Redemption [h.s]

forty-two

As soon as I walked into the restaurant, I realised that that night would've been a really busy one.

"Hey Grace" Chloe said coming towards me, "You know that party I told you about? Well it turns out that's a lot more serious than what we thought, because there are forty-five people coming."

I widened my eyes. "Forty-five people? How are we gonna make it out alive?"

"Wait, I haven't told you the best part yet!" She said giving me one of the empty dishes she was holding, "They're all teenagers from what I heard. Probably some parents as well. Basically half of the restaurant is booked."

"Is it too late to go home?" I replied, and she laughed.

"Now, they're all coming in half an hour, and we need to make two really long tables at the back of the restaurant, in front of the balcony basically. Most of the other waiters are busy with the customers at the moment, so we're alone in this... With him" she explained, glaring at a person on the other side of the room.

"Oh no, everyone but him."

"We don't have another way to do it" she said, taking the dish again and giving me some table cloths, "Now go there and start while I bring these to the kitchen."

I walked to the other side of the room, noticing that a lot of tables had been left empty, ready to be organised. I started my usual routine, putting the bright white table cloths in their place. Right when I was starting to think about how to put them, someone came from behind me.

"We need to make a table for the adults and another for the children, the children are thirty, the adults are fifteen" said someone with a really posh accent.

"We can put the children right in front of the balcony, and the adults between them and the rest of the customers. In this way, they won't disrupt the whole restaurant" I replied, not turning around.

"I'll help you with the tables" he said, walking past me to get to the other end of the table in front of me.

Together, we managed to put in place five tables, before Chloe came around as well.

"Already halfway there, I see" she said, "Grace, I can help you with the rest of the tables."

James got the hint, and left us alone.

"Thank god you came around, I couldn't stand being next to him" I told Chloe, as kept working.

"Was he being mean?"

"No, but you know. He kind of has this really bitchy attitude, I literally can't stand it."

"I feel you. He's not even hot, there's nothing positive about him."

We lifted up the last table together, and put it next to the others. As we were putting it down, I felt it slip from my fingers. A second after, it hit the floor with a really loud thump. I turned around. Everyone in the restaurant was looking at us.

"What in the world!" I heard James shout, as he made his way towards us.

"Oh shit, we're in for it" Chloe said from behind me.

"Who the hell is responsible for this mess?" He said once he had reached us.

"It just slipped, it was too heavy" Chloe replied calmly.

"You disrupted the entire restaurant! Oh, this is the last straw! You're always there speaking to each other, you aren't professional at all. This is it, I'll have you fired!" He shouted.

I rolled my eyes. "Can you stop shouting? You're causing a scene."

"And you also look like an idiot, it's just a damn fallen table. It's not even broken!" Chloe added.