Chapter 5- You Can't Always Get What You Want
“Layla.” A little vice called to me in my dreams. “Aya, wake up.” I opened my eyes slowly and let them adjust to the light. When they came in to focus, I was face to face with my sister.
“Desi? What are you doing here?”
“I’m late for school.”
“What do you mean you're late for school?” I asked, my brain not functioning correctly.
“Mom is still asleep and she wont wake up.”
I jolted upright and cursed silently.
“Five minutes!” I yelled.
Desi nodded. “I’ll get your purse!”
I scrambled to put on some jeans and a t-shirt as Desi raced downstairs. Unfortunately, this occurred often in the St. James household and Desi and I had this rushed routine down. She was ready by the door as I came downstairs, keys and purse in hand, and we left in a hurry.
The kids were already inside by the time we reached her school, which in actuality, was more like a day care. This place was a god send when no one was home during the day to watch Desi while I was either at school or work and my mother was too sick to look after her. This was Desi’s second summer here and she loved it.
I helped Desi with her back pack and walked her to the counselors desk.
“Ms. St James. So nice of you to join us.”
“Sorry we’re late Mrs. Hawkins. There was a major accident on the street.”
“Uh huh.” She didn’t believe a single word. “Desiree, why don't you join the other children? I’m going to speak to your sister for a moment.” She shot me a concerned look but I signaled that it was ok to join her friends.
“Desiree has been late every day this week and 3 days last week.” Mrs. Hawkins stated, unamused.
“I know. My mother was supposed to drop her off today. She overslept.”
“I’ve been very understanding Layla, but this is unacceptable. We all love Desiree here but her tardiness has continued since the regular school year and you assured me that this summer would be different. I know a bit about your circumstances at home but Desiree can’t learn that this kind of behavior is ok. It’s a waste of everyones time.”
“I know that Mrs. Hawkins. I’ll see to it myself that I'm the one who drops her off from now on.”
“Fine, but I would like to speak to your mother.”
“I don't think that’s a good idea.”
“She needs to know whats going on. She's the mother Layla, not you.”
My face dropped in shame. Mrs. Hawkins voice softened as she patted my arm. “You're an amazing big sister but even this is too much for you. You cant do everything by yourself.”
“It’s what I've been doing for years.”
Mrs. Hawkins sighed. “Please arrange a meeting with your mom for this afternoon and please make sure Desiree is here on time.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“Take care, Layla.”
My mother was was in the living room watching some trashy talk show when I arrived at home.
“Layla, you're just in time! They're about to reveal who the father is-“
I snatched the remote from her hand and shut off the television.
“Hey!” she yelled.
“What is your problem? Why cant you manage to do one right thing for your daughter?”
“Is this about this morning? I was exhausted.” She explained as if that answer was sufficient.
“That’s a load of crap and you know it. You were passed out from being high all day.”
“It doesn't matter what I was or was not, what matters is that Desi got to school on time.”
“With no help from you.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “Why do I have to take her when you're here?”
I was baffled. She was unbelievable. “Because you begged me to let you do it! This conversation is beyond pointless.” I resigned and decided not to tell her about the arranged meeting.
“I should have never trusted you to do a simple act for your kid, so you keep doing what you're doing, and leave my sister to me.”
I stomped away loudly and slammed Desi’s door when I reached it. To hell with Moira St. James, to hell with this house, and this town. Mrs. Hawkins will just have to deal with me from now on whether she likes it or not and as soon as this summer was over, I was taking Desi and leaving this place forever.
Work was going to be torture today. It was easy, when I worked on the docks, to hide from everyone, which gave me time to contemplate and fester in my anger every time I argued with my mother but this time was different. Now I was a server. A server who not only was surrounded constantly by people, but who was also in charge of training new hires, who could only be described as “coordinately challenged.”
The serving routine was a disaster from the start, with more food ending up on the floor than on the table, not to mention all of the inane questions they kept asking me. They wanted to know about every little detail and I wanted to yell at them to “use common sense!” or “no one is going to tip you if you keep dropping food everywhere!” but that would have been unprofessional.
Max, however, didn't ask any questions. In fact, he was the only person who looked like he knew what he was doing and, because of that, looked completely bored and uninterested. Occasionally, we would make eye contact and he would flash me a dimpled smile but I would look away quickly and pretend not to see, which just made the whole exchange awkward. I still could not believe that he called me out like that. He was the first person to ever say something to my face and I would have taken his advice too, if I hadn't been in such a foul mood.
I convened with my group, one last time, before the lunch time rush to reiterate all of the lessons that I taught them about basic customer service.
“Remember that the customer is always right” I told them. “And that the answer is always yes.” These concepts seemed to be the only easy thing for them to grasp and they acknowledged that by nodding in agreement. I was finally free of them.
We waited in the kitchen as the doors opened and members started filing in to get seated. Cynthia was in charge since Mrs. C was out of town. Pierce gave me a reassuring squeeze on my arm and wished me good luck. At last, the last customer was seated and it was go time.
My first customers was Daniel and Carol Davidson. They were a sweet middle aged couple who owned the most expensive yacht in the club. They were what Mrs. C referred to as, ‘platinum members.”
