Only a Waitress

             I woke up on the floor this morning. My first sight? A sweat-crusted sock. The first thing I did? Sprang from my fungi-covered floor. The landing went as usual, I stepped on my mutt-dog, Prince, making him sound kindaof like a rabid kindergartener at star bucks. (Trust me, I know what I'm talking about.) I don't see why my mutt still sleeps in here… she always ends up leaving my room with patches of fur missing... or lice...either one.
                I grabbed my apron stained with meat sauce… and god knows what else, and tip-toed my way out the door; trying not to step on anything…unusual.

                As always, my dad was snoring his head off from the other side of our ranch, even though it was high-noon. But I learned to fend for myself and not to bother him. The last time I walked in on him and his girlfriend… well.. It wasn't pretty.

                Our molded front door was practically falling from its remaining hinges, so I decided to go out the back. Before I got to the door I remembered my phone. I had left it on my dresser. I needed it for work so I could call my dad to pick me up. I remember asking him why he couldn't drive me both to Flenny's Diner and back, and he had said that I "couldn't ask him anything while he was sleeping.".. Just like he was now.  It usually works for me to walk though, because we live in Northern California, the weather's usually pretty nice.

              When I reached for my flip-phone I looked through the partially brown window. Today's forecast, suck-ish, crappy, and snowy. Perfect. The day of the big promotion. I didn't want to walk, but I guess I have to. If I asked my dad to drive me… "I'd get a bam-bam in the nog-nog." he had said.  And I didn’t want that.. I think...

                I slipped my way down the stairs as I walked out the back door and landed on my face… don't worry. It broke my fall. Not.

                  My phone began to ring in my back pocket of my jeans. That was my only motivation to get up from the mound of snow. Today had been a bust from the start. Why continue? Maybe I could just get up and go back to bed. I could skip work once… I mean, I was only a waitress.

                 "Hello?" I answered. I hated not having caller ID on my phone.

                  "Hey Lisa! So why didn't you answer my texts? I sent you like… a hundred."

                  I sighed. "Dave, I told you! My...phone…does…not...receive...text...messages!!!"

               He hesitated. "Oh. Why are you such a grouchy-poo today?"

                 I rolled my eyes. This guy was an idiot. I mean.. He does not act like he's in my ninth grade classes at school. "I have to walk," I said simply.

                  "Oh," he stated again. "Your dad's not up yet?"

                    "Nope." I sighed again. It didn't make sense to me. I thought that Dave was an idiot, yet he's my best friend. I tell him everything. My life is messed up.

                   "I gotta go." I said quickly, then flipped the screen.

                  I started walking to Flenny's Diner to start my minimum-wage shift when I looked back. Waitresses usually have no lives and no dreams people in my town say. But they're wrong. Mine is to get away from this life. No matter how many sweat-crusted socks I have to dig through.