Chapter One

Beca Mitchell was late.

Not so much late. She was just not on time. Beca quickly waved at her two kids standing by the door in their pajamas while Sandy, her childminder, coaxed them to wave back at her. She couldn't really blame Sandy for her current predicament. Sandy was a good kid, always dependable and had been helping Beca looked after her two kids for over a year. It was Beca who got her shifts wrong. She suddenly realised she didn't book Sandy for tonight and had frantically called her in last minute. Luckily the high school senior was such a sweetheart and helped her out of a jam.

Now if only her rickety old car would co-operate.

Beca sent up a quick prayer her car wouldn't act up tonight. She needed to make up time if she didn't want her pay to be docked. Donald, the owner of the restaurant she worked for, was really nice and was always been understanding whenever she had to juggle her shifts. Beca knew not to push her luck. She really didn't want to lost this job. Sure, her day job was cool. She loved being a teaching assistant; the hours suited round her kids and she found the work rewarding. But the pay wasn't that great and in some months, it didn't quite make ends meet. This waitressing gig a few nights a week was helping and Beca felt better knowing she had some spare cash stowed away in case of emergencies.

She was already fifteen minutes late when Beca parked her car and raced towards the staff entrance. Dinner service had already started and the kitchen was in full swing. Beca had to weave through the heavy kitchen traffic, dodging two sous chefs having an argument and trying not to bump into the busboy. She headed straight to her locker to drop her things and get changed and before long, Beca was hurriedly looking for Chloe on the floor.

"Bec, there you are!" the red head trilled as soon as Beca walked up to her. Chloe was an old hand - she had been waitressing there for nearly two years and she had been a great help to Beca when she first started. Once she knew that Beca was new in town, the redhead took Beca under her wing and they had been fast friends ever since.

"Hey Red," the brunette garbled out a greeting. Her hands were busy putting up her hair into a ponytail and she had her order pencil clamped between the teeth. Once her ponytail was done, Beca removed the pencil from her mouth. "So what we've got?"

She stood, poised, listening intently as Chloe rattled off the specials and anything else Beca need to know. It was a Saturday night and they were expecting it to be busy.

"- Stacie is the only one tending the bar tonight. The new girl didn't turn up two days in a row so Donald might pull you to go behind the bar," Chloe continued. "Tell me when that happens so Amy and I can cover your section."

"Ok," Beca nodded, taking a quick look at the bar before facing Chloe again. "Sorry I was late just now. Thanks for covering for me."

"No biggie," the red head waved Beca's apology with a cheerful smile. "We're not that rammed yet. It wasn't too difficult. Plus -" she winked at Beca now. "Your handsome regular is at his usual table."

"He is?" Beca turned round and craned her neck to check out her section.

Yep, Chloe was right. Sitting In his usual seat was Jesse Swanson, perusing the menu which he must knew by heart by now. For the past few months Beca had been working there, Jesse Swanson had came in at least twice a month for dinner or sometimes just to have a drink. Apparently, he went to college with the owner, Donald, and they were good friends. Obviously he was trying to be supportive of his best mate in this cut throat restaurant business but the dark-haired man was in so often Beca knew his food and drink order by heart. His preferred seat was in her section - a red booth at the right hand side of the restaurant. Beca didn't really blame him for that. It was a good seat with a view of the entrance and the bar and fairly private.

"Who's he with?" Beca frowned, noting the empty glass on the table opposite Jesse. It could meant one thing.

"Some blonde." Chloe shrugged.

"Same as the last time?"

"Nope. A different one," Chloe replied. "Not sure I like this one either."

That was the other thing that stood out about Jesse Swanson. He always likes to bring his dates to the restaurant. It was not that the restaurant was unsuitable. In fact, as restaurants go, Donald's was probably one of the nicest places to go for a food was good, the ambience top notch and well, let's just say there had been several marriage proposals done at the restaurant. It was that romantic.

