Waiting Tables

Chapter 4 -- Hanging Out

Calum was convinced he needed to be friends with Ashton.

He wasn't going to accept no for an answer; the bubbly, fun man was going to be his friend by the end of this shift.

Calum walked over to the brunette in question as he scarfed down mozzarella sticks on his break in the back of the kitchen.

There was a little area in the corner next to the dry ingredients rack with four chairs and a metal table. It was supposed to be a prep table, but the kitchen staff made do with the other two they had so everyone had a space to sit down and rest their feet. It was especially nice during doubles for the wait staff—being on their feet for over 12 hours was exhausting.

"Hey Ashton,"

Ashton waved his hand in greeting, half a mozzarella stick hanging off his lips like it was a cigar. He looked back down at his phone where he was scrolling through Instagram.

"How are you?" Calum tried again, wanting to have a conversation with him.

"Fine, how are you?" He didn't look up.

"Not too bad. Tired, but you know how it is,"

Ashton nodded absently, still looking at his phone.

"Have you seen this dog dressed up as a bunny?" Ashton asked, smiling as he showed his phone to Calum. It was a video of someone who dressed up their dog for Easter, giving the little puppy floppy ears and surrounding it with easter eggs.

"That's so cute," Calum felt himself growing excited that Ashton was actually engaging with him.

"These dogs have their own page, you should follow it,"

"I might do," Calum said. It was super cute, and Calum loved dogs. "I walked by a dog park the other day, and this one girl let me play with him. He was playing frisbee, and she let me toss it back and forth to him."

"That seems fun,"

"It was. Do you like animals?"

Ashton shrugged, pocketing his phone.

"Yeah, they're cute. Don't want my own though, I like to borrow and give back."

Calum chuckled.

"All the fun, none of the work," Ashton winked, giving him a finger gun.

"That is the best way to do it,"

He moved to get up and back to work, but Calum stopped him.

"You're going back already?"

With a shrug, Ashton replied, "I'm here to work, Calum, I have to get back out,"

He sighed.

Ashton left the back, smiling at his other coworkers as he went to see if any of his tables had been seated. He'd told Carlo, the host, not to sit anyone while he was on break, but sometimes things happened.

Thankfully there was no one there when he returned, but he went over to the host stand.

"Hey, Carlo, I'm back, thanks for not sitting anyone for me,"

"No problem, Ashton, there was no one coming in anyway," he said with an eye roll as he continued playing a game on his phone.

Ashton shrugged, leaning against the wall as he took out his phone. He figured if someone did come in, he could bring them to the table, try to please them from the moment they arrived till they left the restaurant.

It was difficult to resist his charming smile.

"Hey, Ash, got any tables yet?" Calum asked, walking up to the host stand.

"Not yet,"

He went to walk away, wondering why Calum kept following him when the man called after him.

"Where are you going? Wanna hang out with me and Carlo?"

Ashton raised an eyebrow. "Hang out with you? We're at work,"

"Yeah, sometimes when it's slow, we chill out over here," Calum shrugged. Carlo nodded without looking up from his phone. "Talk about what's going on in our lives, people we're seeing, just relax,"

"Yeah, I'm good." He walked off, hoping to just find a quiet corner where no one was around. He didn't know why, but he just didn't feel like talking to people today. Usually he was able to put on a face and bullshit with the people he worked with, but today was too much for him.

He noticed Calum's face fall and Carlo look at him in confusion, and heard them whisper about him as he went and sat down in the area between the dining room and kitchen, but he ignored it.

"Ashton, are you okay?" One of the bartenders came over and stood next to him, adopting the same arms crossed as they leant back against the counter, looking out over the dining room.

"Yeah, fine. How are you?"

"I'm great, mate." Louis answered. Louis was one of the bartenders, a dark haired short lad with the brightest blue eyes and dopey little laugh. He'd started maybe a year after Ashton and was the stand-in manager when their manager wasn't in. He was fun to be around, but had a little temper. They had to watch when the drunks got ornery and make sure Louis stayed away from him. Otherwise, he was a great guy. "You seem off today, are you and Calum having a tiff?"

Ashton scrunched his nose, peering at him from the side of his eyes.

"A tiff? What do you mean?"

Louis shrugged.

"I dunno, you two seem off. The other day, you were laughing and joking together, and today you've been walking away from him whenever he comes near,"

Ashton sighed. He should be doing a better job at hiding it.

"No, we're not arguing. We're just coworkers, he wants to be best friends, and I just don't like to mix work and personal life," Ashton admitted. "It never works out, so I try to keep those things private."

It made sense, why Calum was hanging around him. Going out with him and spending time at the museum gave him the wrong impression. Ashton needed to do better at keeping his boundaries.

"Okay, I see. Sorry to get up in your business, I just wanted to make sure everything was all right,"

"All right with me, Louis, thanks."

"Great, chat later, a man just walked up to the counter."

Ashton watched him go, nodding at Calum when the man smiled and waved at him across the room. It was a balancing act, a tricky one, but nothing he couldn't handle. He could make sure his coworkers still thought of him as the friendly, perky dude and also the collected one who did nothing with them outside of the bar.

He needed to stay civil and put out the positive attitude he always had. It's what he'd always done, and what he should do.

With a new, determined mind set, he walked over to the host stand with a grin.

"All right, let's hang out. Cal, you're up, tell me about that Alec kid," he leaned against the counter with a smaller smile, and listened to his coworkers until they had to go seat some customers.

***

sorry it's been a while :( hope you enjoy this little chapter 

~ashtonfortherwin