[Chapter 10]
Birthday Boy

     "Alright, everyone listen up!" A loud feminine voice filled up the diner.

     We all turned our heads towards direction in which the voice came from, only to see Diane standing up on one of the stools near the counter. No customer was going to complain about her informality because there are no customers — since the whole, entire restaurant was booked for some kid's birthday. A medium-sized sign was hung outside the glass doors to notify any other customers that the place was closed to the public for today. Although, it doesn't seem to be working that effectively since we still had to prevent a few people from strolling in.

     "Today's going to be a really busy day and I want everyone to be on their best behaviour. Now, I know we've already got the decorations set up but I want all of you to just tidy up a little bit. There are still some things lying around and I want this place spick and span before the kids arrive!" She ordered, pointing to a few party streamers that were scattered across the black and white tiled floor.

     "Come on, get to it!" She clapped her hands for an extra effect of urgency, making everyone scatter. I grabbed a broomstick from the janitor's closet and started sweeping the litter into a dustpan. I spotted some trash near the entrance and went over to clean it up.

     Given that I was the nearest to the doors, when the bell rang to announce the entrance of a customer, I was the first one to hear it and to turn to look who it was. A few guys that were around my age waltzed in and I locked eyes with the one standing in the middle. I stopped sweeping and stood up straight.

     "Hey, you're not supposed to be here. It's closed for some kid's birthday party." I told them instinctively, like I have with everyone else who had accidentally entered the diner.

     They all looked at one another, exchanging confused looks until the one in the middle stepped forward and chuckled. "Yeah, we know. It's my party." He said, his pale fingers contrasted against his raven black hair as he ran them through his locks. 

     I furrowed my eyebrows and gave him a puzzled look. "What—"

     "Joey!" A voice behind me exclaimed. I turned around to see Diane making her way towards us with a large smile stretched across her face. She stopped in front of the guy whose name appeared to be Joey and reached up to pinch his cheeks, stretching them out as if she was making taffy in the factory. "My god, look at you! You've gotten so tall!" She gushed, still pinching his cheeks.

     I snickered softly at the mixed expression of pain and discomfort on Joey's face, while he tried to appease Diane by letting her pull on his face. When she finally let go, he sighed in relief and softly massaged his cheeks to relieve the soreness. "Hey, Mrs Anderson. Thanks for helping me reserve this entire place for my party." He smiled crookedly.

     "Oh, anything for Angie's children! Now, why don't you all take a look around and see if there's anything you'd like to change." She smiled, pushing him and his friends deeper into the diner.

    "Okay, thanks." He grinned. As he walked past me, he gave me a nod of acknowledgement and attempted to flash me a smile. But before he could do so, I'd already ran off to help out with some other task, now that more people were arriving.

     Soon enough the entire diner was packed with high school students that all looked to be around my age. It's already been an hour or so since the party started and things were starting to get rowdy. I'm assuming that Joey and his friends had spiked the punch earlier, because I saw them lingering around the food table for a suspiciously long period of time. And given that Diane was too busy bustling around the diner, she didn't suspect a thing — not even the drinking games some of the underaged students were playing.

     The air was filled with loud chatter and sloppy laughter, accompanied with mainstream pop music as it blasted through the speakers. The diner was naturally spacious, but with an immense number of people moving about all at once, it sure made it seem like the entire place had shrunk. People were practically spilling out of every door and every time I'd think no one else could possibly arrive to the party, someone always did. 

     Joey sure was one popular guy. 

     With that being said, people were knocking into one another due to the cramped space and the decent amount of alcohol they've consumed, making them a little tipsy. Drinks were being spilled and slices of cake were being dropped — I was at the borderline of exhaustion from running all over the place to clean up after everyone.

     I saw another drink spill across the table, right before my eyes and I mentally screamed in frustration. I walked over to the table with a cloth in hand. I stopped in my tracks when I saw the girl who spilled the drink threw her red solo cup on the floor, laughing as she does so. I narrowed my eyes at her and watched her talk to her friends. I noticed how she wasn't tipsy like everyone else, meaning she had intentionally threw the cup on the floor.

