Order's Up!
Two
JACK
It wasn't my original plan when I woke up that morning that I would be going to Peter and Son's for burgers and fries with my mates, but since I had been cooped up in my room all break with my guitar, my mother suggested that I should go out with Zack and Rian. All I wanted to do was practice the chords to Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, a song I had been practicing since the end of the school year, but mom insisted, and I quote, "You need to get your lanky ass out of this house for a while and put down that dumb ass guitar of yours! Call up Rian and Zack!". My mom supports my endeavors one hundred percent, don't get me wrong, but she does get sick of me laying around and just playing chords all day.
We, as a trio, soon found ourselves at the small burger joint. It was pretty bombarded, but I soon connected it with being the lunch rush of the day. We entered the building to be greeted by a jumpy, shy, but absolutely cute little waiter. He must have been the "son" of Peter's and Son's because he blabbed on a greeting, he squeaked out that his name was son, but he soon corrected himself with his name. Alex, huh? That was a pretty cute name. Alex led us to the last table of the restaurant and gave us a minute to look over the menu. I looked through the menu, and since I wasn't craving this cuisine to begin with, I just settled on a shake and plain cheeseburger. I could hear Zack and Rian going crazy on their burger selections, but hey, if they were paying for their own crud, I wasn't complaining.
I looked up from the menu to find Alex speaking to a girl I recognized thanks to her brother, Jenna McDougall. Her brother was close to Zack since they did theater together, and he would sometimes chill with us. We hung out at his place only once in the times we've seen him, and that's how we met Jenna. Alex looked pretty fond of Jenna by the way he listened to her and gasped at the gossip she was mumbling on about. However, I soon had to snap my attention back to the menu I had already finished scanning because Alex was skipping back over to us. I gestured to him that Rian and Zack could order first since mine was a simple little cheeseburger and fries. As the ordered, though, I took it upon myself to look and examine the small framed boy in front of me. He was skinny like me, had medium length dark brown hair that touched the tips of his pierced ears, had bushy eyebrows like me, and when he spoke, you could hear a little hint of a British accent. He was the whole damn package, if you asked me; I wondered why I never saw him before. Maybe he went to Dulaney.
Soon, Alex was looking in my direction, and I made sure to shoot him a smirk to catch him off guard. It worked, for he squeaked like a mouse when he got to my attention. All I did was chuckle. "I'll just have a cheeseburger, no fries. I could go for a strawberry shake, though." Alex nodded quickly and was soon speeding off to take care of the order. I decided to pull out my phone to check my social media while I waited on our order. I had gotten maybe one stream of posts on my Facebook feed when I heard CRASH! My eyes shot up in horror.
To my discovery, Alex was sprawled out on the floor covered in burger guts, fries, and sauce. I couldn't believe my eyes! Everyone was staring, and my anger boiled when I heard Rian and Zack chuckling. I shot them a glare, but they didn't see it because they continued to snicker. I finally slammed my fist down when they tried taking footage. "Knock it off." I growled. Alex was aided up by his mom who was panicking; however, the British boy was so embarrassed that he stormed to the back of the restaurant. I felt horrible. I couldn't imagine what he was feeling to humiliate himself in front of a packed restaurant and to hear snickers of some of the patrons. Slowly, the restaurant filled back up with conversation, but from what I could tell, it was mostly concerns, jokes, or insults about Alex's unexpected performance.
Moments after the incident, Alex's mom strutted over with our order. Rian and Zack went to chowing down, but I got up and walked over to the counter shyly. "Um, excuse me?" I asked politely. His mom, who from her name tag told me her name was Isobel, turned to me with a raised brow.
"Yes? Is there something wrong with your order?" she asked in concern. I shook my head with a light smile.
"No, m'am. I was just, um, concerned for the waiter. Alex, is it? I wanted to make sure he was okay." Isobel smiled at my concern, probably thinking I was the only one who cared enough to step up and ask about his well being. She sighed.
"He's alright. I'm about to check up on him, actually." I nodded.
"Awesome. Just wanted to make sure." I assured before sitting back down in my booth to begin eating my food. Yet, as I began to eat, I felt eyes piercing me. I looked up to find Zack and Rian staring at me with pierced brows. I, in return, pierced mine. "What?"
