Trying to live

Chapter 30

Swiping tables and seeing them clean brought me satisfaction. It was one of my favorite things to do in Royals. The bistro wasn't full, which made the working atmosphere more comfortable. 

And thank God, the Royal clique wasn't here today. My shift started without problems and hopefully it stayed like that.

It was nice and comfortable and my work flow reminded me of a happy puppy. 

The sudden chiming of the bell announced a new customer. Since I was in a good mood and I usually did not look at new arrivals because of certain people, I turned around to look at the newest guest.

Well, that one was weird. I wasn't sure if it was a man or woman, because the face was hidden under a scarf and hat and the body was in a black, long, oversized coat. 

It wasn't really cold outside for this attire but I wasn't going to judge someone...right now, so I turned back to my chores.

I solely stared at the table for one minute before I realized that I forgot my wet cloth on the table behind me. 

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed, when the veiled customer was mere inches away from my face. "You scared me!"

The person said something back, but I couldn't understand her. I mean the face was fully covered. The words were jumbled, exactly like when you spoke with a full mouth. "What?"

The customer ripped off the scarf of her face. "It's me, Em!"

"Rose?" I asked. She nodded and tipped her hat a little back. "Why would you be dressed like that?"

"To keep my fans away," she sighed dramatically. I threw her a glance. "Fine, I didn't want anyone to see me."

That was a plausible answer. "But why are you here?"

Rose scoffed. "Can't I visit my best friend?"

"You don't do surprises," I said flatly. 

That's the one thing, Rose and Grams had in common - they didn't do surprises. They planned everything out or they had something else on their agenda and were a little bit spontaneous. 

She chuckled and raised her hands in a caught manner. "Caught me, detective. Mom forgot to buy tampons and you know, a girl needs her tampons. So, I had to run out to get some good ones and Royals was on my way back home, so I thought why not?"

I smiled. It was a nice gesture and Rose always did something like that. Not just for me but also her F.T.A peers or her other friends. Although, we didn't meet that often after school because of me, she still tried to do some friends stuff.

Of course, it was hard for her to convince her parents to let her be by her own instead with a bodyguard - they really protected her like she was the president's daughter - but eventually there were occasions where Rose could go out without a bodyguard, if she had her location on for her parents. 

"Anyways," Rose started, pulled out a chair and sat down, "I'm so happy that we're in F.T.A together. Imagine us both at the F.T.A dinners together, having fun and an amazing time."

"Not really," I said and burst her bubble of imagination. "F.T.A. dinners include students in the film, theatre and acting section and I'm not in either of them. I'm a stage proper and I don't even know if that's a real word."

I made a face and sat down too. The F.T.A dinners were famous - it was the only class in my school that did something like that. The dinners were held at very fancy restaurants all across the country and you were only invited, if you were a member (no stage prop or lighting man) as in a student, who acted. Or if you got an invitation, but only upper ranks in the hierarchy were allowed or you were a Royal.