Anger

Maddie.

I was cleaning my last table of the day when I saw them entering. It was a group of four men and one woman. They all looked glamorous in their expensive looking clothes. When I spotted Nick among them, my heart started racing. I turned back to the table and increased my cleaning speed so I could get out of there. Suddenly, the smell of expensive perfume became a little close to ignore. I stood up straight and turned, nearly bumping into Nick Donovan.

“Sorry,” I said.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Hey guys, why don’t we wait and sit on this table.”

I returned to cleaning, wondering why he chose the one that was still being cleaned over the other tables at the restaurant. Although he was a few metres away from me, I could almost feel the heat radiating from his body. His perfume tantalised my senses and I had to shake my head to concentrate.

“Why don’t we go that side?” the woman asked.

“I like this one.”

“She’s done anyway,” a friend of his added.

I finished and carried my equipment away. When I reached the counter, I looked around for Hannah, the girl who was supposed to take over from me but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is Hannah?” I asked Jerry since they were closer. “My shift is over and I’m not serving that table.”

“I don’t have time to find out why but you have to do it. Everyone is busy and Hannah is not here. Please go before we all get fired for making guests wait.” I was so annoyed and scared but I had no choice but to pick up my notebook and go and take their orders. As I walked towards the table, I thought of all the ways I could kill 

“Good afternoon,” I began, feeling nervous. “My name is Maddie and I’ll be your server. What would you all like to start off with?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re so pretty?” one of the men said. I maintained my calm and professional expression even though I was feeling annoyed. 

I saw Nick giving his friend a look.

“What? Look at her. She could be a model. She’s so perfect I don’t understand why she’s doing such a lowly job.”

“Thank you for your compliments,” I said to the man. “Would you like to order something?”

“Oh, she’s one of the serious ones.”

I noticed that Nick was glaring at him, and when I looked around the table, I saw that the woman was staring intently at Nick. When she caught my eye, she smirked. 

“Calm your tits,” another one said. “Maddie, right?”

“I nodded.”

“I would like some red wine.”

I noted it down. Thankfully, they started giving their orders. I was more than relived when I had noted everything down. When I went back to the counter, I found that Hannah had just arrived. 

“I hate you,” I told her.

“I’m very sorry,” she said. “Jensen hasn’t been feeling well so I had to take him to my mother in law’s house before coming here. He didn’t want to let go so I had to wait for him to fall asleep but I drove as fast as I could. I’m going to change now so you can take the drinks and I’ll take over from there. Please.”

I sighed. “Okay.”

Jensen was Hannah’s three year old son so I had to cut her some slack. She was a nice woman who covered for me sometimes as well so I didn’t mind helping her. I just didn’t feel like serving Nick and his friends. Since I had no choice, I decided to do it. After getting all the drinks that had been ordered, I took them to the table and started distributing. I noticed that the woman had switched seats with someone and was now seated next to Nick. When she saw me, she placed her hand around him but he gently pushed it away. I smiled inwardly and continued putting the drinks in front of everyone.

“I missed you so much baby,” she said to Nick. I had realised that she was his girlfriend and I felt very angry that he had almost cheated on her with me. I was seething but I managed to appear calm.

“You know, Kyle. this woman is not as pretty as you made it seem. Her features look perfect but when you look closely, you realise she’s a bit ordinary.”

I just kept quiet since I did not want trouble.

“Don’t let what he said get to you,” she said and as I leaned to place her drink on the table, she whispered in my ear. “You’re ugly trash.”

That’s when I lost it. I pretended to stand up and poured the wine on her lap, making it seem like an accident.

She screamed and swiftly stood up. “What the hell is wrong with you? You clearly did that on purpose!”

“No, ma’am. I’m so sorry. I swear it was an accident. I’ll get you a napkin.”

“Go to hell,” she yelled so loud that everyone in the restaurant turn to look at us. They started murmuring loudly as the woman stormed towards the restroom.

“I’m so sorry,” I told her companions but they looked like they didn’t believe me.

“She deserved it,” Nick said.

When I heard his voice, I got even more annoyed. The nerve. He, a cheater, was the one to talk. I went passed by the counter. My work mates just stared at me in shock. Jerry shook his head and followed me.

“What the hell was that?”

“She was being really mean to me.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that you shouldn’t care about what the guests say? Just do what you have to do and move on. I don’t think you’re going to survive this.”

Suddenly, the door opened and the manager came towards us. She looked really angry. “What the hell did you just do, Maddie? Don’t you know that’s the billionaire heiress Hailey Black? How could you be so reckless?”

“I’m so sorry. It was an accident.”

“That was no accident. I called Tommy and he says it seemed intentional according to the CCTV footage. Do you know what this could do to our reputation?”

“I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Yes, it won’t happen again because you’re fired. Come to my office and we process your severance.”

“No, ma’am please. I really need this job.”

“Shut up.”

I knew I had fvcked up.