Page 8 of Mine To Possess
“Hello?” I call out timidly.
“For fucks sake, get in here,” a voice shouts impatiently.
I follow the sound of the voice and find myself in an office. It’s a small room, carpeted in the same cheap stuff as the corridor outside. The furniture is shabby. There’s an overweight man with a pasty complexion sitting with his booted feet up on a desk. A lit cigarette smolders in an ashtray on the messy desk. He is wearing a suit, but even that looks cheap and ill-fitting.
He looks me up and down. “Looking for a job, huh?”
5
AMELIA
I’m kinda speechless by the situation I find myself in, so I just nod.
He gestures to the chair in front of his desk. I don’t really want to sit on it. It looks grubby and sticky, but I park myself on it. I need a job. I can always wash my jeans.
“What’s your name, kid?”
“Amelia Madison,” I reply.
“I’m Larry Hall, the owner of this fine establishment.”
I don’t know if he’s joking or not when he says that. He doesn’t laugh and I’m glad I didn’t.
“How old are you?” He gives me a look. It’s the same look Dan used to give me when my mom wasn’t home.
I don’t think Larry is the sort of man who is worried about following the law, but this is my last hope and I’m not going to blow it with honesty. I swallow hard. “Eighteen,” I lie.
Larry’s smiling at me now, a smile that makes me want to shrink away from him. The look on his face takes away any guilt I might have felt about lying to him.
“Good. Good. Have you worked in a bar before, sweet cheeks?” he asks.
I can’t lie about that. Two minutes behind that bar and he’ll know I don’t know the first thing about bar tending.
“No, but I’m a very fast learner,” I say quickly.
“Can you put on a pretty smile and carry a tray?”
I give him my best smile. “That I absolutely can do.”
He laughs and shakes his head. “Yup, you’ll do. You keep that smile up. The regulars here like their waitresses smiling and happy as a pig in shit… and they’re big on cleavage. The more the better… It’ll show on your tips. You get me?”
I get him alright. I nod, forcing my smile to be wider, showing even more teeth.
“That’s better. If you work here, you’ll be working late most nights. Definitely weekend nights. You ok with that?”
I nod again. It’s not like I have any sort of social life, anyway.
“And there’ll be none of this bleeding-heart feminism bullshit. Our regulars like a joke and sometimes, those jokes could be seen as offensive. Your job is to laugh at them and not get your panties in a twist. Clear?”
It’s clear. If I work here, I’ll have to accept all of the pervy comments thrown my way and any groping without complaint and with a big smile plastered on my face. But at least here, I’ll be able to leave when my shift is over.
I nod again. “Sure. It’s all said in fun, right?”
“That’s the spirit. No snowflakes in this establishment.” Larry grins. “One more question. Can you start right now? One of my waitresses called in sick today and I think you can see we’re kind of short-staffed tonight.”
My eyes widen, trying to take his words in. Wow, I got a job! I actually freaking did it. The smile on my face is genuine this time as I nod vigorously.
Larry laughs. “You’ll be working around twenty hours a week, maybe more. The pay is rubbish, but smile like that honey, and you’ll make a king’s ransom in tips.”