I came in from school and dumped my bag on the floor next to the chair. My sister followed me in, already chatting to one of the friend's that we had just left. I sat in the chair and then noticed that my dad wasn't alone on the settee. "Hey, kids, welcome home. This is Jayden. He's the new part-timer we have for the weekends."
"Hi, I'm Kian. The one glued to her phone is Krystal." I said to the new guy, pointing to her. She waved at Jayden before heading into the kitchen without a word to us. I couldn't help but notice that his eyes followed her. "How rude of her to not even say 'hi'."
"Well, it looks like she's busy." My dad spoke, waving a hand. He then stood up and started to head towards the front door. "I'm going to go and show Jayden the ropes. Don't forget to do your homework. You can be free the rest of the weekend, then."
"Fine, I'll be down in a bit to help with the Friday night rush." I told him.
"No need. Krystal said that she'll come and help because she could do with the extra pocket money." He replied, heading out of the door with Jayden following him. Jayden gave me a little wave before closing the door behind him.
I grabbed some food from the kitchen and headed to my room. I loaded up my laptop and put my headphones in – sometimes the noise from downstairs could be distracting. I powered through all the homework that I had until it was nearly seven in the evening. I went to the kitchen to grab something to eat, hearing sounds from downstairs.
There wasn't any cola in the fridge, so, I'd have to go down and get a can from the fridge behind the bar. Dad wouldn't mind. I headed downstairs, the band playing really loudly. I was surprised by the number of people in the pub. There was a ton of people at the bar waiting to be served. "Hey, dad, where's Krystal?"
"Oh, she went out. Her friends had a spare ticket to some concert, so, I said that she could go." He explained. That was the problem with dad, he let us get away with everything. We were meant to help out in the pub and yet she always got out of it very easily. I could, too, if I wanted to, and dad was always wanting to let me off working but I enjoyed working in the pub.
"Mr Jones, we're running low on normal glasses and there's none to be washed." Jayden called from the other end of the bar as he pulled a pint.
"I'll go and collect some." I said, grabbing the holder and heading around the bar.
"You're meant to be doing your homework." My dad told me.
"I've done it." I answered, going to collect glasses. Sometimes, I wished that I was more like Krystal because I was a loner, but, then again, I'd have to go out more. It did annoy me that she always got out of the family agreement we had while mum was away on a business trip. Krystal was meant to work on the Friday nights and I'd work the Saturdays, but I usually ended up working both, like this weekend. It was actually pretty lucky that dad had hired Jayden to work.
I collected up the glasses and headed back to the dishwasher, filling the spare tray with the normal glasses while a load was in. Once I had finished filling the tray, the dishwasher had also finished. I found that half of the tray had the needed glasses in. After switching the trays out, I put the new glasses away around the bar and then went out to collect more.
After I came back from collecting the rest of the glasses, I started to help to serve the customers, the queue seeming to be endless. The alarm on my watch beeped to say that the latest glasses were ready. I finished serving the current customer and then went to sort the dishwasher out. Jayden was already there. "You shouldn't have taken so long if we're in such a rush for glasses."
"Sorry, I was serving a customer. Thanks for the help, though." I replied, a bit surprised by his attitude. It wasn't like I could say anything really bad because my dad had explained that Krystal and I had to treat all the other members of staff like our boss's because we were more like work experience people rather than staff. Jayden pulled one tray out and I slipped the other one into the dishwasher. I held my hands out, giving him a little smile. "I'll sort these out."
"I'll go and help your dad."
I helped out until everything died down. The band left at half nine and I knew it would only take about half an hour for the pub to empty – dad would have locked up by eleven at the latest even though it was a Friday night. "Jayden, do you want to stay for food? I'm making spaghetti Bolognese."
"Yeah, thanks." He replied, not even turning to me.
I headed upstairs and messaged Krystal, asking what time she'd be home. It would be too early to start cooking, so, I tidied up the living/dining/kitchen that was the main area of the flat. It was then that I realised that Krystal had been using the room to get ready earlier. There was two different sparkly dresses and five odd high heeled shoes spread across the living room part. I picked up everything and threw them into her room, shutting the door behind me. They could join the rest of the mess in there.
