Page 7 of The Sidekick

I got a little worse to test out the theory, walking away while she was talking and refusing to face her. She laughed and called me adorable, even pinching my cheek when I wasn’t paying attention. She didn’t follow me around to talk for once, leaving me in peace, and never asked me why I was upset.

She stopped following me around and bothering me after that night, though. I finally realized she saw me as a person, and she backed off.

Suddenly, I didn’t want that peace. I wanted her attention. It's something I usually despise unless it’s from Trevor.

I brought it up to him a few nights later because I was confused. I usually like the punishments, not the cuddles, so why did her being a decent person to an ass like me have such a strong effect? And why was it bothering me so badly that she was… not avoiding me, but not talking to me much anymore? No more going on and on about her day and asking me questions I wouldn’t answer. I fucking missed it.

Trevor listened, but he didn’t listen-listen. Like this was a phase, and it would pass. She was nice to me once, but that didn’t mean she was a fantastic person like I was building her up in my head.

I figured maybe he was right. So I carried on as before, glaring and generally being an asshole. But I paid a lot more attention to Tera after that. I noticed things about her that were covered by my bitter filter as it slowly began to drop.

She wasn’t flirting with bar patrons. She was listening, sympathizing over someone’s shitty day at work, making them feel better with her attention and comfort. She gets good tips that she shares with the other waitresses who didn’t do as well, keeping it even. Because times are tough, she would say. Her bubble wasn’t empty. It was floating high as if it could exist on her smiles alone.

I hated it because she gave me some attention, but I wanted all of it, all of the time like before. I liked that sunshine hitting only me, not the lazy waitresses or the miserable drunks. Trevor took me aside to speak to me several times due to my jealousy.

I told him she was perfect and wanted to ask her out. He said she wasn’t for us. She’s too innocent. She would have no idea what she was getting into. Blah, blah, blah. They were all valid points, but it felt like he was trying too hard to keep her away from me or us.

We’ve had other people in our relationship, which never worked out. We had decided to take a break from finding whatever we both felt was missing for a while. If he liked them, I would be jealous. If I wanted them, they became too bratty for him to tolerate. I like amping up his frustration, but not to the extent some of them did. They told me I’m not a real brat, like I lied on some form.

If I’m not getting insulted for being bi, I’m insulted for not checking off all the boxes of a kink. You can never win.

When I noticed her obvious submissiveness and eagerness to please, Trevor brushed it off as her surface personality. I didn’t.

When people ask her to do things, she does it immediately, no questions. If Trevor asks her to do something, she does it even faster with a grin and squirms when she’s done until he gently dismisses her or tells her she did a good job. She obviously wants him, and I’m ok with that for once. I don’t feel any jealousy when she gives him her smile. She could be his good girl, and I would be his brat. Perfect.

I got pushy with Trevor, which got me more arguments. I just wanted him to see her, and he wanted nothing to do with it, happy with where we were at that point in our relationship. But it could be so much better if he would just listen.

It wasn’t until she met Joe that he started paying attention. Trevor had purposely been scheduling her away from the night Joe usually showed up. He was afraid that little innocent Tera wouldn’t be able to handle his attitude.

He always came in on Tuesdays, slow days, so he could drink and be mean to everyone. We usually threw the servers that needed a little humbling at him. The ones who sneak upstairs to lie in wait for us to come up and try to seduce us mostly.

Half of them hated him and refused to serve him for his behavior. The other half just cringed through it with horrible customer service.

I didn’t want Joe ripping into her or making his idiotic comments to her. I told Trevor I would serve him and got a baffled look in response. I never serve.

He refused, but it piqued his interest enough to get him out of the office and hovering on the stairs where no one could see him so he could supervise. Probably me more than Joe because of my blatant interest.

It didn’t help that half the time I felt like Joe went too far, and I would threaten to kick him out as he laughed in my face. He somehow knows that I would never lay hands on an old man and took full advantage of it. I might forget that in my need to protect Tera.

Tera bounced up and asked for Joe’s order. He told her she was a waste of a good hire because her ass was flat. I came very close to throwing Joe out. No threats, just my boot in his old ass.

Her smile never wavered as she asked for his order again like he never spoke. He got his usual whiskey sour, and she left.

When she returned, she had the drink in one hand and a bar towel in the other. She asked if she could clean his glasses for him because they were dirty. I don’t know what Joe thought as he handed them over with an aggravated sigh.

Tera took her time cleaning them, double-checking them to ensure they were spotless, before handing them back and turning away to look at him over her shoulder.

“Now that your eyesight is clear, take another look because my butt is spectacular, sir.”

Joe laughed hysterically, and they were fast friends from that point on. They were making dirty jokes and flirting shamelessly. No matter what kind of mood he came in with, he left smiling. Old Joe. The man that can break a waitress in one night.

And Trevor began to watch her more closely, too. He might think I haven’t noticed his interest with how firmly he’s been telling me to leave her alone, but I know him.

I was hopeful, but those hopes were dashed when Andi came strolling in, and she instantly had a new best friend. I’ve always disliked Andi, not for her personality, even though her shrieking tries my patience, but because she took Tera away from us. My chest starts burning with jealousy whenever I think of her, and I have to push it away.

A couple of months into their friendship, Tera’s stories with everyone got shorter and shorter. Her smiles got tighter. She started avoiding Trevor unless he called her specifically to do something. There was no more waiting like a good girl for a dismissal or check-ins with him.

She acted normal with customers, with Joe, friendly and outgoing, but I got concerned over the sudden withdrawal around the rest of us.

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