Being Watched

Being Watched

Arabella

WORK IS BUSIER than normal tonight. I don't know what's going on, but I was asked to work longer because one of the girls called out again. I've never turned Sal down for more hours and I'm not about to start tonight. So, I've been working longer than anticipated after letting Mrs. Andrews know. This is the only place in High Point where I'm not shunned and treated like shit. People actually want to sit in my section because they know I don't mess up their orders, they get the right food and drinks without me having to switch everything around or ask who ordered what, and Sal wouldn't stand for any disrespect being shown to me. He's kicked more than one person out for them being rude and mean to us. That's not something Sal will ever stop doing. He protects us all as best as he can. Even if it's only when we're at work.

As the dinner rush starts to slow down, I hear the door open once again. Looking up, I see Brock coming in the pizzeria. He smiles at me and makes his way over to me as Josie tries to rush up to him. Josie is another waitress here. She's boy crazy and always trying to get the guys to sit in her section when they come in. It doesn't matter who the guy is either. Josie flirts worse than Karmen and her work suffers because of it. She's been warned multiple times by Sal to cut her shit out or he's gonna fire her.

"Can I help you?" Josie asks, finally managing to step in front of Brock as he heads in my direction.

"Nope. I'm gonna sit in Arabella's section. Please move," he answers without looking at Josie.

She huffs and stomps her foot, but moves out of his way. Brock steps up close to me and sits down at the table I just finished wiping down. He smiles up at me without looking at the menu. However, the smile falls from his face when he notices the change in my hair.

"What the fuck happened?" he questions, his voice hard and cold as I push a piece of hair that won't stay in the hair tie behind my ear.

"It doesn't matter. It's been taken care of now," I answer him, not looking in his direction as I pull out my order pad and get to work. "What can I get you to eat and drink?"

"I want a large soda and a small pizza with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and olives on it, please," he tells me, still looking at my hair as I finally look at him. "And an order of the cheesy garlic bread. A double order actually. That shit is so damn good."

I smile at my friend as he returns the smile.

"I'll bring your drink right over. It shouldn't take long for your order to be prepared. If you need anything else just let me know," I tell him, turning and heading to get his soda while turning in his order to Sal so he can get busy cooking it.

"You gonna take a break, Arabella?" Sal asks me as I fill Brock's soda and set it on the counter.

"No. I'm okay," I tell him just as my stomach growls in hunger.

Sal gives us free food when we're at work. He's also sent me home with food more than a few times. His excuse is the orders were messed up and he had to remake them before they even left the kitchen. I know it's not the truth, but don't argue with him. Sal is very adamant about certain things and you won't ever win an argument with him. I've learned that the hard way. So, now I just accept what he hands over to me and thank him for the food.

"You're not okay. I've got a few slices and some mozzarella sticks back here waitin' for ya. Go sit with your friend and eat. I'll bring out his order when it's ready," Sal orders me, his voice not leaving me any room to argue as he hands over a plate of food to me.

With a small smile on my face, I thank him before grabbing everything and heading to Brock's table. He motions for me to join him and I sit down after handing his drink over. With my food in front of me, I start to eat the delicious food. I'll never turn down anything from Sal. The pizza is the best I've ever tasted along with everything else. He doesn't mess around with anything in the kitchen. Most things are homemade and he prepares everything on a daily basis. The man works his ass off and it shows by everyone continuing to come back to Slice of Heaven on a regular basis.

"Still not gonna tell me what happened?" Brock asks as I eat and look at him as he takes a sip of his soda.

"Nope. It's not important. It's done and over with. The person who did it isn't gonna win because I think my hair looks better now than before it was cut," I answer him, taking a bite of a mozzarella stick and pulling the cheese as far as it will go before snapping apart.

"Let me see," he says, a quiet order as he looks at me.

Setting the other half of my mozzarella stick down on my plate, I wipe my hands off on a napkin and pull the hair tie from my hair. It falls down around my face and shoulders. Self-consciously, I run my fingers through the strands as Brock studies me.

