"I've never seen this much money in my life."
Chris muttered as the morning red sun could be seen from his window, you could hear the hum of the heater inside his room, his whole bed was full of hundred-dollar bills, and a little while ago he confirmed the whole amount to be $59,950.
"I have to pay back the credit I took last night, otherwise, Mel will be mad."
Chris took his coat and started to gather the cash to wrap it up with a rubber band and stored it in a drawer, then locked it. Wearing his sneakers, he checked the clock, it was 06.12 am in the morning. He slowly turned off the switches in his apartment and got out.
As soon as he went outside, the cold wind blew into his face, he could also see the ankle-high snow on the ground. He took a deep breath and then walked downstairs. His room was more like a motel style, everything was separated and could be rented separately.
Getting down the steel stairs, he had to jump several times to cross the alley and go to the big road, then he started to run on the sidewalk. There were very few cars on the road, you could see newspaper and milk guys mostly active.
After jogging for an hour, he returned to his room, then took a warm bath to relax. Wearing a towel, he came to his room and got ready for school, but first he had to open the diner for the breakfast scene.
Chris wore a green puffer jacket as the cold outside was in full swing, and after spraying a bit of perfume as the last touch, he got out, grabbing his backpack.
"Hey, good morning."
As Chris was turning the keys to open up the shop, he heard a melodious sound from behind, looking back, he saw it was Tina, and she was smiling kindly.
"A very good morning. You're early, I thought your shift starts after noon."
Chris greeted her, and then both of them entered the shop. Chris went to turn the heater on while Tina removed her big coat she got last night, it was comfortable and warm.
"I am covering for Kayla, she is going to attend an event at her college."
Tina replied, and then she picked up the cloth to clean the tables while Chris helped out with carrying the heavy kitchen utensils to their place.
"What about Lena? She's with her babysitter?"
"Nope, I have admitted her into a daycare center. I was saving for something else, I can now take two jobs."
"Don't ignore the baby, she still needs you."
Chris replied as he stood beside her. While she placed the last tissue box in its place, Tina turned and almost bumped into Chris as she backed off a little, but her momentum was too jerky, her legs slipped, and Chris put out his hand behind her back to stabilize her.
"I am not a demon, you can bump into me, or if I am too close, you can also tell me that, and I will respect your space."
Chris, with a smile, said, then tried to take a step back, but her hands instinctively grabbed his chest clothes. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she took a deep breath and released her hand.
"I am sorry, yeah, a little space will be nice."
Tina saying this took some big breaths, her heart rate was out of the chart as Chris nodded his head and turned, her whole face turned red, she bit her lips, and she looked extremely panicked.
I can't, he's young. I am nothing but a slut in his eyes.
Chris didn't understand what the hell just happened, but he had no intention of disrespecting her, he was just being casual and thought they were very close friends.
She has her own reasoning, come on, Chris.
Shaking his head, he went inside the kitchen to pull the grocery stuff in from the delivery box. It took Tina five minutes to go inside the kitchen, and she pretended nothing happened.
As the clock turned 08:34 am, Dan entered the diner. Marsha was already serving their first guest, while Tina was helping Chef Cathy in the kitchen. Chris nodded his head at his father, then took his backpack and walked out of the shop, it took him five minutes to shovel the snow from his car.
"Chris, you… You're going to school, right?"
As Chris was about to open the car door, Tina came running, she was taking big breaths as if she had run a mile or something.
" Yes "
"Well, I just wanted to say, I am sorry. I should not have reacted that way. I overreacted. I just wanted you to know, you're my best friend, and I don't want to lose it for any stupid reason."
Chris looked as if it came out of nowhere. He can understand her reaction, given how pretty she is, she is used to being hit on like this, so he didn't mind in the first place.
"No worries, I understand, you are a very precious friend to me as well."
"You don't get it, but I will take that, instead of you ignoring me, you can invade my private space as well."
Tina, with a very bright smile, ran back inside after saying this. Chris looked a bit confused, but he couldn't do anything about it, so with a confused smile, he entered his car, and shaking his head, he left for the school while Tina stood by the glass window with a smile.
"He's not dumb, but that kid won't know what you feel if you don't tell him."
Dan suddenly spoke as the diner was mostly empty, he was observing Tina and her red face. Marsha came in with a warm breakfast and nudged him with her elbow as he was being insensitive.
"What? She's pretty. One kid doesn't make you old."
Dan replied that he was a truck driver before, so he's always candid like this.