“Aww, now you had to go and ruin it,” I said, shaking my head as I shrugged my jacket on over my shoulders and opened the door, walking out into the hallway.
“You aren’t shit anyhow, you’re just a loser! I knew you were a loser from the second I saw you!” she screamed, but I didn’t turn around, just kept walking down the hall.
It wasn’t the first time a one-night-stand had gotten hurt when I let them down, and it wouldn’t be the last either.
Not by a long shot.
CAELI
The day from hell.
That’s what today had been.
But then again, every day spent working for my uncle at Burger Billy’s was a day from hell, and nowadays, that meant five days a week my life was spent dealing with the devil and his minions.
“Hey Caeli, where’s order eighty-seven?” one of those minions—Blake--screamed out.
Uncle Billy’s three sons (Marvin, Blake and Devin) were every bit as awful as their dad, and they usually worked right alongside me at the restaurant.
The restaurant was a popular spot not far from Bradley University, which meant that it was open late to get that drunk frat boy traffic.
Fun times, especially for a girl working at two-thirty in the morning on a Friday night after the local bars shut down and all the drunk, horny and pissed off guys wandered in.
But I’d have rather dealt with any drunken asshole over Billy’s three brats, especially today.
Today had just been one thing after another.
First of all, I’d gotten in a fight with my Dad when he’d showed up at my apartment and demanded the rent a week early.
That’s what I got for renting from my folks, which I only did in the first place because otherwise the place would have sat empty and they already couldn’t make the payments as it was.
Then I got rear-ended by some joker who’d tried to tell me we didn’t need to deal with the insurance companies, even though he dented my fender and broke my tail light and got his paint all over my car.
And then I’d been busting my butt all shift long at the restaurant, because it had been nonstop busy and one of the other girls quit after Marvin had harassed her one too many times.
I knew how she felt, even though they were my cousins. Harassing a family member wasn’t beneath them—nothing was.
“Caeli, is eighty-seven up or not?” Blake shouted again.
I was trying to get the large vanilla milkshake and put the plastic cover on it as he shouted at me. I wiped sweat from my forehead.
“Coming up!” I called back, getting the cover on, finally, as I picked up the tray at the counter that was stacked with enough burger meat to choke an elephant.
Marvin turned towards me and pointed to a rowdy table of guys sitting in the corner of the restaurant. “They’ve been waiting forever for that order, Powers. Now hustle over and be nice—try smiling for a change.”
I should throw this entire tray of food on him and walk out, I thought, but of course I did no such thing and kept my mouth shut.
Another few months and I’d have worked off enough of my parents’ debt to finally quit and get back to college like I’d been planning.
Just a little longer. Hold it together, Powers.
I took a deep breath, put on my best smile, and carried the tray of food to the table of guys who were the exact types that I dreaded serving at this time of night.
The men turned their attention to me.
“Finally,” the best looking of the group said. He flashed his gorgeous green eyes at me and grinned that cocky frat boy grin that I’d grown to hate since working at the restaurant this last year. “I thought we were going to have to kill the cow ourselves,” he continued, “and I’m hungry enough to do it, too.”
“Sorry for the delay,” I told him, handing the tray over, my smile dissipating.
Did he not see the huge line out the door? Was he dumb and entitled enough to think he was the only customer in the place?
Probably yes on both counts.
As I was thinking about his attitude and how much he embodied everything I despised—clearly handsome and cocky, never had to work or suffer a day in his life—I lost focus and bungled the handoff of all the food.
The tray capsized and although the green-eyed frat boy was able to catch most of it at the last second—even managing to snag the fries and keep the container upright with one hand—he couldn’t stop the milkshake from dumping all over me.
“Shit!” I yelled.
Some of his friends were snickering now and I felt my cheeks start to flush with embarrassment as I knelt down to pick up the half-empty cup off the ground. There was lots of vanilla milkshake on the floor, but a lot of it had gotten on my top, and even a few specks had sprayed my chin and cheeks.