Love By Our Side

The next morning, Delaney was awoken by her alarm clock's beeping mode. Forgetting that she'd set it for 11, she groaned and slapped the snooze button to silence it. She stayed in bed another nine minutes before the beeping started up again, and she angrily switched it to off. After a few more minutes of lying around, Delaney finally stood up and stretched, then made her way down to the kitchen, ignoring her shower for the time being.

No one seemed to be home, so Delaney poured herself a bowl of cereal and situated herself in front of the TV to catch the last bit of Saturday morning cartoons. Settling on Nickelodeon and old episodes of CatDog, she slowly ate her Cocoa Pebbles and reminisced. As usual, she lost track of time and had to rush into the shower at 1:30. by 2:40, she was made up and ready to start her first real day at work.

“Honey, would you like me to make you a sandwich or something to take for dinner?” Mrs. Cleary asked, catching Delaney as she walked down the stairs.

“No thanks, Mrs. C, I'm almost positive I get free food on my breaks. Thank you, though! I'll see you when I get back tonight!” Delaney exclaimed as she headed for the front door.

“Okay dear, if you say so! Let us know whether or not you'll be home tonight,” Mrs. Cleary stated, receiving a nod of understanding from the girl. The two exchanged a goodbye as Delaney walked out the door, happy to finally have her car back.

On the drive to the restaurant, she got a text from John stating that he'd be by around six to eat dinner with Delaney, if possible. She responded that she would let him know as soon as she knew when her dinner break would be and if he would be allowed to join her, to which he simply stated k. It wasn't two minutes before a longer text telling Delaney to have a great night at work and proclaiming his love made its way to Delaney's inbox. She smiled at this gesture, and replied in the normal fashion before silencing her phone and stowing it in her purse, then walking into Friday's.

She waved to Brady who was already at the host/hostess stand (Delaney still thought it strange that a guy worked a traditional girl's job). He was conversing with a stuck-up looking girl who made no move to introduce herself, so Delaney shrugged and made her way to the back of the kitchen and Karen's office.

“Delaney! So glad you're here! This is Sam, he's your other manager and normally only here on Wednesdays and weekends,” Karen exclaimed. Sam seemed to be around forty and had thin, greying hair that made him look older. Delaney shook his hand and introduced herself before Sam excused himself, saying something about ovens that needed to be checked.

Karen started to quiz Delaney on the rotation and procedures, to which Delaney answered each question with ease. After a few minutes of this, she was sent on her way to find Brady and seemingly seek out all of her coworkers with whom she wasn't already acquainted and introduce herself. After flagging down her “teammate,” she enlisted his help on the second part of her task and after ten minutes had met everyone working that day, except the girl Brady had been speaking with when Delaney walked in.

“That's Sarah,” Brady informed Delaney, gesturing to said girl who was helping a party of four find a table. “She is, well, kind of a bitch. To put it lightly. She's a senior in high school this year and thinks she's hot shit because of it.” Delaney scoffed at this remark, and planned to put this girl in her place if she had to.

“Haven't you made yourself seem better than she is by saying you're a freshman in college?” Delaney asked.

“When we first met, she asked what year I was in and I told her I was a freshman, and she raised her eyebrows and nodded, then walked away. Since then, I've always thought she has a thing for me. Oh, and because she freaks out whenever I talk to another girl,” Brady shrugged as if this was an everyday thing for him.

“Of course she acts that way...” Delaney said sarcastically, and rolled her eyes.

“No, seriously. Here, watch.” Brady walked toward the hostess stand and motioned for Delaney to follow him. The two waited for Sarah to come back, and when she approached the podium, Brady introduced her to Delaney.

“Hah, whatever. Let's just hope this is the last time we have to work together,” Sarah flatly stated. Brady quietly laughed before walking away, leaving the two girls to keep up a conversation. “Oh, and keep your hands off Brady. I can see the way you guys talk. He's mine.”

“You're crazy, for one, and I already have a boyfriend, thank you very much,” Delaney said, before turing her tone down to a whisper. “I may have just started here, but I am not afraid to kick your ass if I have to. I did nothing to you and I don't deserve to be treated like this. After today, if you keep talking down to me like this, I swear to God I will beat you down.” When she finished speaking, Delaney walked away as calmly as possible and tried to find Brady.

“Whatever you just said to her, well, it had some sort of impact,” Brady laughed, somewhat hidden behind a pillar by the bar.

“Were you watching the whole time? You creep!” Delaney grinned, pushing him. “I basically told her I was going to kick her ass. And you were partially right, but she's not only into you, she apparently has a claim on you, too.”

“Lovely,” Brady sighed. “I should probably put you to work so Karen doesn't speak sternly to me. She never yells.” Sarah was off at four, and she left with bright smile directed towards Brady, and a blank glance at Delaney, who laughed at her exit. Since the hostess stand was now empty and the dinner rush was about to begin, the two got to work before Haley got in at five. She was usually a waitress, but the usual Saturday night hostess desperately needed the day off so Haley was filling in.

The night went almost perfectly, save for one group of women in their forties who Delaney forgot to put on the wait list. They weren't too happy until the found out they'd receive free drinks and dessert for the inconvenience. At a quarter to seven, Delaney had a half hour break which she used to eat a cheeseburger and call John, saying that work was a lot busier than she thought it would be and she only had as long as she needed to eat for a break. The two decided to go out for ice cream when Delaney got off at 9:30 then hang out for the rest of the night. When she returned from her break a few minutes after seven, Brady decided to take his and left Haley and Delaney working the podium.

