I was on my way to work the next day, although my dad told me not to go because of everything that's happening with my mum dying.
However, I didn't want to sit at home crying alone when I could just go to work and act like everything's normal. Nothing is normal right now, but it's better to act as if it is. Is it?
Dad left me a note this morning (as he had gone to work before I was awake) telling me he wanted to talk to me tonight, most probably to talk about my mum, or about me being gay. Or both.
As soon as I got into work and walked into the back, I received an odd look from my boss.
"You're not supposed to be here." My boss began, her eyebrows raised in suspicion.
"It's my shift today isn't it?" I asked, but I think I know why she was confused.
"I got a call from your dad saying you wouldn't be in today because a member of your family passed." She said, raising her eyebrows again and folding her arms across her chest.
I sighed and looked down, "I'd rather be at work than at home crying on my own."
She sighed, but nodded soon after, "if that's the case, I hope you can attempt to not bring your feelings into work."
I shook my head, "I won't."
I began work, taking it easy and acting as normal as I would any other normal day.
That was until Alex walked in, four hours into my shift. He walked in with a woman with dark skin and beautiful afro hair, slicked back and tied up in a bun on the top of her head. She was most likely someone Alex was doing business with.
My eyes widened as they followed a waitress to a table and sat down. He obviously didn't notice me, or probably didn't even know I'd be here today, but he knew I worked here so maybe he came to see what the restaurant was like.
"I'll take that guy's order." I told the waitress that sat them down, nodding my head at the table Alex and the woman were sat at. I watched them and waited until it seemed like they were ready to order, before walking over to them. Alex didn't seem to notice I was there until I began speaking.
"What can I get you guys?" I asked, which immediately caught Alex's attention. His head flicked up to me, his eyes widening.
"What are you doing here? I thought you'd at least take the day off." Alex asked, frowning at me.
I shrugged and smiled, before repeating, "what can I get you?"
The woman sat opposite him ordered her food, but Alex took much longer to order. I served their drinks, and then their food once it was ready.
I smiled down at Alex as I handed them both their food, before telling them to enjoy their meal. I received a kind smile and a thank you from the woman, whereas Alex gave me a mischievous grin when the woman wasn't looking.
An hour later, Alex was still here, talking with the woman and drinking champagne like the posh, rich man he is.
As my shift went on and I served other people, Alex and I shared glances with each other every few minutes. I was about to look over at him, but something else caught my attention.
I watched carefully, frowning, as I watched a man sat with a woman in one of the booths, his hand on the back of her neck gripping it tightly. From here, I couldn't tell if it was some sort of joke or play fight, so I passed them and gave them a glance, just to see that it was no joke at all.
I could see his teeth gritting as he spoke harshly to her, his angry, red face uncomfortably close to hers. It was just a matter of time before he really hurt her, so I involved myself, which I probably shouldn't have done.
I moved closer to them, a frown on my face, "is everything okay here?"
The man's head snapped towards me, a frown of anger on his face as he glared at me.
"Everything's fine, get your fucking nose out." The man snapped at me. He didn't scare me at all. I've been under more threat before. I looked at the woman next to him as she stared at me, fear written all over her face.
"Sir, I think you should let go of her." I said as nicely as I could.
The man scoffed, "I'm not doing anything wrong, now fuck off."
"Sir, this is part of my job. If you don't let go of her I'm gonna have to ask you to leave." I told him politely.
"Oh yeah? And what's a faggot like you gonna do if I don't leave?" The man snapped at me, his teeth gritting.
I grinned and looked down at myself. As if he thought that would hurt my feelings.
"The fuck you grinning at? Where's the manager?" The man said a little louder, letting go of the woman and standing up. He came uncomfortably close to me, his glare adding to the uncomfortableness of this situation.
I didn't answer him, which pissed him off even more.
"Answer me you little queer!" The man snapped, looking down at me with his uncomfortable glare. People around us were beginning to watch.
"I'm sure if you look around you'll find her somewhere." I replied, taking a step away from him.
"Are you getting smart with me?"
This man really confused me.
I frowned at him, which I probably shouldn't have done, as his hand wrapped around my neck and pushed me against the table that he was just sat at. I gasped, the air squeezing out of me.
Suddenly, he grabbed a plate from beside him and smashed it against the table before picking up a shard.
By now, everyone in the restaurant was staring at us, including Alex.
The man held the shard up to my neck, the very pointy end skimming my skin. His hand pressed against my throat, making it difficult for me to breathe.
The woman that the man was sat with was pressed firmly against her seat, a look of horror on her face. The restaurant had gone silent as the man glared into my eyes.
I managed to glance over at Alex, his eyes were wide as he stared at me, but he was also frozen in place.
