her.
After taking table five's order and placing it in the kitchen, she came out to find Melanie still staring at the television, her eyes locked onto the screen as the celebrity gossip continued to flash.
“You planning on doing any work here or what?” Jessie asked her indignantly.
“Chill out, chick. You're not the boss. What's wrong with me wanting to bag myself a rich man like that?” Melanie quipped with a slight nod towards the television.
“Snap out of it,” Jessie said as she glanced at the screen and saw John Harwood’s image displayed on it still. “Guys like that only go for actresses. Models. Girls with size zero waist lines. Blonde hair. Fake tans.”
“Oh, be quiet, girl. Don't spoil it for me. Like you'd turn down some hot loaded dude taking you out to show you a good time,” Melanie fired back.
“I'd rather make my own money than rely on some rich socialite. I'm not one of those airhead girls with no ambition who wants to take the easy way out by marrying into money,” Jessie scoffed.
“You calling me an airhead?” Melanie turned her buxom five-foot frame towards Jessie, who wasn't much taller but was certainly slimmer. Jessie had always understood the importance of healthy living and steered clear of the diner's greasy food, ordering salads on her breaks instead of throwing back fries and burgers. She had neither the time nor the money to frequent a gym, but she still managed to do light aerobics and yoga on a daily basis from the comfort of her small apartment.
“You better watch yourself, girl. One of these days...” Melanie trailed off as she walked away to clear an empty table. Jessie could hear her muttering to herself but couldn't make out the words.
“Melanie, focus on work instead of running that mouth of yours,” Burt shouted from the kitchen. “What am I paying you for?” For a man approaching seventy, he still had remarkably good hearing.
Melanie used her hand to mockingly gesture that Burt was talking too much as she finished clearing the table, wiped it down, and shuffled off to take an order for a party of three that had just seated themselves. Melanie could fool herself all she wanted, but Jessie was not under any illusions. Money comes with hard work, and as soon as she got home she had a paper to complete. She would ace her business class, but she need a few shots of caffeine to keep her going tonight.
She couldn't wait until the day she could say goodbye to Burt's Diner.
Chapter Two
It was two o'clock in the morning. Jessie's eyelids were growing heavy and, bit by bit, her brain was shutting down. After coming straight home from a hectic double shift at the diner, she had stayed up late working on an assignment that was due the next day. The diner had been extremely busy, and she'd spent the majority of the day running around like a mad woman taking orders and carrying plates of greasy food in and out of the kitchen. She was exhausted, to say the least, and caffeine had stopped helping hours ago.
Jessie slouched over her desk, mentally and physically drained, and replayed the events of her shift in her mind. The television in the diner had its sound maxed thanks to the ball game. Burt was usually quite strict when it came to volume, with the exception being his beloved Cubs. Whenever a game was on, he'd crank the set so he could hear it clearly from the kitchen. Baseball, however, meant that people hung around for hours on end, and since the diner sold alcohol many of them would get too drunk for their own good.
“I hate this,” Jessie had commented to
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