However, the loved up atmosphere didn't seem to have any positive effect on Jesse Swanson's endless stream of dates. Every one of them seemed to be either disastrous or bordering on hysterical comedy. In fact it was one of those dates that thrown him into Beca's path.

She just started - about two weeks into the job when in walked Jesse Swanson who promptly requested his usual seat. When she took his drinks order, he was polite and nice enough as customers go. Now, Beca never admitted it out loud but she did thought the dark-haired man was hot enough to warrant a second look.

It was his smile, you see.

His cheerful, genuine smile as he spoke to her and those warm brown puppy eyes, which reminded her of melting chocolate. He looked directly at her when placing his order - none of those dismissive glances rude people used when dealing with service staff. Beca appreciated that, especially since she was new at her job.

His date that day, however, was another matter.

It wasn't a very busy service so Beca was able to discreetly keep an eye on the odd couple. It was obvious it was the first time they were meeting up. He was smartly dressed, looking eager to please. The woman was hot, dolled up to the nines, but didn't look up from her phone. Not even once. Not even when she ordered the most expensive lobster dinner on the menu nor when she ordered a parade of one expensive cocktail after another.

At first, Beca dismissed it. Maybe the lady wasn't comfortable talking to strangers including wait staff but as the date progressed, Beca noticed she didn't look up to talk to Jesse either. It was clear that he was valiantly trying to keep up his end, trying to make conversation but it was as if the girl had a medical condition and her eyes were somehow glued to the screen. At one point, when Jesse was talking, she actually put up her hand to shush him while still frantically thumbing through her phone. The girl didn't even notice when Jesse excused himself to go to the Gents.

Beca found Jesse standing at the hallway just a few steps away from the Gents. Where he stood, he could see his table without being noticed and Beca could hardly contained her amusement as she watched Jesse Swanson, crouched by the wall, peering round the corner at his date.

"Everything ok here?"

Beca swore Jesse jumped two feet up in the air. She would have chuckled out loud but he was, after all, still a customer, so Beca Mitchell settled for a suppressed smile. Once Jesse landed on terra firm, she asked helpfully. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Eerr...no, I'm... We're fine," he stammered, glancing towards his table and then back to Beca.

"You sure?" Beca grinned. "Maybe the lady would like another cocktail?"

Both of their eyes swung back to his table. They both knew his date had a few, enough for her to be more than a little tipsy but darn it, she was still upright and busy munching on her dinner, eyes still glued to that stupid phone. One hand was busy spearing bits of lobster with her fork while the other was busy scrolling through her phone.

"Yes, okay," Jesse replied, his shoulders slumping a little. "If she wants another one."

It was not in her place to say anything. Unlike Chloe, Beca was not nosy. She didn't make it her business to poke into other people's affairs. But there was something in the resigned look on his face that made her opened her big, fat mouth.

"I think the lady had enough," Beca said firmly. Oh, she knew she did. Beca had been toting up the orders. "I'm sorry, sir. Bar rules. If we think someone had enough, we can refuse serving alcohol."

"Oh." Jesse said, looking slightly relieved. "Ok, appreciate that."

"Also, would you like me to split the bill, sir?"

"What?"

"Split the bill?" Beca repeated helpfully. "I can have your linguini vongole and glass of white in one while she can have her calamari starter, lobster and sirloin main, three sides and four cocktails in another? No hurry to settle the bill, of course. You can both stay as long as you like."

This time Jesse took a long look at Beca. She kept that helpful smile screwed on her face and Beca was sure she could hear the cogs turning in his head.

"You know, right, if you were to bring two bills -" he replied very carefully. "- we won't be staying long?"

Beca slowly smiled.

"It's been a quiet night," she shrugged. "We could use a floor show."

He laughed. Jesse Swanson laughed and shook his head.

"You can tell it's not going well, could you?" he asked, his brown eyes twinkling.

"First date?" Beca answered instead.

"Yep." Jesse glanced at his table again. His date was downing her fourth cocktail and would probably look around to order another. He frowned, seemingly at a loss and then turned to face Beca. His eyes darted down to her name badge. "Umm.. Beca? I wonder whether you can help me out of a dilemma."

