Family should've gotten along quite nicely when they meet again and hold their tongues for the bitter truths to keep them together like in Tyler Perry movies before they reveal family secrets once everything has fallen apart.
But we were not that family anyone can relate to.
Through the burning day and starry night, the three, Simone, André, and Jewelz argued to their beds that evening. Simone being the bratty one of the bunch, complained and whined about why she had to be here with us as Andre and Jewelz bumped heads a few times on who should be responsible for looking after the little ones.
"You know nothing about kids, they're not even yours!"
"Who said they were mine though? Who said?"
"You can't even calm down your own sister over here!"
Sneaking away from their sudden bickering and slick quarrels, I headed to another day of work at White Marbles and was prepared for the verbal scold attacks I was about to receive and slow shifts.
Coming back for a second day or another one to be a server at White Marbles was truly a blessing. I doubted many people actually received a call back to allow someone like me to continue working there after that incident I hate bringing up because it's embarrassing. I told Jewelz about it and she laughed.
Sighing at hopeless thoughts, the little bell ringer by the restaurant door tuned them out. Several adults that had an early dew morning job grouped in rectangular tables with crisp dull suits on and shiny dress shoes. Spoons and forks serenely clattered on the square porcelains with ornate meals and lips smacking the sweet taste off their fingers.
"Sup." Connie said tonelessly looking at me and flipped the money in between her fingers, counting the amount like last time.
"The boss said she'll talk to you later on, but who knows when that'll happen. She can't even remember her own anniversary or birthday."
Connie pushed herself off the counter and left me to my will once a customer came up to her.
I rubbed the back of my neck and got to work knowing the boss wanted to talk about the prank or joke from yesterday but honestly, I would like to move on and forget I ever happened. No need to beat around the bush about it.
I tied the strings from the little black apron around my waist twice and grabbed a dirty towel to wipe down the area where bits of crumbs and ripped napkins lie off the counter from earlier.
Orders went by rather quickly, not many customers coming in during the day which is how I liked it.
No impatient customers and snobby employees catching attitudes.
I thought the work shift was going to turn out decent until my eyes did a triple take at who entered the restaurant door.
Hey, It was the stupid idiot who was trying to be funny but really wasn't so I got mad at him guy.
He seemed pretty determined walking directly to the counter with purpose. My hands slowly stopped scrubbing the filth and watched as he glanced at his surroundings on his right side, his feet gliding across the floor, one step after the other. He slightly leaned forward and his arms lightly swung by his side to add to this intimidation.
The guy practically slid in the black stool across from me and rested his elbows on the table to hold up his posture.
My eyebrows tweaked up in a quick rose at his approach and I waited for that miracle to happen.
He was either contemplating whether or not to say anything or regretted sitting here in the first place.
"Look," he slowly accumulated, "You...um...seemed," he stretched, "pretty pissed that day."
My feet shifted my weight and I blinked my eyes one time. Then twice. And I couldn't help the annoyed smirk spreading on my face along with little snorts, "Okay?"
"It kind of sucks that it was your first day." He continued, "and I apologize for making you look stupid I guess."
My mind pondered over his words. English definitely wasn't his first language from his native tongue, as he slipped the vowels till they sounded flat and some accents hit sharply till the context in his sentences were broken. But his English was almost perfect, it could've fooled anyone.
Almost.
He frowned dispiritedly since I haven't said anything yet and tilted his head at an angle.
"I mean claps to you for working up that blunt apology speech and having the guts to say that. But it's not too believable, your friends could be anywhere at the moment recording this."
I glanced around the restaurant and called out, "Okay guys, it's a wrap. I get it, it was funny the first time, ha, where are the recorders? Cameras? You almost got me."
His frowned deepened some more into a cute pout. "I'm being serious." Before quickly adding, "They're not my friends."
"So why would you hang out with them then?"
Strange cute apology guy completely dodged my question and answered one of his own. "The little prank wasn't even meant for you, it was for the other waitress, Emman-uelle?. They just happened to get the wrong person. I was just doing the deed I knew nothing about until afterward."
