All The Small Things

130

He wasn't home the next morning either, and I had to go to work. I asked Karmin for a ride there, and he agreed. I didn't bother to change my jeans, just my shirt to a different long sleeve. Jacob didn't show up to his shift, so I was left to take care of his section. Plus, another section I'd normally get on days we're short staffed. And the very last table I got sat with at 7 pm was my ex-boyfriend plus his co-workers.i really didn't wanna bother Calvin and make him trade me sections with someone else, but I begged him to do so anyways.
"Please, I can't take this section," I tried to convince him.
"Luca, go wait on the tables," He said, slowly pronouncing each word like I was dumb. I was shaking and nervous from the start of the service.
"I-I'm Luca, I'm gonna be your server tonight," I started, looking everywhere except at Kayden. I could feel my hands shaking as I told them what cocktails we had at their request.
"Do you have coke?" Kayden asked me. He said it in a taunting way, so I figured it was either because I had to wait on him or because of Jacob's addiction to the same named drug.

"We have, uh, Pepsi products, lemonades, high-c, and alcoholic drinks on the back of the menu's," I tried to quickly explain without starting to cry. He got something alcoholic. I practically ran to go pour the drinks and give Jane the orders for alcoholic ones. She's the only one allowed to pour, even if it's just a beer, so we don't over serve someone.
"Why are you so nervous?" She asked suspiciously.
"I'm just anxious," I lied, rubbing my eyes. Fuck, I need Jacob to hold me and make me feel safe. Why'd Kayden have to show up tonight of all nights? She took my word for it, handed me the drinks I needed her to pour, and went to go give the table all of them before the fountain drinks got flat.

When they were ordering, Kayden was asking me about every food-related question he could think of. His co-werkes were asking a few too, but he interrogated me hard on the whole menu.
"What do you normally get?" He asked.
"Um, I-I always get the same thing so I don't mine would be a good recommendation," I tried to explain, standed at the opposite side of the table where he was sitting since he was on the outside.

Finally, he decided to just order something. I instantly rang the order in and tried waiting on my other two tables and other section in order to not think about Kayden. When I had to run my dishes was probably the worst part of the whole experience. I was setting everyone's plates in front of them, giving Kayden his in the middle of everyone else's, and was seconds away from telling them I'd be back to see how everything was tasting when he started staring me down. I felt insanely uncomfortable and tried ignoring it, but I just couldn't. I will admit, I barely checked on their table to avoid him. Then I heard the table talking about me, referring to me as 'the waiter'.
"Where did he go? I haven't seen him in 20 minutes," one of them complained. 20? Shit. I'm not getting a tip. And the party isn't big enough that gratuity is added to the total on the bill. I stood next to the kitchen and tried to convince myself to go check on them. His co-workers didn't do anything, so it's not fair to ignore the whole table. Plus, I probably need to re-fill drinks. I took one last breath and tried to see if I could see their table from here. I couldn't. I pushed off the wall and found their table.

"Sorry, guys. We're just kinda busy today," I apologized quietly. Taking a mental note of who had what drink so I could write it down. I couldn't remember otherwise.
"Do you guys need anything else?" I asked.
"Can we have a different server?" One of them asked with an attitude.
"I-I mean, I would, but there's only 2 other servers and one's about to clock out," I tried to explain. Like as much as I wish I could trade sections with someone, that wouldn't be fair to them, so I can't.
"Um, if that's it, then I can just get you more drinks," I half whispered. None of them acknowledged me, so I just went to go do it.

By the end of my shift, I was fucking done. I was noticably shaking and trying to count my tips. I kept forgetting what number I had been at and had to recount them several times. I eventually just gave up when Calvin told me he was locking the front door, regardless of if I was out or not. So, I followed him out and sat in front of the building when trying to find a ride home.
"Where's Jacob?" Calvin asked as he locked the front door.
"Mad at me," I mumbled as I scrolled down my contacts.
"You don't got a ride home?" He asked. I shook my head since I told myself that no matter how I said no, it would come off manipulative.
"I'll drive you home. I'd rather nobody loiter around the parking lot," He offered. He seemed genuine.
"Are you sure?" I asked, making sure I wasn't influencing his decision.
"Ya, just get in," He mumbled, leading me to his Toyota Camry.
I gave him the directions to the apartment as he drove and let him ask me questions.
"Why didn't you wanna work your section?" He asked only 2 roads away from the apartments, causing me to sigh before trying to explain.