Chapter 5: Unexpected Kindness
“Now Cagalli, are you sure you can look after yourself while we are gone?” my mother asked as she held onto my hand tightly.
I nodded as I resisted rolling my eyes about. This was the fifth time she asked me. “Yes mom. I'll be okay,” I said, confirming once more.
As the chief of the Morganraete Co., my father and my mother were asked to attend to some business deals in America and were staying there for a few months. “It won't take too long, two months at the most, I'm sure. So we'll be back before you know it,” said my dad as he held onto his suitcase.
I nodded as the PA called out, “Boarding now on Flight A028... Destination: America. Head to Gate A14..”
“You better go now, or else you'll miss your flight,” I said as my mother hugged me while whispering, “We'll be back soon.. in the meantime, take care,”
And with that, my mom and dad boarded onto the plane.
I sighed as I walked down Central Place. It had already been several days since my parents left overseas. Being alone at home turned out to be quite boring even if I did have Kira (who went to find Lacus to hang out with today) around, so I applied for a part-time job that took place on the weekends and afterschool to occupy my freetime. Being a waitress shouldn't be too hard, right? I mean even though I was going to work at a busy restaurant, it shouldn't be too hard taking orders and stuff. It was my first day, so I went in and greeted the manager, Mr. Todaka who gave me a smile and a set of instructions along with my uniform. “You should start by meeting the other employees and if you need help with anything, just ask them; they'll be happy to help you out,” he said.
I bowed as I headed towards the changeroom to change into my uniform. As soon as I opened the plastic wrap, my first thought was: Wow.. this is simple.. It was a simple white sleeveless top with a mini white apron that had a red ribbon around it. I exited the room and walked slowly as I tugged on the black short skirt that ended high above my knees with impatience. Oh how I wished it was longer! “Seriously! How am I supposed to work in something like this?” I grumbled loudly just enough for me to hear.
But it turned out that someone also heard me. “Well well well.. fancy meeting you here,” said a overly-confident voice.
My head snapped to the familarity of that voice. Auburn met Emerald. I narrowed my eyes. “What are you doing here?” I demanded as I was met with a smirk.
“I work here. You must be the new employee, huh?” said Athrun as his smirk grew wider if possible.
It was then that I looked at his attire and noticed that he was wearing a formal white top with a collar and buttons down the side. Then he also had a black mini-apron wrapped around his waist and black pants along with black shoes that completed the outfit. I raised an eyebrow as I thought that he looked somewhat different in these formal clothing than his regular clothes. “Yeah so what? You got a problem with that?” I said as I tilted my head to the side in an annoyed manner.
Athrun flashed that smirk as his emerald orbs looked downwards. “No problem, but I gotta say... you got a fine pair of legs,” he said with a gleam in his eyes.
My face reddened, not in a flustered way, but in an angry way. “ZALA!” I yelled furiously as I moved forward to punch him.
Athrun easily ducked as he caught my fist with his hand and did a half-step so he stood just mere inches away from me. He chuckled. “Temper.. temper.. You wouldn't want to kill your partner just yet, afterall, we should get working,” he said. “I'll show you around,”
I was still quite mad for that comment back there, but I allowed him to lead me towards the kitchen and introduced me to one of the chefs, Chef. Murdock. (A/N: Chief Murdock, Chef Murdock... Kinda wierd imagining him cooking huh?) “My my, what do we have here? A newbie?” he teased as he stopped what he was doing and took a good look at me.
I shrugged. “Everyone is a newbie at the begining,” I said with a raised eyebrow as I shifted the weight all onto one leg.
Murdock grinned. “Damn right! I think we're gonna get along quite well. Since the restaurant hasn't been opened just yet, I suggest you take a photographic memory of the tables and the menu, since we'll be receiving customers shortly,” he advised.
I nodded. “Thanks, I'll go do that now,” I said as I left the kitchen with a midnight-haired boy.
