Waiting Tables

Chapter 1 -- A Shake of the Ass

"Oi, order up, Ash! Get your ass ova' here,"

With an eye roll, Ashton glided around the counter, heading to the window to pick up the order. He worked as a server at a local bar-restaurant. It wasn't fancy, but he made enough from tips to survive. Since he was, you know, himself, he did well.

"Comin', Kev, calm your tits," he tsked, stacking the plates onto his tray so he could deliver it to the customer.

"Well, you made such a big deal out of makin' sure it all came out soon as possible, I just wanted to make sure yah get it,"

Ashton whined, scrunching his face and slapping a hand to his cheek dramatically.

"Kev, these people are awful, god, I don't know why they keep coming back here if all they do is complain. I swear, if this doesn't make them happy..."

Kevin rolled his eyes at the waterworks from the young waiter. Kevin had been a cook at Neighborhood Bar and Grille since it opened, constantly seeing servers and hosts rotate in and out. There were only a few people who stuck around, and Ashton was one who'd been working there steadily for more than just a couple months. He loved the kid, he was a ball of sunshine, energetic, and went above and beyond not just for the customers, but also his coworkers. Ashton had brought soup to his apartment when he was sick, picked up another server's kids from school when she had to stay late, and switched shifts with anyone whenever they needed.

He was genuinely one of the good ones.

"If anyone can make them happy, it's you, babe. Now go get 'em," Kevin shooed him out, quickly flipping the burgers he'd forgotten about on the grille while he watched Ashton have a mini-meltdown.

Ashton smiled as he heaved the black tray onto his shoulder, walking through the doorway into the dining area. He'd already set up a stand nearby the table so he could set the tray down to dish out the meals.

"All right, I just got these from the kitchen, so they're all piping hot," he told the middle aged woman, sitting at the edge of the booth.

Her entire personality oozed 'Karen', from her blonde bob, long fake nails, and unimpressed glare. Ashton knew he had to be The Best He Could Be to make sure she didn't have a terrible time. He was constantly watching the table, making sure her soda never ran out, there were plenty of napkins for her kids, and any other things he could anticipate she might need. So far, 'Karen' hadn't had a complaint.

"So we have two chicken tenders and fries, a pretzel burger," he set those three plates in front of the three kids, moving to get Karen's plate. "And a bruschetta flat bread. Anything else I can get for you, ma'am? I hope you're finding everything to your satisfaction," He coupled that with a wink and a bright smile, which made the middle aged woman blush.

She couldn't meet his gaze when she breathlessly said, "Yeah, we're all set, thanks,"

"Okay, just call me over if you think of something, I'll be around," he collected his try and the little stand before he sauntered off, making sure to wait until he was out of sight to peek around to see her reaction.

Ashton wasn't above a bit of flirting to get a better tip, even if he was gay. Sometimes it was fun to watch women's husbands get flustered when he called them 'love' or 'dear'. And the women? Forget it, they were putty in his hands.

"Whatcha lookin at?" One of Ashton's favorite coworkers appeared beside him to peer around the wall that separated the kitchen from the dining area.

Ashton glanced over at Calum. He was 27, taller than Ashton's refrigerator, with hair the color of dark chocolate, wide brown eyes and always wore fun shoes. Todays were red sparkled platform converse, hand crafted by Calum himself. The boy had dropped out of college after 3 semesters because he realized he 'wasn't the studying type'. His parents had urged him to attend college, but after finding out it wasn't for him, he left.

That caused them to disown him, thus the fact that he moved to New York, found the first job he could, and stuck with it. He wasn't a quitter, and he worked hard; it turned out he was good at serving. Ashton started a few months before him; he remembered when Calum first started. Calum had gone over to the only other male server there and tried to be friends.

Ashton was fine being work-friends with him, but he didn't mix work and personal life. It was a philosophy of his. Kept things from getting messy. He had plans, he had goals, and nothing was going to get in the way.

"That Karen over there likes me. Trying to get a bigger tip from her."

Calum chuckled, leaning against the counter and ripping old pages off his notepad. He wished they could upgrade to those fancy iPads that some servers took with them and it delivered the orders right to the kitchen. It would solve so many culinary mishaps where he didn't write it properly; Kevin couldn't read his writing, or he said they could have something that wasn't on the menu at the time (as their specials were constantly changing). But for now they were stuck with pads and pen.

"You're ruthless with this. You'll flirt with anyone, won't you?"

Ashton shrugged.

He liked to fool around, never anything serious, but he wasn't above flirting with customers to get more money off them.

"I guess so, if they want to give me more money for being nice to them, call me a prostitute then," he laughed along with Calum as the man went off to greet customers who just got sat at one of his tables.

A few moments later, Ashton went back to Karen to see if she needed anything. With a few bats of his eyelashes, a lick of his lips, and a very obvious turn around to show his ass, he made almost $50 off of her. So much for being a Karen. She had no complaints.

"I don't know how you do it, Ashton. You're incredible," Calum shook his head as Ashton counted through the cash in the book. He did well, too, but he wasn't as confident as Ashton was to shamelessly flirt with people all the time. He liked to tell jokes and laugh with people, compliment them on something they had or wore, and on occasion he'd flirted with a cute guy, but Ashton made it his personality. It suited him, Calum thought, with his honey-blonde hair, those piercing hazel eyes, and the muscles he flaunted with tight cut shirts; he always made it work, no matter who he was with.

"Ashton, they're seating you again,"

"All right, be right there," he told the host, turning around with a smile to greet the endless party of people who walked through. This was his life, and he was happy with it.

***

FIRST CHAPTER IS UP!!!

Soooo, how we feelin? I'm super excited for this one :D (she says even though she says that every time, shut up, I'm excited, okay??)

I'm going to see waterparks on Thursday!! They're doing a CD signing near me. Cannot waaaaiiittttt

~ashtonfortherwin