Nine: Still The Boss

There was no mention of the girl. Nothing to point her to Bianca. Just what she supposedly made their son feel and how he would never approach her because they were from different worlds. She'd had to read about seven books, well if going through the table of contents then skimming through the good stuff counts as reading. She had to rearrange them as she found them because Elmer was not going to let her come into her house amyd leave it a crime scene. To make it all worse, her eyes bags that had been subtle before were hanging so low on her face she might have as well tucked them under a bra.

And all for nothing. She had allowed herself to dream too big. She had deluded herself and her child to thinking some sort of magical portal to a world where they each had their separate rooms was in their reach. A world where she would get the worth of all this lingering feelings and milk Barry dry. That was the plan. Appear to him packaged like a the things he'd hoped for and then put him through it. He'd be mad. But in the end he'd see that things had turned out amazing and the real prize was having Bianca in his arms even for second. They could make each other's dreams come true if only for a moment. If that wasn't destiny. But she'd have to be the girl first, and she wasn't. She was right back wehere she started, or maybe even a few steps behind.

Definitely a few steps behind, she felt stupid, had wasted her time and was back at the hell her coworkers called a job. Maybe she need to be one of those people she had heard on Ted talks who just quit their jobs and went charging straight into the unpredictable jaws of their dreams. It would be risky ofcourse but she didn't think there was anything that would happen to her that she hadn't been through before. So as you can imagine, she was crankier than before, and there were moments she would have spilled hot oil at anyone breathing too loudly near her.

What she needed was an outlet. But unfortunately Jemma had gotten up on the right side of the bed. She'd even greeted Bianca when she'd coming, completely ignoring that she was late. But that to Bianca wasn't a good gesture. It just had her confirming if the chair had all it's bolts and screws before she sat. She also checked for Airbags just Incase she'd gotten technical with the malice. She'd seen enough videos of people being charged through the roof and into the sky with that prank. Now that she thought about it maybe this was exactly what Jemma wanted, to disorient her.

" What's your deal?" she was going to fish that fight out of her either way. If Jemma wanted to be the bigger person she would have to pick another day.

" What's happening, I've literally avoided you the whole day. " Jemma recoiled and clutched on her clipboard even tighter, her eyes looking past the disheveled strands of Bianca' s hair and pleading for anyone that was going to put an end to this, In a way that wouldn't end in ambulances sorroundimg the establishment.

" Of course you have, after you said hi to me when I walked in because you knew that would bother me, isn't that right?You're not that clever Jemma" Bianca pointed right into Jemma's eyeballs.

" Order for table twenty four!" Elmer said, coming back into the kitchen with stacks of trays. She passed a look between them and decided to mind her business, Bianca was being Bianca.

Jemma had been saved, she slid out of the tiny space and adjusted her pale yellow blazer and was off the hover over the newly employed waitress, as if having to rebuild back the layers of her pride that had been scrapped of from that encounter with Bianca. Blowing a stray hair out of her face, Bianca went to get her order, stopping next to Elmer to wait for the cooks to finish up on it.

" You alright, B?"

Bianca scratched the back of her neck where discomfort pricked and pouted staring right ahead. She wasn't trying to get lectured. She knew how her temper could get and Elmer was on thin ice.

" Don't worry about me. "

" Yeah, sure thing..." Elmer raised her hands in a surrendering gesture as she loaded her plates on her tray. Staying out of Bianca's business was the best option here. She'd been trying to hold onto Britt for so long she was begin to feel the weight of sinking with her and had made a decision to nip it in the bud. She didn't have to baby Trixxy and she was certainly not going to baby her mother.

" Order for table 24, 16 and 7!"The cook had been so Generous as to load them on the tray for her. Her spine straightening, she picked them up and before she left he just had to say something. " Oh it's you, where's my smile?"

" Why are you asking me, you have your own fucking face. " Bianca spat before turning and heading towards the dining section. Only way she would be smiling on command was during those private lap dance sessions. Anything in her she could monetize, she would. So for that man she barely knew think he could just get smiles for free, was a sure sign of early stages of insanity.

