First Time Out

Ten minutes before I had to be down in the banquet area, ready to serve the ridiculously rich guests that occupied the largest banquet room the hotel offered, I was standing outside Anna's door.

"Come on, come on," I whispered impatiently as I tugged at the untied bow tie that was giving me trouble. It wasn't giving me so much trouble a half hour ago, when it was still tied but somehow I managed to untie it. Or maybe the fuck up fairy was visiting me, hoping to get a good laugh.

I was about to knock again when the door flew opened. "It's about time."

Anna rolled her eyes. "What do you want Tanner?"

"I need help," I told her as I walked past her and into her room. "I have to be downstairs in a couple minutes and I can't get this damn thing to cooperate with me."

"And you think I know how to work one?" She snorted. "Do I look like I go around tying -"

"Maybe you should," I grinned when she frowned. "Maybe the boy would like you to tie him up."

Her eyes widened as she gasped, "Tanner!" She lashed out, hitting my in the arm while she told me just how much of a pervert she thought I was.

"Yeah," I smirked. "I know."

Shaking her head, she told me that she didn't know how to help me. "But maybe..." she headed off towards the small table by the window where her laptop was opened.


"Whatcha doing?" Pulling up a chair, I leaned in to see what she was typing but damn, her fingers worked quickly. Before I had a chance to see the screen, she was motioning for me to come closer as she studied something.

"You shouldn't have left this until the last minute," she lectured me a couple minutes later when she had to untie it and try again. "Don't get mad at me because you aren't ready - it's not my responsibility!"

"You should know how to tie this," I snapped.

"Oh?" She shot me a dirty look. "Do I look like the type -"

"You keep telling me you have a guy, you'd think you'd know how to tie a tie!"

I'm not sure if it was an accident or not but the material tightened around my neck as she informed me that being a guy, I should know how to tie one on myself. "Now shut up, or you'll really be late!"

As it was, I was ten minutes late getting downstairs. And just my luck, Scott was waiting for me. "I did say 5, didn't I Tanner?" He asked as he glanced at his watch. "You should've been here..."

I held up my hands to stop him before he even got started. "Anna already lectured me around being late."

"Anna?" Scott didn't look to happy as he looked around. "Where did you see Anna?"

"Stopped by her room," I threw over my shoulder as I made my way over to Lonna and the rest of the banquet crew. "Good evening ladies." I flashed them, what I like to think is, my sexy 'you know you want me' grin and for the most part, it seemed to work; I got a few whistles and comments on how hot I looked all dressed up.

Except from Lonna, she gave me a dirty look and demanded to know what the hell I was doing there.

"Scott told me to be here," I informed her. "You know, after he found out that you haven't been training me properly."

"I'm training you the best I can," she hissed. "I can't help it you aren't picking it up."

"Not picking..." I trailed off, completely shocked that she would say something like that. It's not like my job was rocket science, any idiot could do what I do. Well, maybe any idiot who is organized and doesn't mind having a million and two little details to worry about.

"You need to leave." Lonna turned, said Scott's name but he was no where to be found. "Where did Scott go?"

Most of the banquet staff just shrugged but Chelsea, who came into the kitchen just after Lonna said I was stupid, mentioned that she thought she saw Scott heading for the elevators as she was leaving the front desk.

Now, I'm not one to repeat gossip but it seems that there have been talk that Scott has the hots for Anna. Rumor has it that Scott's relationship with Kim has been rocky since he hired Anna, there is even talk that Kim gave him an ultimatum - fire Anna or she walks.

If the rumors were about anyone else but Anna, I would've jumped into the conversation, wanting to know more but I considered Anna to be like the annoying little sister I never had, therefore, I felt the need to 'protect' her 'honor'. "Come on guys," I cut off the gossip mill. "This isn't 'old biddy' hour, we have work to do."

As they broke away, I swear I heard someone snidely comment that maybe Scott wasn't the only one who was hot for Anna.

I almost lost my lunch at the suggestion.

Once every one's mind was back on work, Lonna started to shout orders at both the banquet crew and me. At one point, while I was helping one of the younger servers, another more experienced server came over and asked me why I wasn't the one in charge. I told her that, technically, I was just like the rest of them for the banquet.

"That sucks," she stated. "You would be so much better than Lonna. At least you wouldn't treat us like morons."

I didn't reply, I thought it would be better if I just let her say what she needed to say instead of getting in the middle of it. I figured that I would talk to Lonna, or Scott, about her attitude later when I heard a loud crash from the kitchen. "I'll be right back," I told the younger server as I went to check it out.

"Watch where you're going!" Lonna snapped at the only male server working that night. "You were given eyes for a reason! Use them!"

I wanted to slap the bitch for yelling at the kid in front of everyone but instead, I called her name and told her I had a couple questions for her. "What's going on?" I asked her the moment we were out of earshot.

"Don't mess with me Tanner," she warned as she jabbed me in the chest before spinning on her heel to shout a new batch of orders at the staff.

Even now, I'm just shaking my head at that.

Hours later, I was wiped. I wanted to head upstairs, jump in the shower and fall into bed but Lonna decided to cut out and told me that I was in charge. "Remember Tanner," she threw over her shoulder as she was leaving. "I don't have to prove I can do my job, you do. Oh," she paused at the door. "Don't fuck this one up, the hotel can't afford to piss these clients off."

Once Lonna left, I realized that I was really starting to hate that bitch. She thought that me failing had nothing to do with her? Well she was fucking wrong. If I failed, sooner or later, Scott and his father would realize that it wasn't because I'm not qualified, it's because Lonna has some fucking chip on her shoulder.

Things seemed to go far more smoothly after Lonna fucked off. I don't think I could've asked for a better group of servers or a better party. It almost made up for Lonna's bitchy attitude.

When the last guest had finally left and the staff went home, I was finally able to drag my sorry ass to the elevators and down the hallway to my room. As I slid the key card through the slot, I heard a door open down the hall. It was reflex to look but I wish I didn't.