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ㅤ
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
empty gesture ! ────
𝟬𝟭. congrats, it's a boy
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
"Buenos días, papí." Ines greeted her father with a soft smile as she skipped down the stairs. She opened the fridge as her father focused on the eggs browning in the pan.
"Buenos días, mija. sleep well?" Diego questioned as he kissed his daugher on the cheek as she passed by, heading for the front door.
Ines shrugged, feeling tired as always yet she had only herself to blame. Spending the night scrolling through tiktok until the early hours of the morning, promising herself she'd go to sleep earlier only to repeat the process.
"I'm heading to work, you need anything?" She asked, causing her father to roll his eyes at the change of subject.
"No babygirl, I'm alright. You know this conversation isn't over though right?" Diego raised a brow, as he slid the eggs from a pan, and onto the plate.
"Sorry, I can't hear you. My music is too loud." Ines pouted with a shrug as she pointed to the earbuds in her ear. Her father rolled his eyes as she waved mockingly, before closing the door behind her.
She took a deep breath as she began to walk in the direction of the Don Cuco, a mexican restaurant she waitressed at.
It was a nice place that earned her decent wages but it wasn't exactly immune to the frequent white ladies that tended to make Ines job harder than it needed to be.
Ines made it to work in record time, a smile on her lips as she greeted the owner Frank Castillo who had opened the restaurant twenty years ago with his wife. His wife Sheela had been a wonderful person but sadly she had passed, and Frank had kept the restaurant open to honor her memory.
"Morning, Mr. Castillo." Ines greeted the elderly man who opened his arms to hug her as he always did. She obliged giving him a hug as she went to the hook that held her uniform.
As she tied her apron around her waist letting it sit over her black skirt, she adjusted her black polo shirt with the restaurant logo on it. She immediately grabbed her notebook and pen stuffing it inside the apron as she made her way to her section of tables outside.
Her shift passed relatively peacefully as she approached a family of six who seemed to be celebrating someone.
She smiled at their close relationship with one another as they talked in Spanish, occasionally smiling brightly at the boy who sat on the other side of the table.
"Hello, and welcome to the Don Cuco. My name is Ines, and I'll be taking care of you today. Can I get you all started on some drinks?" She greeted them kindly, her notebook open as she held her pen.
The family turned to her with genuine smiles, as whom she assumed was the mother of the family greeted her, sharing that they were celebrating their son Jaime Reyes graduation from college.
"Oh Congrats! What did you major in?" Ines asked as she looked to the boy, who she now knew to be Jaime Reyes.
He met her eyes, his mouth opening, and closing as he stuttered, placing an elbow on the table to try for a 'too cool' persona.
It failed as he slipped nearly falling into the salsa, and chips that were on the table as a complimentary appetizer.
Ines had to push her tongue into her cheek to hold in a laugh as she cleared her throat, and held her notepad out.
"Sorry about him, I'm Milagro his sister, and apparently his translator. He studied pre-law." Milagro said with a roll of her eyes, her red glasses suited her face nicely, and Ines noticed the whole family was rather good looking.
"Oh, that's pretty neat. You must be smart." She told Jaime before turning her attention back to the family.
"Sorry, I'm being a little too chatty. Are we ready to order or do I need to come back in a few minutes?" She asked. The Reyes family laughed shaking their heads as they put out their orders, along with a few sodas and a ice bucket of coors banquet.
She smiled at them one more time, missing the awed look Jaime gave her as she grabbed their menus, and retreated into the inside portion of the restaurant to place the orders for the cook Margarie.
Ines tended to a few other tables before she retrieved the food for the Reyes family. She expertly balanced three trays, two on her hands, and one on her forearm.
"Okay, I have the three shredded beef tacos with rice and beans on the side, the enchiladas with no onions, two orders of the house nachos, a chicken quesadilla with rice, and a order of the shredded beef mulitas with extra dipping sauce." Ines said when she arrived, she felt her cheeks flush as the Reyes family complimented her balancing skills, and memory as she placed the food down.
As she was speaking with the family to make sure everyone had their order, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see a tall blonde white woman carrying an ego that was almost tangible.
"Hi, we placed an order ten minutes ago and we're still waiting." The lady said with crossed arms. Ines blinked looking at her, and back to the Reyes family who watched in concern.
"Ma'am I'm with another table at the moment, if you just placed an order it's going to take some time for the food to be made, there are other customers." Ines said with a raised eyebrow.
The blonde huffed, as she snatched her sunglasses off her face, looking at Ines as if she'd just cursed her entire bloodline.
"Do you know who I am?" She told Ines, her nose turned so far up, Ines was surprised she didn't cause a nose bleed.
"No, ma'am I don't. Even if I did that wouldn't change the waiting time. I need you to go and sit down, I'm with a table at the moment." Ines repeated before she turned her attention back to the Reyes' as the woman stomped off muttering about not leaving a tip.
"You handled that karen with such grace, I could never. Does that happen a lot?" Milagro asked as Ines apologized to them for the interruption.
"More often than you think. Luckily Mr. Castillo knows I wouldn't disrespect a customer intentionally." Ines smiled.
"I'll leave you guys to eat, but if you need anything give me a holler." Ines gave them a warm smile before she took her leave. Milagro noticed her brother ogling their waitress as she left, and slapped his arm.
Jaime whined, turning his attention to her as he rubbed his arm.
"Ow Mil! What was that for?" He complained. Milagro snickered taking a chip from her pile of nachos as she waved it around.
"Quit drooling, that's not how you get a girl. Besides, she's way out of your league." She commented while her brother shot her a glare, poking at his own tacos.
