Waiting on the Bad Boy

01

Addie's POV

I tapped my foot nervously on the concrete floor of the subway stop. It was late, and I'd be late too if it didn't get here in the next minute. My schedule was perfectly planned; I'd gotten up at 6:30 and showered, and then I had breakfast at 7. I got dressed at 7:10 and had my hair somewhat nice looking by 7:25. With five minutes of extra time, I changed my shoes and left for the subway.

And now my schedule would be royally messed up and pointless if this subway didn't get h-

Finally.

The subway cars pulled up to the stop and the double doors slid open, revealing a poorly lit and near empty car. I walked briskly towards an empty seat straight ahead. In the three weeks that I'd lived in New York City and taken the subway, I realized that I had to move fast to get a seat. These cars didn't stop nicely. They jerked forward and threw you into strangers with fancy leather brief cases and perfectly pressed coats that smelled like cigarettes.

I sat down and held my bag on my lap, twisting the cloth strap into a tight coil. It stopped twice more and let on other strangers, some who gave me glares and waddled to the back. I gave up my seat for an elderly woman who got on at the stop before mine, and then I got off.

I followed the directions I'd neatly scrawled onto a sheet of hotel paper, taking a right around the corner and seeing the lineup of restaurants. The one I was about to start working for was the first on the right.

I pushed open the door and a spritely blonde jumped up from behind the counter. "Hi! You must be Addie." she smiled at me and leaned into the door that seperated the kitchen from the seating area. "I'm Stephanie, but you can call me Steph." she said. She was drying her hands off on a worn dish towel, which she then proceeded to use to dry the tables. "Hi." I said quietly, unsure of what to do.

"Did you get your uniform already?" she asked as she stretched over a booth table. "Uh, yeah, I packed it in my bag." I told her, holding it up. "OK, you can change in the back. Just be careful, I'm not sure if Mr. Price is here yet." she warned, giving me a devilish smile. "Thanks." I said, and I felt myself relax. One new friend on the first day couldn't be that bad of a start.

I followed Steph's directions to the back room where there was a bathroom and a table with some chairs. I went into the bathroom and began to change into my plain green dress with it's clean cut white color. Then I tied the white apron around my waist, slipped on my grey Toms, and left the back room, just in time to walk into a tall guy with a seriously tough stomach.

"I am so sorry." I said, my face turning crimson. "No problem." he said deeply, and I looked up. His eyes were dark, the same color as chocolate, and his chin had a fresh layer of stubble on it. He smelled intoxicating and my face flushed deeper as my eyes met his. "Sorry." I mumbled again, too speechless by this stranger's beauty to say something intelligent.

"You said that already." he laughed and walked past me into the back room. I shuffled forward into the kitchen where Steph was refilling ketchup bottles with a petite brunette. They were having a conversation about something, but their voices were hushed and I took that as my clue to stay away. Suddenly the girl with the brown hair stormed off, tears in her eyes, and Steph just looked sorry.

"Is she OK?" I asked. "She'll be fine. It's just Ryder." she told me. "Ryder?" I raised an eyebrow and grabbed an empty yellow bottle. "Tall, dark hair, nice eyes, smells godly...He's the son of the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Price." she explained.

"I think I just had an extremely awkward run in with him a few minutes ago." 

"Just be careful around him, he's been known to, uh...sleep around." she said. "Oh," I said quietly.

We finished filling up the bottles and set two on each table. Other staff filed in, and I watched them walk through the door one by one, realizing most of the staff was girls. And each one of them sharply avoided eye contact with Ryder.

Yikes.

________

Ryder doesn't talk to me again until lunch. I don't look at him, hoping that maybe I can avoid another encouter with him. And after watching that brunette run away in tears and hearing what Steph had to say about him, I didn't want to talk to him. I wasn't too interested in getting involved with someone like that. Not that he'd want to get involved with me anyway.

As I tied my apron around the hook that was labeled with my name, I turned around into Ryder's stomach for the second time that day. "Hey again." he smirked at me and I swallowed. "Hi. Sorry about earlier, I really didn't mean to walk into you." I apologized again even though I kind of wanted to stop talking to him. "No problem. What's your name?" he asked.

"Addie."

"Nice to meet you Addie. I'm Ryder." he said and held out his hand awkwardly. I didn't want to touch it. "I know." I said quietly. I looked up at him and his eyes caught me off guard. They were warmer than before, lighter even. He smiled at me and I smiled a small smile back, even though I didn't want to. I needed to step away now.

"Can I have lunch with you?" he asked outright, and my smile disappeared. "I'm actually having lunch with Steph. I'll see you later." I said quickly and dodged out of his way, my sandwich in hand. Steph was sitting at the table with the brunette, whose name I learned was Christie. She didn't look like she'd been crying anymore, which I took as a good sign.

I didn't want to make her upset anymore, but I wanted to know what he'd done to her to make her so sad. "I saw you talking with Ryder." Christie mumbled into her salad. "Oh, yeah. He came up behind me when I was getting my lunch."

"Don't talk to him." she said, looking up at me. "He's an ass. You look like a nice person, but he isn't." she told me. I nodded my head and ate my lunch in silence. One and a half friends on the first day didn't seem so bad. I just hoped that Christie didn't stay upset for too long. And I also hoped that Ryder wouldn't talk to me anymore.

The more I heard about him the more unattractive he became.