     I squinted my eyes at her. This bitch—

     "Excuse me? Waitress!" She hollered at me as she pointed to the mess she made. "Do your job." She spat, rolling her eyes after looking me up and down. She smiled and lifted her chin up in a smug manner when her group of friends snickered.

     I glared at her, the grip I had on the cloth tightened as I clenched my fists. I took a deep breath to calm myself down, remembering that I was at work. I reached their table and started cleaning up the bitch's mess. Joey and his two friends were also sitting at the booth and they stopped talking once they saw me.

     I could feel his eyes burning through the side of my head as I wiped their table. It seems as though Regina George here, has feelings for Joey because once she realised he was staring at me, she scowled at me. "Good. Now go away." She hissed at me after I wiped away the last bit of the spilled drink from the table.

     "Chloe, you don't have to be so mean." One of Joey's friends butted in, giving her an annoyed look.

     Ah, so the bitch has a name.

     I gritted my teeth, my temper already running short. "Of course. Would you like anything else? Perhaps a box of condoms?" I gave her a wide, fake smile.

     Everyone sitting at the table turned their heads to look at me with wide, surprised eyes. Chloe narrowed her eyes at me and scoffed. "Why the hell would I need condoms right now? Are you retarded?" She said extra loudly for the last part, causing a few surrounding people to stare in our direction. The people sitting in the booths beside theirs also looked our way, wondering what was going on.

     I picked up the red solo cup she threw on the floor earlier and turned around to face her. "Well, you gotta fill up the empty space in your head somehow." I said with a blank face as I crumpled up the plastic cup. She gaped at me and everyone inhaled sharply while some were laughing out loud. Chloe's face went red with embarrassment upon hearing people laughing at her, then glared at me, her nostrils flaring in fury. 

     I toyed around with the crumpled cup and continued. "I just figured you'd use condoms more than you use your brain." I shrugged nonchalantly.

     "That's true!" Someone from the crowd yelled out, causing everyone to break out into fits of laughter. Chloe turned into a darker shade of red, wrinkles starting to form on her forehead as she glared harder at me. 

     I chuckled and crossed my arms. "And since you don't actually have a brain, why not keep something you'd actually use in that extra space of yours?" I smirked, flicking the crumpled cup at her and she flinched, her jaw dropping in disbelief. I gave her one last fake smile, then walked away, the crowd parting as I do so. Everyone wore surprised and amused expressions on their faces as they start to chat about what they've just witnessed.

     Huh, I'm getting a slight sense of déjà vu at the moment.

     As I made my way to the counter, I felt someone grab a hold of my elbow. I instantly turned around, only to see Joey. He towered over me but wasn't nearly the same height as Leo. Wait, why am I thinking of Leo, out of all people?

     "Hey, I'm really sorry about my girlfriend just now." He smiled apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

     I gave him a look of surprise. "She's your girlfriend?" I asked, repeating after him just in case I heard wrong. He responded with a nod. I placed my hand on his shoulder and looked at him with sympathetic eyes. "I'm sorry for you."

     I was waiting for him to retort back defensively on the behalf of his girlfriend, but he just smiled and laughed. I raised my eyebrows in surprise and laughed along with him. "I'm Joey." He grinned, then stretched out his hand for me to shake it.

     "Flo." I smiled back, putting my hand in his. He gazed at me with a small smile, his hand slowly shaking mine. I raised an eyebrow at him after noticing how we've been shaking hands for a while now. "Um, Joey?" 

     "What?" He asked, then glanced down at our attached hands. "Oh, sorry!" He dropped his hand immediately and I chuckled, giving him an odd, puzzled look. I walked away from him as I entered the kitchen. Throwing one last glance over my shoulder, I saw that he was still gazing after me, still not moving an inch.

     Um, okay. Weird.

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