His parents were oddly quiet, and he looked up as they seemed to be holding back from saying something. Milagro suddenly placed her drink down harshly.
"Okay, I can't take this anymore. Jaime, we're losing the house." She said to her brother who nearly choked on the bits of taco in his mouth.
"What? Ma, what is she talking about?" He said as his parents glared at Milagro before sighing heavily.
"They raised the rent, we couldn't come up with the money in time, landlord gave us three months before we have to leave." She said to her son with sad eyes. Jaime looked around at his family as he felt disbelief pulling at his stomach.
"Okay, so, I'll help out at the auto shop. No worries, we'll get enough money to keep the house." He said brightly. Milagro grimaced shaking her head at her brother.
"Can't, we lost the shop too." She said as Jaime sat back in complete shock. His parents face said it all, even Rudy had gone quiet, sipping his beer as he looked around.
Jaime felt completely blindsided by all that he missed - he couldn't help but feel guilty that his family had been going through this on their own.
It seemed that the bad news was not officially over as Rosio spoke up, looking at her son apologetically.
"We would have had some money, but well, your father he-" she tiptoed around the subject.
"'Dad had a heart attack." Milagro finished for her mother, while Jaime nearly had one of his own at the amount of information that had been thrown at him.
"What? why didn't any of you tell me? I could have come home, or done something." He said with frustration, mostly at himself for being away.
"Hey, I'm okay. It was just a clogged pipe in my heart." His dad said nonchalantly, but no one laughed, the mood significantly dropped.
Ines came over, a genuine smile on her face before she noticed the somber mood.
"Hi, is everything alright over here? do we need refills - or any sauces?" She asked politely as she wanted to make sure the Reyes were treated well especially because they'd been so kind to her.
Milagro asked for some more hibiscus juice, which Ines happily filled for her, the rest of the family had perked up at her presence, shaking their heads politely to say they were fine.
"Alright, well let me know when you're ready, and I'll get the check for you, and some to go boxes if you need." Ines smiled before going to check another table.
This table held the lady from before, who had complained about the wait time. Ines took a deep breath as she approached, readying herself for another bout of complaints.
"Hello, is everything to your liking over here?" She asked with a strained smile, she watched as the blonde looked down at her salad before turning to her date, a dark haired man.
"Honestly this salad is a little plain, and Reymond's tacos are a little too heavy." The lady said with a displeased scoff, while Ines looked over in confusion.
"Ma'am you ordered the garden salad, and took out everything except for the spinach, and cucumber. May I ask what you mean by the tacos are too heavy?" She inquired, she looked at the man at the last question, wanting his input since he was the one who ordered the food.
The dark haired man shook his head in exasperation of his date as he faced Ines.
"No, they're perfect. thank you." He said, as Ines smiled nodding while the blonde woman scowled. It seemed that this particular conversation was done, or so Ines thought until the lady spoke again.
"Waitress! I wasn't finished, I'd like a side of fries." She demanded, while Ines stood dumbfounded.
"We don't serve fries as a side ma'am. If you want the fries you can order the hamburger combo." Ines informed her, but the blonde woman was looking for a reason to complain, and her voice raised causing Ines to become nervous as the people in the room started to look at the commotion.
"I asked for a side of fries, I don't want the damn hamburger!" The lady practically screeched. Ines kept a calm facade while she tried to hide her shaking hands, usually she could deal with people like this but she had never had someone this bad.
"I'm sorry, that's our only option here. I can recommend something else.." She trailed off as she suddenly felt her entire figure become damp. It took her a minute to process that the lady had dumped her drink on Ines, and she gaped as she looked down, melted ice sliding down her head, plopping to the floor.
Frank Castillo came out, and he frowned as he took in the situation, demanding to know what happened. Ines opened her mouth, trying to explain but feeling millions of miles away, before she could try to speak up, a figure suddenly slid into view.
Ines looked up as Jaime Reyes stood before her, talking to Mr. Castillo calmly as he explained that his family had seen the whole thing, and Ines was not at fault.
Knowing his employee, Frank needed no further explanation, and he dismissed the blonde lady, and her date from the establishment as another waiter made sure they left.
Ines felt overwhelmed, both at the amount of stress the lady had induced, and because she was currently covered in raspberry tea that was causing her clothes to stick.
"Ines, mija, you're free to go. Don't worry about the rest of your shift you'll still be paid for full time, sí?" Frank winked at his employee, who was like a daughter to him. Ines smiled weakly as she nodded, before she turned to Jaime.
"Thank you, you didn't have to step in like that but you did, and I really appreciate it." She said to Jaime who suddenly preened at the praise, nudging the tip of his sneaker into the ground.
"Ah, hey it was nothing. You didn't deserve that." He said seemingly upset on her behalf. Ines smiled, and in a move that felt bold even to her, she planted a kiss on her cheek. She waved goodbye to the Reyes family, before she made her way home so she could stand under the hot water, and maybe have a good cry session.
Unaware that Jaime went to sleep that night, replaying the kiss in his head a million times over, and wondering what it would feel like if she'd kissed his lips instead.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
MARI'S NOTES !
- hi lol, i'm not dead? this chapter took forever because i kept rewriting the first chapter unhappy with it. but it's finally where i want it!!
- i've been on a bit of a xolo hype lately so hence the username change, and also i have a very good plot for my miguel diaz fic so look out for that.
- fun fact but the don coco restaurant in this fic is an actual restaurant located in burbank california. i went there back in September on my way home from Disneyland, and the food was amazing, as well as the service. if you're ever in Burbank, I recommend eating there.
- that's about it, but let me know what you think, please comment and vote, don't be ghost readers, i love to hear from you all