"It's definitely shorter than what it was before. But, I like it. Whoever fixed it for you knows what they were doin'," he finally says, looking at me as a blush covers my face and neck from his compliment.

"How was practice today?" I ask, needing the attention off of me and onto something else.

"It was brutal. We've got a game comin' up and coach isn't holdin' back. Though, I have to say seein' Fallon get sacked was a high point of the day. His head isn't in the game and coach chewed him a new ass," Brock says, delight filling his face as Sal stops at the end of the table and sets his food down in front of him.

"Take your time Arabella. You haven't taken a break since you walked through that door," Sal says before turning and walking back into the kitchen.

"Your boss seems cool," Brock comments as he digs into his food.

"He's the best," I say quietly as we both dig into our food and stop talking as we focus on eating only.

***

My shift has gone by exceptionally fast tonight. Even working until close, time has seemed to fly by me. I've waited on one table after another while making sure no one gets left out on either side. Josie has been too busy flirting with every guy who comes in to pay attention to her own tables so I've taken them over along with mine. When I sat down with Brock, that's the only time I've been off my feet for a second since getting my hair fixed by Silvia earlier. Sal has been giving Josie his evil glare and I know tonight is more than likely her last night here. I've tried to warn her and so has everyone else. Sal doesn't play games like this and he'll make sure she doesn't stay here to leave the rest of us to pick up her slack.

I've got about two hours left in my shift when the door opens again. I look up and my heart stops beating as I take in Fallon, Dante, Braxtyn, Dash, and Kash making their way inside. They see Josie at a table full of guys and immediately head in the opposite direction from her. There's a large booth open in the back corner of my section and I watch as they head that way and take a seat. Brock looks at me to make sure I'm okay before putting his full attention on the guys as they talk quietly amongst themselves. Taking a deep breath, I hold my head high and make my way over to them.

"Welcome to Slice of Heaven. How can I help you tonight?" I ask, keeping my voice as pleasant as possible while pasting the fake smile I'm used to showing on my face.

No one ever gets my real smile with the exception of four people. Vinnie, Mrs. Andrews, Brock, and Sal. Those are the only people in this town I can be myself with. I'm still not a hundred percent sure with Brock, but he still gets my real smile.

"Bella," Fallon says, leaning back against the booth as I keep my eyes on a spot on the table so I'm not looking at any of the guys. "Can you look at me, please?"

"I'm good looking where I am," I answer softly so Sal doesn't hear me.

"We just wanna talk, Bella. Please, why won't you give us a few minutes of your time?" he questions me, his voice almost pleading which is something Fallon won't ever do.

"I don't have anything to say to a single one of you. You've made your stance on our friendship extremely clear over the last nine years. I was the stupid one who thought you were truly my friends and that wasn't ever the case," I tell him, keeping my voice soft so no one can overhear me.

"There's more at play here, Sunshine. We don't even know all of the details about what's goin' on," Dante speaks up from his seat at the end of the booth closest to me. "What we do know is Kash found an important document concernin' you and we need to talk to you about it. There are things you need to know and we can be there to help you process the information we have."

"None of you should have any information pertaining to me. Kash, please stop looking into me for any reason. If we were friends still, it might be different. You have stayed away from me for nine years. You've let your friends and betrothed bully me and beat the hell out of me. Not a single one of you has stepped up to be there for me in any capacity. Now, if you aren't going to order something to eat or drink, I have other tables that I need to take care of," I say, getting bumped from behind as Josie makes her way to the table full of guys.

"I can take your order," she purrs, batting her fake lashes as she looks from one guy to the next around the booth.

"Get the fuck away from us," Dante barks out, making me jump from the pure venom filling his voice. "If we wanted you to wait on us, we'd have sat in your section. Arabella will be the one to take our order and bring our food out to us."

"She's really busy, I don't think you guys wanna wait for her to get to you," Josie tries again as Fallon turns his cold, hard eyes on her.

"Dante told you to get the fuck outta here. If one of us has to say it again, we'll make sure you leave us alone for good. Do you fuckin' understand me?" Fallon says, his voice low, lethal, and colder than I've ever heard it before.

