Your Biggest Misconception

I hadn't really put much thought into the direction my life was going.

"I need that order please!"

As far as I'm concerned, I'm just your average twenty-three year old with no real life.

"Come on Mark! Stop slacking."

A nobody in the world per say.

"Oh don't get your panties in a twist."

Life flew past like the ocean tides and I was just one of the many grains of sand that got carried away with it.

"Amanda watch out!" A voice called out. It wasn't but a mere second later that one of my coworkers, who is also my best friend, stumbled sideways into me. Both plates of food that had been in our hands tumbled to the tile floor with a loud clatter, splaying the contents that had been neatly plated into a big mess at our feet.

"Kali I am so sorry!" Amanda exclaimed as she tried to stand from where she now sat on the floor amongst the food. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh before extending a hand to her.

"It's alright hun. No harm done. Are you alright? And can someone please clean up that water spill like I asked to be done ten minutes ago?" I asked in reference to the source of Amanda's slip, a large puddle of water from a spilled glass. My gaze turned to give Mark a knowing look since he should have been the one to clean it up since it was his spill to begin with. He grinned sheepishly and came out with the necessary things to clean the mess.

Yep, Kalilah Jimmerson, Kali for short. Just your average grain of sand waitress who so far has been having a horrible day.

I shook my head in frustration as I exited the kitchen which caused a chuckle to come from behind me. "Oh be quiet." I playfully jabbed to the man seated in the booth. It was his usual seat and gave him full view of the area behind the counter. It was also easy for me to talk to him from there when I was gathering orders. "That was your burger that ended up on the floor."

He just grinned and folded his hands under his chin. "I figured it was. Don't you get off soon?' I turned and placed my hands on my hips as I looked at him. With my nod he let out a grin.

"It's scary that you know my schedule."

"Well I'm here almost every damn day." He replied with another deep chuckle.

"With that said I suppose it would be scary if you didn't know my schedule." His brown eyes sparkled in the sun that was coming through the front window of the café.

"When exactly do you get off?"

"As soon as your burger gets re-made."

"Awesome! Come join me then." His smile was contagious and I'm willing to bet that's what caused the girls to swoon over him all the time.

"Alright. I'll be back."

My semi-long legs carried me into the back room where Shannon, my boss and best friend's mother was chatting away with Amanda. "Are you sure you're alright?" She asked her daughter with concern as she placed her hands on her arms.

"Mom I told you! I'm fine." Amanda replied exasperatedly.

Shannon and Amanda had been family friends of ours for years. Our families essentially grew up alongside each other. Amanda wasn't always the most graceful person so her clumsiness fit incredibly well with my calm and composed nature. I suppose that's why we're best friends. We balance eachother out quite well.

Shannon was a great boss to work for. She was probably one of the most caring and understanding people I knew. After her husband died a few years ago she had become the sole owner of the Huntington Beach iconic Longboard Café. She had come to the conclusion that she needed someone to take over the café if anything were to happen to her and had recruited Amanda to take the reigns. We were both sixteen at the time and needless to say she wasn't going to start working without me. The café is like a second home to me and my family and I know it will always stay that way.

"Kali, hun, I'm so sorry it's been a rough day around here for you. You go enjoy the rest of your day. I saw that cute boy is in here again." Shannon said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Mom we've already been through this a million times!" Amanda exclaimed with a frustrated sigh and a frantic wave of her hands through the air.

"I know I know." Shannon started. "We're just friends. He's not my type." She continued in her best imitation of me. She knew it bugged the crap out of Amanda when she commented on cute boys and that was exactly why she did it.

"You two are too funny." I laughed as I pulled off my black half apron from around my waist and hung it on the hook on the wall that was labeled with my name. I took my purse from the hook and emptied my tips out of my apron pocket and into it instead.

Glancing down at myself I was glad to see there were no stains or spots of any nature upon my jeans and plain black v-neck top. At least one thing had gone right today.

I went out of the backroom and grabbed the newly plated burger that was resting on the order bar.

"Here you go Brian. An all new burger minus the floor dirt." I said as I set the plate in front of him and took a seat on the opposite side. I rested my elbows on the table and placed my head in my hands.

"Long day?" Brian questioned with a chuckle as I rolled my eyes.

"That's the understatement of the year. Shannon had a doctor's appointment so I was manning the fort. Of all days for things to go wrong." Brian emitted a full laugh along with me.

He held out a French fry for me to take. "I bet you haven't eaten all day."

He was right.

"Such is the life of a waitress. But enough about me. How's the band?'

I didn’t know Brian too well but I did know he was in a big name band. The first time he came in I remember he had just had a bad fan encounter and was in need of an escape. We didn’t talk much about his fame because he himself wasn't too big on it. I knew he had a lot of money but he never spent it frivolously. I had never met any of his bandmates because as Brian put it, this was his spot. It was his escape place. I did however, know their names.

Brian reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out his buzzing cell phone. With a look at the caller ID he let out a groan. He swallowed his food and looked from the screen up to me. "Can I take this?" He asked politely.

"It's your phone." I said in reply as I stole another fry and popped it into my mouth. He just nodded and flipped the phone open.