The man looked down at my chest and at my name badge, "Lukas." He said, "I'll remember that." He squeezed my throat tighter, making it very difficult to breathe.
I closed my eyes, waiting for him to hurt me, when the weight of him was pulled off me, causing me to stumble to the side as I heard a loud thump on the ground. I got my breath back and tried to breathe at a normal pace, while trying to process what just happened.
I opened my eyes and gasped as I watched a stranger hold the man down on the ground. I heard a little bit of commotion around me, which was most likely people moving out of the way.
As I collected myself and tried to stand up, I felt someone help me. I looked up and saw Alex's face. I gripped onto his blazer for stability, while a concerned look stuck on his face as he stared at me.
"I'll call the police." A man beside me said nervously, before pulling his phone out.
I glared down at the man who attacked me as he fought the stranger who saved me, while another man joined and assisted in holding the man down.
After the police had been called, we waited for them to come, while the other staff walked around and assured people that everything would be okay.
This restaurant is going to have a bad review after tonight.
My boss, who had missed the entire thing, approached me and told me to follow her into the back. I sighed and looked over at Alex, but he just nodded and gave me a weak smile.
I walked into the back with my boss and into her office, where she told me to sit down.
"What the hell just happened?" She snapped.
"The guy was hurting the woman he was sat with so I asked if everything was okay and he just started getting annoyed with me. Next thing I know he's choking me and holding a shard of plate against my throat." I explained without taking a breath, my voice shaking nervously.
"Well you must have done something to provoke him like that. What did you say?" My boss asked, her eyebrows raised in a way that told me she was annoyed.
"I just got involved, that's all. He called me a faggot and I..." I sighed, knowing I did provoke him, but that was still no excuse for doing what he did, "I may have grinned. It was at the fact that he was trying to hurt my feelings. It didn't work so I just grinned."
My boss sighed in frustration, her teeth gritting slightly.
"You do know I'm going to have to give you a warning for that." She told me, causing me to frown in confusion.
"What? What did I do?" I asked, my voice full of shock.
"You provoked him. I know it's no excuse for what he did, but you shouldn't provoke him, so I'm giving you a warning. You get three warnings before you end up fired. You've had your first-"
"Sorry to interrupt, but the police are here and want to speak to you two." One of the girls from the kitchen told us.
"Send them in here." My boss ordered.
She didn't continue her lecture, but I got the idea.
The police came into my boss' office and began asking questions. I told them exactly what happened, whereas my boss didn't really have a clue what happened so couldn't add any useful information.
The police left and I watched them take the man away. The woman he was with had also left with a different police officer, but she'd asked Danny to tell me she said thank you for helping.
Meanwhile, I went to find the man that saved me, and thanked him more times than I needed to. Who knows what would've happened if he didn't get involved.
I finally finished my shift soon after, slightly shaken up due to what happened earlier, but Alex gave me a lift home after he'd finished whatever he was doing with the woman he was with.
However, my day was still going shitty. My whole week was going shitty. My mum died and today I was almost killed, what a great week (note the sarcasm).
As Alex drove, he took a wrong turn, which confused me.
I frowned, "Alex, where are we going? You're not going to kidnap me are you?"
Alex grinned, "no, don't worry. I just want to take you somewhere."
I continued to frown, but nodded anyway.
Alex stopped his car in complete darkness, before climbing out of it. He walked round to the passenger side and opened to door for me. I climbed out and began to follow him to wherever he was going. We walked for a couple of minutes, through trees lit up by tiny fairy lights, our feet treading on the gravel path beneath us.
I smiled as we finally approached a fountain, surrounded by more cute fairy lights hung from the trees that circled around it. What is this place?
The sound of the water running down the fountain was so calming and pleasing to my ears. I smiled softly at the sounds around me. The lights slightly lit up the darkness, just enough so that I could see Alex's face.
"What is this place?" I asked him, the smile still on my face as I looked around.
"Kind of a secret place. Not many people know about it as you can tell, but the people who do know about it treat it very well." Alex explained, watching me as I looked around.
"Lukas," Alex began, catching my attention as I looked at him, "I know you've had a shitty couple of days and I don't know if this will help at all or if it will help a lot, but I'm willing to take the risk."
The pace of my heartbeat began to quicken as I listened to him, wondering what he was going to say to me. I nodded, indicating him to continue.
"Will you..." Alex stopped and grabbed my hands, "will you do me the honor of being my boyfriend?"
-
Hahahaha what a bitch I am. So what are your thoughts on the prick in the restaurant? And what do you think Lukas will say?? LMAO
Also can I just say I am so happy with the feedback on this book? It's been published for only around 3 weeks or something now and it already has 3k+ reads and 300+ votes! So thank you very much for that :)
Leave a vote and comment, thank you so much for reading!