This must be probably the fourth time she'd be looking at herself in the mirror and still all she was faced with was the reflection of the tiny, golden hair girl she was with nothing special.
She sighed and straightened her black dress which stop right below her knee. It was just a normal A-line dress.
Quickly, she grabbed her quilted bad on her bag, fully assured that the necessary things she would be needing were present in there.
One last glance at the mirror, she decided she was ready to leave, then she bounced on her sneakers out of the room. Taking a deep breath, she walked down the stairs.
"Nana!" she called.
Few seconds later, the snowy hair woman popped her head out from the kitchen's door. Her honey brown eyes took in the girl's dress even though she wasn't all giving her full details of herself, as she paced from the fireplace to the dining table.
Gracie hummed in relief when she found what she was looking for.
"Aren't you leaving too early, thought the shift is by six." Grandma Lily questioned.
"Nope, Nana, I'm suppose to be early. Punctuality is the key." She moaned loud enough for her Granny to hear as she struggling to wear the necklace she found. She hardly leave the house without it. Nana said it was a memory of her mother.
Punctuality was something the both of them took serious.
"Yeah... you're right. C'mere." She moved towards her granddaughter and helped her with the necklace.
With her blonde hair swung to a side, Grandma Lily did the hook and slowly zipped the black dress accurately. She rotated the girl to face her. Her worried brown eyes met those brilliant green of Gracie. Her acne hands cupped Gracie's small face.
"Come home before midnight." Grandma Lily might be quite old but she still had some features of a young soul.
"I will" Gracie whispered and kissed her nana's forehead.
No further ados, she left the woman and strode to the door to pick the umbrella. She spared Grandma Lily one last look. Grandma Lily smiled at and whispered 'Love you'. Gracie nudged and slithered her way out of the house.
"Maybe, I should get a cat to keep my company in times like this." Grandma Lily exhaled.
***
Tori was right, the restaurant was the only one in downtown. She just wondered how she never knew of this place and yet it was easy to locate. Even located in same street as her nana's church.
She could see everyone in the building for outside because of the transparent glass. The diner was really fancy, maybe after tonight she could try and apply for more shifts and babysitter few kids in the weekend for extra bucks.
As she ogled from outside, she got sight of a boy in apron. Definitely in her age range and he checked his wristwatch every second like he was waiting for something or someone. Immediately, she realized that he was Ron and he was expecting her.
"Oh my." She sucked in.
She rushed in through the glass door and locked eyes with the cute boy, he seemed to be relieved seeing her. Hurriedly, she marched to to the counter.
"Hi, I'm Gra-"
"Gracie. Vicky told me about you, she even sent a photo." He showed her a photo of her on him phone and dropped it back in his pocket. He smirked at her.
Gracie thought it was weird the way he smiled at her, so she called his attention off. "To- I mean Vicky, she said you needed a replacement." She arched her brows, awaiting his reply.
"Oh! That's right. You're such a lifesaver, my dad can be really mean sometimes and you'd hardly find people from our school who can do this." Gracie watched him as he scratched the back of his head.
"So, to get started with, Pat and Helen will be assisting you. Helen is the cook as she closes when you close and Pat does the delivery, he probably be back anytime soon. You can say hi to Helen." He moved aside, revealing a middle age woman in a similar apron with him. She was old enough to mother her. Gracie gave a shy wave at the woman who smile coyly in return.
"Hmm... It would be preferable if you would call her Mrs. Adam."
"Ahem, I don't think that would be a problem." She replied looking at the kitchen which was attached to the building and had similar painting with the blue shade of the inner part. Gracie thought the wallpaper was cool, considering that it was not just a restaurant but an ice cream parlor combined. She saw the freezer behind Ron on his right side.
"Okay. All you need to do is the duty of a waitress, get the customers order and-"
"I know." She caught the boy off. If she had not done this before, she had watched severe movies.
Gracie knew she wasn't comfortable with his baby blue eyes on her, they looked harmless and sweet but she wanted him to stop gazing and tell more things she needed to know.
"Anything else I need to know?" she asked softly.
"Ahemmm, it's just... my father likes it when customers are treated with respect, he fired lot of people that had customers complaining- I think I must leave now." He said.
Gracie looked back as she saw the hurry in his eyes. A fancy car was parked out and two identical people from school occupied the seat. She never thought the twins could look even more pretty in dress that was not uniform. One was in a cream dress or top as she could only see their upper body and the other wore peach color which almost rhymes with her twin.
They waved. And she waved back, not knowing who is who. They were Jenny and Sheila Porter to her.
"What's up Gracie! Get your ugly ass here, ugly boy!" One of the twin blasted in the air. Her voice louder than the car's music.
Gracie turned back to the boy, only to see him removing his apron. She watched with eagerness.
After removing the fabric, he didn't look at her, rather he jumped over the counter and earned a gasp from Gracie.
She moved a bit back as he stood tall in her front. He smelt nice also but a bit of kitchen.
"I guess this is where I hand over to you." He put the apron on her neck, unconsciously she examined his face and discovered some features she didn't notice before like how small his lips were, how overshadowing his nose sat and that he had few moles in his face.
"Will is an asshole." He whispered and lingered his look on her before he finally disappeared.
Unable to describe how she felt, her body seized and her throat dried up. It was when Mrs. Adam yelled at her to drive her out of her thought.
"You better get yourself in here and start working for what you'll be paid for."
She jolted as she was forced to locate the entrance to the bar at the corner of the room. As she entered the place, she decided to drop her bad and umbrella at the side but Mrs. Adam stopped her and led her to the locker where the employees put their stuffs.
She unlocked one of the locker and threw her luggage in, she closed it back.
She leered knowing now that it wasn't everyone that believed the video and criticized her. Ron was with her. Instinctively, she started playing with her necklace pendant, touching the love shaped object that had a look like with gold and easy sparkles at sight of light. An image of the past flashed in her head and she closed her eyes and panted.
It's all your fault, you slut!
"Get out." She murmured to herself.
Without warning or bell jingling, she heard the glass door opened followed by low snickered.
She sighed.
Why do customers have to start coming in now? She thought to herself.
On twirling to the source of the noise, she experience one hell of a shock.
What were the DEN doing here?