Chapter 1: The Attempt to Fit D's into B's

Because of a cupcake favor, resulting in a blind double date, her family, and a wardrobe disaster things really get complicated. Danni goes from no guys to juggling two.

Chapter One �" The Attempt to Fit Ds into a B

I pushed the glass door and scanned the little café, trying to find the person I was looking for. I looked around the room ten times before giving up. I trudged over to the comfiest looking couch and sunk into it. I whipped out my phone to text my friend who, apparently, decided to ditch me. And it had to be today of all days.

“Really Danni?” a voice mumbled in disbelief.

I looked up from my phone only to see my blond-haired blue-eyed friend, shaking her head. She crossed her arms over her chest, wrinkling her bright blue band-tee.

“I was waving at you for five minutes and you just walked away.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me off of my comfortable haven reluctantly.

“I didn’t see you,” I mumbled. Wow, what an idiot.

“I was right in front of you,” she snored, not really surprised at my idiocy.

She dragged me to a small table in our usual café, Paddy’s. We’ve been going here for three years, but I never met anyone here with the name Paddy. The guy who ran the place, his name was Kevin. That’s not even close to Paddy. I took the seat across from hers and saw that she had already ordered a chocolate cupcake, tea, and latte, most likely caramel. This was a bribe…it had to be because she bought us food last time. Whatever she’s up to was chocolate cupcake worthy. Not as big or complicated as a triple chocolate cake or cheesecake; triple chocolate cake was a really, really bad sign that one of us wanted an enormous favor.

“Cat,” I said, eyeing her carefully. “A chocolate cupcake?”

She averted her gaze. “Today just felt like a chocolate cupcake day,” she lied, casually. Catherine had a tendency to look in multiple directions, avoiding eye contact when she was trying to lie.

 

 

“There’s only one cupcake,” I pointed out. “And it’s right next to the latte�"my latte because you hate coffee… What did you do?”

She stirred a spoonful of sugar into her tea. “It’s nothing bad. I’m just going out with Jeff tonight,” she said.

I blinked, waiting for the bad news. “If you’re giving me a cupcake every time you and your boyfriend go out, then I’m about seventy cupcakes short. Oh ew, is this to ask me to not be in the house tonight? That’s not sanitary. You guys better clean up afterwards.”

“Oh God, stop. That’s not it.” She frowned at my sarcasm. “I want you to come with us.”

I licked a bit of frosting off my cupcake. “Right,” I said, laughing. “We tried that before, remember? I thought we established that me, being your third wheel wasn’t anyone’s definition of fun.”

I had tried countless time to block that night out of my head. It wasn’t completely horrendous, but watching two of my friends make out and make kissy faces at each other almost made me lose my dinner. I loved them together; I just don’t love watching them love each other in my face.

Cat’s features twisted up, causing her nose to wrinkle and her lips mash together. I knew that face. She was thinking the same thing. So why were we even going over this?

She blinked and made her face a blank canvas again and said, “Well, it’s just that you wouldn’t be alone.” She took a sip of her tea, gauging my reaction.

“You’re joking.” I felt my eyes bulging out of their sockets. “You are not setting me up on a blind date! I’m pretty sure there’s a rule against that somewhere.”

Cat put the tea cup down with a hurt expression. “We don’t have a rule about that,” she muttered without thinking.

“We should. I decree, as of this moment, blind dates are prohibited.” I smacked the table like a judge would with his gavel. I flashed a triumphant smile.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Okay fine, but that rule starts after this blind date�"”

“Oh come on,” I groaned. “Blind dates are too 1997. As a rule, most people don’t date guys they don’t know, unless they met on the internet, but that’s its own thing. What if he’s a serial killer or worse�"a serial dater?”

“Just this once,” she begged. “He’s not a bad guy, plus he’s hot.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Nice to know that you think I’m so judgmental that the only way I’d say yes is if you throw in the fact that he’s hot or are you just saying that so I can say yes?”

She laughed. “They’re picking us up at six tonight,” she told me with a wide grin on her face.

“Yay, a blind double date. What more can I ask for?” I mumbled, taking a bite out of the cupcake. With that one bite I remembered why this was the bribing cupcake.

“Like the cupcake?” Cat asked with a devilish smile.