The name sounded familiar and I snapped my fingers as the really nice African girl who was friendly popped in my head. I only spoke to her one time, when she had her regular shift and I was doing the training session.
"She is always a bitch to them when they come in and the guys just wanted to get back at her so I carelessly joined in."
I nodded understand the little information I was given. I guess there are two sides to people others don't know about? Not sure, but it was still stupid.
"Anyways," he leaned back as if a rush of relief surged off him, "What is your name?"
His eyes searched mine with an inch of curiosity and confusion and his eyes were the first thing that caught my attention.
Heterochromia.
His eyes were a blissful light green that illuminated like a streak of green on a watercolor painting. Too much water was just enough for a dark green color splashed with a rich subdued hue. Yellow, maybe brown, maybe it was gold partially covered the majority of the iris in one eye. I'm glad I remembered this from my notes and class because right now it was hard to focus on anything else.
His eyes looked at the name tag near my chest and I childishly covered it with my hand which tuned out to look like a boob grab.
"You don't need to know."
"Why not?"
"Because, I know your little mischievous plans. You're going to contact my manager, tell her how unprofessional my attitude is toward a customer - probably what you did yesterday - and she'll fire me." I pointed out.
"You're not going to get fired."
"You don't know that."
"I don't," he agreed, "Considering you did yell at a customer, hm, that has probably been the best idea so far."
I narrowed my eyes at him till they could slit throats at his remark and a small smug radiated on his features.
"You're lucky I don't have any customers to serve right now."
"You're lucky you have someone to accompany you."
His comment cut dry through the desert quickly, the whiplash was already there I didn't see it coming. All I could do was mumble "Mh."
His hearing was one hundred percent because he mocked me in a baby girly voice and I kept the solemn giggle that ruptured from my throat.
My eyes traveled over to him as he positioned himself in the stool, not with a gracious smile, but a small smirk he wore that didn't seem to last long. My cheeks caught on fire even though a blush couldn't form outside my melanin.
I liked guys with pretty smiles because they were impeccable to one's existence and endured boundless laughter.
But now as I realized how green his eyes were against his complexion and features as they complimented him well.
I happened to be staring at him too hard or much because more confusion struck his face and a deep cut above his thick eyebrows creased with them.
And I simply did the blushing thing again.
He was really attractive but he was the kind of guy to fall in love with girls that contained playful and flirtatious laughs at the right time. Admire long flowing hair that wouldn't mess up when it blew in the wind or bright colorful eyes that made their appearance pop.
I was not one of those girls, I already knew.
I had broken ends of long and short dry hair, hyena laughs and irises the color of warm soil in the spring dirt. Those girls weren't qualified as pretty.
Well, probably not in his book.
"You can tell me," He insisted, pushing to guess my name, "Is it Ivory?"
I bursted out laughing and shook my head, fiddling with the new bunch of brown recycled napkins.
"No," I gave in, "it-it's actually Ebonee."
"Ebonee?" He repeated as if the name was somewhat foreign and never heard of before.
"Yeah, Ebonee." I stated, my own name sounding weird when said aloud from the edge of my tongue, "it's the color black but with a double 'e' at the end. Get it? I'm a black girl and I have a black name?" I laughed nervously and he just sat there staring at me like I was a lunatic.
I knew I wasn't funny yet I couldn't blame him if he thought I was a lunatic either.
I cleared my throat to forget about the corny joke and awkwardness I created.
"So what's yours by the way?"
He sat up a little straighter in the stool as if I made our conversation a little more merely interesting.
"Beau."
Bea-u?" I squeaked puzzled by his given name.
He rolled his lower lip and briefly nodded his head. "Beau Castellanos."
His spoken tongue and last name was definitely exotic and strange to anything I heard before. The vowels were surely longer than they should be and stressed the emphasis on choppy English letters.
Although I was still trying to figure out his first name.
"How do you spell Beau?"
"B-e-a-u."
"It's that pronounced like Bow or Bo?"
