"And when can you start working?"

Excitement bubbled up inside me as the hiring manager, Sally, smiled down at me. She was a cute old lady who reminded me of my grandma— grey, curly hair, beady black eyes and all. "Anytime you need me," I told her confidently.

"Well, congratulations Miss Heywood, you're hired."

"Awesome!"

Laughing at my enthusiasm, she picked up a pen on her desk and scribbled something down on a sticky note. "So I'm thinking we can start your training right now, if that's okay?"

"Right now?" I echoed, surprised. "I don't even have work clothes—"

"What you're wearing right now is fine," she promised me. "You won't be serving anyone today, anyway."

Glancing down at my attire, I pulled at my ironed white dress shirt. The outfit for the restaurant, Miss Flo's, consisted of a pair of black dress pants, or black skirt, a red dress shirt, and a pair of black dress shoes. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. We're really shorthanded at the moment, so the sooner you're trained, the better. I mean, as long as you don't have plans...?"

I shook my head. "Nope! I'll start training today."

"It's paid training too, so you'll have to create your account to punch in and out," Sally continued, glancing at her watch. "My number one waiter should be coming in any minute... he'll be able to help you out."

"Okay," I replied eagerly. "What's his name?"

Just as she opened his mouth, the door to her office opened. "Old lady, I did not volunteer to help out a new trainee," an irritated, familiar voice stated. "Find someone else."

My eyes flew wide in surprise and I twisted around in my seat, my jaw nearly hitting the ground. "Elliot!"

The brunet's eyes switched from Sally, to me, narrowing in disbelief. "No way..."

"You two know each other?" Sally asked, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Good! You'll get along then!"

"Ugh," Elliot groaned.

I crossed my arms. "What do you mean, ugh?"

Sally chuckled. "Geez Elliot, you're not even nice to pretty young girls like Allie?"

"Shut up, old lady."

My jaw nearly dropped again. Didn't Elliot care about his job? How could he talk like that to our manager?

"Is that anyway to talk to your grandma?"

Grandma? This woman was Elliot's grandma? He talked to his grandma liked that? If I talked to my grandma like that, she'd probably hang me upside down by my toes.

"Step-grandma," Elliot corrected her. "Actually, not even that. What would you be called? My step-brother's step mom's sister?"

I grimaced. That was... complicated.

"Grandma is just fine," Sally informed him, smiling. "Now, why don't you show Allie around? Start off with a basic rundown of the diner."

"You're hiring her?" Elliot demanded.

"Yes, I am," Sally stated defiantly. "Since Jackie quit, I need another waitress. Now stop dilly-dallying or I'll dock your pay."

Now in full force scowling mode, Elliot turned his hard glare to me. I blinked back at him innocently. "Why would a rich girl like you even want a job?"

"What? I'm not rich."

He gave me a flat look. "And yet you're going to this school..."

"I'm really not," I told him, my eyebrows furrowing. "Don't you know? I'm on a scholarship."

This caught him off guard. "What? You are?"

"Yeah. I come from a comfy middle class family," I informed him, nodding my head. "I don't even have a car."

Pursing his lips, Elliot crossed his arms. "Oh."

"Why are you working?"

"The only reason I can afford to go to this school is because Harley is the home ec teacher," he muttered reluctantly. "Not that I want to go to such a tool school."

"Why don't you chit-chat while you work?" suggested Sally, shooing us with her hands. "I'm not paying you for nothing."

Sighing heavily, Elliot twisted on his heel and marched out of the office. "Move it, Alligator."

"Allie," I corrected him with a scowl.

"Whatever. What code do you want for the cash register?"

Sighing, I gave him a pin I would be able to remember. For the most part, I was rather excited that Elliot happened to work at this diner, but there was a small section of me that knew working with him was going to be difficult. Especially since his way of explaining things wasn't exactly the best.

Two hours later, he was giving me a rundown on how to answer phones if the phone boys or girls couldn't pick them up in time. So far I'd been able to conquer learning how to work the cash register, how to carry out customer's orders, how to greet customers, and how to refill the soda machine. Like many of my teachers had commented before, I was a fast learner. Answering phones was a simple task.

"Okay, so answer the phone next time someone calls and put in their order," Elliot ordered, crossing his arms over his chest.

I glanced around, searching for the phone girl who'd been standing by idly while watching me moments before. "Where'd the other girl go?"

