Fractured Fairytale

[Black Bird]

Cindy Ella Mollineli was up to her elbows in suds. The giant industrial sink was filled with dirty pots and pans and they were stacked along the sides as well. She had been working for six hours, without a break and her back was starting to ache.

"Hurry up with those pots Cindy Ella." Her step-sister Belinda Kent swept past her, dressed in a tight black skirt and a frilly white blouse. She was on hostess duty tonight. Her other step sister, Carol, was out on a date with her looser boyfriend.

Mollineli's was the nicest Italian restaurant in town. It specialized in Northern Italian cuisine and had been in business for three generations now. Cindy Ella's late father, Antonio, had managed the restaurant before he died. Now Maxine Kent, his second wife, held the reigns.

Cindy blew a curly blond lock from in front her her face and rubbed her pert nose with the back of one soap covered glove. She was on pots and pans duty again, like she always was, if she wasn't taking out the garbage or scrubbing the floors. She worked fifty hour a week and received minimum wage, while her step sisters worked part time and were always getting bonuses. It would have broken most people's spirits, but Cindy suffered in silence and kept going. Where else was there to go? Without Mollineli's she had nothing in the world.

Cindy was wearing a plastic apron over her blue sweat shirt and jeans. She was a slender young woman with a modest bosom and long, curly hair. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but strands kept coming loose and floating around her heart shaped face. Her green eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep and her fingers were a bit shaky from a lack of a nicotine fix. In another half hour she would be off, if she finished the pots and pans and then it was home to her little room, to wait for her next work shift.

[FoxLeFay]

Alexandra stepped out of the cab and handed the driver a sizable tip since he had been so knowledgable about avoiding the evening road congestion. Pulling out her phone, she typed out a quick text for Sophie, I just arrived. Should I get us a table or are you only a block or two away? From where she stood on the sidewalk Mollineli's was only about thirty feet in front of her and she had an excellent view of the street in case the familiar silver car pulled into a nearby space. It didn't take long for the answer, Grab a seat... traffic's tight. She didn't want to run the risk of distracting her further on the road, so Alexandra quietly made her way into the restaurant.

Entering from the slight chill of the evening into the warm dining area was a welcome change. The dimmed lights were just enough to make the spotless floors and plates glow and she was reminded that she had always wanted to congratulate the cleaning crew on taking that old adage to heart. As she stood waiting to be seated, her phone vibrated in the pocket of her jacket and she glanced at the message with a smile, Parking, sweetie. The hostess arrived and took out two menus, leading Alexandra to a small table in the back corner. It was rather close to the kitchen, but the perceived nuisance of watching servers and employees running to and fro was actually something that both she and Sophie took pleasure in. People-watching was a sort of dinner theater. She gently smoothed out her short auburn hair and adjusted her clothes a bit. Everything she had on was new this evening and she wanted to get her money's worth. After a few moments of fussing and taking reserved sips of water, she noticed Sophie's reflection in the glass leading to the kitchen. She stood to greet her girlfriend with a kiss and a smile, "I told you to take a taxi with me."

"Lex," the raven haired girl warned, "If I had, you'd have insisted on covering the fare and you wouldn't have been happy until you paid for dinner, too." She grinned a bit and flipped the menu up to figure out what she wanted.

Alexandra gazed at the top of her companion's head over the menu and sighed. She had glanced over the specials and was rather certain about what she had in mind, so her line of sight wandered. A few people in the kitchen passed in and out of view but she had the image of the back of a girl's head from where she sat. She had been hard at work washing dishes from the moment Alexandra had sat down and she didn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Recalling her immediate thought about the upkeep in Mollineli's, she couldn't help but admire the girl's determination. Personally, she hadn't had to lift a finger at all during her childhood and even after the disinheriting incident, she was well-off. Anyone with that sort of devotion was someone she admired.

"You're pale," Sophie pointed out. Alexandra laughed and waved a starkly white hand over her face, "I was born in Yekaterinburg, recall. Sunlight is still enough of a foreign concept." The darker haired girl took her girlfriend's hand and raised an eyebrow, "More so than usual." Alexandra took another look at the kitchen and tapped the wine menu with a wry tone in her voice, "If we can split some chardonnay I'm sure I'll get my color back."

[Black Bird]

Cindy Ella was almost done with the pots, and her shift, when her step-mother walked into the kitchen, wearing a red Prada dress. "Aren't you finished with those Cindy Ella? Why do I get the feeling your milking the clock? Hurry up so you can bus tables before you go."

