Olivia braced herself against the edge of a table in the kitchen, as she heaved a heavy sigh of fatigue. She had been working for several hours unend. It was a busy evening at the Grand View hotel, one of the busiest Olivia had ever experienced in all her four years of working as a waitress at the hotel. A renowned foundation in the country was hosting a fundraiser at the hotel, and everyone who was someone within and around New York was in attendance. Billionaires and business owners, celebrities from the entertainment industry and even some international big names were in present. Olivia had enjoyed a long and exciting evening, gawking, drooling and starstruck as she watched and served faces which she had only seen on the pages of magazines. It had been fun, meeting them all in real life, and she had enjoyed it so far. But now, she was tired and all she needed at the moment was some time to herself, to recuperate and catch some fresh breath.
Olivia turned her head from side to side as she flexed her neck and shoulder muscles, then she stretched out her legs, they were cramping. She had been standing all evening. Her ponytail was becoming loose, and strands of hair were poking out, so she took off the ribbon, letting her long black hair fall down her back. She combed her fingers through the long silky strands, massaging her head muscles as she did, then she pulled it up into a new, tighter ponytail again.
The kitchen door suddenly creaked and Olivia flinched as she swung around, thinking that one of the supervisors had found her. A small blonde head popped in, and Olivia sighed in relief. It was her best friend and colleague, Ellie. Ellie's freckled face spread into a broad smile at the sight of Olivia standing in the middle of the kitchen. She entered the kitchen and meticulously closed the door behind her, before she hurried to Olivia's side, hopping along excitedly like an elementary school girl.
"Guess! Guess! Guess who I just served wine to in the hall now?" Ellie cried, her doll-like sea blue eyes burned with excitement as she grinned up at Olivia. Olivia sighed disinterestedly.
"Ellie, just tell me. I know everyone in New York is present in that hall tonight. I can't guess. Tell me already." She said wearily. She couldn't care less whoever it was that her friend had bumped into. She had seen them all already! CEOs, celebrity business men, high profiled actors and actresses, super models, athletes, musicians, all of them. She had seen them all, she had had her fill, and now all she wanted was for the evening to come to a quick end so that she could go home and rest.
"Just guess, Ollie. Try!" Ellie insisted. She didn't seem to notice Olivia's weariness.
"Oh god!" Olivia groaned. "Lady Gaga?" She said, taking a wild guess. Ellie gasped, putting her hands over her mouth.
"Is lady Gaga in that room too? Did you see her? Is she here tonight?" She asked, her eyes widening with even more excitement.
"I don't know Ellie. I didn't see her yet, but she might be, who knows? Everyone else is here tonight, she probably is too. Just tell me who you saw already." Olivia groaned again. Ellie noticed her agitation for the first time, and frowned.
"Why are you acting all sore? What did I do wrong?" She asked, sulking.
"You didn't do anything wrong Ellie, I'm just tired. I'm sorry." Olivia apologized. Ellie sulked for a moment longer before she finally said.
"I saw the top model Amber Andreas. I thought you would be excited to hear about it, since you dream of becoming a super model yourself. But here you are, acting like I'm bringing you news from the depths of hell." Ellie kept sulking. Olivia leaned into Ellie and pulled her into a hug.
"Hey, I'm sorry Ellie. I am just very tired, really. That's why I came in here to catch my breath. I'm sorry. And thank you for letting me know you saw Amber, it means a lot to me. I appreciate." Olivia said, trying to sooth her friend.
She didn't want to disappoint Ellie by telling her that she had already met the haughty, snubby and foul tempered super model. Olivia had served wine to the super model earlier in the evening when she arrived. She also did not want to annoy Ellie any further by telling her that her big dream wasn't to be a super model, but a fashion designer. Ellie always had that mixed up because Olivia was part-timing as a local model. Olivia had explained to her severally that she was only taking up those small modeling jobs so that she could save up money for fashion school, but Ellie kept confusing the dream.
"If I stop working at the hotel tonight, I will leave in peace! This is the climax of all my hotel waitressing career! The pinnacle! The memories from this night, it will be my retirement benefit!" Ellie joked.
"Be careful what you wish for." Olivia said, and Ellie giggled. A small moment went by in silence, then Ellie spoke again.
