Bleeding Hearts

ten

to RM, because his comments and messages light up my life 100% ❤️

TEN:
Settle Down by No Doubt

"Hey dad." I greet with a warm smile as I walk into Oberlin's Finest for my very first day of work.

Dad's walking out of the kitchen through its double doors as I enter and beams when he sees me, wrapping me in his arms and kissing me on my head. "Hi sweetie." He chirps. "Glad you've finally decided to work here."

"Well no one else would hire me because of my last job so," I shrug. "You were all I had left."

"It warms my heart to be your last choice." Dad chuckles.

It's true, no one else was willing to hire me when I told them all about how I missed an entire month of work because my boyfriend broke up with me, so I took my fathers offer to work at the restaurant. He's been offering since forever actually but I thought that it'd be awkward being the owners daughter and I didn't want the employees to have any animosity towards me for it. But now that I need him I'm thankful that the offer still stands.

Dad leads me behind the maître d stand and plants me there, shooing off a confused young boy. "You can just work this for now, honey." He tells me, handing me a walkie-talkie and a large stack of menus. "When you need a table, just buzz this and one of the busboys will tell you if ones available. Now, you memorized the restaurant layout, right?"

"Yep." I nod, recalling the few hours it took for me to memorize the entire landscape of the restaurant. "I know this place like the back of my hand."

"That's what I like to hear." He rubs my hair lovingly, messing up the neat ponytail that took way too long to perfect. "Now, if you need any help, I've assigned an employee to you and he should be here any minute now. I'll be in the kitchen, obviously, so just holler if you need me."

"Okay dad." I chuckle, stepping up onto the stand and shoving the menus in the slot beneath it. "You have fun, now."

"Same to you." Dad beams, giving me a quick thumbs up before dashing back through the large restaurant and towards the back.

Taking a deep breath, I take a glance around the restaurant for a moment just to get my bearings straight. Behind me is a wall with a long slot for dishes that waitress and waiters alike are dashing back and forth from. From there they take the plates into the huge dining area that has about 100 tables that can seat 2-10 people, depending on the party. There's a large chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling that lights up the entire place perfectly, and along with that are the gleaming windows giving way to the sun's natural rays. People are eating and chatting happily, most likely enjoying my father's amazing menu. It's great to see so many people enjoying something that's so near and dear to his heart.

"Ma'am?"

Jumping out of my day dream, I look forward and see that there's a family of four waiting to be seated. "Hi." I greet them with a smile. "Table for four?"

"Yes." The mother replies.

"Okay, uh, one sec." I duck under the stand and reach for a few menus, but end up knocking the entire group of them off of the stand and onto the floor. "Shit." I mumble, quickly ducking up and smiling at the family. "Sorry, I'm new here."