The Statistic

Dine and Dash

"So two cheeseburgers, one with extra onion, the other with no ketchup and both with fries. Sound right?" Blair asked the couple.

"Yes, that's it." The woman replied, thanking Blair.

"Your order will be right out," she said, walking away and to the kitchen. She hung up the little note with the order written down for the cook, Larry, who was playing on his phone.

"Take that, stupid alien! Ooh and that! Suck it!"

"Suck it?" Blair asked through the window, raising a pretty brow.

Larry jumped at the sound of her voice, his phone nearly falling to the floor with his surprise. "Ah! Blair!" He laughed awkwardly, putting his phone back in a rushed manner. "Um-" he walked closer, plucking the note from the spinning wheel they set all their orders on. "This'll be right up," he promised, sucking his teeth. He had an ugly set of braces.

"Okay Larry, make sure you wash your hands," she said, giving the older boy a smile and walking away from the window. Blair walked over to an empty booth, sliding in and relaxing against the seat. The seats were uncomfortable, but she was just happy to have a minute to kick up her feet.

She had just gotten done with the dinner rush. It was currently nine at night on a Monday, three days after her parent's disappearance. She had spent the night alone the first night, and walked across town to her grandmother's house. The woman had not been happy with Blair, but she also knew Ella would be unsafe on her own with Blair. Two girls on the streets, one being four years old, wasn't too smart of an idea.

Blair rested her eyes, listening to the soft chatter of the small diner. She had been working in this place since her sophomore summer, being a waitress. They didn't serve alcohol, so she was able to. The owner, Diane, had pity for Blair. She would give Blair a bit of extra money for things for Ella, buy Ella Christmas gifts and even buy Blair dinner sometimes. She was a nice older woman that Blair thought of more as a motherly figure than her own.

Blair's eyes opened as Madison, another teenage waitress and Blair's closest friend, slid in the booth seat right across from hers.

"Blair, I may have made the smartest decision of my life," she said, sliding an envelope across the wooden table to Blair.

Blair sat straighter, picking up the envelope. It had 'Mi Amor' written on the front of it. She opened the envelope, being greeted with stacks of hundreds.

"Holy shit," Blair's eyes went wide as she looked across the table at the excited Madison. "I know, right! It's crazy, I spent one night with this guy and he's already in love with me."

"Did you-"

"Yes, yes I used the website!"

"I told you not to!" She huffed out, sliding the envelope back to Madison.

"I know, I know, but I have a Spanish man all over me now and all I had to do was go on a date with him. You should really try it."

Blair slowly shook her head. Weeks ago Madison had ran into work excited. She claimed she found a website that would save them, whatever that meant. It was an escort site, or a sugar daddy and sugar baby hook up. Madison had wanted to try it out, but Blair had talked her out of it.

"It could be unsafe! It could be a portal to human trafficking!" Blair's arguments were. Now that she was seeing the stacks of money Madison had, she wasn't thinking so much about that. If she could get hundreds a night... her and Ella could be safe for years.

"I didn't use the first website I found, I actually had to dig pretty deep to find a legit site. I signed up, and in twenty four hours they did an entire background check on me. Then I got an email saying I needed to go to the doctors, where they were notified about me accessing an account. They tested me for diseases and now I'm on the market." Madison explained, smacking her gum. "Now I have a beautiful Spanish man at my hips."