So, I was in a pickle. Or, not really. It's more like I was in a cucumber because I knew what I had to do but I just didn't want to do it. It wasn't as bad as being in a pickle – cucumbers are much nicer.

Basically, I was running low on money. I've kind of always been low on money. I have no idea how I had enough for college. So now I had to get a job. The thing is, I do want a job but I hate the process of getting a job. It was just too boring and tiring at the same time.

It was a quiet afternoon as I sat at my desk in my room, typing away on my computer and searching for jobs. I had an early class today but my friends had late classes so they were still in class. I scrolled down a website full of job ads. I was looking for a small job to do during university to get money and then I would upgrade to my life-time job later.

Babysitting? No. Cleaning? No. Swim instructor? No. Poop cleaner? What the hell? No way.

It was hard finding a good job that was nearby and paid well. It probably would've been easier to walk around town and look for 'Hiring Now' signs but why do that when you can find jobs online in your comfortable room while eating a nice slice of strawberry cake? I picked up the spoon from the plate without looking and put it in my mouth. What? There's no more cake left. Darn it.

Knock, knock.

"Come in!" I called to the person at the door.

The door knob jiggled but didn't open.

"It's locked!" a voice replied and it was Jellal.

Of course the door was locked. I wasn't stupid enough to leave it unlocked for strangers to come in. But I also wasn't getting up to unlock it. My chair was really comfortable and I wanted to stay on it until I needed to pee or if there was a fire in the room.

"Too bad. Wait until one of the other girls get home then," I yelled back.

"I brought strawberry cake," Jellal said.

Strawberry cake? That got my attention. No, he was probably lying.

"I know you think I'm lying but I'm not. You could probably smell it from in there," Jellal continued.

Damn, he knew me well – that was kind of romantic.

Hesitantly, I sniffed the air. Just like Jellal said, there was a faint whiff of strawberry cake wafting in from outside. Most people probably couldn't smell it but my nose loves strawberry cake.

"I already have one," I called back to Jellal, crossing my fingers he wouldn't be able to tell I was lying.

"That's not exactly true, is it? I'm guessing you had one but then you finished it a while ago."

I swore under my breath. How did he know me so well?

"I also brought a chocolate cake," Jellal added.

I spun around on my swivel chair slowly. I would face my desk and my computer, then the door, then my cake-less desk, then the door with cake behind it. That's it. It's decided: I'll open the door for Jellal. I stood up and marched to the door.

"Alright, I'm coming," I told Jellal.

Although he interrupted my job-searching time, I was very happy to see my fiancé. We still haven't got a day for that beach date but I'm sure we'll figure something out. There was only roughly two more weeks until the end of March, which meant two weeks to find a day where we're both available. That proved to be more difficult than it seems because I had lots of work and when I didn't, Jellal did.

I finally made it to the door but just as I reached for the door knob, it turned and the door swung open.

"What the hell?" I asked flabbergasted.

There was only Jellal standing there, none of my roommates, so how did he open the locked door?

"I picked the lock," Jellal confessed, holding up two small, metal pieces that have bent edges.

"What? Why didn't you just tell me instead of making me walk all the way here?" I asked, a tiny bit annoyed but more impressed.

Jellal shrugged. "It was more fun getting you to come. And... I have something for you."

He picked up a box from the ground and when I saw what was inside, I nearly screamed with joy. Unfortunately, it was not a puppy but it was almost as good as that. It was a mouth-watering strawberry cake and a delicious-looking chocolate cake.

"Alright, come in. But next time, I'm not opening the door for you... unless I feel like it," I said.

Jellal walked in and I locked the door after him. He made himself comfortable on my desk chair and started looking at my computer.

"You're looking for a job?" Jellal asked.

"Yep."

I brought Lucy's chair over to my desk and sat down on it. I transferred the strawberry cake onto my plate I used for my last cake and started eating the dessert. While I ate, I watched Jellal scroll through job offers.

"Have you found a job yet?" he questioned.

"No," I answered through a mouthful of cake.

"Do you know what type of job you want?"

I swallowed, hesitating in my reply. "Not exactly. I'm open to anything."

It was kind of nerve-wracking that Jellal, my fiancé, was very organised and knew what job he wanted to do, and how he wanted to live out his life. It made me feel less organised than I already was and it made me feel not content with myself.

"That's good. That means there are more job opportunities for you," Jellal said.

I nodded absentmindedly.

"How about this?" Jellal asked me.

I turned my attention to the screen where Jellal had clicked on a job advertisement for a waitress at Magnolia Café. It was a pretty good idea. In high school, I did work experience as a waitress in a small café and it was really fun. I was also pretty good at it.

"I think that's the perfect job," I said.

I applied for that job, sending in my resume and a cover letter. Once it was sent, I felt better about myself.

The very next day, I was on my laptop, doing homework, when I got an email. The title of the email was 'Job Application' and it was sent from Magnolia Café. Oh my god. This was it. I either got the job or I didn't but I really hoped I did.

I took a deep breath and clicked on the email. I skimmed through the words until I found what I was looking for.

"'You are successful in receiving the job'," I read out loud. "I got the job. I got the job!"