I went back and forth as I kept tabs on where each table was. Also, I noticed that there were little numbers on the tables so that made things quite easier. Then I sat down and checked the menu over, quickly revising on what was there so that I wouldn't feel like a complete idiot. But at the corner of my eyes, I saw someone looking at me funny. “What?” I said through narrowed eyes as I turned to face the fair-haired boy.
He just smirked and shrugged. “Nothing,” he said as turned around to get something and walked over to where I was.
“Here, you're going to need this if you're going to be taking orders,” Athrun handed me a small white notepad and a blackpen.
I took them and nodded my thanks. “So how long have you been working here?” I asked out of curiosity.
“A week,” Athrun replied simply.
“Aren't there more employees other than us?” I asked as I folded the menu so that the restaurant's name stood out in front.
“Yes,” said Athrun.
I felt a small vein pulse with annoyance at his short answers. “Well where are they?” I asked in a sharp tone.
Athrun shrugged. “They'll come shortly,” he said in that indifferent tone of his.
By now I directed my gaze to him as I slammed my palm heels to the table He raised his eyebrows in an innocent manner. “What?” he said innocently.
I narrowed my eyes as I scowled. “Quit it with the short answers!,” I was on the edge of yelling.
Athrun shrugged. “I like short answers,” he said.
I glared at him. “You are so wierd,” I spoke.
Athrun smirked. “First time I've gotten that; it's usually, 'Oh you are so charming',” he said.
I was on the verge to punch him when I noticed that a cute red-headed girl with pigtails came in with a similar uniform as mine came in. She walked up to us and stopped. “Good morning, Athrun and you are-?” she gave me a wierd look.
Athrun gave her a small nod of the head to acknowledge her greeting and I blinked, seeing that this question was directed at me. “Oh! I'm Cagalli Yula Athha, nice to meet you,” I said.
The girl gave me a look of disgust. “I'm Meyrin Hawke,” she said as she walked past me in a 'highly' manner.
I stared after her as a frown across my face. What is her problem? I didn't do anything wrong. I glanced over to Athrun who merely shrugged. “Well, Miss Athha, I see you've met some of our employees,” said a voice.
I turned my head towards the direction of the sound and saw Mr. Todaka turning on the 'open' sign. I nodded. “Yeah... so does that mean we'll be busy in any minute?” I asked as I quickly gathered up the menu that I was looking at earlier and tugged on my skirt.
Mr. Todaka nodded once. “Yes, I have to go back to my office now. I wish you luck,” he said as I bowed towards him before seeing him go.
“This isn't too hard, right?” I asked for a reassuring answer from Athrun.
Athrun shrugged as a smirk tugged on his lips. “Not for me, but then for the vertically challenged like you, it might be a problem,” he said before turning to return to the counter.
I frowned. “Hey!” I yelled after him.
Shortly after, Athrun taught me how to greet the customers and before you knew it, bang! We had some. “Welcome to the restaurant! How many are we serving?” he said in a polite manner that surprised me, seeing that he actually smiled, smiled not smirk.
I noticed it was a group of girls giggling and talking in high-pitched voices. “Four,” said a girl with short margenta-colored hair.
I felt a small nudge at my elbow and I looked at him strangely. He gave me a look which meant that I was supposed to speak now. “H-huh? Aah! Yes.. please come this way,” I said shakily as I lead the four girls to a table.
Athrun took several menus and brought them to their table. “Here you go, what you you like to drink?” he asked.
The girls each made different choices, ranging from tea to pop. Then Athrun lead me away. “Okay, next time, when there's a customer, I suggest that when you lead him/her to their table, pick up some menus at the same time,” he said smugly
I nodded as I made a mental note. I gritted my teeth slightly as I felt that smug and arrogant tone that he just used. He liked being in charge and telling me what to do since I didn't really know. But I will prove to him that I can do this right! “So, tea, water, juice and pop for table 4, right?” I said, repeating the decisions made by the four girls.
Athrun nodded before scooting me towards the side where most of the cups were found. “Get to it,” he said as he noticed more and more customers coming.
