leaving.
I walk into the kitchen and realize I haven't gone food shopping yet. As much as I don't want to take any of Christina's food, I'm sure she won't mind if I borrow some bread, peanut butter, and jelly for a small sandwich. As I finish putting it together, I hear the front door being unlocked and opened.
"Tris! Are you still home?" I hear Christina yell from the door.
"In the kitchen!" I yell back.
"Hey! Haven't left for work yet?" She asks. "It's like, almost 230". This is the daily struggle of a server. When all your friends are getting off of work, you're about to go in. It's no wonder Christina and I rarely got to hang out, except for when she came into the restaurant and sat in my section. She works weekdays on a 9-5, which obviously means she skipped out a little early today, and I work week nights and weekends.
"No, I don't need to be there until 330. But I see you decided to skip a few hours. Miss me already?" I joke.
"Haha. Very funny!" She replies. "I just wanted to see you off on your first day. Besides, I got all my assignments done early and figured no one would miss me if I slipped out. Besides, it's a good thing I'm here too. You aren't going to your first day looking like that are you?" Christina is always questioning my fashion decision. I'm going to work, not a party.
"What's wrong with how I look?" I ask, making sure the slight tone of offense makes it into my words.
"I mean nothing, but don't you work for tips? It wouldn't hurt to at least try to look pretty. Guys tip better when they think a girl is pretty. Uriah said so himself. You have to let me do your makeup for the first day!" I basically already know there isn't any getting out of this. Once Christina has her mind set on something, it's basically set in stone. I look at the clock and see that I don't need to leave for another twenty minutes.
"Fine!" I give in. "But I need to leave in twenty minutes, no matter what! I don't know what traffic is going to be like."
"Traffic?" She honestly sounds surprised. "Oh no, you're not going to be able to drive there, it would take forever. Besides, didn't you park in a parking garage for your interview? You don't want to have to pay every day to go to work. Your best bet is to just walk, it's only a couple blocks and the city is always buzzing and well lit. It's not that dangerous."
I'm honestly not that concerned about the danger of walking to work, but when you have a job that requires you to be on your feet all day, you start to really appreciate the moments you have to sit down, even if it's just in the car.
"I guess you're right. But you're running out of time, if you want to do this make-up thing, you better start now. You lost five minutes by convincing me to walk!"
A look of panic takes over her face before she grabs me by the wrist and runs me to the bathroom attached to her bedroom. She leaves me for a quick second to grab her desk chair from the office and plops me down into it. Her hands are moving in a blur as she plugs in a curling iron, god only knows why, and she starts rummaging through her excessive stash of makeup looking for the right combination of colors and products.
I chuckle a little to myself as she begins working on my appearance, knowing it is a lost cause for two reasons. The first being that I'm a server. I have to keep my hair up no matter what and nobody really notices if I have make-up on or not. But Christina made a good point, tips are generally better if the table thinks I look put together. The second reason I know Christina's work will be in vain is slightly less related to my line of work. Make-up is great and all, but it generally relies on the fact that you already look somewhat decent to start out with. I mean, I don't think I'm ugly by any means, but I'm not exactly about to land a five page spread in a magazine anytime soon. I look in the mirror and take note of my features as Christina begins to curl my hair. Looking myself over, I come to the decision that I am just plain. My hair is a dirty blonde that isn't quite brown, but still looks dark. My eyes seem too close together and are gray. Not blue or green, but actually gray. The most plain color in the world. My nose is small and my lips aren't full and if I could change it, I would make my bottom lip a little bigger. Overall, I think I look like my mother, but with hints of my father in all the wrong places.
My mom was quite striking and her eyes were always filled with laughter, and she had a warm smile that could bring light into any room. I always try my best to be like her, think about what she would want me to do. But most importantly, I wonder if my mother would be proud of the person I have become. Would she describe me as selfless like she was? I mean, I've given up a lot in the last couple of years. Not by choice, but necessity. But I gave things up, none-the-less. Or would she describe me as brave? After all, I did start living on my own at a very young age. I took on the responsibilities of an adult when most people were trying to figure out what classes to take the next semester. I started worrying about car payments, electricity bills, and health insurance. Not that I actually have the latter, but again, that's what I get for choosing the line of work I'm in.
Either way, she isn't here to tell me about it now, so the only opinion that matters is myself and maybe Caleb's and Christina's, but mostly myself.
"Okay, I think you're finally ready!" Christina says in an excited tone. She spins me around and when I see myself in the mirror, I'm actually pleasantly surprised. There is a slight curl to my hair that makes it look less like a messy pony tail and like I actually meant to have it that way.