“It tastes like manipulation, my favorite flavor,” I teased, sticking my tongue out at her. “So how are you and your boy toy?”

Her European features turned pensive. I knew this expression well. I had seen it for years and it told me that all was not well in couple-land.

“I don’t really know.” She whirled her pointer finger around the brim of her mug. “He hasn’t really gotten better with the whole clinginess-thing.”

I swallowed my bite. “That’s because you’re so damn irresistible my dear adopted sister.” I pointed my finger at her slim figure, using our endearing nickname in attempt to make her grin. “The poor boy can’t help the fact that he’s so madly in love with you that he wants to spend every moment with you�"waking and otherwise.”

She tried to look mad, but her blush told me that she wasn’t mad. She’s flattered.

I tried to push down the twinge of jealousy, but I couldn’t help it. After a long-string of loser boyfriends, I decided to take a break from the boys. Things never end too well with them.

“Don’t use that word!” she hissed. “I thought we’ve talked about using that word.”

“Oh so you guys still haven’t said it?” I giggled. “It’s been a couple of it months now. Or did he say it, but you didn’t?”

She looked down.

“I was just kidding! God Cat!” I exclaimed.

Part of Paddy’s turned around to look at me. I did my best to ignore them.

“How can you not say it back? You can’t tell me that you don’t love him back. That’d be devastating! Not for you or Jeff, but for me. Everything I thought I knew about love would be wrong if you don’t say it back,” I jested.

“He said it last night,” she told me, ignoring my sarcastic outburst. “We were hanging out, not really doing anything and then bam. ‘I love you.’ He was waiting for me to say it back. Do you know what I said?” she snapped, frustrated with herself.

“No clue.”

“’I think I left my car lights on.’ Then I went outside for ten minutes and walked back in like nothing happened, is that sad or what?” She placed her hands over her face and groaned. “I’m going to be one of those girls, who can never say I love you, aren’t I?”

Wow. So much drama. This wasn’t like Cat. She never overanalyzed anything. That was my job. The fact that she’s doing a good job at it scared me. I did not want her to be a cynical spazz like me. She wasn’t cut out for that particular lifestyle.

“No you won’t,” I assured her. “You just got caught off guard. Even though, you know, it’s been a while and you’ll say it when it’s right for you.”

She adjusted her fingers so that she was able to see me through her left eye. “What if you’re wrong? What if he doesn’t forgive me and moves on?”

“Cat, seriously? He won’t. It was one time. You probably broke his fragile little heart, but he’ll get that you have to get there on your own time. If he doesn’t then screw him�"but he’ll understand.”

She brought her hands down to yank the lanyard she wore around her neck. “What if you’re wrong?” she repeated. It surprised me how worked up she was getting about Jeff. It’s making me wonder why she didn’t say it back.

“When have I been wrong?” I scoffed.

She grinned. “Not often.”

I clicked my tongue. “More like never,” I corrected.

Cat sat up straight and checked out her phone like she forgot something. “Crap,” she groaned. “If we don’t leave now we won’t make our shift.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost nine,” she said. She chugged the remains of her tea and began to get up. “Come on let’s go.”

“Eh.” I shrugged. “My family will be terrified if I show my face there before ten. I might give my uncle a heart-attack and considering he was released from the hospital a week ago, that wouldn’t be very good.”

“Come on,” she nudged me with her elbow. It was bony and sharp and dug into my flesh.

I stuffed the cupcake in my mouth. “Ready,” I sputtered with a mouthful of chocolate.

“That’s attractive,” she said stealing my phrase.

I was about to comment about that, but she was pushing me out of the door.

“Where’d you park?” she asked.

I gulped down the moist cake. “I walked here. Please tell me you drove.” I crossed my fingers. I didn’t want to walk two miles to the restaurant.

“I did,” she said, looking at me with this surprised look on her face.

“Hey don’t give me that look. Some of us have to exercise. If I don’t occasionally walk around that’ll just add fat,” I said, hopping into her spacious white truck. I loved her car. It was big and comfy. When I was inside it, I felt safe because of its domineering size.

“You’re not fat,” she grumbled automatically. She revved the engine and started towards our workplace.

I plugged in her iPod with the cassette adaptor. I placed it on shuffle and put on some techno song with a catchy beat.