"Did you really ask that old hag about the kid that just ate the pavement?" Zack asked with a full mouthed scoff. I was disgusted with my choice of friends at moments like this. I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, I fucking did. Is that an issue, Merrick? Caring about the well-being of someone?"
"You don't even know him!" Rian argued. Did they hear themselves right now?
"So fucking what?" I growled, slamming my food down. "Does that matter? If an old lady fell to the damn floor, I would have done the same. It's called caring and being polite. Common sense, douchebags." My anger was enough to make the two doofs shut their traps and stuff them with their food.
By the time we finished our meal, Alex was back out to the floor of the restaurant taking and giving out orders. I could see the dried tears on his cheeks, his eyes bloodshot. It made me frown. Rian and Zack had left the restaurant to get ready to hit the skate park that they were dragging me to. I knew Alex was busy jotting down an order, so I pulled a ten from my pocket and my travel pad. I scratched a letter on the note, folded it over the ten, and placed it under the ketchup bottle. I hurried out and waited by the large window to see if Alex would get my tip. I watched as Alex passed the table and slowed down, hesitantly taking the note and bill. He read the note with widened eyes.
We're all a little clumsy sometimes. You just make clumsy look cute.
Here's a tip from me to you.
- J
By the time Alex looked up to probably scold me for such a generous tip for a stupid reason, I was gone.
ALEX
Friday morning came strolling by, awakening me with my Blink-182 alarm tune. I reached over to shut off my alarm in a huff. I laid back down once the room was silent, looking up at my ceiling. I start thinking about the tip that Jack had left me. It was the sweetest gesture I had ever received in a long time, but I didn't understand why he would do something so sweet when all I was to him was a waiter. An awkward waiter who not only fucked up my greeting at the beginning of meeting him, but I also splattered all over the floor in front of an entire restaurant because of him distracting me with his beauty. I didn't deserve such a bountiful tip for such a performance, but I don't think I'd ever see him again, so I might as well cherish the extra ten bucks to my name.
I crawled out of bed and got dressed for my Friday to be spent back down in the hell hole. I slipped into my Neck Deep hoodie, my khaki skinny jeans, and put on my maroon yarn Neff beanie. I hurried downstairs for the opening of the restaurant, but pop's voice yanked me back. "Alexander?" I turned around in confusion.
"What? I'm about to go open up." I said. Pop came down to the same step I was, rubbing my shoulder.
"You're not opening today." I raised a brow.
"Huh?"
"Mum talked to me last night about how Jenna invited you to some play at the art school? Macbeth, was it?" My adrenaline was beginning to pump in brewing excitement. He smiled, his bushy mustache kissing his nose. "I decided to let you off the hook for today. You can have the day off, but it is coming out of your pay, so --" I didn't even want to hear the rest; I squealed and hugged him tight.
"Thank you, thank you! I'll go call Jenna and tell her I can go!" I kissed his cheek one more time before rushing upstairs. I passed mum, and before I could flee into my room, I gave her one wet smooch on the cheek. "Thanks!" I squealed before hurrying to my room to call Jenna.
Jenna and I sat away from her parents; not too far, anyway. We sat just two rows ahead of them. They insisted we sit away from the "nerds", and all we could do was laugh and find ourselves seats close enough to where they could still see us from a distance. I was looking through the pamphlet of good luck advertisements and the cast list when Jenna nudged my shoulder. I perked up, and when I saw the direction she was looking at, my eyes widened. There sat Jack and Rian in the front row, most likely there to support Zack since he was playing the part of Banquo. "There's your boyfriend." Jenna winked. I gasped and shoved her back.
"He's not my boyfriend, Jen!"
"Oh, please! He wants to be since he called you cute and paid ten dollars for your services." She wiggled her brows at her foul joke. I scoffed and leaned back in my seat. The show soon began, and as I listened, I couldn't help but have my eyes wander over to where Jack was sitting. He was watching contently, and to my surprise, he was reciting the damn play under his breath! A literature junkie, huh. His red hair stuck out like a sore thumb due to the bright lighting of the stage, but it brought out something in me that was sickening. The butterflies in my stomach were going on a frenzy, my mouth over salivating from it. This boy was going to be the death of me, I swear.
So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.
