"Order up!" the womanly voice called from the back of the restaurant. Jade walked behind the wall to grab the couple plates. She aligned them on her steady forearm while she juggled the cups in the other hand on the tray.
"Got it!" her voice called out, letting the other waitresses know that it was her order to bring to a table in her section.
Natalie was stood at the register, typing in the orders per table for their bills to be calculated while she was making drinks at the same time. After several years working at the restaurant that she also co-owned with Jade, Natalie was great at multitasking.
Bailey, on the other hand, was currently seating a new family before she went about taking their drink orders.
All three of the girls were busy working their beautiful and popular restaurant. And they each adorned one of the three versions of the uniform that they required of employees.
Maroon and black were the restaurant's colors, showing elegance but also mystery and a sense of defiance about the place.
Bellona employees had to match in their own way and still wear the colors of the restaurant; it made the place nice and gave it a loving and fun vibe. Waitresses had a choice of wearing either black high-waisted shorts, black pants, or a black skirt, paired with a maroon colored top of any style (so long as it looked professional). While waiters wore black slacks paired with some form of a nice maroon shirt--tucked into the waistband of their slacks.
On that particular day at work, Natalie sported black jeans and a long sleeve shirt--as per usual for the reserved 27-year-old--while Jade wore shorts with a sleeveless turtleneck sweater. As for the youngest of the three, Bailey had chosen the skirt with a light shirt that was held up by the spaghetti straps resting on her shoulders.
On the other side of town, bright neon orange and yellow vests walked around as the burly employees wearing those vests tried to keep busy with some kind of small job.
Each employee of Apex sported the bright color as regulation for safety purposes. With big motorized vehicles such as forklifts and cement mixers galore, it was obvious that the construction site would be a safety hazard.
Handsome men of various ages ranging from eighteen to fifty worked around the yard--tool belts around their waists as they carried drills, screwdrivers, measuring tapes and more.
Some were carrying planks of wood on their broad shoulders while others traveled with shovels and hoes to flatten the cement as it was poured off of the cement truck.
The sole owner of Apex, Shawn, sported a suit as he discussed the plans for the newest law firm building in New York with the owner--a wealthy entrepreneur who was ready to do anything to get as far as he could.
The massive and tall infrastructure was already partially complete and he couldn't wait to get the electric company that he subcontracts in the building to add electrical so they could finish putting drywall up on the walls and putting in the hardwood floors.
Sam was sat atop one of the building's support beams, a harness attached to him to keep him from plummeting to his death, and he was laying metal pans against the steel trusses so that the concrete could be poured for the flooring of the upper floors.
Bradley, on the other hand, stood in the wet cement on the ground floor of the building, smoothing it out and making sure there were no air bubbles. He also had to make sure it was leveled.
The two of them had on their usual work clothes, which just so happened to consist of old, light blue jeans with small holes--to say the jeans were worn a lot would be an understatement--while pairing their jeans with forest green t-shirts.
They also sported the bright orange vests for their safety. The vests were meant to alert the workers of each other's presence--to prevent accidents on the job.
Shawn glanced at his watch, moving the sleeve of his suit jacket upwards just enough for him to see the time clearly. It was finally lunch time. He walked over to the company pickup truck, grabbed the blow horn from the passenger seat and pressed the button.
The loud and annoying blaring of the horn caught everyone's attention as was intended. Work began to crawl to a halt around him as the construction workers stared at their boss. "Take five minutes to get to a point that you can stop and go to lunch! I'll see everyone back here in one hour!" his loud voice boomed around the work site.
The men, and even women, working found places in their work to stop and began walking towards their designated lunch tent. A few of them left the site to go to a restaurant or fast food joint, while others brought their lunch to work and ate there.
Shawn barely cooked on his own anyway, so he preferred to go get something. He had to wait by the company truck for Sam to be lowered to the ground from 30 feet high and then get detached from the harness.
Once the two cousins ran over to join Shawn at the truck, Bradley hopped in the passenger seat as Sam jumped into the back seat.