“No matter how many times you say that I still don’t believe you,” I said, turning the music just a tad higher.

We reached the restaurant in no time. The cursive white letters that spelled Jose welcomed us inside. Jose was my grandfather and he originally opened the Mexican restaurant, but now my mom ran it along with the rest of our extended family. My dad’s the cook since he went to culinary school and traveled across Latin America to study the food. Needless to say, he was more or less qualified for the job when my grandpa decided to step down. It’s because of my dad that the menu evolved, keeping a lot of the authentic cuisine, but introducing some more obscure items and dressing them up that appealed to the rich business types that worked in the financial district.

Food’s an essential part of my life. My parents by food and I was raised in this family owned business, working here all my life. I wasn’t stuck here by any means. If I wanted to work somewhere else they’d let me�"they being my entire family. But, honestly, I want to be here. I don’t know if it’s because I felt obligated or what, but here I was.

Cat and I went in through the back entrance and walked past the doors, trying to get to storage. Hopefully I could catch Uncle Tito or one of my parents so we could tell them that we were here. Being a Friday, not everyone was here yet. Uncle Tito would be managing the lunch shift while my aunt prepared the dining area for the incoming guests. My dad wouldn’t be here until the dinner shift, so my mom could be around micromanaging everyone.

“Sorry about being late,” I called out to my uncle who was walking around in the storage room. “I kinda forgot I had a shift so I made us late.”

Uncle Tito paused and looked at me with wide eyes. “You’re awake?” he whispered in disbelief.

“Yeah, I know it’s a miracle,” I grumbled. “Cat and I are gonna start our shift now, just letting you know.”

“We hired a new busy boy,” he said while he sifted through a box of pickles. “Can you just show him the ropes? It shouldn’t be too busy right now.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, not caring either way. Teaching some poor guy how to pick up plates and put them in the kitchen would be such a challenge, I don’t know how I’d cope.

Uncle T shook a can of pickles before taking them into the kitchen. He paused and eyed me carefully. “You’re not in uniform,” he said.

“Um.” I looked down at my jeans and sweatshirt. I really should carry around a change of clothes just in case I had a shift that I forgot about. Which really happened more often than it should.

He shook his head, not entirely surprised. “Jenna has extra clothes here. You can just wear hers for today,” he said, offering me his daughter’s clothing.

“You’re joking.” I gaped while I followed him to the kitchen, ignoring the blast of heat that passed through me. That’s what happened when you go in the kitchen and I don’t enjoy being uncomfortably sweaty so I stayed out of here as much as possible.

He turned around to make eye contact with me. “I’m not. You forgot your clothes so you’re going to wear hers. It’s that simple.”

“She’s smaller than me,” I whined. “Please Uncle, not today?” I pouted.

“Can you work the dinner shift?” he asked, completely disregarding my expression.

I sighed. There was no way I could get out of using Jenna’s clothes so I might as well try something else.

“I can’t.”

“Why?” he pried. His curiosity wasn’t purely business related, oh no. It’s family-orientated. Even if I tried to lie about it, Uncle T would call me out right away and then he’d tell his sister�"my mother.

I made a face. Luckily, he couldn’t see it because he turned around to check on some plates being stacked. “I kind of have a date,” I told him.

“With who? Do I know this boy?” he turned to ask with a stern face.

His eyes narrowed and unruly eyebrows furrowed. The whole package made me want to giggle and crawl into a corner in fear at the same time.

“I don’t really know him,” I said unintelligibly so he wouldn’t yell at me.

He narrowed his eyes. “I hope you didn’t say what I thought you did,” he warned, using his classic angry voice.

I edged towards the door to escape. Uncle Tito was notorious for his moods. I did not want to be caught up in one of his temper episodes.

“Well, I think I’m going to look for Jenna’s clothes now,” I announced. “Bye Uncle T!”

I practically broke out into a run and went the short distance from the kitchen and the rec room.

“Don’t think this conversation is over!” he called out in a huff.

I closed the door so I did not tempt an impending lecture. I knew it wasn’t over, but hopefully I would be able to avoid him all day so I could delay the conversation for as long as possible. He could be a bit overbearing sometimes. Well, all the time.

I pushed that thought aside. I was not going to think about the whole blind-double date thing until it was happening. Unless it’s there, staring me in the face, it’s not a problem.