"I'm so happy for the kids who are going to benefit from this fundraiser." Ellie said. "I know most of it is all for show, but at least, the kids will benefit from the show anyway. It's a win win." She smiled.
"Yea." Olivia nodded absent mindedly.
"Imagine we had this kind of opportunity in our time. You, me and Sally. Imagine we didn't grow up going from one foster home to the other, but stayed in one place, funded by a foundation like this one." Ellie said. "You would probably be covering the front pages of Vogue France now. Sally would still be very healthy, probably a nurse or a surgeon. And I, I would either be in my final year at law school, or working as a first year intern at a law firm." Ellie giggled with a hint of sadness. Olivia looked at her thoughtfully. For the first time since Ellie had walked into the kitchen, she was actually listening to what the girl had to say.
"Maybe." Olivia said sadly. "Then we wouldn't have gotten stuck here, serving all these snubby big names."
"Snubby? Why? They aren't all snubby. A lot of them are in fact, very nice." Ellie said innocently.
"Ellie, you are such an angel. A white dove! You believe that everyone is nice from the depths of your soul." Olivia said, grimacing at her friend's innocence.
"I just enjoy serving them." Ellie insisted, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yes, Ellie. Yes you do. Lucky you, you are so effortless at people pleasing. That is, when you are not trembling at the sight of them." Olivia teased Ellie, and the latter began to laugh. Just then, the kitchen door swung wide open and without warning, a small, stout, stern looking woman walked into the kitchen. Ellie and Olivia didn't get enough time to collect themselves, so the woman walked in on them looking so relaxed, with Ellie sitting on the table, while Olivia leaned against it, wedging herself up by the elbows. The woman was their senior supervisor, ma'am Alma.
Ma'am Alma glared at the two girls as they scurried to their feet and bowed their head in guilt.
"What are you two doing right now? You think you are on a vacation?" The woman's high pitched, sharp voice said in a nagging tune.
"No...ma'am we..." Olivia stuttered.
"The other girls are out there, working their bones off, while the two of you hide in here, gossiping like two millionaire housewives. Should I bring you some red wine to make the girl time complete?" Ma'am Alma went on nagging.
"No ma'am." Olivia and Ellie chorused.
"I have been looking for you two everywhere! Do you not need this job anymore?" Ma'am Alma threatened.
"We do! We do ma'am!" Ellie replied desperately. Ma'am Alma glared at the two of them for a long moment, then she turned around and began to walk out of the kitchen.
"You two, follow me. Bring a wine trolley along!" She said. Olivia pulled out a wine trolley and wheeled it as they began to follow ma'am Alma. The woman led them down to the cellar.
When they got there, ma'am Alma began to pick out some of the most exclusive and expensive bottles from the collection. Olivia and Ellie quietly exchanged a glance. Judging by the bottles the older lady was pulling out unto the trolley, the girls could tell that whoever they were about to serve was either a chief wine taster or a very high profiled guest at the event, because there was no way they were about to serve these bottles to the entire house.
"Now, you two, listen to me." Ma'am Alma began to speak. "I am about to send you to the most important guests of this event. They are the extremely, most important personalities here tonight. Personally, I wouldn't put you two on this job. I would have picked the best girls, but the manager insisted I put the prettiest ones on the job, and clearly, that's you two. He said the lady among them is some top fashion designer and she's very selective of looks and faces..."
"Fashion designer?" Olivia cried excitedly, interrupting ma'am Alma. The old lady glared up at her.
"Listen to me!" She bit out sternly. "Don't even begin to get any ideas in that pretty head of yours! You two are to remain mute, I will do all the talking! You are not to say even one word! These people are no average people. Don't even think you got lucky, die the idea. If anything, you two got unlucky. You must be cautious. Do not look them straight in their eyes, keep your heads low. And most importantly, no mistakes! These people have the power to decide your fate, believe me. They can make or destroy your life with one word. You hear me? Everything must be perfect!" Ma'am Alma concluded. "Now, wheel!" She said, as she led the way out of the cellar.
As they waited for ma'am Alma to lock the cellar doors, Olivia noticed Ellie's hands trembling, and she immediately knew that the girl anxiety had kicked in. Ellie had taken ma'am Alma's warning too seriously, she was like that. She often got so easily worked up because of her anxiety.