I grumbled about being ordered around by Athrun, but I did what I was told. I filled up all of the glasses and took a tray. As I was giving the girls their drinks, I couldn't help hearing some remarks on Athrun. “He's so hot! He's kind, smart, extremely-good looking and well-built. I'd love to have Athrun as my boyfriend, he's everything my ex, Shinn Asuka isn't!” said the margenta haired girl.
I stole a glance at the said boy and I guess that I HAD to admit that he was pretty cute. His fair blue hair was in order as always without a strand out of place and if he didn't look good in regular clothes before, he looked quite shocking in a simple restaurant uniform. The top traced his torso quite nicely, showing his well-built body and that smile could make anyone melt on the spot. “You were right, Mey, he is totally cute!”
At the mention of Mey, I looked up to find Meyrin Hawke sitting there with the four girls. “What are you doing?” I asked as I was wondering why Athrun and I were working our buts off while she wasn't.
“What's it to you? I'm a cashier. And only that. Since there's no bills yet to be paid, I don't have to work,” she sneered at me.
My eyes narrowed in anger, but I tried to control my thoughts. Easy... this is your FIRST day! You don't want to lose this job just yet. Besides, it'll give that JERK even more of a reason to smirk at me. I wasn't sure whether I was able to manage a smile, but I tried my best. “Are you ready to order?” I asked.
The other girls nodded and placed their orders. As I quickly jotted them down onto my notepad and clipped them onto the line of orders that were read by the chefs, I noticed that the restaurant was getting busier and busier. When the meals were ready, I had to be the one to take them to the tables since Athrun already got his hands full with waiting the oncoming customers and serving drinks. I winced at the weight of the bowls that I had on the tray. They were a lot heavier than it looked. Ugh.. I feel like the bowls are going to slip any minute! The tray felt like it was going to drop and I shut my eyes tightly to avoid seeing the disaster when I felt my trembling hands became steady as the weight was taken away. “Hey are you okay?” said a cool voice.
I re-opened my eyes to meet emerald orbs looking at me with a tint of concern. Athrun held the tray with one hand as he took it away from my hands. “Y-yeah...” I said, as surprise lit my voice.
Athrun gave me a small smile. “I'll take this while you go over to table 8 to take their orders. This belongs to table 4 right?” he said.
I nodded as I said a quick thanks and resumed my job. “Huh? I ordered something entirely different,” said a man as I placed a bowl full of ramen onto his table.
I blinked in surprise as I looked down onto the little piece of paper with said 9. Then I looked closer at it and realised that it was a '6' read upside down. My face became really flustered as I apologized, “S-sorry for the inconvience,”
I was a little embarassed for making such a stupid mistake but I calmed myself down as I realised that there was more to do. I also noticed that Meyrin was back at the counter now and calmly sat there. “Can't you do anything more than just being the cashier?” I demanded as I was out of breath going back and forth so quickly.
Meyrin shrugged. “I would if I could, but hey look, someone over there wants his bill,” she waved me away as she went back to the computer and printed the bill.
I clenched my teeth in annoyance as I resumed my duties. Eventually the my shift was close to being over since we were going to close for the day very soon. I was chatting along with Athrun and Chef Murdock back in my t-shirt and cargo pants when suddenly the last group of girls noisily called Athrun over. Athrun sighed as he warily went over to table 11. The girls were all giggling as he came closer and I noticed some of them were trying to flirt with him. “Athrun! When does your shift end?” one of the girls asked.
I looked to Chef Murdock who had a look of fatigue on his face. “What's that about?” I asked as the girls chatted noisily with Athrun, asking him questions like if he wanted to hang out after work.
“They always come here looking for Athrun,” Chef Murdock explained. “Actually, this happens a lot. Girls just flock to the guy, not that I can't blame them. Afterall, that Athrun sure is the chick magnet,” he said.
I made a soft 'oh' sound as I continued to wipe the tables. I stopped for the moment as I thought of how troublesome this might all have to be for him, being so attractive and all. Usually he would flirt with girls during school times, but here, it seemed a little different; he seemed uneasy with all of this nonsense going on. That fake smile I see on his face when he tries to get away from the conversation without hurting their feelings. I took the rag with me and marched over to that table. “Excuse me miss, our restaurant will now be closing. Please finish up and leave,” I said, trying to keep my tone from being too rude.