《》
"Can I get a- what is that? Cacio e Pepe?" the middle-aged woman asked Jade with attitude. She put on her fake smile at the more-than-fake woman.
"Yes, ma'am. And would you like a side salad or a different side instead of breadsticks?" Her tone was more than just friendly but the woman didn't seem to care enough to notice the difference.
"I already asked for exactly what I wanted. I don't want anything else. Got it?"
The tone the woman had with the owner of Bellona was too rude for Jade. If they weren't in public, she might've just slit the customer's throat for the hell of it.
But, instead, she just wrote down the lady's order, sarcastically smiled, and left the table before rolling her eyes in frustration. She headed to the kitchen where the chef was cooking the food for customers.
"An order of Cacio e Pepe." She clipped the order on the swiveling little silver stand that held the order papers. "Feel free to spit in it if you wish. I don't even care."
Bailey walked over, also letting the chef know about a new order, and she happened to laugh as she overheard Jade.
"Tough customer?" the youngest of the three girls asked her, a knowing smirk on her pretty face. Bailey's brown hair was tied back into a high ponytail and she had this bouncy step in her walk.
Jade couldn't blame the girl for being happy; they all loved working in the restaurant that they co-owned--when they weren't fighting crime like the superheroines they thought themselves to be. She smiled at her best friend as Natalie also rounded the corner.
"You have no idea. This woman has the biggest attitude I've ever seen, and we literally deal with drug dealers and human traffickers on a weekly basis."
Her tone of voice portrayed her annoyance and Natalie shot her a sympathetic smile but said nothing because she knew that nothing she said would be of any help to Jade's anger with the customer.
While waiting for their new orders to be ready to serve, and no new customers to take orders from, the three girls took the time to check on the current customers in their designated sections of the restaurant.
After another fifteen minutes, the food for Jade's rude customer was ready and she grabbed the very warm plate with the hot and fresh food on it.
"Good luck," Bailey told her sarcastically, making Natalie laugh. Jade bumped her hip with the youngest girl as she walked out of the kitchen for the customer that she did not like.
But she plastered a smile on her face and walked up to the rude woman. "Here you go, ma'am," Jade said politely. "Just be careful. It's probably still hot as it just got off the stove."
She set the plate down and watched as the woman glared at the food in pure disgust.
"What is this?"
Jade's face no longer wore her pretty smile as she looked at the woman stupidly.
"Whatever do you mean?"
She was honestly confused; it was exactly what the woman wanted.
Bailey and Natalie were on standby, in case they needed to interfere. They knew their best friend wouldn't do anything bad in front of their customers, but she tended to have a bit of a temper when someone annoyed her.
At that moment, the bell on the door to the restaurant opened, signaling the arrival of new customers, but Jade was too focused on the shrew in front of her to pay any attention.
"This is not what I ordered!"
The woman's voice got louder and Jade almost snapped. She never did take too kindly to being yelled at as if she were a moron. She knew that she was anything but.
"You ordered the Cacio e Pepe."
"Yes. I did." The woman's voice was clipped.
"That's what this is. This pasta dish couldn't be any simpler. It's literally just pasta, Romano cheese, and black pepper." Jade spoke slowly, hoping to get the woman to understand what she was saying without a bigger scene being caused.
"This is preposterous! This is not what I ordered! I want a refund!" She was getting louder with every outburst and was on the verge of snapping Jade's last nerve.
"You haven't paid yet, ma'am-" But the woman cut Jade off mid-sentence and Bailey covered her mouth with her hand.
"I want to speak to your manager or the owner or anyone more important."
Without letting a snarky laugh escape, Jade simply smiled again; everyone watching in angst.
"Yes, ma'am."
Jade took a step away from the woman's table and slowly made a 360° turn. She looked at the woman again as if she didn't just have this conversation with her and she smiled kindly.
"Hi, my name is Jade. I'm the owner of this restaurant. Is there a problem with your order, ma'am?"
The middle-aged woman's face dropped in embarrassment before grabbing her purse.
