Serving his friends

Taking the remaining steps, Danny spoke up, his lightly practised feminine voice trembling. "Um, has anyone decided what they want to drink?"

"Yeah, I'll have a Mango Mojito, write that down." Steve piped up as he leaned back to take in the view.

"No," said Danny in anger, "I mean, I think I'll go around the table first. Starting with you,” pointing towards the ghost, “what would you like to drink?" The ghost answered with a lager and Danny continued clockwise in a way that deliberately made Steve last.

The mummy was impressed. "I just, wow. The menus was one thing, but this, you're diving into the role."

"Are you going to order?" Danny asked, wanting this to hurry along, still sure he could feel Tim’s gaze.

"Just a coke!"

Jack had a similar response. "Going all in?"

It was humiliating. The eyes of all his friends taking him in, and Danny expected to serve them. Danny was meant to be sitting down with all his friends, cracking jokes and enjoying himself. He was meant to be served by a hot waitresses, not serving as one. This damn Hooters uniform... costume, Hooters costume!

Trish and Linda were as surprised as anyone according to their expressions. When he asked them for their drinks though, they just gave him their orders. Linda was smiling even more.

Danny kept going around the table, and was surprised that some people had no reaction. They just reeled out their order like there was nothing strange about what's going on. Danny was almost offended at being treated like any interchangeable Hooters girl.

With trepidation and anger, Danny returned to Steve, finding himself standing behind the very seat he was meant to be sitting at.

Steve was grinning like a maniac. "You know what I love about Hooters girls?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "Don't care."

"Oh, you can't do that."

"What?"

"Hooters girls are meant to be playful with customers, respond to jokes. Your job literally requires it."

"I... am not doing this with you."

"Well, If you're not doing your job, I guess I'll have to complain to the manager."

"No... I mean, don't do that," Danny tried to hide his fear with exasperation. "I mean, come on, you know I literally don't know how to do this job." Still his mind went back to that moment just a few minutes prior where Tim spoke to him, telling him how he needed to basically be a good waitress and smile.

"Oh it's easy, let's try again: 'You know what I love about Hooters girls?'"

Danny bit his tongue, but after a moment, put on a **** smile and responded with a **** but now practised soft feminine voice. "No, tell me."

"Everything."

Danny paused a second, but couldn't help chuckle that someone would tell such a terrible joke. "Well, thank you, but is there anything else you'd like to order?" Danny replied really paying attention to how different he sounded talking like a girl while smiling. Thankfully it sounded like something he would describe as a good customer service voice.

"Yeah, I'd like a Mango Mojito."

Danny mentally facepalmed at the fact that if he'd just remembered that order, he could have avoided the whole conversation. "Okay then, we'll have that to you soon," he said, writing it down on the little pad he was given.

"Oh, I also want a photo."

Danny's stomach sank. "What?"

"Hooters girls have to pose for photos, another job requirement, so come on," Steve made space and gestured for Danny to sit beside him.

Danny paused, "Well I don't want to keep anyone waiting on their drinks so let me just get them first," and took the chance to walk away. Yeah, maybe Steve could report it to Tim but dammit he had to have some backbone. He endured his bad joke after all.

He found himself by the sales machine again, thankfully Sandy appeared by his side and seemed ready to help him use it. "Just enter the table number here, and on this menu." It was mostly straightforward, Danny adding all the drinks from his paper pad onto the machine. Only mistake was that he had written the drinks down as a sequential list, so he had to keep changing the quantity of certain drinks that multiple people had ordered.

It was only after entering the last one in that he realised there was a drink missing: His own order. But before he could decide whether to enter it in, "And then you hit enter." The order was submitted.

Danny exhaled, at the task complete.

"Okay, back to the family table."

"What?"

"Forgotten already? They're over there," she said, pointing to the family of three.

"Okay but, there's something I've gotta talk to you about."

"Not now. The group's drinks will be ready in less than two minutes. If you don't take that family's drink order now, you'll be leaving them waiting."

Danny looked over at the group he came in with, then to the family Tim had practically dragged him over to. He didn’t see Tim, but that didn’t mean the man wasn’t around. "Okay fine."

Padding up to the table, Danny felt a bit sullen, but saw no reason to take it out on the family. With a smile and his soft voice he asked them how they were and took their drinks order. The man was polite, the woman didn't speak much, and the teen just gawked. Danny wrote their orders, but paused when "she" was asked if "she" recommended an appetiser. "She" leaned forward to look at the menu, and then tapped wings, because it's hard to go wrong with that. The man seemed satisfied, but the woman seemed furious. Not sure why, Danny returned to the machine.

Entering in the new entry from his pad, Danny paused. He didn't know their table number. Sandy wasn’t around to help and he got more stressed, but then noticed the edge of a table plan by the machine. Pulling it out, he saw a map of the full table layout of the restaurant with assigned numbers. He rotated it until he figured out which table was the one the family were at, and entered its number into the machine.

He'd just finished entering the drinks order when he heard a cry from the counter behind him. "Table 12, drinks!"

Danny winced, and looked around to see a tray with a set of drinks on them. He considered leaving them there, but that was just a recipe for Tim yelling at him again. Only way he could get away with leaving the tray is if he could leave the restaurant, but it was in a location he was less familiar with and he’d carpooled here.

