Page 109 of Crew Princess
“Yeah.” He sighed, sinking down in the seat. He kicked his legs out. “Jordan switched me to water. Stupid water. Sober water. No-booze water. You get my drift?”
Oh, we were getting it.
“So, who’s going to do a body shot on me?” he asked, lifting his shirt.
We got off the bus at a nice restaurant in Fallen Crest. It was new, recently opened, and I knew Heather had been worried at one point about how Manny’s would be impacted because of it.
Looking around, noting the fancy glasses, the rest of the customers and how they stiffened and threw horrified looks our way, I knew she didn’t need to be concerned. People were people. People liked to let loose and get drunk, not be prickly and stuck-up. Her place would continue to kick ass.
I recognized one of the servers when she came to our end of the table.
Slender, her blond hair pulled up in a tightly wrapped bun, absolutely perfect. Her uniform was a white button-down shirt over black dress pants.
“Ava?”
She paused, looking over. “Oh, hey, Bren.” She looked around the table. “You all look great.”
I shared a look with Cross. Zellman and Jordan glanced at me. They recognized her too.
“What are you doing here?”
Tabatha laughed, reaching for her water. “She’s obviously working, Bren. How much have you had to drink?”
I ignored her. “You’re working three jobs?”
Ava stiffened, biting her lip. “Uh… It’s not that bad. The money is good.”
Fuck that. She worked nearly full-time at Heather’s place, and she picked up shifts at the pizzeria in Roussou. Now she was here? Was she trying to work herself to death? I remembered Heather talking about her, how her last boyfriend had been a jackass and now she had a nice new guy.
Ava also went to our school, the school that had prom tonight, and she was working.
I didn’t push it, and Ava seemed to relax as she filled the rest of the waters, then returned to take orders.
When she came to me, I lowered my voice. “You’re not going to the dance tonight?”
She froze. “I’m not a big dance person.”
I called bullshit on that. I hated dances, and I was even going.
Cross touched my arm, shaking his head just slightly. I knew what he was signaling, but it was wrong. I wasn’t going to let it go. I liked Ava. We weren’t friendly, but I knew she was a good worker. She was quiet, did her studies. She didn’t have a lot of friends, and thinking on it now, I didn’t know who she hung out with at school. She didn’t seem to hang out with anyone outside of school either. She worked.
“Roy.”
She lifted her head from her order tablet. “Hmm?”
“That’s your boyfriend’s name. Roy, right?”
Her eyebrows lowered. “Uh. Yeah.” An uneasy laugh. “He’s working too. What would you like to order?”
I told her, handing over my menu, and when she left, Tabatha asked, not so quietly, “You know her?”
Ava paused, her shoulders stiffening.
Jordan elbowed her. “Tact, babe.” He nodded toward me. “She’s Bren’s friend. Obviously.” Then he got pulled into conversation with the guys on his other side.
Tabatha was still frowning. “Yeah. I know, but that girl’s a loser. She used to be on mock trial.” She snorted, laughing by herself. “Can you believe that? Mock trial.”
This. Right here. This was why Tabatha and I were still a work in progress.
