Fight For Her

Chap 1: Meeting You

"I'll be right back with your check ma'am." I said, smiling at the old, gray haired lady who came in here every Wednesday at 2:30 on the dot. The manager told me she used to do that with her husband, but he'd since passed.

"Dan, let me get table number 14." I said to Dani, a tall, white girl with sleepy green eyes and black shoulder length hair. She rolled her eyes and got up from her chair to ring Mrs. Claudine up.

"You know, I think it's cute that she still comes in here, even though he died. I catch her talking to herself sometimes." Dani said.

"I do too. Makes me wanna fall in love." I said, smirking.

"Shit, makes me wanna steer clear of it." Dani said, chuckling. She handed me the slip of paper and I took it to Mrs. Claudine, who was laughing at something.

"Here you go, Claudine. No rush. You can stay as long as you like." I said to her with a smile.

"Thank you China. Stanley tells me you've got a good spirit. I agree with him." She said.

"Stanley? Isn't he gone?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes. But I still see him. I still speak to him. And he talks to me." She said, smiling up at me. I smiled back and patted her shoulder, turning to go and clean up a table some couple had left a mess.

"Hey Chi! Come here!" Dani yelled to me. I rolled my eyes, looking at my coworker, Dinah, who was taking two teenagers orders. As I walked up to Dani, my breath caught in my throat. I saw the most gorgeous woman I'd ever seen in my life. Her pretty brown skin was glowing, her long black hair was slicked back into a ponytail, and her black, one piece track suit was hugging her body in all the right places. She smiled at me with pretty, straight, white teeth and did a small wave.

"Could you seat her please?" Dani asked.

"Of course. I only had Claudine left in here and she isn't done talking to Stanley. This way miss." I said, walking to a table that was a couple tables behind Claudine.

"So, what can I get you to drink?" I asked her. She tilted her head to the left and raised her eyebrow, like she didn't quite understand what I was saying.

"Do you want a drink?" I asked her again. She shook her head yes and picked up the menu that was already on the table. She opened it and pointed to the coke.

"One coke. Got it. Be right back." I said to her, turning and going to the back to grab the soda. Dinah came into the kitchen while I was making the drink, smiling at me.

"What's up DJ?"

"She's pretty as hell. The girl you're serving." She said, waiting behind me to get a drink from the machine.

"Yeah, I guess so." I said, almost inaudibly.

"Whatever McClain. You should go for it." She said, snickering.

"Why don't you go for it?" I snapped at her. She put her hands up in fake defeat and backed away.

"Cause, I'm straight sis. But you not!" She said, laughing. I rolled my eyes and walked passed her, taking the drink back to the pretty stranger. She was going over the menu with her eyebrow raised. I sat her drink down and she smiled in thanks.

"You ready to order?" I asked her. She nodded yes and pointed to the personal pizza. She looked up at me like she was studying my face.

"Alright. Would you like any toppings?" I asked her. She nodded and pointed to the pepperoni option. I nodded and wrote it down.

"Can I get you anything else?" I asked her. She shook her head no.

"I'll get that out to you in a few sweetie." I said, winking at her. I walked to the back and put the ticket on the window for our chef, Mario. I went back out to go to the front desk, where Dani was slouched in her chair, her eyes closed. I smacked the counter and she jumped up, glaring at  me.

"What the fuck, China?" She rubbed her head and then her eyes.

"Look alive. We got customers coming in. Get Dinah, alright?" I said.

"Why? So you can flirt with her?" She said, smirking.

"I'm not flirting! I can't really. She... doesn't seem to talk." I said.

"Yeah, I noticed. Better go scoop up her order." Dani said. I nodded and jogged to the kitchen.

"That pepperoni pizza done, Mario?" I asked the tall, middle aged Hispanic man, who just grunted in response and pointed to the piping hot pizza on the counter.

"Thanks Mario." I said, grabbing the pizza and quickly returning to the table. I sat it down and she nodded to me.

"If you need anything else just let me know." I said to her. She nodded to me again and smiled with her pearly whites. As I started to clean my tables, I kept glancing up at the woman. She seemed focused on the outside, slowly chewing her pizza. She must've felt me staring because she looked up at me, quickly waving me over. I nodded to let her know I was on my way, then finished cleaning the table. When I got done I quickly walked up to her, wiping my hands on my apron.

"Can I get you anything else?" I asked her. She went in her purse and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. She grabbed my hand and placed the bill in it, then folded my hand up.

"I- I could- I didn't do-" She held her hand up to shush me then stood up.

"I uhm, forgot to get your check." I told her. She just raised her eyebrow and pointed to Dani.

"Yes. Let's just go to the front desk then." I said softly,  moving out of the way so she could walk in front of me. I gotta say, it was a nice view. The woman stood in front of the desk and stared at a sleeping Dani with an amused smirk on her face. I slapped the desk and Dani woke up with a jolt.  She glared at me and rubbed her eyes.

"Man, China! What the hel- heck, I mean." She said.

"Ring up a single pepperoni slice." I said. I looked at the girl and her expression was confusion.

"Got it. Why didn't you give her the ticket like you're supposed to?" She asked.

"Why are you sleeping on the job instead of working, like YOU'RE supposed to?" I asked her back, matter of factly.

"Touch'e." She said. The woman chuckled and covered her mouth. It was honestly adorable.

"Alright, that's only 2.54 ma'am." Dani said with a smile. She went into her purse and gave Dani a 100 dollar bill as well.

"Whoa, wait I-" The woman put her hand up to shush Dani. She nodded to us both then turned to leave.

"Wait! So... I can keep the other 97 bucks?" Dani asked. She chuckled and nodded yes to Dani.

"Uh wait!" I called to her. She looked at me and tilted her head.

"What's uh, what's your name?" I asked her. She held up her finger then went in her purse, taking what looked like a name tag out of it. She walked back up to me slowly and showed it to me. The icon in the corner of it was from the Lady Venus cosmetic company. It was a multimillion dollar corporation. I even had some of their products. If she works there, it definitely explains why she had no problem giving Dan and I 100 dollar bills. That'd be chump change to her.

"Normani." I said. She nodded yes.

"I'm China. Like the country." I said. She smiled and grabbed my hand, giving it one last squeeze before leaving the building.
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