It took a surprising amount of balance to lift the fully loaded tray, and almost knocked the drinks over with his newly acquired boobs. Staggering, he was able to get into a stable posture and started walking towards the group table. For all the issues with the outfit, having comfortable sports shoes was a blessing for all the walking he was doing.

Danny apprehensively saw Steve's big grin once again. A few more eyes at the table looked up in his direction and he wasn't sure if it was for him or the drinks.

Turns out, the best place to put the tray down was his own empty place. He looked up. There were a lot of people at the table and a lot of drinks, could he remember who ordered what?

"I had the coke," the mummy called out. An easy order thankfully. Danny took the big glass of fizzy brown liquid and reached it across the table to the mummy's outstretched hand.

Except, the mummy seemed to have trouble grasping it, his hand moved around the glass but only seemed to glancingly touch it. Danny reached over more to get it closer to him but he still failed to grasp it. In fact, his eyes didn't even seem focused on the glass, more like they were looking at something beyond it....

With a start, Danny glanced down. With him leaning over the table, his fake cleavage was on full display. He was giving the mummy a full view straight down his boobs!

Mortified, Danny glanced up. The mummy grasped the coke with a smile and a "Thank you", and Danny quickly stood up ramrod straight, causing the realistic, but fake assets to bounce from the sudden movement. His boobs may have looked authentic but did that really warrant that behaviour?

"If you're not going to give me that display, I'll settle for the Mango Mojito I ordered," chimed Steven.

Danny had a number of choice things he wanted to say in response, including dumping the whole tray over his head. Instead he took the small cocktail glass with the orange colour and placed it in front of Steve, not even able to slam it down for fear of spilling or breaking the glass. He really needed to get back at Steve.

The ghost apparently had already taken their drink. Danny managed to get two more drinks off the tray (a few thanks and nods) and then managed to lift the lighter tray onto one hand, walking around the table to others. He gave a sad look to his empty place but knew what would happen if he sat down there.

He handed Jack his beer, and approached Trish and Linda. He wasn't sure what sort of reaction he had to prepare for, but as he stepped closer he noticed they were in intense conversation with the people around them. As he placed their drinks in front of them, they didn't even look up, too intent at responding to some werewolf guy who was in the middle of his spiel. Danny decided to quickly put down the remaining drinks with the best guess for who they were for, but as he walked away, the sadness of being separated and ignored by the group he was meant to be part of hit him. Trish and Linda might care for him, or Trish does at least, but at that moment they treated him like any other server.

The thought hung in his mind as he returned the tray, but was then broken by the sudden arrival of the family's drinks orders. ‘Dammit,’ thought Danny, ‘at least there are only three drinks…’

He quickly served the table as polite and as fast as he thought he could get away with, and soon had the drinks down in front of everyone. "Anything else?" he said smiling with the tray under his arm and ready to go.

"Yes, we'd like to order," the man said.

‘Urgh,’ thought Danny, ‘should have seen it coming that a smaller table would decide on their orders faster’.

"Of course," smiled Danny with a smile, taking out the pen and pad. "And what would you like?"

"Well, you said the wings were good..." Danny noted the order and turned to the woman who tersely asked for a salad.

"And what would you like?" he asked, turning to the teen.

The teen was just staring, straight at Danny. Had the kid never seen a Hooters girl before? "Do you need more time to decide?" Danny asked tentatively.

"Burgers." the kid blurted out.

"Okay..." Danny glanced down at the menu the kid was holding. "Western BBQ Burger?"

The kid froze, then nodded, ready to agree with anything the pretty girl said. Danny wrote it down. After confirming that was everything, he returned the machine and punched in the order.

‘Okay.’ Danny thought, ‘Next would be taking orders from the group table. In the time that takes, the family's order should be at least half done and then... wait a minute…’

Danny shook his head! ‘Why am I thinking this, I’m not an actual waitress!’

He looked around, but of course Sandy was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't keep doing this. He was meant to be sitting with his friends. Maybe he should do that anyway and risk meeting...

Tim! He was right in front of him. His glare muted, but clearly ready to switch up to hi-beams at any moment.

"I... I... I..." Danny stammered, "I got the group's drink order. And for the family table too. I got the family's food order. And I'm about to go to the group table to see what they want to eat...."

The silence hung, Danny hanging on Tim's response.

Then Tim did something terrifying.

He smiled.

"Good, good. That's what I want to hear. Keep it going."

Danny nodded, and then with questionable timing, Sandy showed up.

"All good?"

"Yes, Dani is getting into the swing of things."

"Oh, that's great. Guess it's the right moment for this then!"

Danny turned to see Sandy reach over to him with something in her hand. Freezing instinctively, Danny let her attach a nametag to his white plunging shirt. Turning it around with his fingers, he could see it announce his name as "Danielle" to the entire world.

"Brilliant," beamed Tim, "well I won't slow you down any more" Tim stepped aside to reveal a path to the group table and gestured to it.

As if in a daze, Danny walked forward. The nametag was somehow was another blow against him expressing who he was. And he couldn't take it off while he knew Tim was watching him from behind. In fact, he couldn't do much of anything other than approach the table and ask if they'd decided what they wanted to eat.