Izzy sighed as the bell over the diner door rang out for the fifth time in the past two minutes.
'Busy night,' she thought, putting her drawing down as she saw from the corner of her eye a pair who had just entered, backs turned to her, made their way to one of her assigned tables. She groaned lightly at having to leave the comfort of the warm kitchen. She liked her perch in the kitchen since it gave her an unobstructed view of her section of the diner and allowed her to 'people-watch' without being creepy. Izzy straightened her uniform and pasted on her waitress smile and went to greet them.
Without looking up at them, she pulled out her notepad and asked, "How may I help you folks, tonight?"
"Well, for one, you can tell us why our best friend hasn't answered her phone all day," a familiar voice chirped from the booth.
Izzy's fake smile melted into a genuine laugh as she was pulled down next to one of her best friends, Snow. They had been friends since grade school when Izzy punched a boy in the face for making fun of Snow's name. She was a petite girl with long blonde hair and big, green eyes that sparkled in the light. She often was compared to a Disney princess. Most people wrote her off as ditzy because she zoned out sometimes and liked to be alone in nature, with just her thoughts and the animals. But she was one of the smartest people at their high school and was about to graduate with a perfect 4.0. She also had a photographic memory so when she saw something, she couldn't ever forget it. The only reason she wasn't on her way to an Ivy League school was from her adamant belief that college was a scam and she rather learn from life experiences than a textbook.
"Actually," another voice from the opposite side of the booth chimed in, slightly deeper than Snow's melodic voice, "I would like the bacon cheeseburger with fries, no mayo though, please,"
Izzy met the dancing eyes of Aarushi, who had her perpetual smirk etched on her face. Izzy laughed at Aarushi's wink at her, enjoying and appreciating her friend's company. Last night with her father had been particularly rough. She had to stay up late to try and convince the water company to not shut off the water, but then finding out that her father hadn't paid the bill for the last three months even though he had promised he would.'Just a typical Saturday night at the Page house.' But sitting around with her friends, even for this brief moment, made all the weight she was forced to carry on her shoulder just disappear for a while.
"Hilarious, Aarushi. Anyways, what are y'all even doing here? Roberto's going to have a hernia if he sees me sitting here and talking to you," Izzy glanced around the retro-themed diner in search of her boss, as if talking about him would somehow conjure him into existence.
"Relax Izzy," Snow put her arm around her shoulders, "We already took care of your boss,"
Izzy snorted out a laugh, "Okay, Don Vito, I still have another three hours left to work,"
Snow laughed at the 'Godfather' reference, the group's favorite movie, while Aarushi rolled her eyes, "We're not complete idiots, Iz. I promised to slide Roberto free lotto tickets for the next month if he lets you off early the next couple of days,"
Izzy, wide-eyed, turned to Snow for confirmation. She just shrugged but her small smile gave Izzy her answer.
"Te amore!" Izzy hugged both of them quickly and ran to change out of her dumb bright yellow uniform all the waitresses had to wear. On her way to the back, someone towards the front of the diner caught her attention. She saw a tall dark figure with familiar dark, ocean blue eyes trained on her.
Drake Lance.
Izzy noticed him the first time he walked into the diner two years ago. He had appeared one night sitting at one of her tables, the fluorescent lighting making his dark skin shine and catching in his unusually light eyes. Their eyes had met for a mere moment but her entire existence seemed rocked by just looking at him and an intense longing hit her full force, stealing her breath away. She had accidentally tripped and spilled coffee on some poor customer at the sight of him. He had helped her clean up the mess and Izzy, even though she was beyond mortified that was his first impression of her, has had a steady growing crush on him ever since. And she had reason to believe he might feel the same since he always sat in her section and she was the only one privy to his rare, breathtaking smile. She was growing confused by the conflicting messages he sent sometimes. Her eighteenth birthday was soon, which he knew since she had told him, so perhaps he was waiting for that, afraid she would reject his advances. He was twenty-two, after all. But her instincts told her it was something more than that.
They had formed an unspoken agreement. Drake looked out for her at the diner during her shift, and she slid him an extra slice of pie she would make just for him. Drake stayed until her shift was over some days and helped her close up, one time even scaring off some creep who couldn't take no for an answer. Izzy might have called it borderline stalking if his commanding presence didn't feel so reassuring.
Plus, he was hot.
"Hey," a deep voice rumbled from in front of her.
Izzy startled. She had been too busy daydreaming and staring like an idiot, she hadn't even heard him approach.
"Hola, Drake," she managed to get out, adjusting her large-framed glasses.
His full mouth turned up slightly, the closest he ever got to smiling in public, "You leaving early, Isabel?"
Usually, she despised it when anyone called her Isabel. It was her mother's name and she hated the connection the name had to that woman. However, she liked the way her full name sounded when he said it.
"Yeah, my friends managed to convince Roberto to let me off early today,"
He nodded, his curly black hair falling a bit in front of his eyes, "Then I won't stick around tonight. I have some things to take care of at the shop anyway," He quirked an eyebrow, "Are you and your friends going to able to stay out of trouble, Isabel?"
Izzy scoffed, relaxing a little at his joke, "That was one time!"
'God, you accidentally get caught spray-painting an abandoned building once and you never hear the end of it!'
Drake's eyes flashed and amusement danced over his features as he turned to leave.
"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Izzy chuckled.
Drake turned around and continued walking backward as he simply replied, "Nope,"
Izzy scoffed while Drake turned back around with a wink, raised a tattooed hand in goodbye, then was gone.
She took a few deep breaths and tried hard to squash down the butterflies that always erupted in her stomach from being around him. She reveled in the way Drake always made her feel lighter whenever she talked to him. Then, slowly, she headed to the back to change. She grabbed her actual clothes, a cute little gray cropped sweatshirt, and her black jean shorts. After changing out of the uniform, she turned to look at herself in the mirror, taking in her unusual green eyes and the dark lashes that encompassed them. Sometimes, when she looked at her tan skin and long curly hair, she wondered how the hell people believed that a white man with short red hair and a white woman with dirty brown hair could possibly make a Mexican, green-eyed girl. She rolled her eyes at the lie. Her parents told everyone she was theirs even with the glaring evidence that she was in fact adopted. Why they chose to adopt a kid when neither of them was fit to even look after themselves, her mom leaving on her eighth birthday and her dad not able to survive more than four hours without alcohol in his system, was beyond her comprehension. She smiled ruefully at the irony, took one last look at her curvy reflection, then went to meet her friends at the front.