Mateless and Luna Bound (Self Published)

Chapter 4: Sparks

Authors Note: Thanks for getting this far! There's a new character that I think you will all love to hate in this one. We've all had our fair share of annoying coworkers, but is this one the worst of them all? Thank you for reading!

-Saturn

It was a good day so far. The restaurant had been slammed all day and Charlie could barely go to the bathroom, but the tips just kept on coming for him.

Walking from the kitchen and back, there was one set of plates that worried him. They were for one of Evon's tables. As Riley's nephew, Evon could be a little bit of a slacker. Some of the other waitresses and waiters hated him because he could seamlessly get away with anything.

"Hey Charlie," the head chef called him over. "Will you bring this food to that table already? Evon's slacking off, taking an hour-long cigarette break, it seems."

"Sure thing, Ryan!" he took them immediately. Hopefully they hadn't gotten cold. The heat lamp only helps so much sometimes. There were a lot of new customers tonight.

"I can always count on you, Charlie," Ryan said.

Charlie had worked with Ryan ever since he got this job. He was a bus boy when he first started working there. It took years for Ryan to get Charlie to call him on a first name basis. The man was one that he looked up to. Ryan was like the father figure of the entire workplace. His cooking was also the main reason customers kept coming back.

"You are too Charlie," he remembered Ryan saying a few years ago. "If you had stayed a bus boy, Riley would've gone out of business a long time ago. You got that charm to you, boy."

He didn't quite know if he believed that. There were some amazing waiters and waitresses here. Charlie just had enough charisma to be able to fake a smile to even the rudest of customers.

"Sorry about the wait," Charlie walked up to Evon's abandoned table. All of them looked angry. He didn't exactly blame them. That food had been there for quite some time. "Evon isn't feeling well at the moment and went for a break outside."

"Does this happen a lot?" the brunette questioned. His eyes were a purple rage when he met them. He remembered him from earlier that day, when he was returning his wallet. It was a little upsetting to see the once happy man that was willing to give him a ride change to an aggravated customer.

Of course, Evon decided to make the table with two red-heads and an important business man angry. Red-heads wound up being some of the craziest customers around these parts, and he could already see the woman getting ready to say something. The brown-haired man seemed to be the one in charge, though. Because with one quick grab of her hand, she calmed down.

"No, Sir," Charlie said. Truth be told, it happened with Evon's tables quite regularly, but never with anyone else. "We try our best to give everyone the best service we can."

"Well, I hope that boy is alright," the woman said.

Charlie gave an internal sigh. He had given this family such a good impression of the place when they first came in. He really thought they might become regulars. Having regulars was the best thing for the restaurant to have. It all depended on the quality of the food and the service.

If only they weren't seated with Evon as their waiter.

"If there's a chance we could make up our tardiness to you, please let me know. We could always throw in some free desert."

And, just like that, he hooked them back in. The man perked right up at that, looking just as excited as when he first came in.

"Actually, we came because we heard that you guys had the best pie in the state," he gave him a playful wink. It seemed like Charlie had reeled him in with that line more than he thought when he met him earlier.