Ain't Nothing To It, Real One Aint Nothing To It, Boss

Trish

"Excuse me, we need a few bottles of Patrón and some of those buffalo chicken wings. Mmkay?" she said with a little more stank than necessary. I started off to put in their order when she called me back. "That's a really nice necklace that you have on. Where'd you get it from?"

"Stefania," Ángel's wife hissed, giving her friend a warning look.

Stefania shrugged back in response. "What, Camila? I was just asking a question."

I glanced down at the necklace, which was a gift from Ángel for my birthday. "A friend of mine gave it to me for my birthday. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"That'll be all," Camila said kindly.

There she was with that nice attitude of hers, making me feel worse than I already did. Why would Ángel cheat on her? She was beautiful—with high cheekbones, blue-green eyes, porcelain skin, and a head full of natural blonde hair that would never need to be hidden underneath a wig—and no matter how I hashed it, us being together would always remain a mystery. I stole peeks in their direction as I made my rounds, each one doing more damage to my self-esteem than the last.

"Trish, your food for section three is up," Sarah, one of the waitresses, announced to me as I was grabbing drinks for another table.

"Can you take over section three for me please? I wouldn't ask you if I didn't need it."

Sarah lit up at the idea of taking over a money table. "Trish, you're giving up a lot of money..."

"Money isn't worth your sanity," I replied with a sigh. "I'll be sure to do the transfer in the system as soon as I'm done serving this table. You mind if I take one of your regular tables?"

"Take whichever one you want. You know what? I have a table that might bring you in some decent cash. You see the one with those women over there? They've been buying drinks at a steady pace. I wish they would've accepted a few drinks men have offered to buy them."

On the opposite side of the club was a group of four women having a good time with each other. They resembled supermodels and men visited their tables every now and again. Each time they turned the men down and went back to partying with each other. I knew exactly how to play this table to get the best tip. After finishing my rotation, I headed over to the ladies' table and introduced myself with a sultry smile.

"Good evening, my name is Trish. I switched tables with Sarah to offer you a more personalized service," I replied, being sure to make eye contact with each of them. "How about I start with you with a round of drinks on me?"

The women smiled at each other and then at me. "We'd like that," they chimed and went back to dancing.

A mischievous smile spread across my face on my walk to the bar. The reason why they had turned down drinks from men was because they were out on a double date with each other. Some might believe the solution to the problem was telling their admirers they were lesbians, but that would take the attention placed on them to a whole new level. Each time a man asked me to take a drink to them, I mentioned that they were with the Mackenzie family. Word traveled around, and they were left alone for the rest of their stay.

"Thank you for making this such an amazing night, Trish," Mona, the leader of the pack, said, kissing me on the cheek on their way out. She held out a card to me along with a black envelope. "If you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. We'll see you around."

I squeezed the envelope tight. There had to be a decent chunk of change inside. Not wanting to risk losing my blessing in disguise, I went upstairs to the locker room to place the envelope inside of my locker. While I was alone, I pulled my cell phone from my bra to see if I had any messages. My entire screen was filled with messages from Ángel using someone else's phone. He started off begging me to meet him in the bathroom, but around the time I changed tables, the messages became downright nasty. I jumped when the phone started ringing.