I rummaged through Jenna’s cubby, finding her extra clothes easily enough. She had on a plain white button down and black skinny jeans. The problem with wearing Jenna’s clothes was that she’s shorter than me, but luckily she did not get the chance to get these pants hemmed yet. That’s where my luck stopped. The problem was the fact that my hips were wider than hers, but my legs are thinner. So they’re going to fit me awkwardly. Then the only thing with the shirt, other than my waist being bigger, was that it would probably be too short lengthwise because of the height difference and I’m significantly bigger than her in the chestal region.

I peeled off my clothes fast enough and yanked her pants on. They fit me tightly around the waist, making me bulge. I pulled the shirt around me, trying to make it fit. It did, barely, but it was snug, but it hid the tightness around my waist well enough because it did fit everywhere�"except, of course, around my chest. Considering that I was only wearing a t-shirt under my jacket, I didn’t have a tank top to wear underneath so you can see my, thankfully, white bra and breasts on the verge of bulging out of my shirt. I couldn’t button it all the way otherwise the buttons would explode and I’d owe Jenna a new Hollister button down. There’s no way in hell I was going to step into that store again, so I have to wear this shirt, hoping that three buttons are enough.

I was not some sort of freak of nature with huge jugs or whatever you want to call them. It’s just that I was a large D cup, maybe a DD, depending on how you want to look at it. While that wasn’t a huge deal, they were much bigger than my cousin’s Bs.

I had to be careful when I bent down to retie my black and white converse, the newer ones that didn’t have huge gaping holes in it. I maneuvered myself carefully as I walked out of the room and headed towards the center of the restaurant. There weren’t any customers yet and Cat was talking to some guy. He’s tall and dark haired. From the back he looks like a moderately attractive guy… who was going to see me with Jen’s button down shirt that did not leave much to the imagination.

“Cat!” I hissed from across the room. I strode over to where they stood. “It’s an emergency!”

She looked at me with a bored expression, like she didn’t want to. When she finally peeled her eyes off of the assumingly gorgeous guy, her eyes widened in fear.

“Oh my God.”

Fear swept her face before she burst in laughter.

The guy turned around. His eyebrows raised and the sides of his mouth twitched. “Hey, I’m Derek,” he introduced himself with a creeping smile at the edges of his lips. His eyes flickered from my eyes to my outrageous amount of cleavage.

I ignored the wave of embarrassment. “Can I borrow a tank top?” I asked in desperation.

“I’m not wearing one today.” She was choking on her laughter. Cat had to take a minute to wipe the tears that leaked out of her eyes. “He made you wear her clothes again?”

“Yeah, but last time I had a tank top to wear underneath,” I snapped. I didn’t like the way this guy, Derek or whatever, was looking at me. It made me feel violated and oddly turned on at the same time. “I have no tank top, you have no tank top and now I’m stuck looking like a w***e.”

“Just, you know, don’t get wet because that’d be very, very bad,” she said, still laughing. She was bent over in laughter. I’m jealous of the fact she had the capability of doing that in her work clothes. If I did that everything would tear at the seams.

“Very bad.”

Derek’s eyes twinkled mischievously.

I turned around and headed towards the front of the restaurant to see if my aunt had something I could wear. “You two are useless,” I grumbled. “Auntie Vee! Auntie!”

“Yes?”

She nearly ran into me. She took one look at me. “Good Lord,” she mumbled. “This is bad.”

“I know. Do you have anything?” I begged. “Please?”

Her deep brown eyes turned sympathetic. She had a similar figure as her daughter, except a little more filled out thanks two time and two children. “I’m sorry sweetie, I don’t.”

I gnawed on my lip

“It’s not that bad,” she said. “You’re just popping out a little bit. Let’s just adjust it�"” she tugged on the front of the shirt in attempt to hide my cleavage “�"a little and there we go.”

I looked down at it. It wasn’t as bad as before, but my cleavage was still there for everyone to see.

“Thank you,” I said. I trudged back to where Cat and Derek were talking. I wanted to be out of the way before the lunch crowd comes in.

“Hey look on the bright side,” Cat said. I could feel a joke coming on. “You can be a really good welcoming for the customers, if you know what I mean.”

“Shut up.”