“So, what do you think about Brady?” Haley asked eagerly.

“He's cool, a shit ton better than everyone else here aside from you. Especially better than that Sarah girl,” Delaney answered, not catching Haley's true question.

“Oh yeah, Sarah's a bitch. I heard you told her off today, good for you. She'll either have nothing to do with you from now on, or attempt to make your life a living hell,” Haley laughed. “But seriously, what do you think of Brady?”

“If you're trying to set us up...you know I'm dating John and that's not going to change,” Delaney stated, looking at her friend.

“I'm not trying to break you and your boyfriend up, but I'm pretty sure Brady likes you.”

“Hah, okay. I doubt that, but I'll keep my eye out for a sign!” The two got back to work and when Brady returned, Haley took her turn for a break.

“Hey, I was wondering something,” Brady started when there was a lull in customers arriving.

“What's up?” Delaney asked, feeling a bit suspicious.

“Well, ah, do you wanna hang out sometime this week? Maybe catch a movie?” he asked, looking embarrassed.

“You mean like a date? You see, I have a boyfriend. I actually moved down here to be with him, so it's pretty serious...” Delaney trailed, feeling like an idiot. Of course that's why he was acting so nice earlier, he was flirting with her. Or, trying to. It was a pretty bad attempt at flirting, but Delaney still fed it back to him. “I'm sorry Brady, you're a really cool guy and all, but not for me. Hey, maybe you should ask Sarah out?” It might've been too early for a joke, but she thought a shot at it wouldn't hurt.

“Yeah, maybe. And it's cool, if I would've known you had a guy I wouldn't have asked,” Brady smiled. “Well, we should get back to work, another half hour long rush usually comes in about now.” He walked away, apparently customers in the back of the restaurant needed seated. Delaney wanted to be friends, or at least civil coworkers with Brady, but she didn't see how this was possible in the immediate future without a small level of awkwardness involved.

“That rejection talk seemed to go over well,” Haley grinned walking towards Delaney.

“Hah, yeah. Definitely. Were you eavesdropping on us or something? Weren't you supposed to be on break?” Delaney questioned in a non serious tone.

“Sometimes I like to spend my breaks spying on the people I work with. Makes the workplace a bit more interesting,” Haley continued to smile while Delaney rolled her eyes at her friend. The two went back to work and after ten minutes, Brady returned and seemingly ignored Delaney. When her shift ended at nine, she checked her phone and saw she had a missed call from Stephen.

Hey Dels, I know you're at work but I wanted to invite you to this party Brian is dragging me to, someone he knows from school is hosting. It's supposed to be pretty fun and not our normal crowd so it could be interesting? I'm gonna talk to John about going once I get home, just lemme know.

Delaney grinned, knowing this would be the perfect opportunity to talk to Stephen and find out what was running through that mind of his concerning his fast coming fatherhood. Before responding to his call, she rang John and got the affirmative from him. She quickly called the older Gomez brother, letting him know that she'd be in attendance and that she had something to talk to him about. Delaney could tell as Stephen took in a sharp breath, probably knowing where their talk would head.

They ended their call in time for Delaney to pull into her driveway. She took fifteen minutes to change clothes and reapply her makeup before Stephen's car appeared in her driveway. She slipped into the backseat, alongside Brian and Jess, and was informed that Josh still had to squeeze in.

“Why exactly are we ghetto packing the car?” she asked, laughing.

“The guys are idiots,” Jess answered, shrugging. “Oh, and we could only get one person to volunteer to be DD.”

“That would be me,” John answered, not very happy about his decision. “I have a pretty huge history test to study for tomorrow, and being hungover while trying to study doesn't seem like fun.”

“No, not at all. Oh well, I can have double the fun for the both of us!” Delaney exclaimed, patting her boyfriend on the shoulder with mock reassurance. The rest of the ride was filled with random conversations and plenty of complaining when Josh entered the car. The fifteen minute car ride with the full backseat seemed a lot longer than it was, and when the group pulled up to the already very full house, there was a scramble to get in the front door.

“Hey, Brian! Glad you could make it!” a petite brunette girl greeted Brian with a hug after she answered the door. The others exchanged a look, awaiting an introduction.

“Oh, right. Guys, this is Stacy,” Brian smiled, pointing to his “friend.” “Stacy, these are Stephen, John, Jess, and Josh-they're in the band with me-and Delaney, John's girlfriend.”

“Well it's great to meet you all! Come on in and make yourselves at home, drinks and cups are in the kitchen, games are downstairs, and there's seating outside.” The group entered the average sized house, and noticed all lights, save for the kitchen, backyard, and soft dim under the door to (presumably) the basement, were out, doors were shut, and homemade blockades were set up. It seemed that the parents would be returning soon and Stacy didn't feel like cleaning up multiple rooms. Smart move on her part.

“Alright D, since you're drinking for two,” Stephen paused and cringed at his choice of words, “uh, you know what I mean. Well, you're my drinking buddy for the night, can you keep up?”

“Hah, are you serious? Of course I can!” Delaney scoffed, making her way into the kitchen and grabbing the first bottle she found, Captain Morgan, and poured two pairs of shots. “Ready when you are, bro.” Stephen grinned and downed the shots, Delaney doing the same.

This was going to be a night for the books.