Chapter Two
{Melissa's POV}
"Hey, I need more beef put on tables 2 and 5! Ethan, can you get that ladies order for me?" a short, plump yelled across the fragrant, hot kitchen. Melissa could feel the blood rise in her face as she suddenly found it hard to breathe. She just couldn't understand how her grandmother could do it all, slaving over that burning hot stove, calling all of those orders, and still have time to laugh with everyone in the kitchen. She signaled to Patricia, one of her cousins, to take over for her as she went and got some air outside of the back door.
Breathing in that burning Houston, Texas August air, she suddenly felt her lungs calm down a little. The air was humidly dry but that was enough to allow her to brace herself before she stepped back into the kitchen.
It was Friday, so it was a bit of a rush-hour moment as people fled to her grandmother's restaurant with the excuse of not having to cook and still getting a good meal.
Entering the kitchen, she was immediately interrogated by Patricia. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Pat. I'm fine. I have just been feeling a bit light-headed these past few days and I probably just haven't been able to sleep as well as I used to."
"Well, why is that?" she said, holding up 4 fingers to her grandmother, who then, in turn, nodded and told her eldest brother to take over. They sat her down in a booth and continued the interrogation. Pat told her grandmother what she had said.
"A lot of those things mean that you are coming of age, that you need to start looking for your significant other! Sweetheart, why didn't you just tell me? I could have helped you!"
"Nana," she said, straining to remain awake. "The most you could have helped me with is telling every boy that looked my way about how I peed my pants in the first grade. I don't need any more kind of embarrassment in my life."
Nana scoffed, as if she was surprised that she could guess so correctly, "I would have done that, yes, but I wouldn't tell that to every guy that looked your way. The first thing I would tell them is that you have eight older brothers they have to play meet-n-greet with before they can even think of putting a ring on your finger. And then they have to ask about the consummation of marriage-"
"Nana!" Melissa said, the throbbing in her head increasing along with the blood rush. "Just shut up and get me a Tylenol or something." A pang of silence rang as she then realized what she just said to her grandmother. Quickly, she rephrased what she said. "What I meant was, could I please get a pain killer?"
"Hm," Nana hummed in disappointment as she walked over to behind the counter and grabbed the Tylenol bottle.
(They have a mini over-the-counter pharmacy for those that eat themselves sick or need heartburn medicine for the spicy things they ate or things like that. Restaurants aren't like that in real life due to how the Karens would complain about the people that have allergies and whatnot and try to sue them for not having a medical license while trying to distribute medication. Yet they are never allergic to them. Hm.)
Giving Melissa the bottle and a can of sprite, she watched as Melissa popped two pills and down the sprite in two gulps.
"So... Do you think you can get back working or do you need to head home early?"
Shaking her head, Meli said, " No, I can do the rest of my shift. I was just a little out of it," she said, standing up and wobbling. She steadied herself on the table and took one unsteady step to the kitchen. Pat held her up as they unwillingly let her continue her shift.
After that little mishap, nothing else happened and everything went by smoothly. Well, almost.
A particular customer walked in and she felt extremely weak in the knees. Warmth started to spread from beneath her belly button and felt the urge to go to him.
He was handsome and he looked like he knew well of it. Bright blue eyes, black hair, tanned skin, well over 6 feet, he was the entire package of what women wanted. And grey sweatpants. The literal killer of a woman's innocence, walking right through the door.
"H-hello. Welcome to Nana's Kitchen, w-what would you like t-to order?" Melissa stuttered, struggling to hold herself upright. She could feel eyes burn into her head as she looked down as to not connect to his eyes.
"I would like a broiler table and three extra-extra-large platters of beef and shrimp apiece," he said, a straight, pleasant smile lining his face. Well, she would know he was smiling if she looked up at his face.
Tapping out the order on the monitor, she asked, still looking only at the screen, "W-would you like sk-skewers?"
"Yes, please," he replied, drumming his fingers out on the counter as she could his eyes burning further into her head. 'This man stares any harder, I am going to literally-'
"How many seats do you want at your table?" she asked, scribbling his order onto a sheet of paper and hooking onto the order rack above her head, all while still never making eye contact with him.
"Just one," he started, "But you should probably make it two."
"Why is that?" she absent-minded said as she used a wooden broom handle to push the hook down to her grandmother in the kitchen. The shaking wasn't that bad anymore as she got used to it.
"You look like you could use a break," he said, laughter folded into his voice.
"My shift is almost over I have to head home directly after my shift is over," she said, placing the broom back in the corner. "$68.27. Even if I could go eat with someone, my brothers would probably a) kill whoever it is or b) question the mess out of me. So, I can't. Sorry," she said, making the unknown mistake of looking directly into his eyes.
ZING!
An almost visible line of teal light spread between the two as she saw him shove the money onto the counter and make a beeline to the unisex restroom while she slid down behind the counter from her knees giving out. Before she blacked out, a blood-chilling scream could be heard throughout the entire place.