“Or, you can wear that later today. I bet Jacob will love what you’re wearing,” she teased. She brushed hair off her face and turned to Derek. “Don’t you think so?”

So Jacob’s the name of my mystery man who was allegedly hot.

I saw Derek’s dark eyes slide over my body and I felt more self-conscious than ever. “Oh definitely,” he said in a husky tone.

I crossed my arms over my chest in defiance. “Shut it,” I repeated, fully aware that Cat wouldn’t listen. This was her glorious payback for all the countless times I teased her.

“You shouldn’t do that,” Cat warned me, her blue eyes sparkled from the tears. “It enhances your cleavage.”

A rush of heat went to my face and I dropped my arms immediately, causing Cat and Derek to laugh. “I give up,” I huffed, walking away. “I’m going to find the new guy so I can train him.”

“You don’t have to look very far,” Derek said.

The way he said it made me turn around. I don’t know why, but it did and I looked at him. “Why do you say that?” I asked him, making sure I didn’t cross my arms to enhance my cleavage.

His grin widened. “Because I’m the new guy.”

“Oh that’s just peachy,” I grumbled, walking back towards them.

“Who says peachy anymore?” he said light-heartedly.

I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t like him. I didn’t like the way he looked at me in my skin tight clothing and I didn’t like the way this dark, tall, and smoldering eye-thing he’s got going on. It’s way too suspicious and creepy…and a little, just a little, hot. Miniscule would be the word to describe how small his attractiveness was.

“She does,” Cat said at the same time I said, “I do.”

He laughed. “Okay then. So you’re going to show me around…?”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Looks like Cat’s done that. I’m not needed here so I’m going to work in the kitchen,” I told both of them.

Really, I don’t have to be a waitress. I don’t cook as well as my dad, but I could hold my own. I learned their respect and they let me cook in the back. Usually my aunt or I were the ones making big specialty desserts, but I like waitressing. I don’t really know why. Probably because it was more fun than working in the back with Uncle T and Eddie harassing me than dealing with whiney customers.

Cat grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “Oh come on Danni, don’t be like that.” She pouted. “Pretty please?”

“The cupcake was for the blind double date, not for training the new guy,” I hissed.

Cat rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so overdramatic. It’s not a big deal anyway. He’s just some new busboy, he’ll probably only be here for a couple of week tops. You know how your family is with guys like him,” she said.

“Guys like him?”

She flashed me a look that said, Really Danni? Do I have to spell it out for you?

“Hot guys,” she explained with an exuberated sigh. “The second Jenna walks through that door she’ll fling herself at him�"even though she’s jailbait�"and he’ll get caught making out with her. Then, he’ll get fired.”

“Wow and like Ana and doesn’t have a chance?” I defended my less friendly cousin.

Cat smirked. “And what do you think?” she asked.

“It could happen,” I pressed.

Cat shrugged. “Maybe, but the majority of the guys were fired because of Jenna. Doesn’t he look like her type?” She pointed her thumb in his direction.

We turned at the same time, analyzing him from head-to-toe. He was tall, well built, and as previously mentioned, deadly attractive.

“I see your point,” I murmured still assessing him. “But his hair might be a turn off.”

Cat pressed her lips together. “I see what you mean…it’s kind of early 2000s bad boy�"like Jess from Gilmore Girls.”

“Ha! You’re right.” I nudged my brilliant friend. “He does look like him, except different.”

Cat snorted. “Because Derek’s not Milo Ventimiglia,” she pointed out. “And I think he’s half-Asian.”

“How do you remember his name?” I inquired in amazement.

“It’s a gift.”

“You know I can hear every single word you two are saying,” he said, annoyed from us ignoring him. “I don’t even know this girl why would you even think I’d just make out with chicks I don’t know?”

“Because it happens. If you lay a hand on her I’ll castrate you,” I threatened.

“And if you break her heart I’ll castrate you,” Cat added as she started him down.

Derek looked from me to Cat, then back to me with a bemused grin. “There’s no winning, huh? Has anyone told you guys you’re weird?” he asked.

I eyed the door that opened. The early people for the lunch rush were beginning to come inside. That meant work for me and Cat started.

“Frequently,” I said, stepping away from him so I could take the order from the first customers that arrived.

Author's Note

let me know how you feel about the tone and characters as well as any grammatical issues. thanks!