As soon as she walked into the dining room, Her gaze and another female set of eyes clashed at such an intensity she felt the strength draw out of limbs, and the sound of utensils clattering on the dining section floor, calling attention to the two women attempting to laser holes into each other's socket. In a fancy sun dress and denim , Vanessa stood only a few metres from Bianca. Sure she was looking rough. Even her own creative mind, charged with hatred for Bianca couldn't come up with an image of her as distorted as what Bianca was currently looking like. It was her. It said so on her name tag. She would know those lips anywhere, that pout.

" Well well well. Long time no see. " A creepy smile pulled at Vanessa purple lipstick lined lips. They were plumpier than Bianca remembered them to be. The restaurant fell to silence, almost like time had stopped and it was just them. However Bianca couldn't brush off the feeling of all those eyes looking at her. She was not in control of the situation at all. The odds were working against her this time.

She wondered if ignoring her would work like it had last time. And she really was going to turn, then Vanessa pulled her phone out of her designer sling bag and frantically typed into it, completely bewildered. When her phone pinged, she got only more excited. The happier she got the more hollowed out Bianca felt. Being seen like this and by her was truly the worst moment of her life, she wouldn't have to live through it to know.

" Aren't you going to say anything for yourself?" Vanessa probbed.

There was nothing to say. It would just make it worse. It would just give more detail and depth to Vanessa's story while she told it to the rest of the world. She didn't care to sit, obviously . No way Vanessa would dine at a place like that. Bianca realized to her horror, that Vanessa had only come back here to torture her. She wishyes one of the car zooming back and forth on the road wouod just lose control and explode into Hot and Sweet, bringing everyone and everything to ashes. Leaving no context, or any record of this ever happening.

" How about cheese?"

Vanessa held her iphone Infront of her and that's when Bianca reacted, she closed the distance between them in seconds, grabbed Vanessa by the arm and flung her to the side of the restaurant where there weren't so many witnesses. Even before she went at it, it had been sealed, She wasn't going to continue working there. She'd lost everything but wasn't going to lose respect for herself as well when everyone around her evidently done so.

" You need to leave this place. And never come back. "

" Oh, you rhink you're still the boss of me?? Take a look around Bianca Matthews! She said her name like a curse and scanned her from head to toe, a wave of worthlessness and intense embarrassment fired where Vanessa's gaze touched.

" That depends, are you still fighting to fit into spaces you don't belong!"

Vanessa threw her manicured hand aiming for her face but Bianca caught it before it made contact, it felt so soft it was a miracle she wasn't slipping right out. With her nails, Bianca dug into this skin of her wrist and squeezed while Vanessa writthed and screamed and tried to set herself free. All music to Bianca's ears. Almost made that whole thing worth it. The outlet she needed. When she started to bleed Bianca released her.

" You're a crazy person!"

" I guess that settles it, you're still the same little predictable shit. And if that's the case then yes , I am still boss. "

" You work in a shithole and even there, you answer to someone Bianca, the delusions are sad!".

"Atleast am not Infront of the whole world with cringey acting skills. "

" Well, imagine being cringey at what you do and being adored, and making loads money while at it wait, you can't." Vanessa was right Bianca couldn't, she'd had the last word.

" Yet." Bianca's eyes shot from the ground and back to Vanessa's. " I haven't done it yet."

Jemma had just started again with her threats when Bianca walked back into the restaurant, stepping over the mess she had made on the floor under her wedges like she didn't see it. The foot prints of mixed up foods followed her, along with Jemma trying to give her her piece of mind. All this happened when Bianca boxed more of her stuff, doing everything to avoid Elmer's eyes that were begging her to stop. Yet somehow she wasn't taking a hint.

" Hey, you want to yell at someone," she shoved her waitress overall and name tag at Jemma, " Try one of the fucking employees."