Then, she replied saying that she'd be back around half-ten. I still had plenty of time to cook the food. I started to play music on my phone to blank out the sound of the crowd left downstairs while I got to cooking.
I heard a few people walking up the stairs after I had set the table for our late tea. My dad came into the room followed by Jayden. "Is there any sign of Krystal yet?"
"Not yet, but I doubt she'll be long." My dad replied.
He was right as she practically stumbled through the door a little while later in shoes I didn't recognise on her feet and were tall enough to make her almost my height. It was no wonder she would have fallen over if the door hadn't been there. How she had managed to make it to the top of the stairs without falling already was a mystery to me.
While eating food, Krystal kept her phone in one hand to reply to all her friends. The rest of us were quite quiet. I decided to try and change that by talking. "So, Krystal, will you be working tomorrow as a thank you to me for covering for you earlier?"
"Well, I've already got plans. Tonight was a surprise, after all. It's too late to change tomorrow's plans." Krystal rambled, not even looking up from her phone as she got up from the table. "I'm sure you won't mind working tomorrow, too. You like working in the pub, after all. Well, I'm done with food and off to bed. Night."
Without waiting for a reply, she headed into her room, shutting the door behind her. I ate a mouthful of my food, getting pissed. She got out of it again and I would have to cover. My dad glanced at Jayden before turning to me. "Kian, its fine. You don't have to work tomorrow."
"It's okay, dad, I like working in the pub so I don't mind."
For the next month, I regularly worked in the pub alongside my parents and Jayden while Krystal spent a lot of time out with her friends. Jayden's attitude towards me didn't change – he was regularly grumpy to me whilst still being kind and happy towards Krystal. I was getting a little annoyed – Krystal hardly took the time to look up from her phone to talk to him but he looked at her like she was a celebrity. Yet he was like a nightmare to me.
Then, Krystal and I turned sixteen, and we both woke up to a string. Krystal couldn't wait to follow hers but she had to find the right outfit, and she needed a shower, so she wasn't going to be leaving the house for a while. I didn't mind waiting. I was surprised when Jayden turned up at my door – connected to my string. Why the heck did he look so disappointed? "You wanted it to be Krystal, didn't you?"
"What? Don't be stupid. Well, maybe a little." He admitted. I stayed quiet, my arms crossed over my chest. "Look, Kian, will you give me a chance, please? Just give me today to try and make it up to you."
"You have today and that's it." I replied, reaching behind the door and grabbing my jacket. We headed to Jayden's car that was in the pub car park. "So, where are we going?"
"You'll see." He answered, driving out of the car park.
I was surprised that he was still driving two hours later. The quiet had been filled with some rambles and music. Jayden was being nice – which was nice. I answered any questions that he asked and I even asked a few. "Where are we going that takes two hours to get to?"
"We're almost there, so, stop asking." He told me. I turned to look out the window, making him laugh. I had no idea what expression was on my face that made him laugh at me. I almost turned back to scowl at him. "Don't pout. I'm sure you'll like it."
Ten minutes later, I knew exactly where Jayden was taking us. I couldn't see the actual sand, but I could see the water. It had been so long since I'd come to the beach – my parents hadn't brought us since we were five and I hadn't gone with anyone else when I got older.
"You're brining me to the beach?" I questioned, turning to him.
"I knew you'd like it." He replied, smiling. He pulled into a parking space and got out of the car. "How long has it been since you've been to the beach?"
"About ten years. Mum and dad used to bring us when we were young but it would take too long to get there, so, it wasn't even that often." I answered, the two of us heading down to the beach. "Oh, it's a pebble beach."
After a little walk, a bag of chips for dinner and about fifteen cool pebbles, we decided that we'd explored enough of the beach. We headed back to the car and Jayden drove in a direction that wasn't home. I didn't even mind that he was taking me somewhere else. I was actually enjoying spending time with him.
It was almost seven o'clock when Jayden pulled into the pub car park. He parked and turned to me, putting his hand over the seatbelt catch so I couldn't undo it. "So, are you willing to go out with me?"
I looked at him, wondering how long it would be until I should reply. It was kind of good to see him start to worry. Then, I leaned over and kissed him. "Thank you for today. It was really fun. Maybe I have fallen in love with you, after all."