"I'll just go now."
The woman walked out the door, passed Bailey and Natalie, who were now laughing at their sarcastic best friend.
Jade ran her hands down her outfit as if smoothing out wrinkles before turning to the customers left in her restaurant. "I am terribly sorry for the unnecessary disruption, ladies and gentlemen. Everyone's drinks are on the house."
Some people cheered for her while others just smiled and went back to their food; no one bothered by her at all.
A slow clap sounded behind her and she turned to see where or who it was coming from.
"Well, that was just hilarious."
She recognized the man that stood before her and a large smile broke out on her face. His beautiful dark hair was styled up in a quiff to perfection, and his brown eyes bored into hers as a smile of his own brightened up his face at the sight of her.
It had been ages since the two had seen each other. Once they were fresh out of foster care, they spent less and less time together. They used to be best friends, not to their foster dad's knowledge, of course; he despised any male being around Jade unless it was himself.
Natalie and Bailey stared at the man; they knew him and they watched in awe as Jade threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck and bringing him into her arms in a hug.
Usually, people just hugged their long lost friends, but not Jade. The woman planted her lips on his pink plump lips; kissing him boldly like she had done it many times before.
The man before them, Aiden, was the only person that truly knew what happened the night their foster dad had died.
Sure, Nat and Bailey knew what happened but they only knew what Jade wanted them to know.
When they ended the kiss, Aiden chuckled lightly. He had insanely missed the perfect woman before him. He looked around her, spotting the other two of the group.
"Bailey, Natalie, how are you ladies?" he asked them. He knew little things about their past, but of course, he had no idea about the agency that Jade had created and he had no idea she was even close to business like that.
"We're good, thank you for asking. We'll let you two catch up and we'll just get back to work. It's good to see you again, Aiden," Natalie said to the man before her with a smile. Even though Aiden wished to hug her, he knew she wouldn't be up for it. He smiled at her instead and then hugged the woman's little sister, Bailey.
The Dawson sisters went back to their work as Natalie said, and they left Jade to take her break so that she could catch up with an old friend.
《》
After a long day at work, Shawn threw his boots on the ground by his closet. He was exhausted.
After lunch, the three of them had made their way back to finish the day's job. The building that was they were building had about three months left of construction, thanks to the size of their crew, and they were relieved.
They usually received a small break after each building is done, just a small hiatus that rewarded their employees for the extensive hours and hard work they've put into a project. It was usually enough time for Shawn to find more business from people that want a new house, business building, or anything along those lines.
Shawn disappeared into his bedroom and walked into his bathroom. He stripped out if his clothes and jumped into the shower while Sam tried to figure out what was for dinner, with the help Bradley.
"I'm thinking pizza. We had Chinese last night and I'm really in the mood for pizza," Bradley stated to his cousin. Sam walked around their kitchen, searching through the cabinets and fridge as he looked for nothing, something, and anything all in one.
"Eh," Sam told him before an idea popped into his head. He stood up straight and grinned at Bradley. "I'm in the mood for Romanian and I know just the place we could go."
Bradley let out a soft laugh, "Only because you want to get into Jade's pants."
The other cousin looked at him, feigning hurt as he placed his hand over his heart, "I'll have you know," Sam started and, just as Bradley thought he'd say something kind, he spoke again, "I'd sleep with any of them." Bradley took that time to scoff as Shawn walked out of his bedroom, towel wrapped around his waist.
"You're a pig," Shawn's voice spoke, rolling his eyes at his best friend. Sam only shrugged at the words he's heard many times before. "We're ordering pizza. The last thing I wanna see right now are those girls."
"Women," Bradley spoke up.
"I don't care, Brad."
"But I wanted Romanian."
"I do not care, Sam."
Shawn picked up Sam's phone and hit the number three on speed dial. "Hey, Tony, it's Shawn. I'd like to order three pepperoni pizzas, please. Yes, it's just us. Thanks." He hung up and left the kitchen to get changed, ready to eat and sleep after a long day.