I jumped up and did a little happy dance. Then I stopped as I remembered something. Watching me from their tables, were all my roommates. Oops.

"Congratulations!" Lucy said first before the rest started congratulating me.

"Thank you," I replied earnestly.

It was my first shift at my new job and I was nervous, extremely nervous. I had the uniform on already and one of the employees was introducing me to everything. The café was almost packed, making my nerves skyrocket even more.

"So, you'll be waitressing in section 2," my co-worker explained after a big tutorial.

I nodded along, my fingers slightly shaking as they held a notepad and pencil. There weren't many waitresses in here; that's why they were desperately looking for more and hired me straight away without an interview.

"You can start by taking the people who just came in to a table. And remember everything that I told you. I'll be around if you need me or you can ask another worker," the other employee said before walking off.

Great. Time to start work. I really hope I don't stuff up.

I put a big smile on my face and walked up to the people who just entered, which was a nice-looking couple that were roughly in their 30s.

"Hi. Welcome to Magnolia Café. Please follow me and I'll show you to your table," I said.

I led them to a table for two by the window and then placed two menus in front of them. I awkwardly walked away after, just aimlessly walking around the café, making sure everyone was happy with their meal but hoping no one puts their hand up for a waitress. Not long after, the man from the couple put up his hand and I headed over.

"Hi. What would you like today?" I asked, getting ready to write the orders down on my notepad.

They ordered a small amount of food and I got it all down with no complications. I took their menus away and then went to the kitchen to give the chefs the order. While waiting for their food, I took another table's order and led new people to a table. Then the couple's food was ready. Carrying food was always one of my worries, but since there wasn't a lot of food, it shouldn't be a problem.

I held the dishes carefully and walked to the table, all the while chanting in my head 'Please don't drop it, please don't drop it' over and over again. Luckily, I made it to the table without any mistakes. I gave the food to my customers and went off to do other duties. Whew. So far, so good –everything was going smoothly.

The bell chimed to signal that someone entered and I turned to the door, putting on my 'welcome' smile and getting ready to greet them. I was shocked to see that it was actually my group of friends who arrived. Yep, it was Jellal, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel and Levy; all of them. Oh no, I was going to be so embarrassed – in fact, I was already getting embarrassed.

"Erza? Could you please get those new people?" another worker asked me.

"Sure," I replied with fake enthusiasm.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Come on, Erza, let's do this.

I walked over to them with a huge smile. "Hi. Welcome to Magnolia Café. If you'll just follow me, I'll show you to your seats."

"Erza? What? You work here?" Natsu asked confused.

"Yes. Remember, Natsu? We came here to surprise Erza since it was her first day here," Lucy told her boyfriend.

"Oh, yeah. Surprise," Gajeel said with a yawn.

"Thanks," I drawled.

I walked to an empty table and gestured for them to sit, which they all did. Before Jellal sat down, he gave me a hug.

"I know you don't seem happy to see us here but we really wanted to congratulate you and celebrate your first day of work. We're all really proud of you, even though some of us might not seem like it," my fiancé said.

"Thank you. I do appreciate it," I said sincerely.

It was embarrassing having people I know at work on my first day but I get where they were coming from – they were happy for me and wanted to show it by coming here. It was a really sweet and kind gesture. I just prayed that Natsu wasn't going to make me stuff up on my first day, which was something he would probably do.

I came to get their order a minute later. My friends ordered average sized proportions but Natsu ordered a whole truckload of food.

"Natsu... maybe you shouldn't order that much," Lucy said, understanding what I was thinking.

"No, it's fine," I said, prepared to prove to everyone how professional and hardworking I could be.

I then left their table and went into the kitchen to give the order. My smile dropped and I closed my eyes as I leaned on a bench for a few seconds rest. It wasn't even my break yet but I was already stressed and tired. Hopefully a few seconds rest would be alright.

"I'm sorry I'm late!"

I spun around to the owner of the familiar voice and am shocked to see Mest standing there in the Magnolia Café uniform. Our eyes met and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Erza?"

"Mest?"

Mest and I were now good friends. True to my word from our first meeting, I showed him to class and we walked to class together and sat next to each other from then on since we had the same classes. I never told my friends about him; I guess it just never came up in conversation.

"What are you doing here?" Mest asked.

"I work here – well, it's my first day. What are you doing here?" I turned the same question back on him.

"I work here too, for about a year now. So, how's your first day?"

"It's pretty good so far," I replied with a shrug. "How are you?"

He talked about his day while gathering a notepad and a pencil. Meanwhile, the chefs and other people in the kitchen looked at us weirdly, probably wondering how we knew each other. Then the manager came in and when she saw Mest, she didn't look so happy.

"Mest, stop being so late. Hurry up and get waitressing," the manager scowled before turning to me. "You, newbie, your food's ready."

The boss left the kitchen and Mest let out a sigh of relief.

"I only came in late twice but ever since then, she has been up my ass about tardiness," Mest explained.

I chuckled.

"Let's go out and waiter. I know you probably got it down pat, but if you need anything, I'll be there with you," Mest winked at me before heading out to the customers.

