Reckless.

“Emily, you have three tables unserviced in your section, what’re you doing back here?” Leon, her manager stormed into the back room, his eyes wide as he stared down at the waitress who was quickly pulling out sets of menus.

“I’m just doing the job you just gave me sir, you said to go grab the new set of menus and bring them out.” Emily held back an eye roll as she pushed back a stray hair.

“Well, forget what I said, go serve those customers!”

Emily stood up, fixing the waitress apron on her waist and headed out to the floor where she saw a group of boys sitting around the table, snickering and joking amongst each other.

“I’m really not in the mood for this,” she muttered to herself right before she got to the table.

“Welcome to Leon’s, I’ll be your waitress for tonight, can I start you guys off with a drink?” She plastered on a fake smile for the boys as she withdrew her notepad and pen, ready to right down their choices.

“I’ll have a water,” the one closest to her with a buzz cut spoke up, his smile gentle as she met his gaze.

“I’ll go for a coke,” the dark haired boy said quietly, his hazel eyes barely meeting hers for a moment.

“Same,” agreed the blonde across from him. Emily was relieved, they didn’t seem to be trouble after all. She gave a quick glance to her watch. Maybe she would finish out the night alright.

“How about you get me your finest brew?” the blue eyed brunette grinned, barring his teeth as he twiddled with the menu in his hands.

Emily discreetly let out a long sigh as she watched the boy with his playful smirk. Could he not tell that she was really not in the mood for this bullshit tonight? What was he, seventeen? And here he was, trying to ask her for a beer.

“Listen kid, I’m honestly not in the mood for jokes, so what’s it gonna be, a sprite?”

“Kid?” he chuckled, but at the same time seemed a bit thrown off by her response. “I’m Louis Tomlinson.”

“And I’m Emily Davidson, so glad we got through introductions. Now please just tell me what you want to drink so we can all move on.”

He sat with his mouth agape for a few minutes and each of the boys began snickering at her reply and the way he was taking it. What was so damn amusing? Asshole kids came in there all of the time and Emily was getting really sick of it.

“I’ll have a coke,” he finally muttered, giving in. Emily nodded, scribbling it down quickly before she turned and got ready to head to the next table.

“Oh, Emily,” A deep, sultry voice called her name out and she turned back to find the dark haired boy with curls smirking. “You forgot my order.”

She pulled out her notepad again and looked up, awaiting his response.

He took a long minute, debating in his head. Jumping from choice to choice of what to drink for the night. The boys sat watching him, each one trying to hold in their laughter as he sat, irritating Emily more by each passing second. “I think I’ll go with the water.”

Emily almost ripped one of their faces off as she quickly darted away from the table, the anger and annoyance almost palpable as she filled their drink orders. “Fucking teeny poppers always come in here just to piss me off.” She muttered lowly.

Once everyone received their drinks and were seemingly satisfied, Emily pulled the notepad out of her apron once again. “So, is everyone ready to order?”

Finally, it was all seemingly going easy, each boy giving their order without so much as a utter of jokes, but of course as it got to the curly haired boy, she knew he’d cause trouble, just from the smirk on his face.

“So, Emily, what would you recommend?” his thick accent may have worked wonders on plenty of girls, but Emily was immune. Children weren’t exactly her type. And the fact that he was being an immature, obnoxious tool? Well, that didn’t help either.

“Well, I’d have to say the grilled salmon is a favorite here,” Emily gritted through her teeth, reciting the most expensive item on the entire menu in hopes that he’d shovel out a few more dollars in the end.

He glanced down at the menu, his smirk still present as he nodded slowly. “Yeah, the grilled salmon sounds perfect. Put me down for that.”

+

The rest of the diner had cleared out at closing time and the other two waitresses had already cashed out their tips as Emily stood behind the counter waiting for the five boys to leave. She’d given them their check fifteen minutes ago, yet there they were, still sitting there as if they had all the time in the world to hold her up.

She straightened up when she saw them finally begin to pile out of the booth and head out towards the parking lot. One by one, they each exited until only the curly haired boy remained. He walked right past Emily on his way out and gave her one final smirk, his green eyes gleaming.

“Have a nice night, Emily.”

Once they were finally gone and out of the building, Emily headed for the table, quickly picking up the glasses and plates, piling them into the plastic box. She grabbed the gracious tips off of the counter, dropping them into her apron when her eyes landed on the receipt left on the table that was previously hidden under the twenty dollar bill.

Thanks for dinner tonight, Emily. You were a doll. x
Harry.
909-431-6528

Emily rolled her eyes, crumbling up the receipt in her hands and tossing it into the dishes box as she continued to clean up. Thank God she’d never have to deal with him again.