• Chapter 3: A long day

    "Crap, crap, crap." Lilly rushed around getting herself sorted. She'd woken up half an hour late. She rumaged through her draws looking for her clothes deciding that a shower could wait until she'd returned home from work. Dashing around like a crazy woman she pulled on her uniform and quickly dragged the brush through her tangled and sticky jet black hair. Remembering the sweating she cursed herself inside for not setting an alarm. Rushing around she pulled her hair back into a pony tail and put some hair spray on to her hair so that it wouldn't be as noticeable that she needed a shower. Not having time for breakfast, she did everything she needed before grabbing her keys, purse and phone and making out the door to the car so that she could atleast try and make it to work on time.

    She didn't have Jake's number so she couldn't call him telling him she'd be late to work and she didn't have her works number either. Cursing herself even more as she drove for being such an idiot for not having what every employee had she made a mental note to get numbers incase it happened again.

    After a twenty minute drive rather than the ten minute drive she usually had as she hit the traffic from getting up late and leaving late, she eventually made it. Parking in her usual spot at the front of the restaunt she ran inside panting from the sprint. As she got in she saw Evelyn and began to kick herself even more. Most morning Evelyn usually got in late but on the morning she was late she was on time.

    The woman wore her usual white blouse with her deep brown hair pulled back into a professional bun. Like usual she had no make up on either which gave her the element of being beautiful in Lilly's mind as she hated woman and girls who wore loads of make up to make themselves look "attractive" as they would often say. She also wore her usual black short skirt that was just above her knees and her usual professional black heel shoes.

    "I'm so so sorry." Lilly expressed as she panted between her breaths feeling totally breathless and with the feeling of panic rising in her chest that she would get a warning from her boss for being late. Lilly began to make herself more presentable putting her blouse into her black trousers and adjusting her apron that she'd just quickly put on.

    Evelyn laughed as she watched the flustered young woman as pink was seen in her cheeks along with deep black rings under her eyes. For the past couple of days Evelyn had noticed that her sleep rings seemed to be getting darker and darker each day.

    "It's fine Lilly, we all have our days where we wake up late for whatever reason. You know I don't mind ten or twenty minutes late, but any more with no phone call that's when I start getting a little annoyed." She smiled as she moved to the side for her to do whatever it was she was going to do. "You look like you've had a bad night again." Evelyn commented worriedly on the state of the young woman.

    "Hmm? Oh, yeah I had a bad night again. Doesn't help that it's been warm out and the appartment can get a little hot when the air conditioning in the place isn't working properly. It's not working in anyone's apparently so, it's a fault in the building when they can get it working." She said slightly out of thought trying to get her mind into work mode which wasn't that easy especially after all the panicking she'd done on the drive to work. Lilly was about to walk into the kitchen when Evelyn laughed.

    "There isn't much left to do prep wise in the kitchen. Jake wanted to help out when he'd finished his duties so he started getting bits out ready for the layout of the tables. He was going to come and do them when delievery arrived."

    Lilly blushed deeply at the thought of poor Jake having to do everything because she'd woken up late because of a stupid nightmare. She looked at Evelyn and smiled again nodding to show she was happy at what he'd done for her so she dashed into the kitchen not really wanting to get into that conversation yet again for the second morning.

    When Lilly got into the kitchen the cutlary had already been placed into their tubs and a large number had already been prepared ready to lay on the table. Oh god, he must have been here really early to get this much done in such a short time. Lilly bit her lip as she glanced at the time and then looked around.Quickly she set about getting it all sorted as Jake walked in with a big childish grin on his face.

    "And good morning to you Miss late." Jake said in his childish tone with a grin.

    Lilly turned and looked over at him and laughed a little. Like usual he wore his chief trousers along with his matching shirt but he wasn't wearing his hat like usual. He looked very much like his mother except in the frame, he was well built in the chest area and was pretty tall unlike his mother. He had the same eyes as her but his hair colour was much sandier brown than Evelyns which always made her smile. "And here comes Mr I can do it all in my kitchen so don't bother to help me." Lilly teased in return with a smile on her face. Turning back to her job she let him get the ingrediants into the kitchen before opening.

    After a few minutes Jake was done and set the last box down on the side and looked at Lilly. "Got dressed in a hurry today?" He asked as he eyed her up and down.

    "Yep. I woke up late this morning as I forgot to set my alarm. So thats why my pinny is probably a mess at the back." She answered as she kept focused on getting the cutlary sorted so that there was a large pile for resetting tables quickly. While she was busy working her body was aware of where Jake was probably more than it should have been but it didn't bother her in the slightest. It wasn't until he was behind her that she moved and payed a little more attention to him.

    "Yeah, your knot at the back is a mess, hold still a minute." His hands quickly wondered to the base of her spine where her knot of the pinny was as he began to untangle it and retie it for her so that she would have no problems taking it off later. "If you want I have a couple of staff off sick in the kitchen you can help out in here today if you want." Jake had moved away giving her more personal space which made Lilly turn around and look at Jake to see his face.

    "Depends on how many staff there is out waiting, usually you complain when there's too many people in here as you can do the job of four staff." Lilly grinned in a proud way.

    "Mum has plenty of waitresses for today, so offers there. She was going to ask you if you wanted to do it when you got in, but you were slightly late and she was getting ready for a meeting...." He broke off with a grin.

    "Ok, ok. I'll work in the kitchen with you today then." Lilly finished up her job having friendly bantering and chattering with Jake about life in general while they both worked happily in the same kitchen.

    During the shift the pair worked together to get everything done and made sure all orders were prepared properly. By the end of the day the pair had made jokes about each other and had spoken about small things in their lives that not many people had known about them.

    "So, I was wondering if you were going to the dance?" Jake asked as he cleaned the last of the work tops that they had been using all day to prepare the food for each meal.

    Lilly looked at the Jake for a moment and then looked back to the dish washer she was filling with the last of the plates from the last meal that had been served. "I can't." She answered with guilt filling her voice as she said the two words. "I would love to go with you but at the minute, money is really tight. I have to save up my money I'm getting here to pay for my rent and everything and I have to pay for my car as well..." She broke off with a sigh as it was the one thing she hated about living on her own with no parents. She couldn't do the normal stuff people her age did.

    "You know you can ask mum for a raise, she said she would gladly give you one as everyone else has asked for one but you." Jake said quietly as he pushed the subject a little bit wanting her to go.

    Lilly remained silent as she stood and shut the dish washer and put her back to the side. "If she wants to do it then she can, but I'm not going to ask. Your mum gave me this job and I'm happy for that much so that I have an income to manage to look after myself. Sorry." She pulled away from the side and looked around the kitchen not seeing anything else to do so she went out to ask Evelyn if she could go, but saw the woman speaking to someone about her age. Not wanting to bother her she went to head back into the kitchen when Jake walked out.

    "All done in there, we're going to head home."

    Evelyn nodded and thanked Lilly for the help in the kitchen and told her to come in for just the afternoon shift with her working the full day.

    Thankful that home time had came for her she headed out to her car and went to get some fuel for her car and then went home.