The next day, I went to the restaurant for my interview. As I entered the restaurant, I was greeted by the lady yesterday.
"Good morning part-timer!"
"Good morning!" I greeted her back with a smile.
"Please sit down." She gestured for me to sit down at one of the tables. "I haven't formally introduced myself to you. I'm Anna Davis, owner of The Meat and Soup." She held out her hand and I took it and we shaked hands.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Anna Davis?" I ended my sentence in a question mark cause I honestly don't know what to call her. She laughed at my confusion and uncertainty.
"Just call me Miss Davis." She said.
I smiled at her kindness. I can tell from her looks and actions that she's easy going.
As I was staring at her while she's reviewing my resumè, I suddenly remembered that I wasn't able to introduce myself earlier after she introduced herself.
"So can you tell me your name?" She looked up and we made eye contact which snapped me out of my thoughts. I was startled. She just smiled.
"My name is Ciara Eunice Suarez."
"Oh, so you came from the Philippines." She said as she continued to study my documents. "Are you here alone?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I came here to study at the University and fulfill my dreams of becoming a production director and filmmaker."

"Wow. A risk taker. I like that."
I smiled at her compliment. I suddenly felt proud of myself. She placed down my papers at the table and looked at me.
"Congratulations! You're hired. You can start today."
What? I'm hired? This fast? Oh my goooosh.
"You mean I'm hired? I mean, I'm going to start working now? But why so fast? Aren't you gonna ask about my work experience?"
"Oh no. When you asked about the position last night, I immediately accepted you. We're desperate for help and you're the first time to arrive after 3 months of posting that notice." She told me with hand gestures and a kind of desperate and distressed look on her face.
"I'm the first applicant?" Okay. I just can't believe if I'm really the first. I felt like she's a bit exaggerating. I know a lot of people need part time jobs.
"Oh you're not the first one. BUT. YOU are the first decent one. A lot of applicants came in the day we posted that notice, but most of them just applied to see me." She winked at me. Oh. So that was the reason. My eyes grew large upon hearing that statement. "...and the rest applied just to see my son on a day to day basis. I don't want fan girls flocking this store. So noisy."
I just nodded at what she said while trying to process everything. Hmmmm. This woman is really pretty. She doesn't even look like she has a son, but I wonder what her husband does by letting her work in this restaurant and having all men gaping at her.
"Oh, and that is my son."
I looked up and followed her point of view which was towards my back. The door of the restaurant opened and I turned my back to look at who came in. Oh I remember him from last night. He's the cashier and the waiter.
"That's my son. Jackson Rodrigo. You can call him Jace."
He walked towards us.
"Jace, greet our guest and new part timer, Eunice." He waved timidly at me and I did the same.
"I'm Ciara Eunice Suarez. You can call me Eunice. I will be your part timer starting today." I smiled widely. He oddly looks familiar. Have I seen him before? Of course I saw him last night, but there's just a different kind of familiarity. He just nodded at my intro and walked towards the kitchen.
"Are you going to work later at the company?" His mom shouted as I slowly went back to my seat.
"Jackson Rodrigo?" I mumbled to myself quietly. "Davis, Rodrigo..."
"Oh you must be wondering why our surnames are different." I looked up at her with a question mark on my face.
"His father and I are divorced already. For about two years now. I changed my surname back to Davis but Jace still carries his father's name. But we're on good terms."
She smiled at me. Okay. Now my curious mind has been fed.
She gave me a tour of the restaurant, and I watched her cook some of the dishes from the menu. I was amazed at how she's capable of doing it. Her outward appearance says nothing about what she can really do. She's the only one who cooks here! That must be very tiring. She said that she's been training a new chef to help her around.
Meanwhile, I'm an all around part timer. I clean tables, serve food, stand at the counter and clean the restaurant. That's fine with me. She said that her son helps when he has time since he's also working at the company. But I don't know what company, and I'm not curious enough to find out.
As I prepared my things to leave and go home, Miss Davis came to me and gave me an envelope.
"That's your salary for today. I'm going to give it to you daily based on the hours you've worked. I know it's hard to balance your time with the university and all. So come in when you can and I'll give you your salary on an hourly basis. Is that fair enough?"
I nodded in agreement. Where else can I find a job this good? The owner is very understanding and the environment is a good place to work at.
"Are you going to the company now? Are you bringing those there?" I looked at Miss Davis and saw her talking to Jace who was packing up food in a paper bag. Is he a delivery guy? But what time is it? It's 9 pm already, and he's still going to work?
"Yes. He asked for it so I'm going there now. I might finish at 1 am today." Jace answered.
Wow. What kind of work is he doing?
"Okay okay. Be safe okay? Say hi to your cousin for me." He nodded and kissed his mom's cheek before going out. Cute. I also waved and said goodbye.
"Goodnight Miss Davis. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight too, Eunice. You've worked hard. See you tomorrow!"
After a long day at work, I went back to the dorms bearing gifts for my roommate. She called me earlier today and asked if I could go pick up some ramen at a convenience store. So I did. I bought other goods too like bread, coffee, milk and some snacks to munch on.
"Jeanny, I'm back!" I announced as I entered the room.
"I'm here!" She shouted back and I figured that the voice came from the shower. She must be washing up.
Fifteen minutes later, she came out of the shower as I looked through the bag of goods that I bought.
That's strange. I bought one but it wasn't here anymore. I turned the bag upside down and all the goods came out. Jeanny looked at me in confusion.
"What are you doing? What are you looking for?"
"The strawberry milk." I answered. She rolled her eyes in sarcasm and laughed at me.
"I thought you lost your brain. It's just strawberry milk. You can just buy another one."
"But I paid for that."
"Okay I'll buy you strawberry milk."
"It's just not that. I also bought a pack of sanitary pads but it's not here anymore."
Jeanny bursted out laughing. I stared at her. Okay i got to admit, as much as I am annoyed at the situation I find it funny too.
"How can you lose that? I just can't imagine someone stealing a sanitary pad. Who in their right mind does that?" She said in between her laughs as she slowly laid in the bed unable to control her emotions.
"Ughhhh. This is so annoying." Then a thought occured to me. That's right! "It wasn't stolen, I think I dropped it and the man mistakenly took it."
"What man?"
"Earlier at the convenience store, I bumped into a man on my way out. He's carrying a plastic of goods too and we both dropped our bags. He's in a hurry so he picked it up all at once and just left me there."
"He didn't even say sorry?"
"He did. He just said, 'oh I’m sorry.'" I said as I mimicked the man's voice resulting in my voice becoming deeper and manly, and we bursted out laughing. This situation is too funny to sulk in annoyance.
"Okay stop. I've had a good laugh. Let's clean up and watch a movie now." I said as i placed the goods one by one back into the plastic. I stood up and took my toiletries and went to the shower. I'm going to wash up first.
After washing up, I went out of the shower and I saw Jeanny already seated on her bed in front of her laptop, and a mini projector. This girl is so prepared. I sat beside her and opened a bag of chips.
"What are we watching?" I asked as I munched on.
"This." She said as she pressed the play button. I stared at the wall where the projector is projecting, and looked at it curiously. What is this movie? Then the title came out. I facepalmed myself.
"The Wildes:On Stage? Really?" I looked at my roommate. She just grinned at me.
"Jeanny, seriously? You have nothing better than that?" I asked her with a serious look. She suddenly pouted at me and then looked at her laptop and started to look for other movies. I laughed at her.
"My dear, I've already watched this." And then we bursted out laughing again.
This night is filled with so much laughter.