Josie doesn't say another word as she retreats to the other side of the floor without looking back. Her steps are quick as hell and I'd laugh if I weren't scared of Fallon and Dante. They can crush me without even truly trying and I'm not about to help them prove that theory.

"What happened to your hair?" Kash asks me, finally saying something for the first time since they walked in the door.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter," I tell him, keeping my gaze locked on the table in front of me.

"It does matter, Song Bird. If someone cut your beautiful hair, tell us and we'll deal with it," he says, making me look up at him as laughter explodes from me.

I'm laughing so hard, I bend over and rest my hands on the edge of their table. The thought of a single one of them doing anything to deal with who did this to me is the most hilarious thing I've ever heard in my life. It takes me a few minutes to get myself under control while the guys look at one another in confusion.

"You've had nine years to deal with the people hurting me. It hasn't happened yet and I'm not going to turn into a snitch now. I've got more secrets than a single one of you can even begin to understand. No one knows anything about me and I don't let anyone else in. Ever. You all had your chance to be my friend and it was thrown in my face on my tenth birthday. You broke something deep inside of me and it won't ever be repaired," I tell them as I keep my eyes on Kash and only him.

Kash's face turns a deep shade of red as he listens to my words. He knows exactly what I'm talking about and it's making him hurt. Well, no matter how much he hurts right now, it's nothing compared to how much they hurt me and the pain I feel on a regular basis because of my mother and the men she brings into our house. The pain Karmen and her minions inflict on me at school. These five guys live a privileged life and there's no way in hell they'll ever understand what it takes to get through each day in my world.

The guys finally give me their order and I leave them behind. The second I'm behind the counter, I take a deep breath and blow it out very slowly.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Sal questions me as I put the ticket up for him to prepare their food.

"Yeah. It's been a long day. It's almost over though," I answer even though I'm not okay at all.

Every single time I see these guys they seem to get closer and closer to me. They unnerve me and make me wish for things I know will never happen again. These five guys have the power to completely destroy me and leave me in pieces that will never be able to go back together again. Each of them calls to a different part of me and that's how it's always been. They are all so different but have been best friends for longer than they remember. I've heard all the stories about them so many times and witnessed them as they grew and changed over the years because I couldn't get away from them. If only my mother had moved us completely out of High Point altogether instead of keeping us here.

Brock and the guys don't leave Slice of Heaven for the rest of my shift. When it's time to close the doors and lock up so I can clean and finish taking care of things, I have to force them all out the door. Brock tries to wait for me to get done so he can take me home, but I refuse his offer as usual. I'm not going to bring anyone to the poor section who doesn't already live there. Hell, I don't want to go in that area of town and associate with anyone and I do live there. Brock doesn't deserve to be there because he's too good and nice for that part of High Point. If I'm being honest, he probably deserves to be with the guys behind the gate that separates them from everything, and everyone, else.

Sal ends up firing Josie the second the guys are out of the pizzeria. She gathers her things and stomps out the back door since it's the only one unlocked. I look out through the front windows to see Brock waiting inside his car. Dante is still here too. He's got his motorcycle as he sits on it and keeps his gaze locked on the windows of the pizzeria. I go through my routine for closing and it doesn't take me long to get everything ready for Sal and the others to open tomorrow. By the time I leave after taking out the garbage, I'm dead on my feet and don't want to deal with Dante or Brock. So, I keep to the shadows and make my way away from Slice of Heaven.

I walk home completely alone in the dark. As usual, the sounds of the creatures inhabiting the woods on either side of the road creep me out and my steps are faster than usual since it's so much later than I anticipated. I constantly look around my surroundings to ensure that no one's following me or trying to sneak up on me as I hear one noise after another in the woods. By the time I get to Mrs. Andrews' house, I'm jumping at every single shadow and my body is in so much pain. Mrs. Andrews lets me into her house and I hand over the food that Sal gave me before I left for the night. Bidding her a good night and thanking her for watching after Vinnie, I make my way into the small bedroom and check on my brother before sliding into the bed and letting sleep claim me immediately from the pure exhaustion filling me.