Avery held the contained on one arm, resting against her hip. She reached onto the table, and one by one, cleared the table of the plates and cups. She absently rubbed her free arm across her forehead when she was done, then lifted the container up higher and headed back for the kitchen.
"Table 8 are ready to fuck off," JD said, taking the container from Avie.
Avery laughed, sahking her head at him as she turned to tab everything up on the till.
"Hey," JD said, grabbing her arm gently. "I have to do something to brighten up this job, something to keep myself amused."
Avery bit back a smile. "Something other than brighten up all of our days? Help keep this place afloat? After all, it's because of you and your dedicated and professional service."
"You know all my lines, I've gotta chuck a new one in here and there, keep you on your toes, missy," JD replied, poking his tongue out at her. "Hey, you working till close again? My mom can give you a lift back to your hotel, if you want?"
"Thanks, Chicken," Avery replied, hitting the 'enter' key and waiting for the receipt to print out.
"Gotta look out for our Egg," JD grinned, then saluted and headed into the kitchen.
The couple from table 8 came over to the till.
"That's $19.42," Avery said, with a smile on her face. She took the money and gave them the appropriate change, slipping her tip into her apron pocket.
"Yo, Egg," JD called, sticking his head out of the kitchen. "Mom told me to tell you to have a break."
JD's mom was the manager of the cafe. JD was helping out here before he decided what he was going to do with his life. At 17, he'd tested out of school early, with honors, and was now struggling to work out his place in the world. He'd applied to a few colleges, but he wasn't really sure if he wanted to do the courses he'd signed up for, so he was floundering, taking a year off to work in the cafe and hopefully find out what he wanted in life.
Pretty much like Avie.
It was probably why they'd gotten along so well, right from the start, Avery mused. She slid onto a stool, and yawned, looking up at the clock.
JD came out from the kitchen and stood behind the counter. He reached under the bench and pulled out a glass and poured Avery a glass of juice.
"Burger me, I'm dying," Avery said, taking the box of napkins and reaching inside. She pulled out a stack and started to refill the dispensers.
JD chuckled and called back through the kitchen. "Burger for the Avie child, she's dying."
Avery laughed. "You idiot."
"You love me!" JD retorted, batting his eyelashes. "You working tomorrow?"
"Nope, have the weekend off this week," Avery replied, sliding one of the newly filled napkin dispensers down the counter.
"Alright, then Rara and I are taking you sight seeing," JD nodded.
Rara, short for Rachel, was JD's little sister. She was roughly Avery's age, give or take a few months, and Avery had met her a couple of times when she popped into the cafe to give her mom a hand if JD was busy. Avie liked her, she was fun, and she always had a good time hanging out with both JD and Rara. It was nice of them to look after her... their mom too. Kellie had more or less decided to adopt Avie while she was here. It was nice... her family away from her family.
"Ok, but you realise that I have seen a fair bit of this place already, right?" Avery replied, before taking a bite of the burger JD had just placed in front of her.
"Yeah, yeah, famous brothers, blah blah, do you ever stop bragging about them?" JD joked. "But we'll... fine. We'll go shopping. Because I want to buy a PS2 game."
"Nerdtacular," Avery said, swallowing her bite. "But ok. I gotta pick up another phone card anyway."
"To ring one of the famous brothers?" JD asked, raising an eyebrow. He leant on the counter, closer to Avery.
"Yeah. I'm going to check in with him at least once a week," Avery replied, shrugging.
"Ever gonna go home?" JD asked, taking a cloth and wiping down the counter.
"Maybe," Avery replied. "Not sure at the moment."
"We like having you here anyway," Ash, one of the older waitresses, said as she walked past, stopping to hug Avery from behind. "Refreshing to have that cute southern accent around here. My daughter wants to go to America. Ever since she saw the Simple Life."
Avery laughed, and finished the last of her burger. She took a sip of her juice.
"Thanks," JD said to the last family, as they left. He flipped the outside sign light off and walked over to the door, locking it.
Avery stood and took her stuff into the kitchen, stacking it in the dishwasher, then ran it.
"Wanna stay at ours tonight, honey?" Kellie asked, appearing from the office.
Avery thought for a second. "Yeah, that would be cool, thanks."
"We'll drop you at the hotel first, so you can get some stuff," JD said, resting his chin on the top of Avie's head.
"You know, Egg, JD, Rara and I were thinking..." Kellie began.
"Should I be worried?" Avery teased.
Kellie laughed. "Maybe. Look, we just thought... why don't you move in with us? It doesn't make sense that you're holed up in that hotel by yourself. I don't feel right about it either, and we have a free room..."
Avery thought for a moment. "That would be great, thank you so much."
"Well, we couldn't let you do this all on your own."