The Humble Luna

Chapter 2: Jazmine

“Order up!” Blake, the head grill operator screams as I rush back over to the pickup side of the make line. I put the hot pot of coffee down as I pick up my plates and rush them over to my oldest table.

I sigh as I put the fake smile back on my face as the four scumbags sitting in the booth continue to snicker at me.

“Here we go… I have the All-Star Special, two sausage bowls, and a ham and cheese omelet. Do you boys need anything else?”

They all snicker to one another as they shake their heads. “Nah, we’re good… Although a hotter waitress would be better.”

I do my best to not let the sneer cross my face as I continue to smile. “Well… Seeing as I am the only one here, I guess there is nothing I can do about that. Sorry.”

I turn on my heel to walk away. Working the graveyard shift has its perks, but it also has its downfalls.

“Woah, baby, it was just a joke! No reason to be so hostile… Hey, maybe once your shift is over, we can give you your tip.” The biggest playboy out of the four gives me a nasty grin along with a wink.

I roll my eyes and walk back over to the grill operator as I do my best to earn my tips for the night with the other customers. I sigh as he glares at them over his shoulder and frowns. “You know, I could always kick them out if you would like for me to.”

I sigh and shake my head slowly. “No… Let them be racist and petty. Karma will come back around to get them. I know it will.”

Blake sighs as he shakes his head slowly. “Fine, but you better be charging those bastards a gratuity… If not, you won’t get a single cent from them on a tip.”

I swallow hard and shake my head slowly. “I can’t do that… That’s against the rules and you know it just as well as I do.”

Blake sighs and rolls his eyes as he looks down at me. “Sometimes you are just too much of a goody-two-shoes for your own good.”

I shake my head and smile softly. “No… I am doing what is right, even if it means I will be screwed over in the long run for it.”

The guy on the inside of the booth slams his coffee mug down on the table. “I NEED MORE COFFEE!!!”

He screams in an obnoxious tone as I sigh and shake my head.

“Back to work…” I sigh as I grab the coffee pot and plaster the smile back on my face.

Blake frowns and shakes his head. “Yeah… Back to work.”

I see it in his blue eyes that he hates those four guys just as much as I do… Actually, I really do think he hates them more than me.

Everything has been pretty much the same old thing since I started working here four months ago. Every night, I come in and work nights here at the restaurant with Blake. After I get off of work, I go straight home to spend time with mom before she goes into work and then I start taking care of Marcus until she gets home and I can take a nap.

I also have been working on my college education and I have managed to pay for every class out of pocket. Even though I am working super hard in order to get where I need to be in this life, I can honestly say this is the best time in my life since I moved out of my mom’s house the first time.

I shiver as the memories of Malik’s abuse flood back into my brain. Telling me I wasn’t good enough for anybody else and telling me that he was the best I could ever get just made leaving him so much harder.

I remember growing up that mom told me to never let a man define my worth, but then she would go and hook up with guys at the office left and right. Sometimes I wonder if that is my fate too…

I sigh as I shake my head and then get right back to work.

When the four jackasses finally left, I sighed as I started to clean the table off and counted my tips I had made thus far. I realized I was walking out with about one hundred and fifty dollars. That means I averaged fifteen dollars per hour and that means I could help pay the mortgage payment for the month and the night was still young.

“Thank you,” I whispered as the smile spread slowly across my face.

“You’re welcome…?” Blake eyes me as he gives me a stupid grin. “You know, if you need help, I don’t mind letting you borrow some money. I know you are always here, so it isn’t like I wouldn’t know where to find you.” He gives me a playful wink.

I roll my eyes and shake my head slowly. “No, but thank you… I need to do this on my own. No charity, no borrowing, just hard work and determination is all I need in order to make it where I want to be.”

He chuckles softly and nods his head. “Wow… You know, we have been working together for four months and I still don’t really know much about you.”

I give him a soft smile and shake my head. “Well, I don’t know much about you either.”

He grins and nods his head slowly. “Alright… I’m Blake Johnson. I’m twenty-six years old, I love tattoos, I live with a douchebag roommate, and I work at Waffle House.”

He c***s an eyebrow at me as he smirks. “What about you?”

I sigh and shake my head slowly. I have a feeling I know the game he is playing and I am not too interested in participating.

“I’m Jazmine Martin… I’m twenty-four years old, I work at Waffle House, I go to school full time during the day, and I have a six month old son named Marcus…” I look down at my hands as I swallow hard.

I haven’t actually told anyone this information since I moved back home, so I’m afraid to know how he is going to react.

“I’m sure knowing that information is a turn off.”

