City Boy

Katy jogged out of the house barefoot, still trying to buckle her belt in her cut-off denim shorts and straightening her red plaid work shirt. She grabbed her boots out of the bed of her bright red ’87 Chevy and jumped into the driver’s seat, starting up the engine and yanking on her boots.

“Katy! Wait! You forgot your lunch!” Bobby came running out of the house and managed to make it through the mud puddle-maze to her window. “Here, Momma said we had to make sure you didn’t forget it.”

“Thanks Bobby! See ya!” she slammed the gas and grabbed the brown paper bag out of his hand, speeding off to Tabby’s. She was already late, and she knew the lecture she’d get from Mom when she got there. It was almost five o’clock when she finally pulled in out back. She jumped out and ran through the old wooden back door, wincing as it banged shut behind her.

“Katy Dawson!” Uh-oh. Mrs. Dawson flew around the corner expertly balancing four trays of empty glasses on her arms. “You’re late again! Get your little princess butt on the floor before I kick it out!”

“Sorry, Momma!” Katy rushed to grab her notepad and pen, and was immediately on the busy floor, taking orders. She hit her tables, and practically sprinted back to the kitchen, pinning up orders and prepping drinks. She grabbed four red solo cups and filled them with whiskey, delivering them to the first table that consisted of Carl, the town farrier, Betsy, the laundry lady, Phil, the car guy, and Daisy, who was universally recognized as the town whore, but she was just as nice as anybody. Katy rolled her eyes when Phil winked at her, and knew where his eyes were looking as she walked away.

She managed to get the rowdy teenage boys under control at table 7, and finally, two hours into her shift, she had a second to breathe.

“Katy, babe, you look smashed,” said Paula, her best friend.

“Last night was definitely a bad decision. Remind me to never again go mudding at 1 A.M. and then work the farm all day.”

“Oh, it was fun!”

“That’s because you got to sleep all day, you whore,” Katy scoffed. Paula laughed and moved away to answer a calling customer. Katy stood from her position leaning against the back wall when she saw two very interesting people walk through the front door. The woman was older, but actually quite beautiful. She wore nice, new looking jeans and a delicate blouse. She took off her designer sunglasses and placed them in her black Guess bag as she was seated by the young man. He was more than attractive. He had long-ish curly hair, and wore a pair of dark blue skinnies with boots, and a black leather jacket. Thankfully he was at one of Katy’s tables, so she could stand there and stare at him with an excuse.

“Hm, who’s the hot curly kid at 5?” Paula whispered, passing her with two trays of empty plates.

“Let’s find out,” she winked before heading over. “Hi, I’m Katy. I’ll be your server. Can I start you off with a couple of drinks?” She said. She hadn’t used that speech in a while, but these two were new and obviously wouldn’t know her. He was absolutely gorgeous. He had these amazing looking lips, and his eyes were the brightest green Katy had ever seen. His strong jaw moved to chew the inside of his lip as he stared over the hand written menu.

“I’d like…” he began. He hesitated, and the woman interrupted.

“Have you got any champagne?” she asked. Holy shit, they were a couple of Brits! Wait till Katy told Paula about this. They’d had some pretty different people come through, but never anybody outside the country. The farthest they’d had was a Canadian travelling to Texas to visit a cousin.

“No ma’am, but I could get you a whiskey or a beer. We also have-”

“No, thank you. I’d like lemon water, please.” That would have sounded incredibly snobby, had she not added a genuinely kind smile. Katy returned the smile and took down the drink, then turned to the gorgeous young man in the other seat.

“Just a beer,” he mumbled, trailing his eyes down Katy’s appearance. She was used to it, but for some reason, the thought of impressing a Brit who drinks champagne made her stomach flutter.

“Sure, gorgeous. I’ll be back with your drinks in two seconds,” Katy replied. She wasn’t afraid to tell him what she thought. She made her way to the back when one of the teenage boys cat-called at her.

“Yo, Katy, come down to my place tonight and I’ll give you a good time!” She flipped him off behind her back and shouted before entering the kitchen.

“Sorry, I’m straight!” His buddies laughed and slapped him on the back as his stupid grin fell. Katy grinned triumphantly and prepped the lemon water and beer.

Notes

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