Stacey wakes up with a migraine. She reaches for her bureau, once at it, pulls the first drawer and take out some medicines....pain killers. She was also burning up with fever.
She takes the glass of water that sat on her night stand. She puts the pain killer in her mouth and gulps it down with water.
She sits the empty glass down on the night stand. She lay back in bed staring at the ceiling before checking the time in her phone. It's 3:42am and she has approximately 4 more hours of sleep before she goes job hunting. It's weekend and she's trying to work on her project of saving money. She rolls her eyes and sigh.
She gets out of bed and walks downstairs to fix herself a meal. Mom was already up and was at it. She walked in on her mom when she was packing the food in their boxes so they don't get cold.
"Hey mamà." She says hugging her mom from behind.
"What are you doing up? And you're burning up. Have you taken pain killers?"
"Yes mamà, I came to make me some food. I'm hungry but you're already at it. You're so sweet mamà."
"Quick, go to the sofa and lie, I'll bring food to you shortly."
She disengages from the hug and walks out of the kitchen.
★★★★
Mom walks into the living room shortly with a plate of kimchi fried rice. She places it on the table and walks over to me with a bowl of water and a black towel submerged in it.
The aroma of the food saturated the place and my mouth was already starting to crave it. My stomach made a little noise and I'm sure it perceived the food and wanted it as much as my mouth did. Mom came closer and sat beside me with the bowl in her hands, my stomach kept rumbling and then I threw up, in front of her, good a thing I didn't throw up on her.
"I'm sorry mamà."
"You've had a hangover. You're a light head but you'll always finish up a bottle of tequila and make me clean up your mess!" Mom yells.
"Mom, people are still sleeping, you'll wake them. I'm sorry mamà."
"Always sorry but at the end you'd do it again."
Dad wasn't at home, he already went back to work some months ago and we haven't done thanksgiving yet.
Mom heaves a sigh of relief before assuring me that it's fine. She steps away from me and returns later with a mop and mop bucket filled with water. She submerged the mop in the water and drained it out, then she uses it to clean up my mess.
"Stacey, you're just 19! If you keep taking alcohol like this, you'll die sooner."
"It's not like alcohol kills, mamà." Mom glares at me and I whisper an apology to her.
She walks away with the items and returns couple of minutes later. She places her hand on my head, then my neck.
"Your temperature has dropped. You're still recovering from the hangover." She wrings out water from the towel and places it on my forehead.
"Mom."
She brings the food and starts to feed me.
"Not you cleaning up her mess again mom." Vaughn says.
"Yes mom, she's always getting drunk and you're always cleaning up her mess. She has to be responsible mommy." Gayle says.
"Hey! Get lost now!" I yell.
"Vaughn and Gayle...go to sleep now."
"Mom, you'd always support her and clean her mess and she's gonna keep drinking because at the end you'll clean it up and treat her like a baby." Vaughn says.
"What is it if I treat her like a baby?" Mom defends.
"You're spoiling her mamà." Gayle says.
Stacey was starting to feel terrible because she knows her siblings are telling the truth. She places her hand on her mom's shoulder, tapping her lightly.
"Mamà, it's true. I'm sorry. You don't have to defend me."
"Don't tell me you'd fall for that mom. Always getting drunk because of relationship issues! She can't just move on and let us have some peace. I'm tired of Cameron this, Cameron that, Jed this, Jed that and then she goes on drinking a whole bottle of tequila because she's depressed, take her to a therapist more still a mental asylum. I'm tired of the unending drama in this house." Vaughn says.
"I know I've been acting irresponsibly lately and I'm sorry about it. But that doesn't give you the right to talk to me anyhow Vaughn, I won't take it from you. And who said I'm depressed huh? If you don't want to listen to me when I speak of Jed and Cameron then close your ears! I don't need any therapist and I'm not going to any asylum! I'm not insane!" I yell and walk away with my food.
Vaughn is my younger brother, he's 15. Gayle's 17.
"I'm sorry Kel, but that's the truth." He says with his head bent low.
I brush past him to the stairs. Once in my room, I bolt the door and sit on the floor crying. I felt really bad for what I've been doing to mom and the family. Everything Vaughn said was true and I knew it deep down, I know he was hurt but I couldn't control it. Cameron made me become a shadow of myself. I drink a lot lately to forget my misery and while doing so, stress my pretty mom so much. I can't be drinking this much, Gayle and Vaughn are looking up to me and I've to be responsible. Whatever it is about Cameron and I, when it comes to family, I've to give it my all and not let my family see me as a hopeless idiot.
