[sub]Collab with [@The Muse], [@lovely complex], and [@Viciousmarrow][/sub]
[h1] Timeskip: 8:10am[/h1]
Pulling up by the curb, in between Millington High and Millington Grade school, Riley put the white Dodge Caravan on park (the car that had once belonged to their mother). Both Zoey and Olivia chose to sit in the backseat together, leaving the passenger’s seat empty.  Looking through the rear mirror and letting his eyes rest on his sisters, Riley exclaimed, [color=seagreen] “You two have a wonderful day at school! Call me if you need me. Remember I’m speed dial 2. And please, please, PLEASE, don’t forget your lunch boxes. I hate putting all your food in brown bags.”[/color] He listened to their responses, if any at all, and watched them as they exited the car. Rolling down his window swiftly, the twin yelled (so both girls could hear him), [color=seagreen]“BE GOOD! STUDY HARD! AND IF ANYONE BOTHERS YOU, I’LL KICK THEIR ASSES.”[/color] He waved with both of his hands in their directions, not really caring if there were students, parents, and teachers looking at him. Once they both were inside, he pulled his car out of park and drove forward. 

With a nod of accomplishment, he left the school grounds and turned onto the street of the University to get an errand out of the way. The semester was more than halfway through and somehow, he got kicked out of an online class he was aceing. He hated having to deal with these menial tasks, but it was something he had to do. Ain’t no way in hell he’s taking this core course again. 
[sub][@BilboTheGreat][@Emma][/sub]
[hr]
[i]‘People actually come to eat here?’[/i] the apron-clad, redheaded female thought, spinning around on a stool she had dragged behind the welcome podium. Two customers had just entered, a skinny man that seemed to be athletic and some edgy kid with lots of tattoos and a Flock of Seagulls haircut. All Riley had told her to do was to welcome people, seat them, and then take their orders while he went and took the younger ones off to school. Ron, the other chef, would take care of the cooking until he got back. The thing is, she didn’t know the first damned thing when it came to being a waitress. After all, this was her first time actually doing anything related to the family business.

[i]‘Okay, like we practiced: Welcome to the Queen’s… What was it again? Um…’[/i] Kylie didn’t even know the name of the diner. Not to mention she wasn’t sure how to address these two. Despite her family’s growing disbelief in her social anxiety, Kylie could not socialize with strangers at all. She froze and locked onto both of them.

[color=salmon]“W-wel…”[/color] was, embarrassingly, all she was able to say before her mouth just hung agape, unable to say anything more. [i]‘You’re blowing it, Kylie! Just fucking say it!’[/i] she tried to urge herself, feeling like her Rock Meter in Guitar Hero was quickly heading towards the red area of failure. She could practically hear the booing. Clearing her throat, she tried to welcome them once again.

[color=salmon]“Sup, dudes. Welcome to whatever...”[/color] she finally said with an attitude. Her eyes went down to the sheet of paper in front of her, filled with a diagram of the tables in the restaurant. The already awful waitress drew a smiley face with an emo-styled haircut and a frowny face with a deadpan stare to the table closest to the front door. While this to normal, restaurant-faring people would be recognized as the worst seats, it logically made sense to put them there so they could get out as fast as possible. Her hands reached into the podium’s inner compartment and grabbed two menus, gesturing for the two to follow her.

[i]‘Okay, that wasn’t what we had practiced at all… But we’ll roll with it.’[/i] Briskly, she strode over to the table that was practically right in front of her and sloppily tossed the menus down. She tapped her chin, feeling like she was missing something. [i]Right![/i] The water and the biscuits! Spinning on a heel, this walking disaster strolled back to the kitchen, ignoring whatever the two customers were saying. She didn’t have the faintest idea where they kept the clean cups, but there was a stack of them near the sink. 

A second later and Kylie had placed two glass cups filled with lukewarm water on a platter alongside a basket of biscuits. Trying to imitate the waitresses she had seen before, she held the platter aloft in one hand and promptly headed back out. While the redhead didn’t inherently show it in her expression, her nerves were going off the wall. How could she know if she was doing everything right?! As Kylie got closer to the seated duo, her hands began to quake under the mental pressure that hit her. 

