EBONY
My alarm screamed for me to get up, but all I could muster was one eye open to locate the damn thing. I slammed my hand down on it and rolled over. It only took minutes for me to turn back around and look at the red digital numbers.
Nooo... I mentally cried out. I couldn’t be late today. Why hadn’t I reset my alarm last night? Pulling the sheets off my body, I ran to the bathroom. Plugging my mouth with the toothpaste-laden toothbrush, I quickly began rubbing foundation onto my face. Swirling the paste around in my mouth before spitting, I brushed my hair to make it presentable in a high ponytail which I twisted so it stayed in a bun and off my neck. Next, I painted the rest of my face the best I could while wrangling my body into my white T-shirt and black pants.
Running out the door, I grabbed my bag on the way and headed down the street toward my uncle’s restaurant. Today was my first day working for him, mainly because my mother wouldn’t allow me to live with her anymore so I had to get a job. The problem was, no one wanted to hire me.
Why?
Because I’d received terrible grades in school and had a serious addiction to painkillers which had led me to rob pharmacies for more when my prescriptions ran out. I was caught and sent to juvenile attention, but that was only the beginning. I’d been out of juvie for the past three years, and this was marked in my file which every company seemed to check these days. My uncle was willing to take me on so I could get some experience under my belt. By this time, I’d pretty much ruled out every other form of job other than waitressing. At least I knew I wouldn’t ever be out of a job—let’s face it, waitresses were needed everywhere.
I didn’t want to work for Uncle Giordano, but I had no choice. He was in some pretty hard-core stuff from what I could gather, and he seemed to think he could control everyone in the city. That wouldn’t work for me, especially given the relationship I had with my mother, Adora-Lee. I just didn’t want anything to do with her family.
They were monsters.
I turned the corner and looked at the outside of the restaurant. To me, it looked old and run down, but I knew it wasn’t. I knew it was a front for illegal activity, yet no one did a thing about it. Some of Giordano’s best friends were cops so I knew he’d never get busted. From what I heard, he was one of the most feared men in town, second only to the one they call Jett Black.
Personally, I’d never seen this Jett Black person, but I’d heard about him, and I hoped I’d never meet him—ever. He was even more evil than Giordano and the Torelli’s, if that was even possible.
Taking a deep breath, I weighed my options to run. I had no money and no family to help me out. If I ran now, I’d never hear the end of it, so I forced myself to walk across the street and open the door to my new job. Air conditioning blasted my face making me feel as if I’d just walked into an igloo.
Jesus, it wasn’t that hot in the city yet, was the AC even necessary?
“Can I help you?” a woman from behind the bar asked, without looking up. I tried to place her face with a name, but it had been so long since I was invited to the family barbecues, I just couldn’t remember it. “We’re not open yet, darl.”
“It’s my first day. Giordano asked me to come by early to learn the ropes.”
“Oh…,” she said, closing the till and coming closer to me, straining her eyes before smiling. “Ebony?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s me,” she exclaimed, excitedly. “Man, have you grown up. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Yeah… same.”
She must have caught the hint because she laughed as she introduced herself. “Darla...”
Oh, now I remembered. Darla used to push me into mud puddles when I was young and laugh as I scraped my knee when I was pushed against brick walls. She wasn’t someone I wanted to be trapped with all day while I worked. Darla wasn’t Giordano’s daughter. From what I could remember, she was one of his father’s daughters born close to Giordano’s age but younger than her brothers and sisters.
“Yeah, I remember you.”
“I bet,” she smiled at me. “I wasn’t a nice kid, I know. Sorry about that.”
I smiled, hoping she took that as my ‘that’s okay’ because I certainly wasn’t going to say it. She made my life a living hell when I was a kid. Couple that with an abusive mother and annoyingly perfect sisters, and you found yourself hating life and wishing it would end on a regular basis. I wasn’t much better now, but at least I now had Prozac to keep me going.
“We’ll start you off easy and get you setting up tables and handling the orders. You need to get your license if you want to pour the drinks.”
“That’s cool. Where do you want me?”
“Why don’t I get you to set up with Allegra?”
She called out the name Allegra so loudly, I thought my eardrums would burst.
“Who’s Allegra?”