The final lines of the tragedy were read, the curtain closed, and the lights flickered on. All at once, everyone and their mothers went fleeing out of the auditorium and out to the lobby to meet with the cast. Me, on the other hand, said my farewells to Jenna before deciding on walking home alone. It was still early -- 4 o'clock, so I decided that I would go home and maybe work on some of my electric guitar exercises for band before school started in a couple of months. As I rummaged through my draw string bag to get out my earbuds, I heard someone calling from behind me, "Hey, hey!" I turned to see, oh my God! Jack Barakat was running towards me, waving his skinny hand. I stepped dead in my tracks. I was frozen, my hand still stuffed into the bag but not moving an inch. He smiled as he halted in front of me. "Hey, you're Alex, right? The kid from the restaurant the other day?" All I could do was nod. "You get my tip?" he smirked.
"U-Um, yeah! I did." I managed to squeak out. "You really didn't have to give me that... All I did was take your order. I mean, I could have gotten your order, but I kind of, well, you know what happened." I could feel my cheeks redden the more he stood and listened. Jack chuckled softly.
"Yeah, I asked your mom if you were okay, and when I saw you come out, I was relieved. I thought you were going to run yourself out of town!" His joke made me giggle and look down shyly. "Well," he sighed, "my friends are probably waiting for me. Text me sometime, yeah? We should hang out." Jack then handed me a wrinkled post it note before running back inside to probably meet up with Zack and Rian. I stared at the post it note which had his digits scribbled on it and that same "- J" at the bottom right corner of the sticky note. I stuck in my pocket quickly, snatched up my head phones, shoved them in my ears, and hurried home.
My house was quiet since mum and pop were occupying the restaurant downstairs. I went into my room and decided to blast my Neck Deep record instead of practicing guitar; I had all summer to practice. As I plopped in bed, I pulled out my phone and punched Jack's number into my contacts. I debated on texting him right then and there, not wanting to be needy. However, I ruled out that maybe he wanted to hear from me soon, so I wrote up a text before hopping to our kitchen to get a snack.
To Jack :
Hey, it's the cute clumsy waiter. ;)
It wasn't my original plan when I woke up that morning that I would be going to Peter and Son's for burgers and fries with my mates, but since I had been cooped up in my room all break with my guitar, my mother suggested that I should go out with Zack and Rian. All I wanted to do was practice the chords to Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, a song I had been practicing since the end of the school year, but mom insisted, and I quote, "You need to get your lanky ass out of this house for a while and put down that dumb ass guitar of yours! Call up Rian and Zack!". My mom supports my endeavors one hundred percent, don't get me wrong, but she does get sick of me laying around and just playing chords all day.
We, as a trio, soon found ourselves at the small burger joint. It was pretty bombarded, but I soon connected it with being the lunch rush of the day. We entered the building to be greeted by a jumpy, shy, but absolutely cute little waiter. He must have been the "son" of Peter's and Son's because he blabbed on a greeting, he squeaked out that his name was son, but he soon corrected himself with his name. Alex, huh? That was a pretty cute name. Alex led us to the last table of the restaurant and gave us a minute to look over the menu. I looked through the menu, and since I wasn't craving this cuisine to begin with, I just settled on a shake and plain cheeseburger. I could hear Zack and Rian going crazy on their burger selections, but hey, if they were paying for their own crud, I wasn't complaining.
I looked up from the menu to find Alex speaking to a girl I recognized thanks to her brother, Jenna McDougall. Her brother was close to Zack since they did theater together, and he would sometimes chill with us. We hung out at his place only once in the times we've seen him, and that's how we met Jenna. Alex looked pretty fond of Jenna by the way he listened to her and gasped at the gossip she was mumbling on about. However, I soon had to snap my attention back to the menu I had already finished scanning because Alex was skipping back over to us. I gestured to him that Rian and Zack could order first since mine was a simple little cheeseburger and fries. As the ordered, though, I took it upon myself to look and examine the small framed boy in front of me. He was skinny like me, had medium length dark brown hair that touched the tips of his pierced ears, had bushy eyebrows like me, and when he spoke, you could hear a little hint of a British accent. He was the whole damn package, if you asked me; I wondered why I never saw him before. Maybe he went to Dulaney.