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed throughout the diner as the platter she had been holding tumbled to the ground. The glass cups shattered, although the rolls had fortunately remained in their basket. All except one, anyway. Swift as cat, Kylie grabbed the lone biscuit and threw it in the basket anyway, serving it to the guests at the table.

[color=salmon]“Five second rule. That last one is still good.”[/color] she stated, almost proudly. Glancing back at the mess she made, Kylie resigned to clean that up after she had gotten their order. [color=salmon]“Okay, Gerard Way and Skrillex, what can I get you today?”[/color] the redhead insultingly asked, wincing as the words poured out. Riley was going to kill her if Sophi didn’t get to her first.

Back in the kitchen, Sophia attempted her best to help set up in the kitchen. She had apologised profusely to their cook Ron, who had been here on time like he was supposed to be. Sophia and Kylie, on the other hand, had been about two minutes later than opening time because of Kylie dragging her feet and protesting the whole time. Normally on a good day Sophia would have arrived at 7:30am to prep before the customers began to arrive.

Leaving Kylie at the front seemed like an awful idea, but somehow it had to work. Riley told her what to do… that was good enough… right? They were currently down on staff, considering they were missing two important full time employees, so it would have to work until they could find new employees. Hesitantly, Sophia put her trust in Kylie, hoping that she would handle the hostess stand with grace. That all came crashing down, quite literally, after about 5 minutes.

Hearing the glass shatter from inside the diner, Sophia immediately stopped mixing pancake batter and set it down to rush out into the guest area. “[color=dodgerblue] What was th-[/color]” She stopped herself, watching Kylie pick up a roll from the ground and put it back in the basket with the others. Not to mention the ground that it had just landed on was scattered with glass shards. Sophia groaned, “[i] Why, why, why, why, WHHHYYY?![/i]” 

Quickly, Sophia ran over to the table with the two men as Kylie was attempting to take their order despite the disaster behind her. One of them happened to be a regular of the diner, one that Sophia had continually noticed but had never made an actual conversation with. Despite never really talking, Sophia still knew his name thanks to the his credit card that he often used to pay with. He was cute, how could she [i]not[/i] want to find out his name? Unfortunately, circumstance had never allowed her to have a chat with him. She had always been busy with something in the restaurant before he was gone again. 

“[Color=dodgerblue] I’m so sorry about that![/color]” She cut in before Kylie could do any more damage, grabbing the basket of rolls from the table. “[color=dodgerblue] HAH! Such a kidder, right?[/color]” She forced a smile and attempted to paint Kylie in a better light, hoping her sister hadn’t just severed the bond between restaurant and regular customer. “[color=dodgerblue] We’ll get this mess cleaned up, how about I seat you at our best table? It has a great view of the river from the window![/color]” Still forcing a smile, Sophia gestured for them to get up and follow her. As they stood, Sophia grabbed the menu’s on the table and shot an ice cold death glare at Kylie. As she turned to lead their guests to their new table, Sophia spoke to Kylie under her breath through gritted teeth. “[color=dodgerblue]Clean. IT. UP.[/color]” 

Facing the two men once again, Sophia’s glare melted back into sparkling eyes and a big heartwarming smile. Those acting classes were paying off after all. “[color=dodgerblue] Right this way![/color]” She spoke in her cheeriest of voices, stepping forward and leading them to the other side of the restaurant, which showed the view Sophia had promised. “[color=dodgerblue] Here we are. [/color]” Gingerly, she handed them their menu’s as they took a seat. “[color=dodgerblue]Once again, I’m [i]very[/i] sorry about all that. Your meal is on the house. Now, what can I get you boys?[/color]”

Shrugging, Kylie backed away and let Sophi handle the rest. She wasn’t exactly sure what they expected. They had literally just thrown her in here, expecting her to know all the tricks in the trade. With that, she marched back to the kitchen and went to go find a… broom, right? [i]‘I don’t think you can mop glass away… Or maybe you do?’[/i] she thought to herself, inspecting the cleaning tools against the wall. Having never done a single hard days work or even really contributing to the chores around the house, Kylie was severely lacking in basic skills.

