Page 51 of Lush Curves

“Do you remember me?” Annie said, suddenly wondering if the woman had been leglessly drunk the night before. If so, maybe that explained her rudeness, her staring, her quite bizarre behavior to a stranger. “From last night?”

“Uh, no.”

“At The Cave?”

The woman looked her up and down, those amazing purple eyes lingering on the wrinkled waitress uniform, the large coffee stain on her elbow. Annie flushed, suddenly realizing that the woman had been perfectly sane and sober the night before, and had knownexactlywhat she was doing – she was doing the exact same goddamn thing now.

Today, the bathroom bitch was dressed in tight black jeans, knee high boots, and a clinging jersey that perfectly matched her eyes. Annie fought to not tug her hem down to hide the run in her nylons, resolved to go right away and get the spare pair from her purse and put them on. Then she thought about Sam, thought about how he loved nothing more than ripping her nylons off, popping the buttons on her blouses, and she smiled again.

“No, sorry.” The woman’s voice was as cool as ever, and Annie mentally shrugged. She was clearly a very unpleasant person, and Annie wasn’t interested in playing nice with a bitch.

Yeah, OK. Whatever, lady. Carry on with your shit attitude.

“So what can I get you, then?” Annie asked, adopting a more distant tone, one that was friendly but a bit clinical. “Do you want to hear the lunch specials?”

The woman glanced at the menu, her gorgeous lips curling up in a familiar sneer. “Does this place have salads?”

Annie fought the urge to literally point at the ‘Salads’ section. “Yes.”

“Drowning in fatty bacon and salty dressing, I suppose.”

“Youcanask for it on the side. Or, you know, just not get any dressingormeat.”

The woman looked up sharply, narrowed her eyes. “You don’t say?’

“Idosay,” Annie replied evenly. “So, you want a bowl of lettuce, then?”

The woman studied her and Annie stood her ground, held her eyes. She wasgoodanddonewith this nasty piece of work and her contempt; being stunning didn’t give her some God-given right to be a horrible human being. Not even to a person who was just an uneducated diner waitress and wore frumpy clothes to a hot club.

“A Cobb salad with no eggs and dressing on the side.” The woman snapped the menu closed, snapped out the words. “And a glass of water.”

“Coming right up.”

Annie flashed her a smile, picked up the menu, headed back to Talia and rolled her eyes. Her friend followed her into the kitchen.

“Is she a total diva?” Talia asked. “Shelookslike a total diva.”

“Oh, yeah.” Annie grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, threw ice into a glass. “Majorlytotal.”

“Probably needs to get laid properly,” Talia announced. “Unlikesomeonethat I know.”

“I’m not telling you anything, so stop hinting.”

“Awww,” Talia whined. “Just tell me one thing, OK? I have a question.”

Annie shifted her weight to her hip and waited.

“Does he love you, sweetie?”

Annie stared. “How did you –”

“Ahhh.” Talia smiled, her eyes softening and glowing. “God, I was hoping so, hoping with everything that I had. He told you?”

“Yes. Last night.” Annie shook her head. “Are you a goddamn witch? I swear, in olden times they’d have burned you at the stake. Twice.”

“I can think of a few people in the here-and-now who’d love to do it anyway.”

“Ain’tthatthe truth.” Annie poured the water into the chilled glass. “Speaking of witches, I’d better get back out there to madam.”

---