Step Mother was one Morgana White-Mollineli, a well preserved woman in her fifties. She had been the bane of Cindy Ella's existence, ever since her father passed away. Nothing was ever good enough for her, or quick enough for her. Cindy Ella did not even bother arguing, but simply nodded and muttered "yes step-mother" under her breath.

It took another fifteen minutes to finish up the pots and her shift was supposed to be over, but she obediently grabbed a bus pan and left the kitchen. Busing tables was tough work. The plates and silverware were quite heavy when they started to pile up. It was really a job for some strong young men, but none of them were around, so Cindy Ella struggled and managed.

She was almost done when she spotted a couple of pretty women enjoying dinner. One had auburn hair. Cindy Ella caught herself staring and immediately looked down. It would not due to stare at the customers, even if they were pretty. She pushed back into the kitchen and set down the busing pan. Joseph took it from her with a grunt and she was free.

Five minutes later, she had her coat on and was making her way out of the front of the restaurant, determined to go home and get some sleep, at the family house.

[FoxLeFay]

One of the waitresses came to take their order after a few moments of banter passed between them. "Two orders of fegato alla veneziana," Sophie managed, her tongue gently rolling over the Italian accent with an above-average familiarity and Alexandra added on a bottle of white wine while giving her best smile. Despite the fact that Alexandra tended to frequent Italian restaurants, she never could handle the sway of romance languages. It was a point that her girlfriend would always pick on teasingly. Between the two of them, they only shared English (fluently) in common, so any chance of multi-lingual jokes shared only by the two of them was sort of dashed. There were lots of things that made the relationship work: attraction, respect, humor, intellectual curiosity... and so it was a wonder to her that they hadn't gone any further, been any more serious than they were at that moment. Three months past the two year anniversary and Sophie was finally able to look past the "rich playgirl" that she was afraid she was falling for.

"And after that harrowing experience, I thought for sure they'd throw me right out on the spot. But, get this, the manager looked me right in the eyes and said, 'There's a place for you here with the company' and he points right at the guy's old office!" the black haired girl concluded her story with a triumphant flourish and rested her chin on her hand to get a clear view of Alexandra's reaction. Based on the arch in Sophie's eyebrows and the wild smile on her face, she had just told the most amazing story of her young life, so Alexandra chuckled a bit and reached out to grab her hand, "That's incredible. When do you start?" She knew for certain it was a story about the job at the publisher's office that had been on her girlfriend's mind for about a month now and she wasn't fabricating her surprise or excitement about getting a position there. Sophie had been getting down on herself due to her financial straits lately and it was great to see her beaming again.

"I'll be able to start on Monday. They actually hadn't fired Hunter yet, or so I was informed afterwards. Apparently that whole circus act was a long time coming and I just happened to be there to pounce on the opportunity," she concluded just as their dishes were placed in front of them and the wine was poured out. Sophie gracefully picked her fork and Alexandra marveled at how she could have missed that entire story just by fuzzing out. It wasn't like her. Normally, she was attentive to just about everything, especially anything that got Sophie that animated. Was she really doubting their relationship, of all things? Surely not. This two year partnership had been her longest amour by far and her smoothest without contest. She was just a little bit out of it and thinking way too much. Buying new clothes for the occasion didn't end up helping, she noted sardonically.

"Hon, who's this?" Sophie asked a few minutes into their meal. Alexandra was caught off guard and gave her a strange look, "Who?" Without calling attention to the girl or to the two of them, Sophie regarded the same blonde figure Alexandra had seen washing dishes in the kitchen who was looking their way and clearing tables. "No idea," she admitted, but smiled internally at the gesture. The girl was quite cute and she seemed a bit flustered, as she returned furiously to her work, her curly blonde hair falling into her face. Alexandra grinned pleasantly at her girlfriend to confirm that it was just a girl, any old girl, and not an ex or one that got away or anything. "I wasn't worried about her being one that got away, Lex. I hear they never escape your scope if they fall into it," Sophie brought up. Not pointedly like a gash to her reputation, but a joke that still seemed the prickle around the soft edges. She finished off her glass and noticing that everything on the table was almost cleared out, Alexandra delicately suggested they head out.

As they waited for the check, the blonde girl slipped her coat on and exited out into the street. Sophie pulled out her keys and slid them over to Alexandra, "Can you warm up the car?" Glad for the excuse to stretch her legs, she rose and made her way out to the parking lot and figured out where the silver car was. There was no sign of that girl in either direction, so with a small sigh of relief she ambled over to the vehicle.

[Black Bird]

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was heir to a restaurant. She was the little princess who would one day take over, when her parents were to old to run it. She was the darling of the kitchen and beloved by the staff. When her mother died, she was heart-broken, but the restaurant was still her's and her father's and her would still made sense.