Right, back to work... and my friends. damn, I forgot that they were out there. I go to the prepared food that I'm meant to take out and my eyes widened. There was so many huge plates full of food. Of course, it was because of all the food Natsu ordered. But how am I supposed to carry all of it? This was only my first day; they can't seriously expect me to carry all of them – they haven't even taught me how.

"Hurry up, newbie. Take all those plates out to table 7 now. We don't got all day," one of the chef's yelled at me.

My palms started sweating as I started getting nervous. Come on, I can do this. I place a plate on my forearm like I saw other people do, I put another on my other forearm, I put one on my head, and then I somehow manage to hold the other three. It was difficult and I struggled keeping everything balanced but I had to do it.

Taking a deep breath, I started walking to the table area. It was going good so far. One foot in front of the other, slow and steady. Unfortunately, their table was kind of far from the kitchen and I had to walk between so many tables. I was getting closer, about a few metres away. My eyes connected with Jellal's.

Suddenly, my foot got caught on something on the floor. I couldn't see it since my plates were piled high with food. The next thing I know, I'm flying forward and all the dishes I was carrying flew forward with me. I prayed that they wouldn't land on anyone but the world seemed to be working against me as all the food was set on a path towards people. My eyes scrunched close as I approached the floor and I put my arms out to brace myself.

Instead on meeting the hard, wood floor, I found myself in what felt like a soft embrace. I open my eyes to see a pair of arms holding me a few feet off the ground. The arms pulled me to a standing position and wrapped around me securely. I looked up to see the owner of the arms, Mest, who was looking at me with concern. I don't know how he caught me so fast; I didn't even see him near me – it was like he teleported.

"Are you alright?" Mest breathed out.

I nodded, worried I would burst into tears if I opened my mouth to say something. I was so embarrassed; this was the worst thing that could happen on the first day of work. No doubt the manager was going to fire me after this.

Glancing around the room, I turned red from all the eyes staring at me. The food I was carrying had fallen onto the floor, the tables, strangers, and my friends – not that Natsu minded eating a chicken drumstick off Lucy's head. I felt so guilty about the food on the other customers and I hoped they wouldn't sue this place or anything. I couldn't bear to look my friends in the eye as I would probably be met with unwanted pity.

"What the devil is going on here?" the manager shouted as she stormed into the premises.

Oh no.

"This lady fell and the food went everywhere!" a lady with spaghetti covering her face exclaimed as she pointed at me.

Yep, I was definitely going to be fired, and it was only my first day.

"I'm very sorry about that. Erza will be fired immediately," the manager said.

"Wait," Mest spoke up. "Don't fire Erza. She is a good waitress and it's not her fault that this happened. You didn't teach her how to properly carry so many dishes at once and yet she was forced to do it on her first day without training. There was also a bag there in her way that she tripped over. The food was piled up too high so she couldn't see and that customer shouldn't have even put their bag in the walkway."

Everyone looked at him, contemplating his words. I crossed my fingers, hoping that would change the manager's mind.

"Fine," the boss huffed after a while. "She will not be fired. This will be her only warning but next time, she's gone for good."

Then she turned to the owner of the bag that was half in the walkway and said, "You, make sure your bag in completely out of the way next time."

The customer nodded, looking embarrassed for being part of the cause of this whole mess.

"Now clean everything up!" the manager yelled before disappearing to the kitchen.

It was a long and tiring process as all the workers helped clean up the huge explosion of food. Even some kind customers decided to help out. Afterwards, most of the customers left and the workers went back to work in the kitchen and other places, leaving the café considerably quieter. Because of that, the boss let me and Mest off our shift early.

Now, I stood in front of my friends with Mest, all of them eying my friend and new co-worker as they ate their food that the chefs made again.

"Who's this?" Jellal finally asked.

"This is my friend Mest. He's in all my classes at uni and I didn't know he was working here until today," I said. What a coincidence that Mest was working here too.

"It's nice to finally meet you. Erza's told me so much about you all," Mest put his hand out for Jellal to shake.

There was a pause before Jellal shook his hand with subtle dislike in his eyes. "Erza hasn't mentioned you at all," Jellal said. I could always tell what he was feeling and I knew he wasn't fond of Mest.

"Anyway, that's my fiancé, Jellal, and there's Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel and Levy. Everyone, meet Mest," I interrupted the boys' staring competition and all my friends exchanged polite greetings with Mest.

"I think we should go now, Erza," Jellal said firmly. "I was meant to take you out... for dinner, remember?"

"But you guys like just had lunch," I replied.

"Erza," he hissed. "Let's go. I'd like to celebrate your first day at work."

"Fine."

I didn't like this at all. Jellal seemed annoyed... or was he jealous? I didn't know why he didn't seem to like Mest's presence but I was going to ask him soon.

Before leaving, I gave Mest a hug. "I'll see you in class, Mest."

"Yep. See you in class," Mest saluted me as I walked out with Jellal and my friends.

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I'm officially starting Year 12 this Friday and it is scary as hell! I still have so much holiday homework so I'm sorry if the next update comes late! I'll try to update around every weekend but I don't know if I can. I hope everyone is having a great day! Please VOTE and COMMENT if you want! Thank you!