She lined my eyes with a dark brown liner and gave me eyeshadow that gives it a brown smoky eye type look. Overall, I'm pleased with what I see.
"Thank you so much Christina! This looks great!" This time, I'm not lying.
"I'm glad you think so, because I actually went about five minutes over your time limit." She mumbles the last part in an attempt to get the words passed me.
"WHAT?" I practically yell at her. I check my watch and see that it is 3:15. I know it is going to take me at least twenty minutes to walk to the bar, so I quickly grab my purse and apron and rush out the door.
I know I can make on time if I hurry, but there seem to be way more people out and about today. I push my way through a large crowd of people purchasing food and newspaper at a stand. They're all discussing the big business move Marcus Eaton pulled this time to make him even richer. I have never cared much for the business world and that sentiment definitely applies even more now. I finally make it to Dauntless and see that I still have 3 minutes to spare. While I'm happy to be on time, I definitely need to make sure I'm at least a little earlier next time.
"You must be Tris! I'm Lauren. You can put your things down in the back, get yourself together, and meet me back out here." I can tell by her tone that she is already a little bit annoyed. Hopefully that will change soon. As I walk to put my purse in the employee area at the back of the restaurant I pass by Four carrying two very large and obviously heavy buckets of ice. Of course, he seems to have no problem carrying them at all.
"You alright there Stiff? You look a little winded. Or is Dauntless already too much for you?" He asks.
"Tris." I ignore his ridiculous question and decide to end this Stiff thing before it really even starts.
"What's a Tris?" he asks, slightly amused by my avoidance of his original question.
"My name is Tris. And I'm fine, just running a little late."
He laughs quietly and shakes his head. "Well Tris, welcome to Dauntless." And with that, the conversation ends and for some reason, my face feels a lot warmer than when we started. He squeezes passed me to continue his task and I resume mine. In the back, I see two more employees about to start their days. One guy, with pale skin, dark hair, and scarring on face is standing in the way of the employee cubbies.
"Excuse me, can I just put my stuff over there?" I try to sound as polite as possible, even though I really just need him to get out of the way.
"I'll move when I'm ready Stiff." He retorts. Is everyone going to be using this stupid name? Is it an unspoken rule that everyone has to be an asshole to the new person?
"My name is Tris!" I say a lot louder than I originally intended. It's not his fault he doesn't know. There is no way he just heard my conversation with Four just now.
"Woah! Whatever you say Stiff." He says as he pushes past me, nearly knocking me down. Thankfully, the other guy standing in the employee area helps me steady myself.
"Well, not Stiff named Tris, I'm Uriah, Christina's friend." I feel relieved at finally meeting a friendly face in this crowd of people who are just way too full of themselves. I feel a lot better already by his presence; I can tell that I am at least going to have one new friend at the job. Uriah shows me the best place to put my belongings so they are somewhat out of sight. He informs me that everyone is pretty honest, but there have been a couple of times that servers have found money go mysteriously missing from their bags.
"I'll be working the fryers tonight, so if you need anything, come to me. I'm kind of a big deal around here. People listen when I talk!" For some reason, I don't exactly believe him. It's probably due to how much he puffed his chest when he said it, but again, it will be nice to know at least one person has my back.
We go our separate ways to start the shift. I find Lauren standing by the bar talking to Four.
"What happened? Get lost? Come on, we already have our first table. I'll explain our section later, let's GO." Great, it seems I just can't get on anyone's good side on my first day.
My first shift goes just about as well as planned, which of course was not very well. Lauren tries her best to explain different drinks, food items, and where everything is while trying not to get too frustrated. I don't blame her though. I'm essentially in charge of the money she makes tonight. I get paid minimum wage and she gets the tips I make. Generally, people don't care if I tell them I'm in training, they'll still get upset if I can't remember the twelve beers on tap or the price of our house vodka and tip like shit.
Each table gets slightly better the last and before a while, I'm basically running the section by myself. Towards the end of the night, things start to slow down. It is a Monday night after all and people have to work in the morning.
"This will likely be the last table of the night, so make it count. You'll take it by yourself and I'll be watching the entire time" Lauren informs me. This comment only slightly throws me off as I've essentially been doing this the entire night. Either way, I walk up to the table of four twenty-something guys, hoping everything goes smoothly like it should.
"Hey guys! How are you tonight? My name is Tris, I'm in training tonight with Lauren." I say as I gesture her way. "Can I start you off with a beer or—"
"Can I borrow your phone charger?" I'm immediately cut off by one of the guys in a hat to my right.
