baby steps | ✓

three

  Athena had worked for around an hour, tending to diners who simply wanted to chat about the next big sale they were going to have or about how to economy is slowly failing them. Tthe next they had asked for her opinion countless of times, yet she simply just shrugged and said she was just a waiter who did not know much about the next big thing but congratulated them as a good note for her. She had received generous amounts of tips which she was grateful for, all of these fifty dollar notes were going to be for her Drew's new clothes as well as her own. It was around six o' clock when she checked on Drew who was still fast asleep under the watch of her new acquaintance, Alejandro. He seemed to be having a swell time with the food he had ordered.

She questioned his food choice, though, but never spoke it out loud. He was eating an expensive meal which consisted of steak, spaghetti and garlic bread with champagne and a truffle on the side. It was actually the fifth expensive dish on the menu and she was astounded at how he could afford such a meal. What peaked her curiosity, even more, was as she checked on the pair through the window, she took note of a number of people who went up to Alejandro and had a small chat. These people were regular customers and she knew one of them to be Marcus Levy who was a famous businessman and owned a company which sold tablets and phones for a high price. In total nine customers had approached him and stared at her child with either disgust or pure confusion and she wondered if they thought it was his or if he was just another customer wearing dirty clothes and an oil covered face. But, she kept her curiosity to a minimum and continued working.

When she finally had a break around eight pm, she sat down in front of Alejandro who was eating another plate filled with fruits, which was one of the cheapest meal on the menu and was a side dish rather than the main course. Her forehead was lined with sweat and she was hungry, she could only stare at the fruit filled bowl for a few seconds before looking away in embarrassment. Her stomach grumbled lightly as she gave Drew milk from a bottle, her eyes going soft as the baby clutched the bottle with his hands as he drank. Alejandro had watched the pair and smiled at Athena's love for her baby. He ate and stared at the pair quietly, taking note at how famished Athena was and how tired she must've been after three hours of working.

He knew that she had eaten nothing from her time here and before she entered the compound and took it upon himself to order a plate for her. She had a thirty-minute break and she ordered the food twenty minutes beforehand and once he saw the server coming in with her food, he lightly leant forward to tap Athena on the shoulder.

"I know you're hungry, so I ordered food for you," he told her, pointing to the male server who held a plate of spaghetti and garlic bread in his hands. Athena whirled around and stared at Max who gave her a small smile and placed the amazing smelling food on the table. She almost died of delight when Max disappeared from her sight.

"I can't take this," she told him and pushed the plate towards him, even though her stomach pleaded for her to eat all of it and even when he pushed it back to her, she shook her head.

"Eat it, you deserve it," he said and with that, he wouldn't allow her to say no. Athena's heart burst at the gesture and could've sworn a tear slipped past her eye as she had no recollection of when someone was this kind or selfless beside Clarissa. She felt so grateful to have met Alejandro and gingerly picked up her fork and swirled it around in the spaghetti, whilst Alejandro watched her as he ate. Once the spaghetti was in her mouth, she felt her mouth explode.

Athena could not recall a time when she had such a delicious and expensive dish, maybe it was because she could never afford this pricey spaghetti or because she never bothered to spend this much for food. She barely had time to savour the taste before she chewed and gulped her first bite within the first few seconds. Athena was very hungry and continued to eat up the whole bowl of spaghetti and garlic bread without any drink as she felt no need to stop for it. She was in food heaven.