"To bring the trash out. Now be ready. And remember, we don't deliver."

Nodding, I mentally prepared myself for the task. As soon as the phone rang I snatched it up and placed it against my ear. "Hello!" I chirped brightly. "Thank you for calling Miss Flo's, how may I help you?"

"Er... Allie?"

I paused. "Who's this?"

"Paul."

"Paul?"

"Yes."

"Why are you calling me...?"

"I'm not. I'm calling the restaurant to order dinner because I don't know where you are... Well, now I do, but you know what I mean."

My eyes widened. "Oh, uh—"

"Why are you answering the phone at Miss Flo's?"

"Um, habit?" I lied timidly.

"Who are you talking to?" Elliot demanded. "Who's Paul?"

"Is that Elliot?"

I glanced over at Elliot, who was frowning at me. "Yeah."

"You're holding up the line," he accused me. "We have customers waiting."

"Tell him I'm ordering something," Paul insisted quickly. "Are you on a date with him? I almost forgot he works there..."

"No!" I said immediately, feeling a blush form on my face. "O-of course not!"

Raising an eyebrow, Elliot crossed his arms. "Well, is he ordering or not?"

"I'm ordering!" Paul responded even though Elliot couldn't hear him. "Are you going to give the phone to a worker or...?"

"Um, actually, I kind of want to try it," I made up quickly. For now, I didn't want Paul knowing I was interested in acquiring a job. Or more like, in the process of gaining a job. I didn't want him thinking I wanted money and in turn handing cash over to me whenever for free. "Hey, Elliot? Can I take this one?"

Elliot stared at me blankly. "That's the purpose, dumbass."

Grimacing, I nodded. "Awesome. How can I help you, sir?"

"I want French Fries. And uh, some onion rings. And a large BLT grinder with extra mayonnaise and extra cheese... and extra bacon. Actually, make that two."

"That's... incredibly unhealthy," I managed to force out, so surprised by his response I thought I'd lost my voice.

Paul laughed from the other end. "No it's not."

Was he crazy? He was definitely crazy. "Paul, I'm not letting you order that—"

"The customer order what he wants," Elliot all but growled at me. "Stop chit-chatting and take the damn order!"

"Being a brat like usual, is he?" Paul remarked in amusement. "Well, you have my order. What do you want?"

Sighing, I reluctantly typed Paul's order into the cash register, pressing the button to send it to the cook. "I'll just make a bowl of cereal when I get home. Your total is ten twenty-two."

"Cereal is unhealthy," he pointed out.

"Not Cheerios."

"Hey," Elliot began impatiently, "if he's done ordering—"

"Your order will be ready in about fifteen minutes," I cut him off sweetly. "Remember we don't deliver."

Paul hesitated a second before saying, "I already know that..."

"Oh."

He chuckled. "Right, well, see you soon."

"Yeah, see you..." My words died in my throat. Shit. If he came here, and saw me in my work clothes, he'd obviously realize what I was doing. Swiftly hanging up the phone, I twisted on my heel, smiling sweetly at Elliot. "So..."

A wary expression crossed his face. "What?"

"Is my training for today over? It's like eight, isn't it?"

He shrugged. "Sure, I guess. The old lady told me to send you home when I figured you were done."

"Awesome! Then I'm out—"

"Hold up," he ordered, placing a firm hand on my shoulder and holding me in place as I attempted to escape. "Where are you going in such a rush?"

I frowned at him. "Home. I'm hungry and tired." Which was partly true. Tired, not so much, but I was starving.

"Don't be so hasty, idiot. Don't you have to grab your coat and keys from the employee room?"

"No... I walked."

He snorted. "You walked? How close do you live?"

"Maybe like, half a mile? Not too bad. It's a nice walk."

"Yeah but now it's..." Suddenly embarrassed, he turned his face away. "It's dangerous for girls to walk home at night..."

A smirk grew on my face. "Aw, are you worried?"

"No!"

"You sound worried."

"I just don't want anyone blaming anything on me if something happens to you."

Patting him on his shoulder, I give him a pitying look. "That's sweet. If you want, maybe you can hold my hand tightly and escort me home while singing merrily—"

"Get out of here!" he barked, face red, shoving me away.

Grinning, I mock-bowed. "Of course, Your Highness." As I turned I heard him let out an angry huff. I shook my head, holding back my laugher. Elliot really was just too fun to tease. Though, I was careful not to tease him too much. The other day I'd caught wind of how the rematch brawl between Elliot and the two students from our grade had gone, and realized Elliot wasn't a force to be reckoned with.

