Hello, everyone; I would be Miss Mysty. The original version of this story was my NaNoWriMo novel, and I decided to re-write it and put it up. The title might not make sense since the plot has changed, but it’s the same characters and such, and I didn’t want to get rid of it.

In case you missed the summary, this story is male/male slash. I don’t think anyone who has gotten this far would be offended, but don’t say I didn’t warn you, okay?

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Chapter 1

“Excuse me, waiter!”

“I’m ready to order!”

“Where’s my waiter?”

I rushed around the restaurant, the sleeves of my white dress shirt rolled up out of the way. My friend Lilly was rushing around too, blustering and making attempts at keeping the skirt of her dress down. We were the only two on-duty, and the supper rush had come in full force that day.

The customers were finally satisfied, and I slumped down in a chair near the pass-through. The dish washer, Delilah, had angry red rashes up to her elbows from the hot water and soap. She sighed as a tower of plates she had just finished fell back into the sink. Without another word, Delilah pulled off her yellow rubber gloves and threw them down, letting them disappear into the foam.

“I don’t get paid enough to deal with this!” she yelled. She stormed out of the kitchen, undoing the apron knot behind her. The door swung open, and she threw the off-white bit of clothing at me. “Nathan, tell Delia that I quit.” Delilah stormed out at that, giving the glare of death to a child that got in her way.

Lilly walked over to me from the register, and she removed the apron from my head. She had a look of sympathy on her face when I looked down from the messy, red… thing that was supposed to be my hair. A lot of people were finally getting up with their checks, and I made my way over for cash register duty.

“We need more people,” Lilly said as she hovered at my side. I waited for a credit card owner to sign the receipt and leave before I looked over to her.

“No one wants to work here,” I said. “These stupid uniforms always scare them off.” Lilly looked down at her ruffley doll dress, her knee-high socks, and her buckled shoes.

“Well, I like it,” she said. I almost made a comment about her Barbie doll display covering the walls of her room, but another customer was patiently holding out his check and debit card. I wordlessly put the transaction through and all but thrust the plastic rectangle back at him.

“Besides, Nate,” Lilly went on as I scanned another credit card. “You look very dashing in those dress-pants and shirt.” The line had finally ended, and I checked my watch.

“Speaking of dashing, I have to dash,” I said, rolling my sleeves back down. “Mom wanted me to see the hall she rented for her wedding ceremony.” Lilly nodded, but she couldn’t say anything because more people were coming in the door. I patted my friend’s shoulder before I started negotiating my way through the crowd.

XXX

It was raining by the time I got to the Sunset Inn. I held my denim jacket over my head, but I still got a look from the woman at the front counter as my dress shoes soaked the carpet. My mother and the man I assumed was her fiancée were sitting in the lobby, reading separate sections of the paper. I cleared my throat, and my mother looked up from Dear Abby. She smiled when she saw me.

“Nathan!” she said, standing up and walking over. She hugged me tightly, then quickly backed away when she realized that I had caused her sweater to soak through. The clerk who had glared at me just a few seconds ago suddenly appeared with some towels, and we proceeded to dry ourselves off.

“It’s good to finally meet you, Nathan,” my mother’s fiancée said as he walked up to us. “I’m sorry we couldn’t come out here earlier.” I just nodded. I couldn’t remember what the man’s name was. Roger? Yeah, that was it.

“It’s fine,” I said. “Abbey should be coming once her cross-country practice is over.” Roger looked me up and down.

“What’s the occasion?” he asked, and I looked down, remembering I still had the uniform on.

“Uh, just got off work,” I said. I handed my towel to the clerk and followed my mother as she led the way down the hall. My mother smiled proudly as she briefly looked back at me.

“Nathan works at the restaurant that will be catering our reception, Roger,” she said. “Rora tells me that he’s actually very good.” I coughed into my hand, trying to hide my embarrassment.

“Yeah, well, I’m kind of hoping that my calling isn’t in serving screaming children and irate couples for the rest of my life,” I said. I felt uncomfortable at the attention I was getting, and so I quickly changed the subject. “So, Mom, how’s Nevada?” Mom smiled again.

“It’s very nice,” she said. “Roger and I will be going back once we’ve gotten married, so you and Abbey will have to put up with Aunt Rora for a while longer. It would be nice if you two could get into a college in Nevada, though.” We had descended a set of stairs, and I didn’t get the chance to reply, because Roger opened a door. I cautiously stepped in after my mother, and I was greeted with an impressively large room. It was bare except for a few chairs that were up against the walls.

“Wow,” was all I could say as Roger came in behind me. There was a sudden pounding on the stairs, and we all turned to see my twin sister Abbey running for all she was worth. She was still dressed in her running pants and tank-top.

“Sorry I’m late!” she said, panting. “Cross-country got out ages ago, but…” Abbey stopped her excuses abruptly, and she looked around at the room. She silently walked in, and she sat down in the dead center. Lightening pierced the sky outside, and the light from it briefly illuminated my sister’s back.

“I like it!” she finally said, still sitting there. “How many people are supposed to come, anyway?” My mother smiled as she walked over to Abbey.

“About fifty,” she said. She had one arm over her chest, supporting her other, with her chin cupped in her hand. She had a dreamy look on her face. “Just think, you two. You could get married in a place like this some day.” Abbey eyed me, and I coughed into my hand, sending her a clear signal to not say a word.

“Yeah, well, we’d just like to get through school,” I said. My cell phone suddenly started ringing, and my mother gave me a brief agitated look before going back to talking to Abbey. I quickly slipped out into the hall.

“What’s up, Lilly?” I asked after I had flipped open my phone.

“Nathan, we need you back here!” she said. “Delia called up a friend and got some temp help, but it’s a madhouse!” I briefly nodded, glancing into the room. My mother and sister were still wrapped-up in discussing wedding matters, and God knows Roger wouldn’t particularly care if I left.

“I’ll be right there, Lilly,” I said. I shut my phone and leaned into the room. “I gotta get back to work before the place is destroyed. I’ll see you tomorrow, Mom.” Mom just nodded, not giving much attention to me.

It was still raining as I drove through Blue Bay, and it didn’t do much to help my mood. By the time I got back to Oceanside Family Restaurant, I wasn’t exactly feeling emotionally stable enough to be dealing with large crowds of hungry people. Of course, I had promised Lilly that I’d come back, and so I simply parked in back of the restaurant and headed in.

The booths and tables were even more packed than when I had left, and Lilly ran up to me, her usually perfectly-in-place blond hair frazzled and coming out of its two braids. She looked, to put it in layman’s terms, like shit.

“Go get some of the tables!” she said. “Lucas was assigned to them, but there’s only so much one guy can do…” I briefly wondered who Lucas was, but I didn’t have much time to entertain the thought, as Lilly pushed me into the madhouse that was hungry customers.

Which, unfortunately, set me off-balance, and I went crashing into someone that had been unfortunate enough to be in my way. I fell to the floor, landing in the person’s lap and bouncing my head off the carpet.

“Sorry!” I exclaimed, scrambling to get off the floor. I pushed my hair out of my eyes and looked over to the person I had knocked over. He looked like he had been set a little off-kilter by the sudden collision, because he was smiling.

“No problem,” he said, getting up. He offered his hand, and I let him help me to my feet. I didn’t even realize I had been staring at this guy until I heard Lilly’s voice.

“Nathan, stop staring at Lucas and get to work!” she yelled. I flinched. You’d swear sometimes that she was the manager instead of Delia. I quickly nodded, though.

“Again, sorry,” I said, and I managed to press my way past him and get to some tables.