"What?" He asked in a somewhat grumpy tone. Silence followed and when it continued he brought up his hand and made an open/close motion to indicate that whoever was on the other end was very chatty.

I chuckled and took the opportunity to take yet another fry from his plate. His eyes playfully widened and then narrowed causing me to laugh further.

"Zack I don't know what to tell you man. If she's being that much of a bitch as to go and cheat on you then dump her ass." Brian said into the phone with a sigh.

I knew enough about Brian to know that Zack was his best friend and fellow guitarist in the band.

"Dude. I don't know what else to tell you."

Brian paused as Zack replied with something that made him roll his eyes. "I've gotta go man. I'll finish talking about this with you later." And with that Brian hit the end button on his fancy phone.

"Sorry. Zack's having problems in fiancé land." He told me with yet another eye roll.

"That's never good." I stated as I snagged another fry.

"Well, honestly it's good for him. His fiancé is a pain and she's cheated on him way too many times. It's about time he got rid of her."

"Yikes. That really stinks for him."

"Yeah. He's a really great guy." I chuckled at Brian and shook my head playfully.

"Probably just another cocky rockstar with an ego I bet." My tone held a bit of playfulness to it but I was willing to bet my statement was true. Although I had never met Zack I had heard my fair share about him from Brian. Being Brian's best friend meant he had to be quite the character.

"Ouch Kali." With a hand held over his heart he pouted at me. "Nice to know what you think of me." He finished dramatically.

"Well you managed to persuade me otherwise you big baby. I haven’t met Zack yet."

"Someday you will." He replied with a sly grin.

"And why are you still here?" I looked sideways to see Shannon standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Because I got shanghaied." I told her gesturing to Brian.

"I see. Well I'm glad you haven’t left yet actually. I want you to take tomorrow off." My eyes widened at Shannon's request. She had never requested me to take time off before. I knew she could tell how exhausted I was and figured I probably needed the break but it was still something she had never done.

"What?"

"Take tomorrow off hun. In fact why don't you take the weekend off too? You need a break and you haven't taken a day off in ages. It'll be good for you." She threw in with a wink. I sat blinking as I watched her disappear into the back room, not even giving me a chance to argue.

"Well I guess my day just opened up tomorrow." I said with a shake of my head. It wasn't that I didn’t want a few days off because they were always needed but I wasn't sure I could deal with it financially. Call me crazy, but I needed every ounce of the money I made to pay bills, rent and such.

"Days off are awesome. I don't know what I'd do without breaks from recording and such."

"True. I guess I should make the best of it."

Brian groaned as his phone started vibrating again from where it sat on the table. "It's fucking Zack again." He grumbled. "I should probably go. He's going to drive me nuts all fucking night unless I go talk to him. Can I walk you to your car?"

"I'd love that actually." I told him since I was parked a few streets over. I stood from the booth as did he and for the first time noticed that he was quite a bit taller then I was. My head came to just above his shoulders.

"Where are you parked?" He questioned as I slung my small purse over my shoulder. He casually draped his arm over my shoulders in a friendly manner and we left the café.

"I'm a few streets over. All the good parking was gone by the time I got here today."

"Same here!" He exclaimed as he pulled his sunglasses over his brown eyes.

The Huntington Beach sunshine was welcoming as it's rays fell against my skin. All of my time spent indoors had taken it's toll on my skin tone. I was in need of a tan. Maybe I could put that on the books for tomorrow.

"I love living here." Brian stated as we rounded the corner onto the street we were both parked on.

"Me too." I said with a nod of my head. While I did like living here I also wished I lived in a better part of town but I would never admit that to Brian.

The apartments that I lived in weren't all that great. My family as well as Shannon and Amanda begged me to move out and into a better area but I couldn’t afford the expenses that came with a move. It was home for me and it would do for the time being. I was in no hurry to waste all my paychecks just so I could move. It wasn't worth it in my opinion.

We approached my car and I stopped walking to inform Brian this was my ride. His eyes widened at the sight of my beat up Volvo but I just smiled. "Something wrong?" I asked as I shoved my key into my door with expertise and gave the door a shove before yanking it open. There was a method to almost everything with my car but I knew it inside and out.

"This is your car?" He asked for confirmation.

"Yeah." I grinned sheepishly. "Not what you were expecting." I concluded with a knowing nod. Everyone typically said that when they first saw my car.

"Not quite." He said with a quirked eyebrow. Deciding to not let his reaction get to me I leaned over and gave him a friendly hug.

"Thank you for walking me to my car. And for letting me steal some of your fries." I grinned as he wrapped his arms around my waist quickly.

I pulled away and he held my car door open for me. "No problem. Thanks for keeping me company. I guess I'll see you around then?"

"You sure will. Have a good weekend Brian."

"You too Kali." I climbed into my car and he shut the door behind me. I turned the key in the ignition and hit the clutch a few times before it actually started for me. This was typical. I let the engine run for a few minutes so it would warm up and not die on me like it did last week.

I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw Brian drive by slowly in his shiny black BMW with custom rims. Oh how I wished I had a car like that. But my old clunker worked for now and I was content with that.

I tried to play it off and act like I didn’t see him roll past. I thought I succeeded and pulled out behind him to start on my way home.