Bleeding Hearts

ten

The mother begins to take her kids over to the waiting area as the father glances uneasily at me. "We can wait if you'd like." He tells me.

"No, no." I quickly deny, crouching down and gathering the menus in my hands before shoving them sloppily into the stand. "Just one—"

"I can take you guys to your table." A familiar voice politely says to the group of four.

I jump up from the ground, prepared to pounce on whoever's speaking before seeing a smiling Ford lead the family away from me and somewhere deeper into the restaurant. When he returns he holds a teasing grin on his face before leaning on the maître d stand and wiggling his eyebrows. "Hey." He says to me.

"Why am I not surprised?" I sigh, pulling down my Oberlin's Finest white polo.

"I don't know, why aren't you?"

I glance up at Ford with annoyance. If only he didn't look so good in his uniform—the white polo fits his lean body perfectly, emphasizing his lean biceps and the black slacks he has on gives him a touch of sophistication. His sandy brown hair is neat yet sloppy, typical Ford, and his eyes look alive at such an early hour. All in all Ford looks undeniably handsome.

"Because you just seem to pop up everywhere, Ford." I tell him. "I literally just saw you yesterday."

"That's because I needed you yesterday." He reminds me, glancing at me with a bit of seriousness before returning to his naturally carefree state. "But everything's good now, and the twins really miss you."

I snort, "I highly doubt that Sam misses me. Maybe Macy, but definitely not Sam."

Ford opens his mouth to respond, but is beaten by a red headed girl carrying two trays of food. "I could use some help, Ford." She sighs dramatically, rapidly blinking her fake-eyelash-coated eyes. The girl then looks at me, "And I'm sure there's something you could be doing."

"Sure thing, Haven." Ford easily takes both trays from her hands and lefts them up, flexing his arms in the process. "I'll take these." He tells her, and Haven giggles before dashing to the counter to grab more trays. Ford then turns to me with a warm smile on his handsome face, "How about after your shift we go and get something to eat?"

I roll my eyes. Does he really think that I'm that easy? Maybe Haven would stand for something like that but I sure won't, not after everything that I've been through and all that I'm attempting to stand for. "How about no." I reply curtly, flicking my thin ponytail over my shoulder. "I'm sure Haven would love to go."

Ford begins to speak but Haven soon joins his side and they're off to whatever table ordered two trays of food. Once again I'm proud of myself for being so blunt to Ford, but then again another part of me feels the tiniest bit guilty. What if he was just trying to be polite? Maybe go out as friends, and I blew it. But I can't always be that girl that hangs onto every word he says—somehow I have to let him know that, and if being blunt and saying no every once in a while is the way to go than so be it.

As the day goes by, my job becomes a lot easier than expected. All I really do is ask if a tables ready and then lead a family there. It isn't time consuming, I play on my phone between people, and it uses a lot less energy than a job as a waitress. I become so good at it that during my waiting minutes I start bussing tables just for the heck of it, without my father's permission. I don't want the employees to think I'm too good for an actual job but I don't want my father to get worried about me, so I don't tell him. I do get on good terms with the employees though, even making friends with a few, which makes the day even better.