~~~Chapter One~~~
William 'Spike' Pratt was sitting in the unemployment office, waiting to be seen for, what felt like, the millionth time. He had been here, in this same predicament, two, maybe three, times a month. He just could not seem to keep a job. No matter what he did, there was nothing that he could do.
A woman came in the room from behind him, and walked over to her desk, sitting in the chair behind it, "Well, Mr. Pratt, it seems we have a bit of a problem keeping a job. Why would that be?"
He sighed, "I'm not sure. I do everything that my employers ask of me, but I just can't seem to do it right. I'm not sure if there is anything that I can do right."
She looked at his folder again, and then back at him, "Well, it seems that there is only two other options, and we'll try both if one of them fails," She took a piece of paper and wrote down an address and a phone number, "Here is the address and number of a local diner. You might try there."
He took the piece of paper, "All right. I guess it couldn't hurt. We've tried everything else. Might as well try this, too. " He stood up, as well did the woman, and shook her hand, "Thanks again. Hopefully I won't be seeing you anytime soon."
She laughed as she watched him leave her office, "You, too, Mr. Pratt."
*******************************************
Spike had gotten home and called the diner. They seemed eager to meet him and for him to start his job coming Monday morning. He plopped down on his couch, reaching for the remote to turn the television on, "Well, let's just hope that this job goes a lot better than all of the other ones that I've had recently."
He sat as he watched a soccer game of Manchester United. He kept thinking about all the jobs that he had been involved in for the past few months.
He had been a bouncer at a local club called 'Night'. That job wasn't exactly every thing that he had hoped that it would be, but he decided that he would at least give it a try.
It turned out that the kind of person that they wanted to be their bouncer was supposed to be big, buff, bronzed, and gorgeous. Well, he had 2 out of 4. That's what they had told him anyways. Apparently, he had the buff and the gorgeous, but not the big and bronzed.
They told him if he could change his appearance then he could keep his job, but he had told them that he refused to look like a pansy. So they fired him.
The job after that, he was an assistant. He thought that maybe he could try that, just for the heck of it and to see if he could do something like that. Something different and new.
Turns out, he didn't do that stuff for a reason. He sucked at it. He lost files, lost appointment dates, and he could never answer his phone, on account for trying to find the lost appointment dates and the lost files, so that job didn't last very long.
Then he had the worst one ever. He was a house keeper. Commonly known as a maid, but he refused to call it that. Said that it made him look and sound like a ponce.
That job didn't last very long. Mainly because he sucked at cleaning. He didn't clean his own house. How did people expect him to clean theirs? He tried his best, well, the best that he could put forth, but it just didn't work out.
Now he had this new job as a waiter, and he was determined not to loose this job. He had screwed up so many times in the past with all of his jobs, and he refused to let himself screw this one up, too.
Now, if only he could actually commit to that determination, then he would be in good shape. He had never served people food before. That was definitely something new and different.
He just hoped that he was good at this job. He needed to keep a roof over his head, clean clothes on his back, and food on his table. Not to mention the occasional alcoholic beverage in his fridge.
He decided that he would just focus on the game in front of him and worry about all the things that he could do wrong in this job on Monday. Tonight, he was going to sit back and relax.
He pushed all the thoughts of the new and different job in the back of his mind. He sat back, and watched the Manchester U game, and hope that they won.
~~~Chapter Two~~~
Spike walked into Mel's Diner. He was nervous, which for him was normal at a new job. He just hoped that this job would end up better than all the others. Maybe he could keep this one for more than a month.
He sighed as he walked towards the woman at the counter. She looked up at him and smiled, "Hello. Can I help you?"
He smiled back at her, "Yeah, I am supposed to come in for an interview today. Name's William Pratt."
Her smile seemed to get even bigger, "Great! My name is Willow. I am the general manager here. Well, the interview was just for me basically to see if you had any unwanted appearances!" She explained as she looked him over, "Well, doesn't seem to be a problem. Why don't we get you a uniform and you can start today if you like?"
He nodded, "Definately. I would love to," they started walking towards the back of the diner, "I'm not so sure about how good I am going to be at serving, but I will do my best."
She stopped at an office, using her keys to open it, "I'm sure that you will do fine. None of my employees knew how to serve when they started either," she rummaged through a couple of shirts and handed him one, "Okay, here you go. If this one doesn't fit, then come find me and I will give you a different one."
"Alright," he headed towards the bathrooms to change, but stopped when he heard her voice.
"William!" He turned to look at her, "Welcome to Mel's Diner."
And with that, she turned and headed towards the register and he headed, once again, to the bathrooms.
****************************************************
Once he changed, he walked to Willow, "Okay, what should I do?"
She smiled, "Wow. That was a fast change!" She laughed, "Okay. I guess you can start with that table over there," she pointed to a table near the window, where a young woman and a man sat across from her, "I know that that table will be easy for you. Just let her know that you just started today."
He looked at her skeptically, "How do you know? Know her or something?"
"Yeah. Her name is Buffy. She is one of my best friends. She'll be easy, now, the guy across from her, I'm not so sure about. I've never actually hung around him enough to form an opinion."
He sighed, trying to prepare himself for this, "All right. Best get this over with fast."
She giggled, "That's the spirit!"