A girl glared at me, who stopped her attempt to flirt with Athrun some more, eventually agreed and left with her friends. Athrun sighed and gave me a small appreciative smile. “Thanks,” he said.
I blinked as I heard his gratefulness in his voice and nodded. “No problem,” I said as I was finished and dumped the rag at the sink.
There, I was done.. now I could go home and tell Kira about my day.. I was about to leave when Athrun called out my name, “Hey Cagalli! Wait up!”
I spun around as I saw that indifferent look on Athrun's face. “Just wait a sec. Let me go change,” he said.
I looked at him in confusion. “Wha-?” I said.
Athrun looked away from my face. “I'll walk you home. It's really dangerous for a girl to walk by herself at night,” he said.
I blinked as I absorbed his meaning. “This will only take a sec,” said Athrun as he went into the changeroom.
I leaned against the wall as I replayed his words in my head. Since when did he care? Then I heard the creak of an opening door and Athrun came out with a fashionable blackjacket with a forest green t-shirt that matched his eyes. I couldn't help but stare as I realised the truth that I overheard that bunch of girls Meyrin was hanging out with said; Athrun was pretty cool. “Cagalli?” I heard him say.
I shook my head to erase those thoughts. He's probably only going to be nice once. I bet he'll revert back to that jerk of an attitude sometime soon... “Yeah?” I questionned.
“Let's go,” was all that Athrun said and we said goodnight to the chef and Mr.Todaka before leaving.
“Athrun? But your house is on the other side of the city... wouldn't it be too much trouble for you to walk me home?” I questionned.
Athrun shrugged. “It doesn't matter. It's not that far. If needed, I can take a taxi to get there,” he said as we walked past the bridge.
“Thanks...Athrun,” I said as we walked on.
Athrun gave a small nod. “So, don't your parents get worried that you're working this late?” he asked, making a conversation.
I shook my head. “A few days ago, they went overseas, so there's no one home other than Kira and I,” I explained. “Speaking of that ghost, he should be at home waiting by now,” I added as I felt the strong breeze of fall brush past my arms and shivered slightly.
But then I felt something soft cover my bare arms and shoulders. I looked up and saw that Athrun had placed his jacket over my shoulders. “You're cold,” he remarked.
I rolled my eyes at him. “And you're not?” I said sarcastically.
He shook his head. “Nah, I'm born in the fall, so I'm used to the weather,” he said.
Eventually, we reached my house and as I walked up my steps and turned my head. “I'll see you then,” I said.
Athrun gave a small nod. “I'll see you tomorrow, 'cuz I gotta run now... See ya!” he said as he ran off.
I crossed my arms as I thought that he was unextraordinary kind today, to have walked me home even though he was inconvient and busy. And at that moment, I realised that I still had his jacket on. “Wait-!” I called out, but by then he was already out of earshot.
Oh well.. I'll just give it to him tomorrow at school.. I thought as I entered my warm cozy home. “I'm home!” I called out to no one really, but to a certain translucent chocolate-haired ghost boy.
And as soon as the words left my mouth, out zoomed the said boy. “Hey Cags! How was your day?” he asked cheerfully. “Mine was terrific!”
As we went upstairs, I basically told him most of what happened except skipping a few parts about Athrun walking me home and all. “So where did you get that jacket then?” Kira said as he floated over to the neatly hung jacket by the door and sniffed it. “Smells like Athrun,”
“He lent it to me as we parted ways since it was quite chilly out and that he was taking a taxi home,” I explained simply as I quickly changed into my pj's.
Kira made a soft 'oh' sound as he launched into his tale about his wonderful day with Lacus and how they went to the playground and everything. By the time he ended his tale, I turned off the switch and climbed into bed with the last thoughts (before falling asleep) about a certain multi-personality midnight-haired boy.