I wipe my tears moments later and start eating.
I place the empty dish on my bedside table and lay on the bed, thinking....staring at nothing in particular.
My alarm clock beeps, cutting me out of my thoughts. I sigh and stretch my hand and turn it off. I open my phone and go to my daily planner app to see what I've got for the day.
I was meant to visit the restaurant downtown. I step out of my clothes and carry my bathing materials with me to the bathroom.
I spend quality time in the bathroom and by the time I'm out, it's 8:02am. I get dressed under 30 minutes. I made sure I looked casual...not so casual though.
I was wearing a white flay skirt with crimson flowers on it and red off shoulder top with white petals on it, on my foot, I wore red flats and on my head, I wore a red beret. It's a French restaurant I'm going to so I felt I had to look French.
I step out of the house couple of seconds later with my rosy purse.
"Where are you going?" Mom asks.
"Ah, to a restaurant mamà, I want to apply for a job."
"No sweetie, I didn't mean it when I asked you to work, you can work after you've graduated, don't juggle work with school, just focus on your studies honey." Mom says.
"What are you talking about mamà?" I chuckle. "I'm doing this to ace my exams. I'm doing it for a project. See you later mamà."
"Project? What project?" She asks.
I walk over to her and place a kiss on her cheek. "It's a long story. I'll tell you about it during dinner" I say and clean the lipstick that was on her face after I kissed her.
I'm wearing a red lip gloss.
"Okay, break a leg!"
I smile at her before walking out the door.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
*At the restaurant*
I learnt a little bit of French to prepare for the interview. It's both a French and Spanish restaurant, but mainly a French restaurant. It's a five star restaurant, a fine dining at that.
I alight the taxi as I stood in front of the most popular restaurant in town....Golden palace. It has glass doors and glass windows, I could see inside the restaurant from where I stood outside. I walk into the restaurant and it emits this very beautiful scent. The place is very classy with high taste furnitures, the bulbs emitted lights that made the environ appear golden. It looks like a restaurant for rich classy people. I walk up to a waiter and speak about seeing the manager. He directs me to someone else who in turn takes me to the manager.
*In the manager's office*
It was a man (makes me wonder how many managers this restaurant has, last time I came to submit application, it was a lady).....I couldn't tell how old exactly or how he looked because his back was facing me. He turned around with a glass of wine in his hand. He's really handsome, he looks like he's in his late 20's or early 30's. Tall, broad shoulders, well chiseled face, arched brows, blue orbs...
"Please sit." He says and I get settled in front of him.
"Good morning, sir." I say nervously.
"Français s'il vous plait. Quel est votre nom? (French please, what's your name?)"
"Ah oui, je suis désolé. Je m'appelle Khelanie. (Ah yes, I'm sorry. My name is Khelanie)." I say with a bit of confidence.
"Quel âge as-tu ? (How old are you?)"
"J'ai 19 ans (I'm 19)."
"I went through your application and CV, I see you applied for the post of a waitress. I'll go easy on you considering you're in your finals."
I nod.
"Pourquoi veux-tu être serveuse ? (Why do you want to be a waitress?)" He asks leaning back on his chair.
I didn't study for this part and so I didn't know what to say as I didn't understand what he said. I felt so uneasy and I adjusted on my seat.
"Señor, no entiendo. (Sir, I don't understand)." I didn't know when that escaped my mouth, I replied Spanish to French.
"Dije, ¿por qué quieres ser camarera? (I said why do you want to be a waitress?)" He asks and I'm surprised he speaks Spanish too.
"Ah, monsieur. Amo y admiro a las camareras. Me encanta trabajar en restaurantes de alta cocina y atender a los clientes. Digamos que me gusta el servicio al cliente. (Ah, sir. I love and admire waitresses. I love working in fine dining restaurants and serving customers. Let's just say I'm into customer service)."
He gives me this judgy look.
"I won't ask any further questions. You look capable of carrying out your duties effectively."
"Si monsieur. (Yes sir). Does that mean I'm hired?" I ask with enthusiasm.
He looks at me for a while.
We talk about salary and agree at a reasonable amount. after which he walks over to a shelf and takes out a uniform set and hands it over to me.
""You're hired! You can start right away." I leave his office for the changing room so I could get started right away.