97: Waitresses and dresses.

KIKI.

It had been past a week since I finally succeeded at resigning at the Callisto’s and I had managed to immediately get a job at a fancy restaurant around the same axis. It had been a peaceful job so far. Even though it was stressful.

But then what job wasn’t stressful to do anyways… This one definitely was tough.

Even though it had been hard for me to get Giovanni off my mind after resigning, it was somewhat worth it, there was absolutely no reason to keep staying in a space I wasn’t respected, one that was not going to yield any positive result at the end of the day even.

When I had suddenly showed up within the new replacement at his office, he had been so shocked that it felt like he had seen a ghost and I just had to laugh at his reaction, immediately I made sure that the replacement was settled and had gotten a hang of the job she was there for, I disappeared as soon as possible even though I knew that he was definitely in an heated argument with Matteo after that.

“Kiki, go and tend to table twelve, we have new customers there.” One of my colleagues said to me as I fought the urge to roll my eyes. That girl has been sending me on errands for days now and I really do not want to show them that I do not take shit like this, at least not yet.

So I walked towards the table with my pen, jotter and the menu list, ready to get to work.

“Good morning sirs… and…” I started but was cut off as soon as I looked up at them and saw who it was that I had been assigned to.

Giovanni.

I had not seen him for merely days yet I was struck anew by his good looks. His the gangling figure which is normally smoothed and tailored by success looked tired, he carried his height with easy self assurance and the green eyes – which he knew so well how to use – held a basic wariness. His hair, frosted now with a little blonde tips, was still thick with an unruliness that expensive cutting hadn’t completely disciplined. It added to the attractiveness, hinting at an untamed individuality which was far removed from the tedium of conventional male good looks.

He sat back in his chair with that usual authoritative demeanor like he owned the room, and I despised him because he imemdiately made me feel weak. He finally looked up at me, and our eyes met. I blushed, and was infuriated. His lips curled into a smile – I was sure he was mocking me – and then he broke away to look at the street out the window.

I looked around him to see that he had been surrounded by Matteo, some unfamiliar men who was obviously investors and then Fifi, my sister.

Matteo nodded at me even when Giovanni himself had acted like I was invisible, while Fifi looked up at me with so much disgust that you would think that had human waste on me.

Oh, so even after that scenario where he broke up with her, they were still together. What a joke.

“Are you here to look at us or are you here to take orders, waitress?” Fifi asked in her usual demeaning tone and I quickly snapped out of it.

“I’m sorry ma’am. What can I get you all for now, please?” I questioned as politely as possible with a fake smile plastered on my face even though what I really wanted to do was pull their hairs out.

They all told me the drinks and wines they wanted first and then after going through the menus in front of them, they chose foods too, all except Giovanni who went for red wine only.

I went back to behind the counter to relay their every needs to the chefs and bar managers, even as I kept looking at their table at intervals. My eyes caught how Fiorella kept holding Giovanni’s arms and how he looked comfortable about it. He looked up towards my direction and our eyes met briefly before I quickly averted mine.

I had to act like I had moved on and was over him not stare at him like I was still obsessed.

I started to take their drinks to them one by one and when it got to Giovanni’s turn, out of habit, I help him pour it into his wine cup and then said, “You should eat before taking wine sir, have you even eaten anything today?”

The silence that engulfed the table was deafening as soon as I said that and I caught the smile on Giovanni’s face. “Uh… how do you speak like you know him so well,” one of the investors asked, curious.

“Oh, uh… she used to work for me.” Giovanni responded casually.

Fiorella was obviously not happy with what I had just done as she scowled and glared at me. I went back to get her own drink and while I placed it in front her, she suddenly dragged the tablecloth thus making the drink spill all over her dress. We immediately gathered attention as everyone looked in our direction.

“What the hell is this?” Fifi immediately stood up dramatically.

“I’m so sorry ma’am.” I kept on apologizing to her but she was obviously not having it.

“Sorry? Where the hell is the manager for this place? Who employs such slow clumsy idiots as waitresses, huh? Do you even know how much this dress costs? Oh, how would you even know? You probably make that money in years, you poverty striken bitch!” She went on and on and soon, the manager was right here trying to calm the situation.

Matteo tried to calm Fifi while Giovanni remained seated watching the exchange.

“We are so sorry ma’am. We are going to compensate you by making sure this food is free, for the whole table.” The manager said.

“Do I look hungry to you? Free food? That’s it? Your food can’t even pay for this dress, are you dumb?” Fiorella said adamantly.

My manager immediately faced me as he glared at me so harshly, “you’re definitely fired after this.” He said to me.

I caught the smirk on Fiorella’s lips and I simply scoffed.

Just when I thought, it was not going to go down anytime soon, Giovanni finally stood up to speak.

“It’s okay, manager. You don’t have to fire her, it’s not her mistake, it’s HER mistake.” He said pointing towards Fiorella who stared at him in shock.

“My fault?” She asked in such dumb and retarded manner

“Just let it go already, I’ll get you two of those dresses, let’s leave, I know that you’ll continue to act up just because she’s here.” He said as he took his suit jacket and proceeded to leave, his hands brushed mine for a longer time than necessary that it almost seemed intentional.

My skin tingled where he touched me and my heart beat erratically in my chest so hard that I thought it might fly out. There were butterflies – no, lions – in my chest, but it felt good.

I finally admitted to myself what I knew all along, but was too afraid to admit it: I love him. A lot. And I wanted to be with him.