I Will Be There For You

by Priyal Jain

CHAPTER 16

  Ion is sitting at the table with the man, who has ordered this wine. No other waitress is free at this time and I cannot hand over the tray to someone else and run inside the kitchen. Also Justin is standing right in front of me. Justin watched me; all chickened out and raised his eyebrows, meaning, “What the hell are you doing? Go give them the damn wine and earn some damn money!” Maybe I should move. He won’t even recognize me. Of course, why would he be remembering me? I glance at Jake once more and he nodded to assure me that everything is okay and he is there for me. I took a deep breath and went to their table.

  “Your wine sir! It is the finest white wine you will ever find.” I said and placed the wine and glasses on the table. I filled the glasses, looking down and acting aloof. I kept the half wine on the table and rushed towards the kitchen.

  “Oh my God, Ashley, is that you?!?” Ion’s voice boomed loudly in my ears.

  Shit!!

  Somebody please shoot me right now. Awkward. Awkward. Awkward. I slowly turned around and there he was, Ion, standing right in front of me. The man sitting beside him stared at us totally unaware. This is horrible. What could be more fun than Justin, Jake, Emma and all others staring at me. He could surely have shouted more loudly.

  “You work here?” he asked making a disgusted face expression.

  “Yes I work here and I love it here.” I replied confidently.

  “Ah…. Dad, this is Ashley, my…..ex.” he introduced me.

  Dad! D-A-D. of course he is his dad. Here is a girl standing right in front of him, serving him wine who threw the wine on his son’s face and on his expensive tux which probably he paid for.

  “Hello Sir!” I greeted him.

  “Hi there.” He replied in his same heavy voice which, a second ago, was just a customer’s voice and now it’s my EX’S FATHER’S voice.

  “How’s life? Did you found anyone?” he gave me a smirk.

  “Life is great and I am still single.” I replied casually.

  “Dad do you mind?” he asked.

  “No not at all. I am a free man who has absolutely no work to do.” He snapped.

  “Thank you dad!” he said, totally unaware of how he meant it. Seriously, was I drunk the whole relationship?

  “Maybe we should talk alone.” He suggested. I dare not look at Jake but I do and his jaw has already tightened and his grip on the mic too. It is so embarrassing. Ion is so silly. I look at Emma who is mouthing ‘no’ to me.

  “I am sorry Ion. I am working right now and I just cannot abandon my work and talk.” I said. It, by the way, took a lot of courage out of me.

  “Come on Ash, just for a few minutes. I’ll give you a big tip and order the most expensive dish on your menu. So I guess it evens it out.”

  He is such a loser and a big jerk. He thinks he can buy me. And why he wants to talk to me? He broke up with me. He has got real guts. I hate him.

  “Of course sir. You may talk to Ashley for as long as you wish.” Justin said. He is a mean, mean guy. So selfish. Bloody freak. Screw him.

  “Shall we?” Ion asked and I nodded. I didn’t have any other option. We sat in a silent corner of the restaurant and he started the conversation, which I didn’t want to have. I have seen Jake a few times and he looked really angry. Damn it. My life can never go straight. Some or the other problem always come my way.

  “Ashley I am so sorry for what I did.” He said, not seeing me in my eye.

  “It is okay, I got over it…….like ages ago.”

  “No, you don’t understand, I have realized my mistake.”

  “Ion please it is too late now, I don’t want anything from you.” I sensed where he was leading to.

  “But, what we had was great. Our connection, the…. the way we just clicked.” He said coming very near to me that our noses were a centimeter apart from touching.

  “It WAS great.” I focused on that ‘was’, “but I am not the kind of person that dwells on the past. And you, you are saying this, who bailed on us, who got involved with another woman. I’ll save you time and you save your crap for someone else, it’s not gonna work on me.”

  “Come on Ashley you know you can’t do any better than me. You live with your parents although you are 25. You work as a waitress, I mean a waitress. So please give us another chance.”

  “You are a bloody jerk. How dare you comment on me? Do you force women to date you, look at your standards? You are a rich spoil brat and I hate you. What do you think of yourself? Keep low, you don’t own the world. Your life is just big black hole and all you want women for is to fill that hole. I am sorry Ion you are way out of my league. What a jackass.” I shouted at him with narrow eyes. Oh God I feel so light. I turned around and went. Well, that was good, I am proud of myself. I have knocked out that person twice. Way to go Ashley! I am so happy. I am dying to tell it to Jake. I glanced at the stage and he was still singing. He doesn’t look happy. I want to rush to him right away and tell him the truth. From another point of view, I like it when guys get jealous. It is kinda cute. I haven’t seen Jake like this before. He was still wearing a frown. His eyes were narrowed and not a single sign of smile on his face. Singing is his passion and he enjoys it so much and now it is looking as someone is forcing him to sing. He is looking so livid yet so alluring. I have fallen head over heels over this guy.

  I headed towards the kitchen and saw Emma waiting for me. She had both her hands on her waist, waiting for me anxiously.

  “Why did you have to talk to that guy?” she asked straight away.

  “I didn’t have a choice. Justin agreed with him, I didn’t.

  “You should have seen the look on Jake’s face. He was fuming, his veins were popping out.”

  “I know, but nothing happened. Last time I threw wine on him and this time my words were enough.”I flaunted and Emma laughed. “Don’t you laugh at me?” I said, crossly.

  “Sorry, sorry. But, you threw wine on him?”

  “Ya! It was Jake’s idea.” I blushed.

  “Ahan Ahan. So, he has been protective of you for so long!” she teased.

  “I am special, you see.” I joked. “Okay, now I should go back to work or the ‘Justin Cloud’ will burst on me.” I waved Emma goodbye and rushed to the restaurant. As I entered the restaurant, my eyes automatically drifted towards the stage. Jake was still playing and his jaw was firm and worried lines on his forehead. He must be thinking about me and Ion. I’ll clear all out with him as soon as I get a chance.

  “Good job, Ashley!” Justin came and stood in front of me.

  Wait a minute. Is he praising me?!?

  “Thank you Justin, but why?”

  “Well the guy, who wanted to talk to you, gave us a pretty good business.”

  Typical Justin. So selfish.

  “That is okay.” I faked a smile.

  “Keep it up!” He nodded and went away.