[color=salmon]“Fuck it.”[/color] She grabbed the mop in a random guess and carried it to where the mess was. Staring at the mop’s hair, she deduced this was probably the best tool for the job since the glass shards would stick to the yarn. The redhead began dry mopping the area, but apparently this wasn’t working. The shards just ended up being misplaced and only a few got stuck in the mophead. 

[color=salmon]“Oh my god, this is fucking impossible.”[/color] she cried in frustration, thrashing around with the mop. Some of the glass got crunched up, making the area more of a mess, while most of it was just being tossed around the room now. Somehow, the woman managed to get it on the tables too. Apparently, this task was harder than beating Dark Souls 2 without getting hit for her.

Arriving at the diner in good time, Riley parked the car in the back and stepped out the van stretching his arms up to the sky, [color=seagreen]”Alright Rye, ready to take on the day?”[/color] As one out of two cooks, he usually ended up working all day with a couple of breaks here and there (one break being when he had to pick up his sisters from school). They seriously needed to expand their staff. Getting one, big yawn out, he made his way to the front door. He was prepared to cook his ass off and make some of the best, damn diner food that anyone’s ever tasted! 

Pulling the glass door open and making the bell jingle briefly, his presence was known to those in the dining area of The Queen’s Orchid. His mild smile immediately turned flat when he saw his twin mopping...glass? [i] Mopping glass.[/i] Glass was literally all over the floor and tables. 

How in the hell?!

His other sister was busy taking care of guests. With furrowed brows, Riley approached his dimwitted twin and ripped the mop out of her hand, [color=seagreen]”Kitchen. NOW.”[/color] What did he miss? He could have sworn she’s worked here before… perhaps it was sleep deprivation that made him believe she was capable of more than she could actually do. Within seconds, Riley paced himself into the kitchen put on rubber gloves, got a thick garbage bag, a tiny hand vacuum, and a wet rag with some cleaning liquid on it. Going back to the dining area, he swiftly picked up the big shards and then vacuumed the rest. Using the rag, he scrubbed the table squeaky clean and then marched back into the kitchen. 

Staying completely silent, he grabbed the warning sign “Slippery Surface” and brought it to the section Kylie had dumbly mop. With one last glance, he analyzed the area to make sure there was no glass to be seen. With a sigh of relief, he went back to the kitchen, cleaned himself up, and grabbed his apron. 

[color=salmon]“I’m gonna take a wild guess here: I’m doing an absolutely fantastic job, aren’t I? Where’s my raise?”[/color] Kylie made a snarky comment as her brother came back into the kitchen. She was sitting on a counter, eating an ice cream cone she had found in the freezer. Both eyes leered at her brother as her tongue danced across the ice cream’s delicious surface. As sloppy as she was, a small pool of vanilla liquid dripped down to the counter from the corner of her mouth.

Riley’s veins began bulging out of his neck, he took a deep breath in and tied his apron on. While he did so, the sound of dripping ice cream entered his ears and his anger grew expeditiously. Not bothering to raise his voice, he grabbed a frying pan and looked at what needed to be made all the while exhaling. Venomously, he muttered, [color=seagreen]”Get the fuck out. I don’t want to see your face right now.”[/color] He ended it at that and prepared to make his meal. The big, muscular chef known as Ron kept to himself and avoided eye contact with the twins feeling extremely awkward. 

[color=salmon]“I…”[/color] She didn’t bother to finish the sentence. There was a sincere look of hurt in her eyes, and she really wanted to cry right now. But she held back her tears and simply stood up, doing her best to be strong. With a toss, the ice cream cone landed into the trash can next to her and she stormed out of the diner, both fists clenched tightly. The redhead didn’t bother to acknowledge Sophi, simply focused on getting away. Outside, her feet carried her to the sidewalk and Kylie took a deep breath. 

[i]‘He didn’t mean it… Did he?’[/i] she inquired, bringing out her phone and trying to flag an Uber down. The woman wanted to be anywhere but here right now.  

[sub][@Athinar][@GrafRoy Zeppeli][/sub]