I look up and see him smirk. Not in a superior kind of way, but in a sad kind of way.

“Single mom trying to provide for her kiddo, huh? I take it that is the reason you are always at work?” He shakes his head slowly as he leans over and whispers into my ear. “Also, I don’t find that to be a turn off… All it means is you got the s**t end of the stick when a simple accident happened.”

I sigh and nod my head slowly. Is he really trying to butter me up at work?

“Anyway… I assume the douchebag roommate is the reason you are always at work too?”

He chuckles and nods his head slowly. “Quick to change the subject, I see… More or less… Really the roommate is my dad. He has been mooching off of me since I turned sixteen and dropped out of school to start working here. He actually forced me to drop out of school, so I didn’t really have a choice. I got my GED in less than a month and I have been working here for the last… Ten years I think? I don’t know, it’s something like that.”

He bumps my shoulder playfully as he takes another sip. “You know… It probably wouldn’t kill us if we took a night off. I doubt Charlie would even give a damn considering the two of us have been pulling seventy hours a week for the last four months.”

I smile and nod my head slowly. “I’ll think about it…”

I look up at him just in time to see a set of headlights pull into the parking lot. I sigh and shake my head slowly. “For now, we have to get back to work.”

I nod towards the window and Blake turns to look. He groans and nods his head slowly.

“You’re right… Back to work… I do want to continue this conversation at a later date though.” He gives me a playful wink as he heads back over to the grill and gets ready for the order I am about to get.

When I turned around, I wasn’t expecting what I saw. I don’t know what I was expecting to see, but it was for sure not the sight I got… I saw two, very large, very muscular, and very handsome men walk into the restaurant.

The first one was roughly six feet, two inches tall with blonde hair and baby blue eyes. He had a baby face about him, but that was the only part of him that seemed like a baby. The other man was about six feet, one inch tall with black hair, brown, almond shaped eyes, and very thick muscles wrapped around his whole body.

When the two of them walked through the door, they seemed to be arguing about something.

The black hair guy seemed a bit stressed as he spoke. “Max isn’t going to like this, Lucas. We need to find a different meeting spot.”

“I don’t give a damn… I’m f*****g starving!” The blonde hair guy seemed to snarl.

Wait a second, did he just snarl? I shake my head as I wait for the two of them to find their seat.

“Look, we are only stopping to meet up with him before we have to go home because he wants to discuss what happened at the meeting. Plus, like I said, I’m f*****g starving and I want a f*****g decent meal.”

“I don’t think Waffle House at two o’clock in the morning is considered decent food… Oh well, I guess if we are going to die, we might as well die with full bellies because Max is going to kill us.”

The two of them take the farthest booth away from the door. They each slide in on opposite sides of each other and I wait a second before I put on my best and most polite smile to go and greet them.

“Good morning! My name is Jazmine and I will be taking care of you. What can I get you both to drink?” I smile as the two of them look up at me.

The blonde hair guy smirks and I see his eyes soften. “Hi, Jazmine. I think I will take a cup of coffee and a coke to drink.”

I nod my head with a smile as I turn to the other guy. “What about you, sir?”

The black hair guy was staring at me. He didn’t seem to respond or notice my question at all. I cleared my throat as his staring became uncomfortable and I glanced at his friend. “Uhm… Sir?”

The other guy kicked him under the table and glared at him. “Win, answer Jazmine. She has a job she is trying to do if you will let her.”

The guy, Win, shakes his head and clears his throat. “Oh, uhm, sorry. Yeah, I’ll have a cup of coffee and a root beer, please.”

I smile and nod my head. As I head over to get their drinks, Lucas stops me. “Oh, we are waiting on one more person to arrive before we order. He should be here in a few minutes.”

I smile and nod my head. “Sure! I’ll be waiting for him to arrive.”

Lucas nods his head as I head back over behind the counter to get the drinks.

As I turn to take the newly made drinks back over to the table. Another set of headlights pull into the parking lot. I move quickly to drop the drinks off at the table so I can address the new customer. When I turn around, I lock eyes with a new face and I feel my heart instantly stop.

A very tall and very handsome young man is standing just inside the entrance to the restaurant and he has his eyes locked on me. He didn’t look to be more than twenty-five years old, but he did look like a Greek god. He was built like a brick house with thick muscles all up and down his six foot, four inch tall body. His skin seemed to have been kissed by the sun and his hair, although cut close to his head, was thick and black. The most stunning thing about him though was his smile. Two dimples popped up on his cheeks as he showed off his pearly white teeth to me.

I did a quick once over and noticed his jade green eyes and I felt my heart start to melt.

Who was this man?