Chapter 6

Melanie jolted out of her musings when she heard someone call out to her.

“Hmm? Yeah, what is it?” , She asked, clearing her throat and pausing slightly when she caught sight of the person speaking to her.

“I’m sorry I startled you”, The guy said with a wide smile. She gawked at the young man that stood beside her in a grey turtleneck sweater and faded blue jeans. He was really handsome with his tanned skin, bright hazel eyes, golden hair that seemed to shine in the sunlight, toned athletic build and cute boyish grin that could make any girl swoon.

“You really do know how to compliment someone, don’t you?”, He commented, flashing her a beautiful smile that exposed a set of pearly white teeth.

Melanie looked at him in surprise, “What? What are you talking about?”.

“You’ve been staring at me for quite some time now. It must be because of my good looks, right?”.

Melanie rolled her eyes at him and gave him an unimpressed look.

He laughed, taking a seat in one of the chairs behind the table she was cleaning. “Are you okay, though? Before I came up to you, you’ve been wiping the table for a good half hour”.

“Please! It wasn’t that long and it was only because the table was filthy”.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to say that regarding a table in an establishment you work in. Aren’t you afraid of what I’ll do?”.

Melanie raised an eyebrow, “What are you going to do about it? Are you planning to report me to my boss? Or you’re going to stop coming here?”.

“Depends. I’ll think about it”.

“Please do. But while you’re still here, what would you like to order?”, She asked, pulling out a small notebook and a pen.

“I don’t know. Do you have sandwiches?”.

“That’s seventy percent of what we make and sell here. If you’re undecided, can I recommend our very regular cheese sandwich?”.

“Alright”, He said, laughing. “One mocha latte for me too. Would you like one?”.

Melanie blushed. “No thank you. Is there anything else you might…”.

“ No fraternizing with the customers, Melanie. Get back to work”, Paul yelled from behind the counter.

“I’m just taking his order”, Melanie yelled back, looking up to see Tara giving her the middle finger.

Melanie ignored her and turned to meet the guy with a mock sigh. “Duty call, I suppose”.

“Of course. I didn’t mean to delay you. I’m Liam by the way”.

“Oh, right, I’m Melanie. Let me head back to go get that order of yours”.

“Any chance at all that if I asked for your number you would be willing to give it to me?”, He asked with hopeful eyes.

“Nope”, Melanie said, shooting it down immediately and walking away, feeling a little proud of herself.

Just as she was returning with Liam’s order, she bumped into a familiar curvy redhead.

“Leila? What are you doing here?”.

“Hey now, I promised I’d drop by during my lunch break”.

“Thanks for coming to check up on me. Take a seat over there and I’ll be with you shortly”.

A moment later, she joined Leila at her table.

“You look to be in a better mood than before. How’re you feeling?”.

“Disappointed mostly but I’ll be fine, it’s not like it’s that big of a deal. If I don’t get it this time then I’ll just have to wait for another opportunity to present itself”.

“That’s right. The last thing you need to do right now is give up. Anyway, you seemed awfully familiar with that guy over yonder when I came in”, Leila said, discreetly pointing at a guy some tables away from them and Melanie’s eyes followed.

“Liam? He’s a cool guy and he’s really nice. We barely know each other , we just met today”.

“Well, it was pretty obvious that he was hitting in you. He’s very good looking too and he has a nice body. Is it weird that I wonder what he looks like underneath all those clothes?”.

“Leila!”, Melanie cautioned while looking around to see if anyone overheard them talking heat rushing up her cheeks. “You can’t say that about other people”.

“Relax, no-one heard me. Why are you acting so bothered, it’s not like you don’t think it”.

“Of course I didn’t. I don’t go around imagining cute guys nude”.

“You should try it sometime, it’s fun”.

“That’s harassment”.

“Oh, come on, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. Should I ask him?”.

Melanie glared at her but before she could respond to her, see felt her cell phone chime in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw that it was an incoming call from her best friend, Erin.

“Hey, babes”, Erin said as soon as she answered the call.

“Hey”.

“Oh. The fact that you’re not jumping for joy and screaming in my ear right now must mean that you didn’t get the job. I’m so sorry, baby”.

“I mean, I don’t know if I got it or not but everyone else there looked like they were a lot better than I was so I don’t really have much hope regarding it”.

“That means you still have a chance. I’d really love to come over and cheer you up right now but I’m swarmed at work right now and my boss is being a total…penis. Did you meet up with Leila?”

“I did. She’s really nice. I can’t really say anything bad about her since she’s sitting right in front of me”, Melanie told her, smiling turning to look at Leila.

Erin laughed. “Say hello to her for me. I’ll come over to your place to sleep over so you can tell me all about today when I get there. What snacks do you want?”.

“Everything?”, Melanie said with an eye roll. Turning to Leila, she asked, “Do you have plans tonight? Erin and I are having a small sleepover”.

“Sure, I’m down. Do I need to bring anything?”.

“As much snacks as you can fit into your bag would be fine”, Melanie said and hung up her call after informing Erin that she had invited Leila.

“Will there be booze?”.

“Of course not, it s a week day and we all have work tomorrow morning”.

Leila giggled. “I know, I’m kidding”. Looking at her wrist watch, she got up. “My break's almost over. You should get my number from Erin and text me your address later”.

“Alright?”.