Olivia placed her hands over Ellie's, trying to calm her down, but the girl kept trembling. Olivia knew that this was trouble. Ellie easily lost her bearing whenever she was nervous, and when this happened, Ellie was prone to make a lot of terrible mistakes.
"Ma'am Alma." Olivia called, and the stout woman turned an irritated gaze on her. Olivia did not let that phase her. She went on to say. "Can I come with you alone? Could you let Ellie go back to the main hall? I can handle this alone."
"Ollie..." Ellie gasped.
Ma'am Alma walked up to Olivia, sneering up at her with an amused smile on her face.
"Olivia, are you trying to teach me my job now?" She asked.
"No ma'am, I'm not. It's just that Ellie is..." Olivia began to say.
"Are you Ellie's spokes person?" Ma'am Alma asked.
"No ma'am." Olivia shook her head.
"Between you and I, who is the superior here?" Ma'am Alma asked.
"You ma'am." Olivia answered.
"Good! Now, shut up and do as I have instructed! The manager specifically named the two of you to serve the special guests. I'm just following directives. You should do the same! I wasn't the one who made you two pretty, you should iron that out with your god who blessed you with the curse. Now that we have an understanding, let's move! Our VIPs are waiting." She said, and marched on ahead of the girls.
"Don't worry about me Ollie, I will be fine." Ellie whispered to Olivia as they followed after their supervisor. Olivia nodded at her, but she knew that Ellie wouldn't be fine. They had grown up together, and Olivia knew how bad Ellie's anxiety could get, especially when there was a threat.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When they got to the private booth where the special guests were seated, Olivia became even more worried for Ellie. She had expected that the special guests would be just like every other guest in the general hall. Dressed in bright, colorful and happy outfits. That would have eased Ellie up because the girl was a sucker for beautiful things. But the group of people in the booth were all dressed in the darkest shades of black. The color black was Ellie's nightmare.
There were over twenty of them in the booth, but only five of them looked like the VIPs, while the rest of them appeared to be their guards.
The five VIPs, which included a young lady, were all sitting on the long lounger in the booth, while the other men stood about protectively. The five VIPs were all very young. They appeared to be within their early twenties, to late thirties. The CEO of the foundation and host of the event was also in the room, talking charmingly to the young VIPs. They all seemed to be paying scanty attention to him, but one of them who sat alone at the distant corner wasn't paying any attention at all. He was wearing a big hat and dark shades, and puffing heavy smokes from his cigarette. Olivia found herself squinting through the darkness, trying to make out his face. She didn't know why, but she could not look away. For some reason, she found herself drawn to him as she kept staring in his direction. The man's head suddenly moved slightly, and even though he was wearing dark shades, Olivia realized that he was staring back at her. She quickly looked away, remembering ma'am Alma's warning.
The CEO of the foundation signaled for the servers to serve the wine. Olivia wheeled the trolley forward, and while ma'am Alma described the wine, Ellie poured it into the wineglasses and Olivia served it. Olivia had suggested this, so that Ellie could stay behind and calm nerves could while she stood by the trolley.
Olivia meticulously handed the wineglasses to each of the guests, starting from the young lady who was sitting at the edge of the lounger. When it was time to serve the mysterious man who sat at the far corner, Olivia began to nervously making her way towards him, as she felt his eyes boring through her. She had felt his eyes following her around while she served the rest, and now as she approached him, his eyes remained trained on her, making her entire body tremble and she felt a cold rush in her spine. She couldn't even see his eyes, and yet his gaze was so overpowering. Olivia was a few steps away from him when she suddenly stopped at the sound of the young VIP lady's voice.
"Bring me the bottle." She instructed. Olivia turned around. The young woman was reaching her hands out to Ellie, and Ellie stood there, frozen and going white with dread. Olivia feared that the disaster she had been trying to avoid was finally here.
"Didn't you hear her? Give her the bottle!" Ma'am Alma chided.
Ellie shakily picked the bottle up from the trolley and began to approach the young lady, but just before she could reach her, Ellie tripped and fell. The bottle smashed against the ground, spilling all of it's content all over the young lady's legs.
Olivia went blue as she watched the disaster unfold. She held her eyes shut and prayed that it was all a dream, fragments of her imagination. But when she opened her eyes again, the nightmare was still there. Her friend Ellie, sprawled across the floor, wine spilled all over and the young lady guest was on her feet, livid with rage.