Soon, Alex was looking in my direction, and I made sure to shoot him a smirk to catch him off guard. It worked, for he squeaked like a mouse when he got to my attention. All I did was chuckle. "I'll just have a cheeseburger, no fries. I could go for a strawberry shake, though." Alex nodded quickly and was soon speeding off to take care of the order. I decided to pull out my phone to check my social media while I waited on our order. I had gotten maybe one stream of posts on my Facebook feed when I heard CRASH! My eyes shot up in horror.
To my discovery, Alex was sprawled out on the floor covered in burger guts, fries, and sauce. I couldn't believe my eyes! Everyone was staring, and my anger boiled when I heard Rian and Zack chuckling. I shot them a glare, but they didn't see it because they continued to snicker. I finally slammed my fist down when they tried taking footage. "Knock it off." I growled. Alex was aided up by his mom who was panicking; however, the British boy was so embarrassed that he stormed to the back of the restaurant. I felt horrible. I couldn't imagine what he was feeling to humiliate himself in front of a packed restaurant and to hear snickers of some of the patrons. Slowly, the restaurant filled back up with conversation, but from what I could tell, it was mostly concerns, jokes, or insults about Alex's unexpected performance.
Moments after the incident, Alex's mom strutted over with our order. Rian and Zack went to chowing down, but I got up and walked over to the counter shyly. "Um, excuse me?" I asked politely. His mom, who from her name tag told me her name was Isobel, turned to me with a raised brow.
"Yes? Is there something wrong with your order?" she asked in concern. I shook my head with a light smile.
"No, m'am. I was just, um, concerned for the waiter. Alex, is it? I wanted to make sure he was okay." Isobel smiled at my concern, probably thinking I was the only one who cared enough to step up and ask about his well being. She sighed.
"He's alright. I'm about to check up on him, actually." I nodded.
"Awesome. Just wanted to make sure." I assured before sitting back down in my booth to begin eating my food. Yet, as I began to eat, I felt eyes piercing me. I looked up to find Zack and Rian staring at me with pierced brows. I, in return, pierced mine. "What?"
"Did you really ask that old hag about the kid that just ate the pavement?" Zack asked with a full mouthed scoff. I was disgusted with my choice of friends at moments like this. I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, I fucking did. Is that an issue, Merrick? Caring about the well-being of someone?"
"You don't even know him!" Rian argued. Did they hear themselves right now?
"So fucking what?" I growled, slamming my food down. "Does that matter? If an old lady fell to the damn floor, I would have done the same. It's called caring and being polite. Common sense, douchebags." My anger was enough to make the two doofs shut their traps and stuff them with their food.
By the time we finished our meal, Alex was back out to the floor of the restaurant taking and giving out orders. I could see the dried tears on his cheeks, his eyes bloodshot. It made me frown. Rian and Zack had left the restaurant to get ready to hit the skate park that they were dragging me to. I knew Alex was busy jotting down an order, so I pulled a ten from my pocket and my travel pad. I scratched a letter on the note, folded it over the ten, and placed it under the ketchup bottle. I hurried out and waited by the large window to see if Alex would get my tip. I watched as Alex passed the table and slowed down, hesitantly taking the note and bill. He read the note with widened eyes.
We're all a little clumsy sometimes. You just make clumsy look cute.
Here's a tip from me to you.
- J
By the time Alex looked up to probably scold me for such a generous tip for a stupid reason, I was gone.
ALEX
Friday morning came strolling by, awakening me with my Blink-182 alarm tune. I reached over to shut off my alarm in a huff. I laid back down once the room was silent, looking up at my ceiling. I start thinking about the tip that Jack had left me. It was the sweetest gesture I had ever received in a long time, but I didn't understand why he would do something so sweet when all I was to him was a waiter. An awkward waiter who not only fucked up my greeting at the beginning of meeting him, but I also splattered all over the floor in front of an entire restaurant because of him distracting me with his beauty. I didn't deserve such a bountiful tip for such a performance, but I don't think I'd ever see him again, so I might as well cherish the extra ten bucks to my name.
I crawled out of bed and got dressed for my Friday to be spent back down in the hell hole. I slipped into my Neck Deep hoodie, my khaki skinny jeans, and put on my maroon yarn Neff beanie. I hurried downstairs for the opening of the restaurant, but pop's voice yanked me back. "Alexander?" I turned around in confusion.
"What? I'm about to go open up." I said. Pop came down to the same step I was, rubbing my shoulder.
