He held up his hands in defeat, softly chuckling. “I’m just headed to the bar. Need a clean rag.” He used the hand holding three mugs to point to the cloth in his other hand.
I turned away from him. “Ugh, I hate him,” I mouthed to myself. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I stomped off. Throughout the entire night he was on top of me. When I was on the floor, he was cleaning tables around me. When I was ordering from the bar, he was cleaning the bar next to me. I was fully expecting the other girls to complain to Joe about him during the night’s meeting if they haven’t already started. Therefore, I didn’t have to worry about him much longer.
I rolled my eyes at Myra as she passed by me. She knew the message I was trying to portray. She provided an all-knowing smile.
I approached the bar and spilled out my orders.
“Three flaming Dr. Peppers,” he interjected.
“What?”
“You asked for two, but you need three.”
I rolled my eyes and ordered the third shot. “There are other waitresses for you to harass.”
A devious smirk pulled at his lips. I wanted nothing more than to devour those beautiful lips. “What? You don’t want my help?”
“Whatever.”
“Vanessa, I’m hurt.” He did not sound hurt at all.
“I see you already know my name. What’s yours?” My tone was short and precise. I didn’t want to give him the impression I wanted to know his name, even though I was chomping at the bit to know. This guy drove me crazy in more ways than one.
He stopped and turned back to face me. His expression was full of hurt and agony.
I could not figure him out. He infinitely frustrated me in so many ways. I sensed that I deeply understood him, but I couldn’t bring myself to accept it. In reality, I didn’t know him at all. I was at battle with myself. I waited, but he said nothing in return.
“If we are going to be working together, I need to know how to address you. Do you want me calling you ‘Hey, you’ all night long?”
“I was really hoping that you were already familiar with my name. If not, then I am restraining myself for absolutely nothing.” He audibly exhaled.
“Perfect…” he whispered, clearing his throat. His expression was carefree and flirtatious, but his tone was the opposite. His eyes were roaming around uncomfortably, as if he was looking for someone.
I wasn’t sure I wanted the end of his comment decoded. “No one has told me your name yet,” I informed him in a straightforward manner.
“Demien,” he finally said, not in a rude way, just disappointed.
“Well, Demien, other waitresses need your help.” I finished loading the tray as I left.
He seemed to have listened for an entire minute before he was back on me. I ignored him for the most part.
During the meeting, Demien stood on my right. I pretended not to notice. Myra stood to my left, scrutinizing our every move. I could hear her thoughts as clearly as if she were shouting them at me.
All the girls were staring at him with puppy dog eyes. The girls acted like they were under a spell or something. Where were the hate-filled demon comments? It was as if they didn’t remember all the drama over him. The waitresses were known around town as the wolf pack, because once they banned together on something they were relentless and merciless. How could they not remember the terrible things they had said about him? Strange things were afoot.
I couldn’t concentrate on Joe. I was too uncomfortable standing near Demien. He was scary and strange. He made me feel uncomfortable and ignited flames within all at the same time. Since I met him, he constantly stared at me like he was expecting something out of the ordinary to happen. It was almost as if he were searching for something that he thought should be written on my face. I didn’t like him, and he hadn’t made a good impression at any point in time. I audibly exhaled as I frowned. I really wished that were true. I was uncomfortable, but for a very, very different reason.
The next few days went by fairly uneventfully. I couldn’t wait for Halloween to be over. The holiday, if you want to call it that, freaked me out. I had to dodge zombies and angels of death just to get to work every damn day. I hated it. Demien seemed to follow me around work most of the time. Every time I turned around; he would be close to me. I ignored him with as much willpower as I could conjure up, except for the numerous times I stole sneak peeks. Too many times to count, I caught him staring at me. A few times, Myra had caught me in the midst of a steamy daydream, staring at the mysterious stranger. Okay, she caught me a lot.
Finally, the arrival of the day before Halloween, or Hallows Eve as some people liked to call it, had arrived. The decorations would be coming down in a couple of days. I couldn’t be more excited. In my mind, the countdown to the decorations coming down had started. My shift was busy but uneventful. I
