Chapter II: The Real Hustle
9 A.M brought her to Charlie's. A smile on her face as Matt greeted her.
"Look what came in the mail today," He pressed an envelope into her hands, eyes eagerly watching as she read the letter.
"Holy shit! Matt! I'm so proud of you!" She gathered him into her arms excitedly, "Have you told Charlie?"
"I wanted you to be the first to know JJ, you helped me finish strong." Her eyes softened, and she grabbed his shoulder.
"You fought tooth and nail on your own for so long, I'm proud you made it this far." Matt smiled and grabbed the letter once more.
"Charlie! Come look at this," she called into the kitchen, and the older man stepped out, his hands cradling towels and new dishes.
"What's wrong?" Matt stepped forward.
"I got accepted, I'm starting in August." " Well shit, son. We need to celebrate."
"There's this club, Bad Weather, an hour after shifts end?" Charlie nodded his head at the suggestion.
"My boy, drinks are on me. Now help me set up the tables." Nodding, Juliet and Matt grabbed the clean dishes out and moved to the tables, clean silverware and mugs distributed across the dining room.
The regulars settled in as soon as the doors opened, ordering coffee or tea. Lunch brought university kids and local workers. Juliet noticed the college kid in the corner, sunglasses over his eyes, and smiled. He always came in after a night of partying, they assumed, he tipped well enough for a student, and today he sat in her section. Matt narrowed his eyes at her, she smirked victoriously.
"Welcome to Charlie's, what can I get you?" "Lemme get the hangover special." She bit back a laugh, "Anything else?" "Nah, keeping it simple."
"Charlie, I need a hangover special." "Coming up, same kid?" "Uh huh, you didn't put onions on table 2's burger did you?" "No ma'am." She grabbed the plate and headed over to the table closest to the window.
"Here you go, sir. Enjoy your meal. I'll be back with more water."
The day went by fast, as all the busy days do, and soon they were locking the doors and washing the last few rounds of plates. They all went as fast as the could so they could get home and change into comfortable clothing for the assumingly hot club.
"See you in an hour knuckleheads," Juliet called, locking the door behind her once more.
A/N: I'm not sure how confident I am about this but I'm gonna keep writing anyway.