~*~ Second Encounter~*~
It was a Friday night, just four days after the accident and it was her first night at her new job. The crowd was huge and she was already nervous going in to work her shift. To make it worse, they had assigned her to the VIP section where the owner usually hung out and told her that the owner and a few of his friends would be there.
So far, the night had gone well and she had made plenty of tips. Standing at the end of the bar, she waited for the bartender to place drinks on her tray. She looked around the crowd wondering exactly who the owner was.
"These go to the booth at the back," instructed the bartender as he set three drinks on her tray. "You’ll be working their table the rest of the night."
"Isn’t that the owner’s booth?"
"Yeah, it is."
"Oh, just lovely," mumbled Andi as she took the tray. "With my luck, I’ll trip and spill the whole tray in the owner’s lap."
Making her way through the crowd, Andi tried to focus on doing a perfect job to impress the owner. As she approached the table, she could clearly see two of the three men and she breathed a sigh of relief. Must be his friends, she thought. They are too young to be the owners.
"Where is the waitress?" ranted AJ. "I need a drink."
"She’ll be here in a minute," assured Howie.
"I’m going to get our drinks," announced AJ and he stood up just as Andi was about to set their drinks down. His shoulder caught the tray knocking it out of her hand and into Howie’s lap.
"Excu…YOU! WHAT are YOU trying to do to me? Oh god! The owner is gonna come back and see that I’ve dumped drinks in his friend’s lap," growled Andi realizing that it was AJ who had knocked her drinks out of her hand. Turning to Howie, she became very apologetic. "I am SO sorry."
"It’s okay. It was an accident," answered Howie as he tried to brush the ice off his lap.
Kevin spoke up, "You two know each other?"
"She hit me." "He hit me." The two glared at each other.
"What do you mean I hit YOU? You’re the one who got the ticket," reminded AJ.
"Only because I’m not some rich pop star," sneered Andi. "Now I’m gonna be out of a job and not be able to pay the ticket or fix my car because YOU made me spill drinks. The owner’s gonna fire me for sure!"
AJ grinned, "Nah, you aren’t gonna get fired."
"Oh, just like I wasn’t gonna get a ticket either?" questioned Andi sarcastically.
"Look, I know the owner and he’s cool."
"And wet. Hi, I’m Howie Dorough, the owner."
"Shit!" Andi stepped back and before any of them could say anything, she took off down the hall away from them.
AJ started to go after her but Howie stopped him. "I’ll go get her. I need to change and reassure her that I’m not gonna fire her."
Howie left Kevin and AJ heading to his office. Walking in, he found her on the phone.
"Yeah, I need a cab at 46 North Orange Avenue. Please hurry."
Howie took the phone from her hand. "Cancel that cab," and he hung it up.
"What the hell are you doing? I need a ride home."
"Fine, I’ll take you AFTER your shift is over. Don’t you think you’d better get back to work?"
Howie’s calm nature defused Andi’s temper. "You aren’t gonna fire me?"
"Why should I? AJ stood up and knocked the tray out of your hand."
"But…"
"No ‘buts’ to it."
Andi smiled for the first time. "Thank you. I’ll try not to disappoint you."
"Tell you what, hand me my pants over there, let me change, and I’ll go back out with you."
Andi handed him the pants and turned her back. Looking at the pictures on the wall, she asked, "So you and Alex are friends?"
"Yeah, we’re in the same group. You aren’t gonna hold it against me, are you?"
Andi gave a soft laugh. "No, you’re different…not flashy or showy."
"Thanks, I think. So, why were you calling a cab?"
"My brother has my car in the shop being fixed."
"From the accident?"
"Yeah. My grandfather wants me to do the honorable thing and pay for Alex’s car to be fixed too. I guess it’s a good thing we bumped into each other tonight."
"You can turn around now. If AJ said not to worry about it, then don’t. Deep down, he’s not as flashy and showy as he appears. Ready to go back to work?"
Andi cringed. "Is it true I’ll be working your table for the rest of the night?"
Taking her hand and giving her a wink, he said, "I promise, you’ll make a good tip and no one will knock any more drinks out of your hand."
