Welcome To Chester's

Our place was starting to look like an emergency shelter. There were sleeping bags, cases of bottled water, bulk food items, blankets, and so much else. We had decided to start gathering everything we needed for the camping trip ahead of time. I was beginning to think we were going for a month, not just a weekend. 

All three of us had the day off, so we decided to organize what we had and figure out what else we still needed. By the time we were done the house looked just as bad, if not worse, with piles of stuff all over the place.

We agreed we deserved a treat for working so hard and decided to go out for dinner and drinks. After we got dressed up and did our hair and makeup we headed to one of our favourite restaurants and snagged a table on the patio.

We began teasing Tara about her texting relationship with Anthony. They hadn’t met up since the night they met, still only talking via phone and text.

“I think I’m done.” Tara sighed. “I’ve tried to make plans to hang out but nothing ever comes from it. I think it’s time to move on.”

“Well at least you know he’s not just using you for sex!” Chelsea chimed in.

I wasn’t sure if that was a dig at me or not but I didn’t feel like arguing so I let it go. I hadn’t heard from Brandon again since I ignored his text last night as I wasn’t sure where we stood anyways.

Trying to change the subject I asked the girls if they had come up with any good dares yet for the truth or dare game.

“I’ve been hearing Stephen, Gary and Liam talking about dares at work. I’m praying I don’t choose one of theirs!” I said. “Gary told me his was to smell the feet of everyone in the room and rank them from best to worst.”

“EWWWWWWWWWW,” shrieked Tara. “I’m so not doing that!! Can you just imagine how nasty that will be especially after being outside all day and no shower?”

“You will have to if you are on my team!” I declared. We had decided we were going to split into three teams, and you got a point for every truth or dare you completed. The losing team would we dressed and posed by the winning group, with the pictures being posted to facebook.

“Maybe I can sneak in a few kissing dares!” Tara winked. “Now that I have given up on Anthony, I need someone new to play with. Alya, didn’t you say Liam is coming?”

I glared at her, but really what could I say? He asked me out and I turned him down. I am still hoping things with Brandon are ok so I had no reason why Tara couldn’t hook up with Liam. I sure didn’t like the idea though.

We finished up the last of our food and drinks and headed home after a quick toast by Chelsea. “Here’s to good drinks and great weather. Hopefully there is lots of both next weekend!”

…………………………………………

Saturday I took a little extra time getting ready for work. Even though being behind the bar was hard work, I liked to dress a little sexier. Sometimes the customers can be pigs but I felt safe from their drunken gropes when I was in my own little blocked off area. I did my hair and added a little extra volume, and did my best attempt at a smoky eye. I still needed practice but I was getting better.

I checked my phone again when I was done. Checking my phone was beginning to become my obsession. I hadn’t heard from Brandon so I had sent him a few flirty texts. I didn’t even mention his text about coming over. Sadly there was no reply. I figured I would just go over to his house on Sunday when I was next off.

When I walked into work, it was in utter chaos. The place was packed and everyone seemed to be rushing around. I threw my stuff into a locker and clocked in quickly. Making my way to the bar, I saw my manager Grant and asked what was going on. Apparently, a few people called in sick, plus there was a huge game on and no one scheduled extra staff. It didn’t help that the group who closed last night didn’t restock anything.

I spent the first hour just trying to refill everything and do as much prep work as possible. I hate even others slack on their shift and it screws everyone else up. I always make sure I leave the bar ready to go for the next person. Once everything was looking better and replenished I jumped in to start making orders. It seemed like there was a list a mile long, of drinks needing to be mixed. Nights like this are horrible. Sure they seem to go fast but you spend the whole night trying to play catch up.

Suddenly there was a huge crash and a scream.  I looked over to see what had happened but there was a crowd forming and I saw other co-workers make their way over so I went back to work. I continued to try and catch us up, making drinks as fast as I could.  Stacy came over to drop off another order and told me what happened.

“Apparently some chick spilled her fries all over the floor and didn’t bother to tell anyone or clean it up. Cassandra was making her way past the table with that massive group drink order you just  finished and she slipped on the food and fell on the floor!”

“Oh no!” I cried. “Is she ok?”

“I’m not sure. They carried her into the kitchen so I haven’t had a chance to check.”

Sadly, I admit that even though I hoped Cassandra was ok, I was concentrating more on how that huge order was going to need to be re-made. I sighed and started pulling out some glasses.

Moments later Grant rushed up to me. “I’m sorry Alya, but I am going to need you on the floor. We are sending Cassandra to the hospital for x-rays so we are down another server. Things are quickly getting out of hand. We are calling all staff to see if anyone else can come in but for the moment, I’m going to cover Liam at the door, he will move to the bar and I need you to start getting food to tables.”

