riptides // h.s au

chapter one

Thursday, June 7th

"Welcome back everybody," Andrew says, smiling at us, "Hope everyone had a good year at college, or wherever the hell you were. Thank you all for coming back for the summer season. Luckily enough of you returned to the restaurant so there's no need to hire and train new wait staff."

"Oh, but Andrew," Trevor sighs, "how are we gonna continue the tradition of you making a new hire cry on the opening night if we don't have any new hires? I'm so disappointed." He jokingly groans while everyone else laughs.

"And this Trevor is why I put you in the kitchen, so you don't constantly bother me like this." He rebuttals, joking of course. Partially.

"I've missed our banter Andrew, truly. Also congratulations on your divorce. Even though we liked Beth, your new girlfriend is a smoke show." Trevor said, making all the guys whistle and holler. Andrews rubs his temples with his pointer fingers, trying to suppress his laughter. Beth was nice, but she was kind of crazy.

"Okay, okay that's enough. And she's not my girlfriend, Trevor, so we can take it down a notch." He stops rubbing his temples. "In all honesty this year will be our busiest yet. Our restaurant is no longer just a restaurant, The Banyan has become a travel destination on Martha's Vineyard, which is why I only hire the best. Well mostly," He gives Trevor a pointed look. "As you guys know we will probably have around 200-400 guests a night with our new expansion. And our staff is tight and limited but with what I am paying you guys, I don't believe it will be an issue." Andrew leaned against one of the perfectly laid out tables being careful not to accidentally hit any of the place settings. He clapped his hands, rubbing them together.

"Ladies and gents, now let the summer begin." He starts before interrupting, "Oh and I want to give congratulations to the following college seniors, as this will probably be their last "first day" here. So Tegan, Blake, Libby, Trevor, and Chess, congratulations on making it this far. And extra congrats to Chess for her sailing team winning the National Championship Regatta for Stanford!" All eyes turn to me as I slightly smile and mouth thanks as he starts clapping, which encourages everyone to follow.

"Okay, graduation is over. Get your asses to work, we have a lot of prep to do, kids."

-§-§-§-§-

"I really don't wanna wait that table." Tegan whines.

"Are you kidding me? Already complaining on our first night back?" I laugh.

"Exactly the problem! It's our first night here! We got to the Vineyard like 5 hours ago and then had to immediately come here! We couldn't even have a chill day at the beach before working! No, no, no, the ferry HAS to break down and we're five hours late. Just my luck, I come back to spend the summer with you and the guys and this is what I'm put through? Ridiculous." She sighs as she adjusts her collar on the black button-down we're required to wear.

"Well just think of all the money we'll make...so when we graduate this year we can go to Europe for the summer. We'll go to casinos in Monte Carlo, stare at paintings in the Louvre, meet a ton of hot men in Santorini, and get fucked up on Italian vineyards. Plus we need to make money to, you know, pay rent, buy food this year, stuff like that." She groans and rolls her eyes as I laugh before bringing various other drinks to one of the tables I was waiting on.

"Here you are," I say passing out the drinks, "Have you two decided on your dinner this evening?" I ask, grabbing a notepad and pen out of my apron.

"Yes, I want to know about your lobster bisque." An older woman drowned in cakey makeup and diamonds asks.

"Our lobster bisque is a smooth and seasoned soup-"

"I know what a lobster bisque is," The old lady interrupts, very rudely, might I add, "I want to know what is in it." She huffs as if that wasn't what I was just about to fucking explain. I begin to respond when I get interrupted again.