"Sally?" I called, knocking on the office door once before opening it. "I'm heading out now..."

Looking up from some paperwork on her desk, she smiled at me. "How did it go?"

"Great," I told her honestly. "Surprisingly easy, too. I thought it'd be a little more difficult."

"That's good to hear. Can you come back tomorrow then? Six to nine?"

Nodding, I hooked her a thumbs up. "No problem."

"Elliot will be here again," she added, her eyes twinkling. "You two have such great chemistry... With both of you here, we'll have people from both genders wanting to stop by."

Now I laughed. So Elliot and I had chemistry? Well, that was nice to know. "Right, anyway, goodnight Sally."

"Goodnight. Be careful on your way home."

Waving once, I slipped back out the door and hurried to the exit. Keeping my head down, I stepped out, and started my ten-minute journey home. In the future, I had to remember to bring my iPod. The trek was nearly unbearable when I was left to solely my thoughts. Sighing lightly, I wrapped my arms closer around myself, wishing I'd brought a jacket... Which was also to put on the what-to-bring-next-time list.

Since there were no back streets to take, I was forced to take the only route from the restaurant to Paul's house. Somehow I managed to make it home without Paul noticing me on his way to the diner. I slipped inside, only vaguely registering the fact Paul hadn't bothered to lock his door— again— when he left, and jogged up to my room, shedding my work clothes immediately. Instead of dressing for the day again, I shimmied into a pair of fuzzy pajama pants and threw on a pain black long sleeve shirt.

Just as I was about to leave my room and head to the kitchen toe scrounge up dinner, my eyes landed on a leather bound journal on my desk. Pausing for a moment, I backtracked to it, opening up the first two pages. A list of foods Paul found agreeable and didn't find agreeable was scrawled onto them. It wasn't huge, considering how I'd only resided with him for a little over a month now. Still, it was something. And helpful. That being said, I snatched a pen from next to it and scribbled down BLTs.

About ten minutes later, Paul returned to the house just in time to catch me slicing my finger with a knife during the process of chopping up a cucumber. My color word choice didn't cease to impress him. "Quite the pirate's tongue you have there, isn't it, Allie Cat?"

My hand clenched around the knife, the edges jabbing painfully in my skin as I jumped in shock. "S-shit! You scared me!"

He raised his eyebrows at my slightly bleeding hand. "Why don't you put that down, for starters?"

"Sure, now that you've ruined my salad..."

"You can have one of my subs," he offered, holding up a medium sized paper bag. "They're awesome."

Wrinkling my nose, I shook my head, moving over to the sink to rinse my nick. "If I was going to have a salad for dinner, what makes you think I'd want a heart attack on a bun instead?"

"It's awesome."

His voice sounded muffle, so I turned around, confused. To my surprise, he was already stuffing one of his subs into his mouth. Unceremoniously. Some of the mayonnaise dripped onto the clean white tiled floor. "You are... disgusting."

A grin cracked onto his face. I half-expected a piece of lettuce to be hanging from his front teeth. "I just appreciate good food."

My eyes went to the spilled condiment on the floor. "How in the world is your house so clean?"

"Once a month a pretty lady comes and does some cleaning... Well, she used to at least. Now that you're here I can push all those mundane tasks onto you!"

"Hey, thanks!"

He waved me off. "Don't worry about it."

Rolling my eyes, I rinsed off my cucumber before beginning to slice it up again. "Can you check if we have lettuce?"

"Eh, forget about it."

"What?"

Sitting at the kitchen table, he opened the paper bag and pulled out a foam container. "I bought you dinner."

I frowned. "But I—"

"Grilled chicken salad." His eyes met mine and he smirked. "One of you're favorites, am I right?"

His memory caught me off guard. I hadn't mentioned that since the first time we'd ordered out. "Er..."

Patting the seat next to him, he smiled invitingly at me. "Well then, have a seat and let's eat together."

"Sure," I responded with a smile of my own, setting down my knife. "That sounds nice."

"But one thing..."

"What's that?"

He wagged his eyebrows. "How'd your date with Elliot go?"

____________________________

Finally. An update!

I'm rewatching Supernatural so...... goodbye xD

Help me. I'm addicted.

Twitter & Instagram - JordanLynde_