The Alpha Twins and their Runaway Witch

15

Ariel as Jenny tried to find a way to express her absolute gratitude. Only managing to get a whispered thank you out past her lips. Beth-Ann smiled broadly. "Go on, have a look in the mirror, I'll check on the table." Beth-Ann said, walking away and giving Ariel a moment to herself. She went to the small washroom for the dinner, and was almost shocked when she looked at her reflection.

The dark bags under the eyes had been hidden, blush, and highlighter had made her skin come alive. The winged cat-eye made her blue eyes look larger and she had never seen herself with mascara done so perfectly. The light berry colour on her lips was the perfect shade of pink for her skin. Beth-Ann had tamed her hair, and the scarf being used to hide the gauze and her torn ear was more style than she had enjoyed in years. Jenny, left the bathroom with a real smile, not a fake one.

Jenny found that she liked being a waitress, the dinner was busy today without ever being overwhelmed with tables. Her coworkers one and all were kind to her. Seemed like good, decent people. She had been working for a few hours when Tyrone called her into the back, putting a club sandwich and plate of fries in front of her. "Eat." He said, turning back to his grill. Ariel tried to pretend that she wasn't hungry again already after her large breakfast. However, once she started eating, she couldn't stop herself from devouring every single bite on her plate.

She drank water from a plastic cup and when she was done, and moving her plate to the dish pit so Ripley the dishwasher-Bus boy and kitchen helper when needed; Tyrone put up another plate of food and called Beth-Anne back for her turn to eat. Leaving Jenny the first day waitress on her own to mind the dinner floor.

It had been going well, but as she was moving to take table thirty-two their orders, someone had come through at a near run. She stopped short to avoid a collision, but dropped one of the plates. She had looked at the mess with absolute horror. Wasted food. Broken dishes. A mess on the floor.

She didn't even have a chance for her panic to fully bloom when Ripley appeared beside her with a broom and dustpan on a long handle, sweeping the broken plate up with a smile, "Telling her not to worry about it." Hearing as Tyrone called a refire on table thirty two. Three minutes later, the new plate was safely delivered to the patron by Beth-Ann. The floor was clean, and no one was mad at her. There had been no punishment. No loud voices. No pain or threats for later.

It had near left her dazed. She was left troubled as she realized how deeply her recent past had conditioned her to be a scared, submissive person she didn't recognize as herself. She had grown up alone in cities, she had been good at living on her own, taking care of herself. Being small and unnoticeable to avoid trouble, but always standing up for herself when it was needed.

She had no idea who she was. Jenny the waitress seemed as good a place to start as anywhere else. Better really than any option she had imagined. She had gathered a few small tips in cash today. At four thirty in the afternoon two new waitresses appeared for the evening shift at the dinner. Monique and Kit could not be any more different from each other. Monique was dressed like a goth dream and Kit was in all pastel shades of pinks and purples and cream layered together.

Binh appeared from his back office, welcoming the afternoon team, handing Beth-Ann and 'Jenny' their daily wages. Jenny had a look, then looked again, there was over a hundred dollars in the envelope. "This is too much?" She tried to do quick math in her head as she counted the one hundred and fifty six dollars she had been handed to guess how much per hour she had made, but math had never been one of her strong subjects. This was too much money for hourly wages, even if all the tables had tipped generously it was still too much money.

The other serves all laughed. Not in a mean way or at her expense. "Binh is a great boss right?" Monique chirped, as Beth-Ann and Kit all laughed along and Binh looked as awkward as Ariel felt to be the centre of attention.

Binh flipped his braid back over his shoulder, "I pay what I consider to be fair wages for fair work." Ariel felt like there was a hidden meaning in his words. She got distracted from that thought as Beth-Ann skipped out the door with a smile on her face. Leaving Ariel alone with Binh as Monique and Kit went to the back to drop their things, returning quickly and running through the expo station to see what needed doing. Everyone was rehearsed, knew what they were doing and where they were supposed to be.

Binh looked at Ariel, like he could see through all her lies with his haunting pale gray eyes."Do you have classes I need to schedule around?" He asked her. Like he knew she was unattached and floating free with nothing to hold on to.

She shook her head, "I'm more aspiring to maybe attend school right now." Lying and not lying at the same time.

He nodded, like he already knew that she wasn't really a student and had hired her in spite of the lie. "Same shift tomorrow then? Beth-Ann will be on again." Ariel as Jenny nodded. "I will see you tomorrow," A pause, "Jenny." Ariel nodded again. Awkwardly. Heading to the back to grab her bag. She picked up the heavy canvas bag, turning as Tyrone passed by on his way out for a smoke break now that the evening cook had arrived to help during the busy supper rush and would watch the grill late into the night. Be safe, Tyrone had called out to her as she made her way back out into the world.