He turned and walked to the table by the window, "Hi, my name is William. I'll be taking care of you all today. Do you know what you would like or do you still need a few minutes?"
Buffy looked up at him smiling, "Hi. I don't recognize you. Did you just start?"
He smiled, he liked her, "Yeah. Just started today."
"Oh! Well, welcome then. I'm Buffy," she stuck her hand out for him to shake, which he did gratefully, "And this is my boyfriend, Riley."
He turned to Riley, who was sticking his hand out for him to shake and he did, "Nice to meet you both. Do you all just want to start out with some drinks and I'll be back for your order later?"
She thought for a bit, then looked at him, "Yeah. That would be great. I'll take a coke."
He wrote it down then looked at Riley, "All right. And you, sir?"
He smiled, "I'll have a coke also. Thanks."
"Great. I'll be back in a moment to take your orders," and with that, he turned and walked to the pop machine, getting two glasses out and filling them with ice and coke.
Willow walked up to him, "So? How was the first meeting? Did it go well? Looked like it did."
He put the cokes on a tray, along with his order paper and pen and looked at her, "Yeah. She noticed right off that I was just starting. She's pretty nice. The bloke next to her was okay. Barely said two words to me."
She scoffed, "Yeah, that's typical Riley. Don't worry, things will get better," she patted him on the back and walked away.
****Meanwhile, at the table****
"What the hell was that, Buffy?" Riley asked, steam could have been seen coming out of his nostrils.
She looked at him as if he had lost his mind, "What are you talking about?"
He pointed at her, "You! Flirting with that waiter! You were practically throwing yourself at him!"
"I was not! You are taking things way out of proportion. I was being nice! It's his first day! I remember when I started working here when it first opened. I would have liked a nice customer to be my first impression."
He scoffed disbelieving her, "Whatever."
William made his way back to the table, setting the glasses down in front of them along with two straws. "Here we go. Are you ready to order?"
Buffy smiled at him, "Yep."
He grabbed his pen, clicking it open, "All right. What can I get you?"
~~~Chapter Three~~~
Spike walked into his apartment, dropping everything that he had in his arms right on the floor, not caring where it ended up. He was exhausted. He thought he was gonna drop, literally. He never thought that working at a diner would make his feet hurt so bad.
He had table after table today. Apparently, people enjoyed seeing new faces at Mel's Diner, so they all sat in his area today. Not all of his tables were that bad, actually. He had one table in particular that he hated, but then she came.
Buffy. His first customer. She was beautiful today. As if she wasn't every time that he had seen her. She wore tight jeans, stiletto heals, and a petite, black, sleeveless shirt, that dipped just low enough in the front to show a bit of clevage to make her look extravagant. She had her hair pulled in a messy bun, which he thought looked absolutely sexy on her.
He hadn't seen Riley, Captain Forehead as he called him, in a few days, and assumed that things with them weren't so great right now. He had to admit, though, he didn't hate the idea that they might break up. He reveled in it. He hoped that they did, then he could show her how she should really be treated.
She shouldn't be taken to a diner for dinner, she should be taken out to a fancy place where everyone there just shrunk in comparison to her. Although, to him, no one could hold a candle to her.
He plopped down on his couch, barely able to lift his legs to rest on the coffee table in front of him. His mind was running a thousand different ways all at once. He finally began to argue with himself, and if he had told anyone else that, they would have thought he was crazy.
'Why can't you stop thinking about her?'
'Cause she's gorgeous that's why.'
'That doesn't mean that you have to think about her all the time! She's just a chit. Just like the rest of them.'
'Just keep telling yourself that, mate. She's not like the others and you know it. She's something spectacular and you can't help but want her to yourself.'
'But you're never going to get her, you idiot. She's with that insipid Riley bloke.'
'He's no good for her. You need to get her away from him.'
'Oh yeah? Well how do you expect me to do that, mate? She doesn't even know me. Why the hell would she trust me? The only conversations that we've had is when she came into the diner for lunch.'
'But they've still been conversations. That says something right there. Admit it, you've never had so much fun just talking to a chit before, have you?'
The second Spike was silent, as if his answer was evident.
'That's what I thought. Just thinking about how you all hit it off when you speak gets you missing her doesn't it? You miss her and you barely know her. So don't sit there and act as if you've got nothing to do with her, you ponce. And stop arguing with me, if anyone else were to know about what's going on inside your brain right now, you would be locked up for sure. Then you would never get to see her. Wouldn't that just piss you off? Now, get up, go to bed, and get some sleep. I'm tired.'
Spike thought that he was losing his mind, arguing with himself like that, but he had to admit, his second voice did make a lot of sense. No matter how much he hated to admit it, he was falling for this girl that he barely knew.
All he could think about was her golden hair, her tanned legs, how she swayed her hips as she walked out of the diner, away from him. He sighed, struggling to stand up.
He headed to his bedroom, deciding to take a detour to the bathroom to take a leak and brush his teeth before he went to bed. Once done, he slowly waltzed to his bed, barely getting his clothes off before crawling under the covers.
Once again, unable to think of anything but her, he growled in frustration. He couldn't think of anything or anyone else. At that instant, he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this was going to be one hell of a night for him. Sleep would not going to come easy.
Tonight was going to be hell.
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!