Moaning to myself, I changed places with Liam and headed towards the kitchen. It’s not that I hated helping out when needed but now I much preferred the bar.  I remembered the hair I had spent so much time on, and sighed as I pulled it into a quick ponytail. I grabbed a tray, got a rundown of what food needed to go to each table and headed out. Racing as fast as I could, I tried to get the orders out as quickly as possible. It was really hard to do when I wasn’t the one who took the order and had to slow down to figure out who got what. It didn’t help that most tables still didn’t have drinks or condiments. 

I felt like I was in quick sand. The more orders I brought out the more there was. I felt like I was finally getting into a groove when I was able to put in my own orders, but then another huge crowd of people arrived. I wanted to go lie down and have a nap. I was covered in drops of food that fell as I was rushing around. I was sweaty and quite sure my smoky eye was now melting down my face. 

“Alya, I just sat two more tables in your section. I’m sorry kid, just do the best you can,” Grant apologised as he raced by me.

I grabbed some glasses of water from the bar and headed over greet my table and make sure they already had menus. As I walked over I took a sweeping glance of the table which looked to be two couples. 

“Hi! Welcome to Ches…” my voice stopped, caught in my throat as the person I was closest to, turned and looked up at me. My mouth hung open in shock and I just stared. It was Brandon. 

I felt the heat rush to my face as I tried to understand what was going on. I told myself not to panic. Maybe this was family or old friends. I mean, I hung out with lots of guys, right? Perhaps they were clients?  As I quickly looked at the girls though, I could tell by the way they were dressed that this wasn’t some casual gathering. They were a bit older than me and dressed to impress, not a wrinkle in the clothes or a hair out of place.

Struggling to say something,two thoughts raced through my head. One – why would he take someone else to the bar I worked at? Conversations raced through my mind as I tried to recall if I had told him where I worked. Now I wasn’t sure I had.

The second thought that I had was that I knew the other male that made up this foursome. It was Clarke – Brandon’s friend who I meet at the pizza place.

Before anyone could say anything, the girl sitting beside Brandon snapped her fingers at me. “Excuse me…this table is filthy! Get it cleaned right away. And take that water away – I want a bottle of champagne asap.”

I looked up at her. Did she really just snap her fingers at me? As I went to reply she cackled. “What’s the matter princess? Haven’t you ever seen a guy this hot? Well he’s mine, go pounce on someone else.” 

She slid even closer to Brandon, placing her hand possessively on his thigh. Her friend smirked at me, clearly enjoying my awkwardness.

“Hey I remember you!” Clarke blurted as he squinted his eyes at me, trying to place me. Suddenly his eyes lit up “Alicia! No, Alyssa..no…”

“Actually it’s Alya,” I said through clenched teeth. I felt like I was in a dream. This whole time Brandon just sat there, not saying anything or even acknowledging me in any way.

Now it was the bitch beside Brandon saying my name, trying to recall something. As the recognition happened her lips twisted into an evil sneer as if she stepped in shit.

“Ahhh Alya! The baker of the cookies. How pathetic. I saw your little offering to Brandon and the note telling him you were thinking of him. Sorry hun...that may work on high school or blue collar boys but Brandon here is a man. I think what I can offer him, is a little bit more to his standard.” She posed and looked at me with a cockiness that I wanted to slap off her over made up face.

I so badly wanted to punch her but instead directed my attention to the man sat before me. “Brandon?” I called his name, forcing him to look up at me. I expected him to be embarrassed or least slightly worried that he had been caught. Instead he looked at me like I was a piece of trash or someone he didn’t want to be associated with.

“You heard the lady,” he stressed the word lady, pausing to look at me, and then continued. “A bottle of champagne, and clean this table, it’s a disgrace.”

“Excuse me?” I challenged him. I was absolutely livid, maybe perhaps mostly at myself for not listening to Chelsea. However at the moment Brandon was going to be the focus of my anger.  

“Listen little girl,” the bitch started. “You heard him. Bring us back something to drink. While I get this is just a shithole sports bar, find us something expensive.  Not that you would know anything about taste…”

I swear I saw red. “Well Brandon certainly doesn’t seem to have a problem about my “taste”, especially as earlier this week  I was laying spread eagle on his dining room table, with his tongue buried between my legs.”

Clarke spit out the water he had just taken a drink of and I swear both girls looked like they were having strokes. Brandon finally showed some emotion and hissed “Shut up!!” at me.

It was too late for that. “What’s the matter, Brandon?” I taunted. “You never asked me to shut up when you had me screaming your name. In fact, you told me you liked it.” I knew at this point I was probably just making myself look worse but I didn’t care. 

Brandon stood up and grabbed me by the arm. “We need to talk! Outside. Now!” 

I glared back at him, not moving. He may be used to having control and being able to boss people around but not this time. However, I suddenly became aware that we were starting to attract attention. I sure as hell didn’t want to talk to Brandon, but this was my work place and I didn’t need to cause an even bigger scene. Against my better judgement I followed him as he stalked out the door.