Chapter 3: 3. Blueberry Pancakes

Doreen

Bertha, as that was the woman’s name, which happens to be the owner of this diner as well, hence its name, had guided me to the back and had given me an apron.

It was way too big for my slim body, so I had to wrap the cords of the apron twice around my waist.

Bertha chuckled and shook her head. “If you get through this day, then I will give you an instant raise girl, because those beasts will try to blow you away.” She said, while looking at my thin figure.

Beasts? I thought to myself. Is she referring to the local football club or something? Or maybe something more dangerous, like a motorcycle club?

I pushed the ideas aside, knowing that I had managed plenty of tough customers at my former jobs, I could do this!

“Erol! We got an extra waitress today, make sure to be nice to her!” Bertha hollered to the kitchen.

Some loud stumbling and cheerful laughter were heard, and I realized that the ten minutes, of which Bertha had spoken, had passed already, and those ‘Beasts’ had come in now.

“What do I call her?” The man who I assumed was Erol, hollered back to Bertha.

Bertha looked at me guessingly, remembering that she hadn’t asked me for my name.

The last few minutes, how few it even were, I had already learned two things.

I have to think fast, and I shouldn’t wait for questions.

“Doreen!” I yelled back at him while looking Bertha in the eyes, and I swear I could hear him chuckle.

Bertha smiled at me, and walked inside again, to the tables.

Upon opening the door, a solid wall of noise and laughter, along with the odour of wet dogs and mud, came crashing in. There were no motorcycles outside, and I sighed out of relief.

All right, a rough bunch of football players I suppose.

And when looking at them, my thoughts only got confirmed, because each man looked even bigger and stronger than the one next to him. The benches around the tables, could easily have fit four people of my size next to each other, but their size? Barely one could fit on it. In fact, only one could sit on it normally and the other had to sit sideways, as his legs couldn’t fit underneath the table.

“Here.” Bertha said, while handing me a notepad and a pen.

She took her own and started taking orders, so I followed behind. There was no time to learn slowly, and as I had said to Bertha, I had my share of experience, so there is no time to wait for any pleasantries and training.

“Hey guys, I’m Doreen, what can I get you?” I asked the table at the end of the diner, starting opposite of Bertha.

The three men that sat there, looked at me and scanned my figure from top to bottom. The table next to them whistled to me, and soon the whole diner became silent.

I looked around at all the men who were now looking in my direction, and I could feel their stares burning right through me.

I took a deep breath, and focused on a confident stance.

“If you guys stare any longer to my ass and front, you better get ready to be hungry, because I can’t read your minds and take orders from you that way!” I shouted and surprised looks shot up and then a wild laughter and cheering was heard throughout the diner.

“Bacon pancakes with syrup, and a coke!” One of the men yelled, and that’s how things went rolling.

For two hours, I had taken orders, yelled them over to Erol, and when finished, I served them with a smile. Once you got to speak with those men, they weren’t so bad to handle, in fact they were all really civil and very nice. None of them made an over-the-line sexual comment, and I didn’t get slapped on my ass once, which was what I was used to. As at my last job most of the customers were pretty rude.

They also laughed about the ‘football players’ thing, as they weren’t that at all. They work at a local lumber company, and they came here together as it was chowtime.

My stomach rumbled and I remembered that I didn’t got the time to eat those really good-looking pancakes myself. I looked towards Bertha and Erol, but I saw that they were really busy, so I didn’t want to ask for a little break.

But then it rumbled again, and I got embarrassed as one of the costumers had looked my way.

“Haven’t you had your breakfast, little one?” He asked me, with a fairly deep voice.

“Oh, it’s all right, I’ll get some later.” I quickly replied and continued to take some new orders.

When I walked by that same man again, he had grabbed my wrist and stopped me in my track.

“You should eat, you look way to thin.” He now said.

Excuse me? I was too thin? I know I hadn’t had a decent meal in days but that doesn’t mean that I’m too thin! But before I could tell him any different, he had whistled loudly and gained Bertha’s attention.

“Jack? Is something wrong?” She asked him, while looking to me.

This was it; I was going to have to explain that one of the customers was being rude towards me, but because she knew him, I was done for. Say goodbye to this job, great!

“Haven’t you fed this girl, before she started this new shift?” He asked her and I looked astound.

Why should a customer talk that way to my new boss? What is their relationship?

“Oh dear!” She gasped and looked at me. “Blueberry pancakes!” She shouted.

“Never in those twenty-two years that I have run this place, have I forgotten about an order! This is all your fault!” She said, referring to my order from this morning; As well as she was pointing to each and every one of the men in the room, at which they all laughed wholeheartedly.

I could see that they all see Bertha as some surrogate mother, because the way they had laughed to her was not condescending or accusing, it was because they cared.

Within minutes, Erol had baked me some pancakes, and I was pushed at the table with the same man that had heard my stomach rumble.

I looked back and forth between the men and Erol and Bertha, and I was both confused as well as happy, at the way that they all communicated with each other. Their banter was infectious and I smiled to it.

“You should eat now, little one.” This Jack said to me, and I nodded as I took a few bites.

“Hmmm, this is so good!” I moaned and I swear I could have heard a groan coming from Jack.

Up till now, I hadn’t paid attention to his features, but as he was looking me straight in the eyes, I couldn’t turn away now. His broad muscles, tousled brown hair, dark brown eyes and two-day old stubble, made him look a bit feral on the outside. Also his voice, and the way he spoke, was rough and even a bit rude. But him caring for the fact that I hadn’t eaten breakfast, gave me the idea that he was actually soft on the inside.

This encounter was a little strange, but hey, this day was strange to begin with. So, me eating these pancakes in front of a man that I have never seen before, wasn’t pushing me off my seat.

What happened next, almost did knock me off.

“So, where are you from, Doreen?” A tall handsome and also broadly build guy asked me, as he shoved me aside, pushing me further towards the window as he sat next to me.

I was almost chocking on a piece of pancake, as it got stuck in my throat, in surprise of his approach.

I coughed loudly and he smacked me on the back, until it came loose.

“Thanks.” I said, as I got back my breath.

“Well, where are you from?” He asked me again.

“Oh, from here and there.” I said cryptically, not wanting to be rude, but also not wanting to elaborate about my past.

“Hmm okay, so what brought you here?” He asked then, as he kindly didn’t ask any further about my past.

He grabbed one of the pieces of pancake that I had cut off from the stack, and put it in his mouth. I looked agape towards him, but didn’t say anything about it.

“I needed a job and followed some cars in this direction, and voila, here I am.” I said happily.

“Yes, here you are.” He said with a whispering voice, awfully coming close to me. “And what ab-

“Let the girl eat, Dennis.” Jack sternly said, and this Dennis guy raised his arms in defeat.

“Sorry Alp- Jack, just making conversation. Nothing else.” He said, slipping on a word that I couldn’t seem to figure out.

Again strange, but I just finished the delicious pancakes, and took the plate with me as I stood up.

“Thanks for the company, I should get back to work.” I said, and he looked at me, as if he hadn’t eaten in days, but instead tried to keep his composure, and nodded my way.

This day couldn’t get any stranger…

A/n: Maybe not today, but eventually?... 💛

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