"You're not opening today." I raised a brow.
"Huh?"
"Mum talked to me last night about how Jenna invited you to some play at the art school? Macbeth, was it?" My adrenaline was beginning to pump in brewing excitement. He smiled, his bushy mustache kissing his nose. "I decided to let you off the hook for today. You can have the day off, but it is coming out of your pay, so --" I didn't even want to hear the rest; I squealed and hugged him tight.
"Thank you, thank you! I'll go call Jenna and tell her I can go!" I kissed his cheek one more time before rushing upstairs. I passed mum, and before I could flee into my room, I gave her one wet smooch on the cheek. "Thanks!" I squealed before hurrying to my room to call Jenna.
Jenna and I sat away from her parents; not too far, anyway. We sat just two rows ahead of them. They insisted we sit away from the "nerds", and all we could do was laugh and find ourselves seats close enough to where they could still see us from a distance. I was looking through the pamphlet of good luck advertisements and the cast list when Jenna nudged my shoulder. I perked up, and when I saw the direction she was looking at, my eyes widened. There sat Jack and Rian in the front row, most likely there to support Zack since he was playing the part of Banquo. "There's your boyfriend." Jenna winked. I gasped and shoved her back.
"He's not my boyfriend, Jen!"
"Oh, please! He wants to be since he called you cute and paid ten dollars for your services." She wiggled her brows at her foul joke. I scoffed and leaned back in my seat. The show soon began, and as I listened, I couldn't help but have my eyes wander over to where Jack was sitting. He was watching contently, and to my surprise, he was reciting the damn play under his breath! A literature junkie, huh. His red hair stuck out like a sore thumb due to the bright lighting of the stage, but it brought out something in me that was sickening. The butterflies in my stomach were going on a frenzy, my mouth over salivating from it. This boy was going to be the death of me, I swear.
So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.
The final lines of the tragedy were read, the curtain closed, and the lights flickered on. All at once, everyone and their mothers went fleeing out of the auditorium and out to the lobby to meet with the cast. Me, on the other hand, said my farewells to Jenna before deciding on walking home alone. It was still early -- 4 o'clock, so I decided that I would go home and maybe work on some of my electric guitar exercises for band before school started in a couple of months. As I rummaged through my draw string bag to get out my earbuds, I heard someone calling from behind me, "Hey, hey!" I turned to see, oh my God! Jack Barakat was running towards me, waving his skinny hand. I stepped dead in my tracks. I was frozen, my hand still stuffed into the bag but not moving an inch. He smiled as he halted in front of me. "Hey, you're Alex, right? The kid from the restaurant the other day?" All I could do was nod. "You get my tip?" he smirked.
"U-Um, yeah! I did." I managed to squeak out. "You really didn't have to give me that... All I did was take your order. I mean, I could have gotten your order, but I kind of, well, you know what happened." I could feel my cheeks redden the more he stood and listened. Jack chuckled softly.
"Yeah, I asked your mom if you were okay, and when I saw you come out, I was relieved. I thought you were going to run yourself out of town!" His joke made me giggle and look down shyly. "Well," he sighed, "my friends are probably waiting for me. Text me sometime, yeah? We should hang out." Jack then handed me a wrinkled post it note before running back inside to probably meet up with Zack and Rian. I stared at the post it note which had his digits scribbled on it and that same "- J" at the bottom right corner of the sticky note. I stuck in my pocket quickly, snatched up my head phones, shoved them in my ears, and hurried home.
My house was quiet since mum and pop were occupying the restaurant downstairs. I went into my room and decided to blast my Neck Deep record instead of practicing guitar; I had all summer to practice. As I plopped in bed, I pulled out my phone and punched Jack's number into my contacts. I debated on texting him right then and there, not wanting to be needy. However, I ruled out that maybe he wanted to hear from me soon, so I wrote up a text before hopping to our kitchen to get a snack.
To Jack :
Hey, it's the cute clumsy waiter. ;)
Notes
Bree is pretty busy today, and I had hella muse to write, so I wrote up another chapter in both POV's! Bree will be writing the next one unless she's busy again. Then, I'll write up another for you guys.
I am loving the fact we have already four votes and almost ten subscribers like WHAT! That's amazing, guys! Tysm <333
Until next time!
krys xoxo
love itttt
1/14/17