She would spend hours in the kitchen, enjoying the bustle and getting under foot. She watched her father cook and listened to his instructions. After all, one day she would be cooking too. He had a executive chef, but he always stepped in and worked himself, unwilling to sit by. His skills were so magical that even the executive chef gave way when the master took to the floor. The sous chef had been her mother, for the longest time, before she departed this world. It still felt odd to see Carlos in her position.

Now that little girl was all grown up, and sat in old sedan, crying. She stared out her window at the place she had loved most in this world; the place that was her's by promise, and realized it was now just a prison where she washed dishes for near minimum wage. Her father's sudden and mysterious death had been hard enough on her sixteen year old self, but when she discovered that the restaurant had been left to her step-mother and not her, her world had come crashing down.

Tonight of all nights, she was feeling the full weight of her failure. She had failed to get into community college, because she did not have the money and was to scared of the student loans. She was a dishwasher for a woman she despised. The only person in the world who seemed to care for her wasn't even a person. It was her cat Merlin. As it was, she often wished he was a real wizard, instead of a grouchy old feline. She often wished she had a fairy god-mother to help her in her hour of need, even if such figures only appeared in old folk tales.

After a good long, self pitying cry, she dried her face and decided it was time to go home to her little room and to Merlin. She turned her key and nothing happened. She turned it again and still nothing happened. The battery was probably dead. It was almost enough to make her start crying again, but she had had enough of self pity for one evening. With a sigh, she got out and started to walk. After all, the family house was only a couple of miles away and she certainly was not asking that woman for a ride. She pulled her coat around herself, the one she had purchased at a thrift store, and started walking through town.

[FoxLeFay]

The car sputtered to life when she turned the key in the ignition, not roaring like a coupe but groaning like a tired pre-owned. It made her laugh a bit and she gladly turned on the heating system as Sophie had wanted. She had left her half of the bill only, as per request, and just drummed her fingers against the steering wheel waiting for the cue to get out of there. Any second now, they could head home and shrug off the formalities of the evening. Home. It always sounded so much nicer when it hung in her mind like that. The reality was rarely as comforting. She was still mulling over the worries that plagued her during the meal and the one comment that spilled some unintentional blood in the water. The conversations and the atmosphere back at the apartment would hopefully be much lighter so she could shake off the cloud hanging over her head.

Alexandra almost didn't hear Sophie open the car door and slip into the passenger's seat, "Shall we go?" The devilish smirk was followed by a rather deep kiss that she found she couldn't resist. When she broke away for air, she laughed, "I suppose we'll have a whole lot to talk about when we get back, won't we?" She backed out of the space rather recklessly and began the drive to the apartment with a gusto. Sophie had begun to gaze out the window and Alexandra noticed surprise flash across the other girl's face. She turned to figure out what had caught her eye.

"It's the girl from the restaraunt," Sophie said, curiosity momentarily heightened but dismissed with a simple addendum, "She probably lives around here." Alexandra switched lanes to hug the sidewalk and shook her head, "Car trouble. She put on a pretty light coat for cold weather, obviously expecting she wouldn't be walking in it. See? Those are her car keys in her hand." Observation was probably one of her best skills but she knew it had the tendency to annoy Sophie.

Surprisingly, she simply shook her head and glanced back at her with her big blue eyes, "Pull over then. If she pulls out pepper spray, I'm not going to shield you." Sophie's expression was indicative of the realization that Alexandra was more than likely right in her induction but also forgetting about the many vices of city living. No attractive blonde girl who had been in a city for more than five minutes would ever hop into a strange vehicle, most circumstances be damned. There was also a hint in the corners of Sophie's eyes and mouth that she knew it was just an act of charity and compassion that seemed compulsory in the auburn-haired woman's nature. Deeper down though, probably very well-hidden beneath a layer of rosy lipstick, was a curling scowl. The exact source of it was either not apparent to Sophie yet and she feared letting it out or it was a glaring sign flashing before her face and she had more poise than to start off into a rage. The car slowed to match the stranger's pace but kept a foot or two ahead. Alexandra stalled the engine and rolled down the window, debating what to say.

Deciding against the creepy, stereotypical kidnapper fare, she exited the car entirely and leaned up against the roof with a loose smirk, "Hey... do you happen to need a ride?" Alexandra did everything in her power to appear genuine, "It's way too cold out for walking long distances and I... we'd be more than willing to take you to a train station or whatever." Awkward, sure, but modern day chivalry always tended to be. She braced herself for a tazering.