"Ummm…I guess that depends on what kind of phone it is." Although, I know I probably won't have a charger for it, it can't hurt to just pretend.
"It's an Iphone 4. I mean, don't you guys keep chargers in the back in case a guest needs one? Oh, I'll have a tall Sam Adam's by the way. And I'm sure if you guys don't have one in the back, one of your friends will. It's an Iphone after all, an old one, but still an Iphone." His tone is very insistent and I'm sure I won't be able to get out of this too easily.
"Okay, I'll look around for one." I say in an uneasy tone. I finish collecting the drink orders before returning to Lauren.
"We need a tall Sam Adam's, a water, a pepsi, and an ice tea. Also, do you know if anyone has an Iphone 4 charger? The guy in the hat wants one." I can already tell by the look on her face that she is annoyed.
"Who the hell has an Iphone 4 anymore? Get the drinks and forget about it." She practically barks this at me. If it counts for anything, I don't even have a smart phone, let alone an Iphone 4. I mentally add this to the list of things I apparently gave up.
After getting the drinks and returning to the table, I ask if the guys are thinking about any food or if they are just good with the drinks for now. To no one's surprise, especially my own, hat-guy interrupts me again.
"Yeah, so where is the Iphone charger you promised me?" Again, his tone is full with urgency. It's obvious he is going to die along with his phone.
"We don't have any in the back, but I guess I'll ask around again." I say before quickly turning around and asking everyone, including Four and Uriah if they have a charger.
"Tris, I kind of have bigger things to worry about right now." Four informs me. I instantly feel like an idiot when I see his completely full bar rail of guests. Uriah is a little kinder, but he doesn't have one either. When I return to hat-guy with the news, he isn't pleased.
"Whatever girl. You probably didn't even ask anyone. Just get me another beer." Perfect. Lauren is going to love this.
Sure enough, by the time they leave, they've left a 12% tip and a note with a little too much profanity to read. I had the tip slips to Lauren, praying she doesn't say anything. Apparently, God can't hear me in here.
"Well, I can't say I didn't see that coming. So much so, that I already wrote out a list of your closing tasks. I only made 18% tonight when I should have made 25. So you get to do my closing work and I'm going to go ahead and leave." In reality, the fact that she even made 18% with a trainee on their first day is pretty damn good.
"Are you even allowed to do that?" I ask, hoping she'll concede and stay to help, even just a little bit.
"Does it really matter? The only person in charge here is Eric, and I don't think you want to tell him how poorly you did on your first day. See you later Stiff!" She takes the money she made for the night and leaves through the front door. I guess even if she was going to get in trouble for leaving a trainee on their first day, it kind of doesn't matter now. She's already gone.
I look at the list and realize this is going to take a lot longer than I would like. It's already 2:15. I sigh and start working. The only way to finish is to start.
By 3:00 I'm almost done and the only people left in the building are Eric, Four, and myself. On his way out, Uriah asked if there was anything he could do to help, but I told him no. He shouldn't be punished because of my poor performance and a trainer with an attitude.
"I need you two off my clock. NOW." Eric yells from the office. Almost on cue, Four comes out from behind the bar and clocks out.
"How much do you have left?" He asks me. Maybe I'll have two friends now.
"I'm finished now. Just have to grab my stuff from the back and I'm out of here." I wonder if he'll wait for me before leaving. I get my answer when I come out from the back and he is still leaning against the bar.
We walk out together and I turn to say goodbye.
"Where are you going?" He asks before I can get the words out.
"Um, home?" Where else would I be going. It's 3:00 in the morning and I've been working for almost 12 hours.
"You can't walk home." He says very matter of factly.
"Well, I can't teleport, so I guess this is my only option. It's not that far anyone. Ten, fifteen minutes tops." I don't really know what else he expects from me.
He wrestles internally for a minute before sighing. "That's good. It won't be that far out of my way."
"What?" I'm seriously confused now.
"I'm not letting you walk home alone. It's a big city at night. It's not safe." He starts walking ahead of me. He doesn't even know where he's going. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little annoyed, I don't need help. I'm just fine on my own. However, I can't help but be a little flattered. Most people don't go this much out of their way to help me.
"Look, I don't have all night. Are you coming or not?" Four's words bring me back to reality as I run to catch up to him.
A.N. Hopefully you guys haven't lost interest yet! It was a bit of a longer chapter. Sorry to any serious Lauren lovers. I didn't want to make her a bitch, but plot lines, you know.