“My daughter. She’s only working here to earn enough money to go to beauty school.”
“Oh cool. I didn’t know you had a kid.”
“I guess it’s been a while, huh? Yeah, she’s fifteen now. Can hardly believe it. You got kids yet?”
I shook my head.
“Good, you’re a smart one. Don’t have ‘em. I mean it. They’re nothin’ but money-grabbing whingers.”
Allegra came out from the back, earphones plugged in and a cell in her hand. She didn’t even look up, just stopped at the end of the bar. Darla rolled her eyes and stormed toward her, who was the spitting image of her mother at that age, to yank the plugs out of her ears.
“Ow!”
“Get to work, Allegra. This is your cousin, Ebony. She’s starting today.”
“Fine! Okay… geez. Did you have to pull the plugs out of my ears?”
“Yes, because you’re behaving like a brat. Now get to work. We open in an hour.”
“Come on,” Allegra grumbled toward me.
I followed Allegra around carrying cutlery and place settings. She spoke about the process of setting up and cleaning the table after a party had left. Next, we moved on to clearing the plates out of the washers and stacking them on the kitchen shelves for the chefs’ easy access. I realized as she helped me through the setup process that she wasn’t so bad. Her ambition was to become a makeup artist in Hollywood. I told her it was a cool dream and she should go for it. Anything to get out of this dump of a town. Honestly, I wished I had dreams like that when I was her age, maybe then I wouldn’t have gone down the path I had chosen—the path that forced me to work for my mother’s brother without a hope in hell of getting away anytime soon.
“Five minutes before we open,” Allegra said. “We need to put our aprons on and organize ourselves. Come on.”
I followed her, but I stopped when Uncle Giordano call out my name. Turning around, I saw him heading toward me. He looked different from the uncle I remembered. His black hair was showing gray along his temples, which was honestly a little worrying considering his mid-thirties’ age, and he had the same devilish stare I’d always hated as a kid.
“Uncle Giordano.”
“Giordy, please,” he said, wrapping me in his arms. “We’re not formal here. How have you been?”
“Great.”
Sarcasm at its finest, but he didn’t seem to notice. He just smiled and looked me up and down. “It’s a shame you didn’t turn out like your sisters. You could have a career in modeling like them.”
I fought to keep my fists open and relaxed. It was the same old speech I’d heard since I was a young teen—from everyone—including my beloved mother, Adora-Lee.
“Yeah.”
“I mean, they’re both thin with huge… assets.”
He waggled his eyebrows at me making me feel slightly nauseous. I had a generous chest size, but I didn’t flaunt it like my sisters did. They both had been accepted into Bridget Amorosi’s Modeling School at the age of thirteen and never looked back. I, on the other hand, began my life of shoplifting and breaking into cars not to mention my pharmaceutical robberies. I’d only gotten out of prison when I was twenty-three, and since then it’s been almost impossible to find my feet. I didn’t speak to my sisters, and I preferred not to speak to my mother unless I couldn’t help it.
“Anyway…” he said, patting me on the back, “… you better get changed to start your shift. I’m looking forward to you being here. We’ll even see if Allegra can do something about your looks with that makeup crap she plays with.”
And… another sucker punch to the gut.
Luckily, I was desensitized to insults about my looks by now. I took off as fast as my legs would carry me and helped Allegra with her hair before she wrapped a black apron around my waist. Dropping the notebook into the front pocket of my apron, I put the pencil in my hair and waited with Allegra for our shift to start. She didn’t say anything. I tried to understand why she wore so much makeup as she seemed attractive to me before she had applied copious amounts of it to her face. Then again, I never understand why people put makeup on.
“Why don’t you take a picture?” she asked, looking up from her cell.
“Sorry… was just wondering why you wear so much makeup?”
“It lets me hide,” she replied, honestly. “Why do they make fun of your looks so much? You aren’t ugly.”
“My sisters are the pretty ones. I’m used to it.”
“Do you want me to help? I can give you a makeover?”
“Yeah, maybe next week or somethin’.”
Allegra nodded. “Sure, it’ll be good experience for me. I could like do a whole portfolio on your face.”
“Ready?” Allegra asked. I looked up at the door and saw the first customers walk in.
Here we go.