A Quarter Mile Away

7 - Unwritten

Please listen to Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield for this chapter

* * *

"This is the staff lounge, you get either a 15 or 20-minute break. The time you take it and choice of length is yours" Tom says with a big smile as he shows me around 515 Restaurant.

Tom is my manager, thanks to the staff (specifically the females) I learnt that he's 27, 6'1, sleeked back dark brown hair and green eyes. You could say that he's very appealing to the eye. His face is that of a pretty boys' face and it seems that a lot of the younger female staff seem to crush on him apparently.

"Awesome, so what will I be doing?" I asked, anxious to get my hands dirty.

"Well we're thinking with starting you off as a waitress, see how that works for you? We'll give it a week trial and review your progress from there. How does that sound?"

I smiled at his idea "Sounds like a plan."

He gave me a charming smile and lead me to his office.

"Today might be your first day but it's very relaxed on the first day because we need to discuss your final pay agreement, bank details etc."

My eyes widened, concerned that he was going to ask me questions about my family.

"OK, so Bianca advised me that she already sorted out your emergency contact details when she gave you the interview."

'What? How?'

"So all I really need is to confirm your bank details where you wish to be paid into. Pay is every week on a Friday. You OK with this?" He looks up at me from the paperwork.

I just nodded in agreement, my mind still reeling about what Bianca did about the emergency contact details.

"Perfect so of course this Friday you will get paid for 2 days and then it will be 4 days per week every Friday."

"Sounds good."

After two hours of going through protocol questions, staff rules, uniform requirements, he hands me the paperwork to review and sign to which I oblige. He gives me a copy and files away the other copy and then stands up and smiles at me.

"Let's go get our hands dirty, shall we?"

* * *

I feel a sense of accomplishment.

I'm proud that I was able to keep up with the orders and had no issues with any customers. It helped that I had a waitressing job back at home so that mentally prepared me.

It's been 8 days since I started my new job and I actually truly enjoy it, the staff are amazing, very supportive and helpful which is always a bonus when you are starting a new job. After that first week they officially welcomed me to 515 confirming that whatever I was doing, I was doing right.

Bianca had come in tonight to see how I was coping and reminded me that she was there if I ever needed to talk. I think she has a rough idea of what we are going through but respectively doesn't say anything or brings it up. I never got the chance to ask her about the emergency contact details, I just don't know how to bring it up. One day I'll gain courage to ask.

As soon as I got home from work tonight, I was greeted with a laughing Alena and Lisa. Lisa told me that she managed to get Alena to finish all her homework and were now playing hide and seek.

The site of the two instantly hits me emotionally, the last time we played hide and seek was when she was two, too young to remember.

She would always follow me and choose to hide with me instead of Andrew. Because of her short little legs, I'd always end up carrying her so we could run faster to our hiding destination. Of course, our dad always managed to find us. It was our favourite past time and we played every chance we had when my dad was home and not arguing with our mum.