"Well," he pondered over, "It could be. My teachers in school pronounced it both ways but I never cared."
I realized Connie took the cloth that I placed on the other end of the white counter and I needed it to look like I was doing something.
"So is Beau a nickname? Why Beau?"
I don't think he had a definite answer himself for it as he thought deeply for a minute.
"I might need a drink for this one. Hit me up." Beau said.
I side-eyed his remark before I did anything else. "You're not going to play a joke on me again like last time are you?"
He laughed with faint genuine, a sudden one I haven't heard before. It was deeply warm and slow like molasses. Not many guys laughed when I attempted a lame tease.
"No. I promise."
I was hoping he wanted the same drink he ordered last time because I was by the cooler and I didn't know his likes or dislikes.
I slid the open bottle against and it slipped into his hands perfectly as his fingers smoothed over the dripping water off the drink.
"My mom believed by the time she was pregnant with me, she was positive she was having a girl. She wanted to name her Belle."
"Oh really? Was she upset that she ended up having a boy instead?" I sarcastically questioned.
Beau turned down the corners of his mouth, "Actually no she was thrilled, who wouldn't want to have a good-looking baby boy?"
Beau allowed the chair to spin him to the side as he held his hands up at the conceited point.
I looked up at the moon and sun for all I know at his haughtiness.
"Anyway, she wanted to name the girl Belle, which originates from the word itself beautiful but then she ended up keeping beautiful and shorten it to be pronounced 'Beau'."
His story sunk in more than it should and I realized I never met anyone who had a lucid explanation why they were named that first name at birth. Sure I heard similar ones, like being named after an actress or a term defining the significance of an unexpected event, maybe even a flower perhaps.
I jokingly shared my little life information because the crowd wondered how to write it, pronounce it, why the double "e's" at the end just for one unique name that I can identify as me. Beau didn't ask me about any of that. Maybe he didn't want to know.
Maybe he didn't need to know.
"This is what you tell all strangers you meet, right when you introduce yourself? Your story name?"
He could have fooled me though. His absent smile tried to hide his wandering thoughts but the uncertainty in his expression said otherwise. Beau's gaze traveled elsewhere in the restaurant and the palms of his hands rubbed the rough of his pants.
It's my fault for being nosy. That's the fault of being awkward and loving solitude.
You ask the wrong questions at an erratic time.
Beau eyes his antique bottle casually, examining the appearance and size before tipping back his head and pressing the mouth of the beverage to his plush pink lips.
Before he took a swig, he added from the corner of his mouth that mumbled, "I guess it feels good to explain myself sometimes."
It was above a whisper but below a shout, something you can only catch if you paid attention and listened closely.
His eyes met mine while I gazed over the minuscule florid gash near his thick eyebrows that ruined his nicely formed face.
My gaze quickly averted to the brown chairs that were neatly pushed under the tables, feeling slightly embarrassed. I need to quit staring.
We didn't say anything after that for a while, which was good because I had nothing to say to stop the inquisitiveness. It was awkward just standing there with nothing to say but an urge kicked in and wanted to say something. Anything. But my thoughts came up blank and I couldn't think of one good topic to discuss without sounding weird.
His answers just left a lot of questions I wish I had the guts to ask.
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Dedicated to Gorgrous_brii for being #1 and commenting and liking. Thanks boo!
A/N: Confession/explanation: I just couldn't help it. I had to update & I like this chap because they meet "officially" not in one day, so yesss, I just explained how to pronounce his name, so don't get it wrong. Lol. If you guys were expecting some basic (ass) name like Mary Sue,( my name is basic enough, I know) I will not let that happen. And in this one, Beau's name is symbolic because he's really not beautiful, and not because of his appearance (he's actually hot, hahaa) you'll see why later on. Ebonee's name is slightly symbolic so don't expect Anne, John, Dan, Bob, Cara..(no offense to the people with these names) I just like to make my characters have a special unique name. I'm about that. But have a great rest of a weekend and summer and do the three things I love to see! Vote, Comment and Enjoy! (and Share, and subscribe, those are good too.) :)