"Sure."

"Would you think it's rude of me to cut my losses?" he asked. "I mean..I don't want to come across as disrespectful."

"Dude, normally It's bad form but I think you have a free pass here," Beca answered without any hesitation. "Don't take this the wrong way but I seriously doubt she'll even notice if you leave."

Jesse chuckled, knowing how true it was.

"Yeah," he replied, looking a lot more cheerful than just now. "We hardly said anything to each other all evening. If another guy sat in front of her right now, I don't think she know the difference."

"Sorry, I'm afraid you made a mistake there," Beca said. "She's only going out with you to get a free dinner. We have a term for this. You're her meal ticket date. She'll probably trying to find the next one on that phone of hers."

Jesse was quiet as he watched his date singlehandedly polished off her mains. She then flagged a passing waitress and it looked like she was ordering more to take-away.

"You know what? You're right," he spoke up, turning back towards Beca. He took out his wallet and handed his credit card over. "I'm going to cut my losses. Can you ring up the bill and put it on my card?"

"Separate?"

"No." Jesse shook his head. "It's fine. The whole bill plus the takeaway." He then smiled a little bashfully. "I'm going to sneak off so... if you could -"

"No problem. I just tell her you had an emergency."

And that was how she first met Jesse Swanson.

Beca had rang up the check and left it in a folder for him to look through and sign and when she came back, there was a fat 25% tip and a smiley face scribbled on the bill. He came back a few weeks later with another date. Beca would have like to say that was one was a success but sadly it wasn't much better. Nor the next one either. And the next one after that. Based on his track record, Beca didn't have high hopes for the one tonight either. Chloe already said it was some blonde and she didn't like her.

"God, he's reeling them in, isn't he?" Beca chortled. "Different date every time."

"And all of them a disaster," Chloe finished, squinting at the dark-haired man who was, of course, totally oblivious he was under the redhead's scrutiny.

"That's what you get if you date airheads." Chloe judged with a emphatic nod of her head.

"Come on. Give him a chance. He's really nice," Beca spoke up, taking her order pad from the staton. "Maybe he hasn't met the right person yet."

"Maybe he has," Chloe winked. "He just doesn't know it yet."

Beca rolled her eyes. Yeah, Chloe was always teasing her about Jesse and if she wasn't such fast friends with the redhead, the petite brunette would have been super annoyed. Chloe meant well. She knew Beca had not dated for a while but the very idea of Jesse and her was just so preposterous. He was a client. Yeah, he was hot and single and from what Beca can see, pretty flushed but Beca Mitchell knew what guys like that look for in a girl. Most of the time, they don't like girls with baggage and Beca Mitchell came with lots.

"Is the new uniform bothering you?" Chloe spoke up, breaking into her thoughts.

Beca didn't realised she had been tugging on the vest she was wearing. In an effort to further classed the place up, Donald had new uniforms made. Instead of the comfy polo shirts and mini aprons they usually wear, now they have a shirt and a deep V necked stretchy vest, which right at this very moment was clinging to Beca like a second skin.

"I dunno," Beca complained, plucking at the hem of the vest. "This vest is a weird fit. One size up drowns me and this one is too tight. It's like my funbags are on show."

"I think you look hot," Chloe grinned. "Here, let me help."

That grin, which was entirely too evil, should have been a clue. But Beca missed the cue and she found Chloe tugging her vest down with some force before plucking her hairband off her ponytail.

"Hey!" Beca yelled out, a little surprised. Her hand flew up to her hair which were now falling down her shoulders. "What the hell, Chlo? Gimme back my hair band"

"Your hair looks great down," Chloe said, twirling the offensive band on her finger before stuffing it into her pocket. "Now, can you get to work? You are already late and your customer's waiting."

AN : I know. I know. I'm a bad person who starts stories and takes ages finishing them. Please forgive me and tell me what you think. Cyber unicorn frappucinos for everyone!