“How is your first day going sweetie?” Carol asked.
“It’s going well so far, Mrs. Davidson, thanks for asking. I’m happy to have you both as my first customers.”
“Thank you dear.”
“We miss you on the course, Layla. No one caddies like you do.” Daniel said.
“That’s so nice to hear Mr. Davidson. I miss the course too. Would you like more tea?”
That’s how my first few hours went. Small talk followed by mindless chatter with a dash of fake compliments, all of which led to a decent amount of tips. Leaving Warren was starting to feel tangible.
“Incoming!” Cynthia Cho called from behind me. “Evil at one o’clock.”
I peeked around the corner to see who she was referring too. It was Dorothy Winchester and her younger sister Tiffany, being seated in Cynthia's section.
“I’m surprised she's here at all this summer. Last year she wouldn't stop talking about her trip that Daddy bought this year.”
“Looks like the trip was cancelled. I can’t stand those trolls. Do you mind taking their orders?”
“No problem.” I didn't care. Dorothy never paid any attention to me. I was nothing to her.
I put on my cheerful mask and plastic smile and walked over to their table as they were giggling to themselves.
“Hello Ms. Winchester.” I greeted. “How are you today?”
“We have been waiting here for five minutes.” She stated without so much as a greeting, her nose permanently turned up in the air.
“I do apologize for that. Lunch is our busiest time of day but I assure you that it wont happen again.” She gave a slight nod in approval. “Tea?”
Dorothy answered yes for both she and her sister.
“Would you look at that man over there.” Dorothy said to Tiffany as she went back to ignoring me. “I would not mind staring at him all summer.”
I looked over to see who her comments were about which to no ones surprise, were about Max. Unfortunately, I forgot to stop pouring the tea and liquid spilled all over the table.
“You clumsy oaf!” Dorothy yelled as they both scooted their chairs away from the table. Dozens of eyes stared at us and I felt my face heating with embarrassment.
“I am so sorry!” I started to wipe the tea but ended up spilling some on to Dorothy's dress.
“Get away from me, you're making it worse!”
“I’m sorry! I’m trying to clean the table.”
“Where is your manager? I demand to speak to her at once.”
“There’s really no reason to get her involved. I’ll clean up.”
Dorothy swatted my hand away which was when I had about enough. I was ready to go off on her when a heavy hand landed on my shoulder.
“Please, we do apologize for the accident.” Max’s deep voice reverberated around the room. “Let us grab your meal, on the house.”
Dorothy blushed unabashedly and playfully fixed her dress.
“Thank you so much sir. I’m Dorothy Winchester.” She flirted.
“Nice to meet you Dorothy, I’m Max Walters.” He gave her is award winning smile which made her visibly swoon.
“I hope you’ll punish her accordingly.” She sneered at me.
“I’ll take care of her. Pierce do you mind taking the rest of Miss Winchesters order?” Pierce rushed on over as Max maneuvered me away before I could say anything.
“What did I miss?” Cynthia asked when we got to the break room.
“Some bitchy customer was giving Layla a hard time. I took care of it.”
“Thanks for handling it Max.” She turned to me. “You ok? I told you they were trolls.”
“Hey Cynthia, do you mind if I get her out of here?” Max asked. “Our shifts are almost done.”
“No sweat. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Cynthia said before leaving us alone in the room.
The second she was out of the room, I spoke up. “You didn't need to intervene. I had it under control.”
“That was you under control? Because you looked ready to hit her.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thats ridiculous. I would never do that.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Fine. You caught me. I was this close,” I indicated a centimeter with my fingers, “to giving her a black eye. I’m not normally like this but today has just been the worst.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly. It’s just family stuff.”
He remained quiet and leaned against the lockers, his gaze focused on the floor. I took the opportunity to examine him closely. He really was good looking in the “boy next door sort of way”. His golden tan indicated that he was outdoorsy and he must workout because his arms were pretty muscular under his uniform.
“I’m sorry for getting you involved with this.” I finally said. He looked up with his brown eyes fixated on mine and gave me a heart warming smile. It was different from the one he gave Dorothy. That one was an act while this one was genuine.
“I was happy to help. You seem like a girl that can handle her own, but I'm grateful I got another chance to talk to you again.”
That had me blushing and I turned my face to hide it. “You had all morning.” I pointed out.
“True, but you were in robot mode. I prefer getting to know you outside of work.”
I had no clue what to make of this information. Did Max want to be my friend? I was about to tell him that I wasn't worth getting to know and that sadness only followed me but he spoke first.
“Can I walk you to your car?”
I was ready to turn him down but his puppy dog eyes compelled me and I reluctantly agreed.
We walked mostly in silence at first. He asked where I was parked and I pointed to the furthest lot. As we walked he mentioned his last job working at a 5 star restaurant In New York.
“No wonder you know how to handle customers.” I said.
“Yeah I have a lot of experience in that department. Stuck up, rich folks are my specialty.”
We were nearly at my car when a black cadillac pulled right up to us with music blaring. The stranger in the car tipped his sunglasses down.
“Need a ride?”