Battered to Loved

3.

Today has been quite hectic. With only an hour of work left I begin cleaning up the diner so that all that I need to do is count the money, log it and head home. I shoot Mrs. Smith a quick text asking if she and the kids were at her apartment or mine. As I begin cleaning and sanitizing everything, I see that Bella is serving a table full of guys who are clearly drunk. They are being disrespectful towards her and disgusting, so I walk over to her and offer some assistance. “Is there anything I can do for you guys?” I ask politely smiling. They are all laughing, and you can smell the alcohol coming from them. It is hard to keep a straight face when the reek of cheap liquor from the bar.

“No there isn’t” The man with the beard says.

“All we want is a little fun.” One of the smaller guys say.

“Unless you, her or both can give us what we want then there isn’t anything either of you can do” The guy with the beard say, but this time louder.

“Well then, I think it’s time for you all to leave. We are about to close anyways.” I tell them.

“We aint going nowhere until we are ready to leave.” The darker man in the corner of the booth says.

At this point I am just getting upset so I wave to Dave and Eric to come out from the kitchen for help. “What seems to be the problem?” Eric asks.

“They are being rude and don..” I try to say before being interrupted by a bald-headed man.

“Nothing is the problem these fine ladies were just telling us how they want to have a little fun with us. Aint that right boys?” The bald head man says.

“I wasn’t asking you guys. I was talking to the ladies.” Eric says to them. At that point all their eyes got big and they all got quiet it was kind of hard to hold my laugh in.

“They are refusing to leave, while being immature and rude to both of us.” Bella chimes in.

“I think the five of you need to leave. We are closing up.” Dale tells them.

They begin to get up while huffing and puffing because they didn’t get their way. I guess they had assumed Eric and Dale would side with them. Once they were all out I locked the doors and giggled. “They didn’t like you two siding with us did they?” I asked.

“Haha no they didn’t.” Dale said.

“They assumed we would be siding with them and join in on them being major asshats.” Eric says. “But we don’t get down like that.” He continues on.

“Eric and I will walk you ladies to your cars when we finish up here.” Dale says. I smile and shake my head. And with that I begin my nightly routine of counting the money, cashing out the tips and logging it into the computer while Dale, Eric and Bella finish up their duties. Once we are all done Bella and I wait by the back doors for Dale and Eric. They finish up their cleaning and head over to us, I punch in the code for the alarm, and we all walk out. I lock the building up and follow the guys out to my car. Luckily enough Bella had the bright idea to park right next to me. We both got into our cars and drive off, I wave to Eric and Dale and begin heading home.

I have never seen those guys before. So, they are probably passer byers just stopping before they leave. And that thought puts me at ease. I got home realizing I never checked my phone to see if Mrs. Smith answered me. So, I quickly pulled my phone out and read “Your apartment. Legacy wanted to play with her toys and Don isn’t feeling to well, so we came here.” I wonder if he’s, okay? I’ll have to ask her when I go upstairs. Getting to my apartment door all I can hear is the tv from the living room. I go in and see Mrs. Smith is asleep on my couch and both kids are cuddled up next to her. So, one by one I take the kids to their room and put them in their beds. Giving them each a kiss before turning on their nightlights and leaving the door cracked open just a little bit. It is 12:45 am now. Instead of waking Mrs. Smith up to have her go home I go into my closet and pull out a spare blanket and go and cover her up. Trying not to make a sound to wake any of them up.

I take my shoes off by the front door, head to the fridge for a cold Pepsi and head to my room. I get out of my clothes and into a pair of shorts and an oversized t-shirt. I crack my Pepsi open taking a drink from it before laying down. I know it will be a while before I can actually fall asleep, so I pick up my phone and begin watching YouTube shorts. Ten minutes into scrolling YouTube shorts I hear Mrs. Smith in my living room awake. So, I walk out to her “Is Mr. Smith okay. I didn’t want to wake you when I got her so I was just gonna let you sleep.” I say.

“He is fine Dear, just old age and the weather constantly changing.” She smiles at me. “It’s okay. I figured; you always do this when I am here. I just need to go check on him and make sure he took his medicine. That stubborn old bastard will refuse to take it unless I am watching him.” She chuckles walking up to me to give me a hug before parting ways.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Mrs. Smith.” I say waving to her. She waves back and disappears into the darkness of the hallway. And I head back to my room to watch YouTube shorts until I fall asleep.