After the waiter had taken his order and left the table, Justin turned his full attention to everyone at the table aside from Tessa and I. Tessa held her phone up indicating she was going to text me. I nodded and looked down, the lock screen on my phone was Jayce and I when he was just a few months old. My hair was still blonde and his smile was big. Although, seeing that smile eased my nerves that feeling didn't last long once Tessa's group chat came through.
All the text said was "What now?"
No one was discrete when they checked their phone but neither Justin or Hailey said anything. No one replied but Kylie took upon herself to say something, "Hailey, you've met Nadia."
Hailey fake smiled at me, "Right, hey Nadia." Granted, I had only actually hung out with Hailey maybe twice each one of us knew that Hailey recognized me but her admitting that was the least of my concern. I wanted nothing more than to just roll my eyes at how fake she was being to me but I gave a fake smile back.
Kylie spoke again, this time to Justin, "Justin, you remember her too, right?" My heart sank at her words but on the outside my face stayed straight, looking at him blankly.
"Yeah I do, nice to see you again." And that was it.
My heart rose to my throat, beating uncontrollably. I didn't know what I was expecting his reaction to be but this was not it, though maybe this wasn't bad. Him ignoring me was better than him getting angry at my presence.
I took a deep breath, steadying my voice before I spoke, "You too, Justin." There was weight in his name, probably from the fact that this was the first time I had said it to him in two years. He must have felt it too because he slightly flinch at the sound of it.
I stayed quiet throw dinner, passively listening to the conversations being had around the table. Kylie had taken it upon herself to order a dessert for the table to share and even though it looked delicious my stomach hadn't yet processed my dinner.
In my lap, my phone began to vibrate, showing Dani's face. I stood, excusing myself and headed to the bathroom. Once there I answered the phone, "Hey, what's up?"
"It's Ty, we need you here. I guess some people are coming in tonight to watch the place. Joy's freaking out cause I guess there's also a concert down the street tonight and people are coming here after." I sighed and laid my hand flat on the counter, thinking.
"Um, okay. I can be there, it might take awhile but I can be there." I was secretly thankful for this out, I was sure everyone would want to hang out after dinner and I wouldn't know how to tell them I need to get home to Jayce without Justin being around.
Ty hung up allowing me to make my way back to the table. I put my purse on my shoulder and threw my jacket that was on my chair over my shoulders, "Hey, I have to head out."
Everyone's attention turned to me, Tessa's mouth turning to a frown, "Why? What's up? Everything okay at home?"
I smiled and nodded, "Home is good. Work is not, as usual." She gave me an apologetic look before standing up to hug me, Kylie followed but that was it. Kendall gave me a small smile before saying her goodbye, "See ya, Nadia."
"See ya. Bye everyone." I made no eye contact with Justin or Hailee. Before I began to walk away, Ryan stood, "Wait, I'll go with you."
He followed me out the door and waited while I ordered an Uber, "Did work really call you?"
"You really think low of me sometimes, don't you? Yes, they really did."
He mumbled an apology and stayed quiet until the Uber arrived. He opened the door allowing me to climb in the beat seat, "Night, be safe."
"Thanks, and thanks for inviting me, Ryan. It only sucked a little." He laughed before closing the car door.
Arriving at Tipsy's and looking around I could tell that Dani was probably inside somewhere freaking out. As I shoved my way to the bar I searched for her but only finding Ty, "Dani?!" I had to yell over the people for him to hear me and although it was hard to see I could tell that he shrugged. I slowly my way to the back room, changing into one of the extra uniforms and then making my way to look for Dani.
Somehow over all the voices I heard Dani. Her voice sounded as if she was arguing with someone and when my eyes finally found her stance matched her voice.
"So it's my fault you can't afford the bottle you ordered?" The man she was arguing with looked incredibly drunk and when I made my way to them I could smell that he was.
"What's up?" Dani turned around and yelled, "Hey Mike! Get this fucker outta here! Get his name from his ID first for Joy!"
Our security guard quickly took hold of the man and drug him towards the door. Dani turned to me, moving her hair from her face, "I'm fucking over people."
With that she walked away allowing me to get started on orders. This was the first night that was this busy in awhile and by looks of it, it wouldn't be slowing down anytime soon. An hour later I looked up at the clock behind the bar where Ty poured drinks from already drunk girls.
"How long's it been like this?" Before Ty could answer Dani's voice rang in my ears, "Nadia!"
Turning I could see her making her way to the bar with anger across her face. When she finally made her way to me she spoke, "Get him the fuck out of here, I don't care if you have to go upstairs. Not tonight."
I gave her questioning look and before I could ask her what she meant, I could see four extremely tall and broad men walking behind a smaller figure. Narrowing my eyes I finally made out the face. Justin.
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Happy Belated Thanksgiving!