Jamie Weston couldn't believe it had been almost four weeks since she had been unceremoniously dumped by Alasdair Roberts, her boyfriend of two years. For eighteen months they had lived together in a mixed student flat and as far as Jamie was concerned, they would be together until the end of the university year when they would both, hopefully, graduate: Jamie in Business Studies and Alasdair in Civil Engineering. Jamie hoped they would both get jobs in the same area so they could continue to live together. It, therefore, came as a great shock when Alasdair told her that he was going to live with another girl for the last few weeks of term.
Jamie pleaded with him to stay, but he was adamant. The new girl had a wealthy father who was a senior manager in a Civil Engineering firm. It was an opportunity he wasn't going to miss. And as a final parting shot, he told her that the new girl was much more adventurous in bed and did everything he wanted her to do without expecting anything in return.
Jamie was devastated. She thought they were both more than satisfied with their sex life. She was in love with him. He was her first real love although he wasn't her first lover. He ensured she had an orgasm most times, even if it was achieved manually after he'd had his. How was she going to get through the rest of the term, she wondered? Had she missed any signs that he was unhappy with her? She couldn't think of anything. Where had he met this other girl? And how long had he been seeing her?
It had been a Thursday night when he delivered the devastating news. She stayed in bed the following day and missed two lectures. She would borrow the notes from one of her female friends to catch up. She considered calling in sick for her Friday night waitressing session in the Hanover restaurant but she needed the money even more now that Alasdair wouldn't be contributing to the rent. There had been enough upheaval so soon before her finals; she wasn't going to add finding new accommodation and moving to that list.
That evening she worked on autopilot. She was good at the silver service that was expected in the Hanover and managed to smile at the guests at the right time. Afterwards, she couldn't remember a single diner she had served. She performed similarly the following night. Both nights she cried uncontrollably when she reached home. Her pain eased gradually over the next three weeks although she had a little wobble when she was asked to do an extra shift on Valentine's Day. Seeing so many happy couples was hard.
She was expecting nothing special about her shift on Friday 24th February and she was feeling almost cheerful as she walked into the dining room. And then she stopped. There at a table in the corner was Alasdair and a girl, presumably his new girlfriend. She was reasonably pretty but not overly attractive and kept touching his arm as she talked and he smiled at her all the time. He knew Jamie worked at the restaurant on Friday and Saturdays but normally he couldn't afford to eat there. Presumably his girlfriend was paying. Had he chosen this particular restaurant to rub her nose in it? She wouldn't put it past him. Please don't let me be assigned to his table, she pleaded silently. Almost immediately her prayer was answered and she was assigned tables at the other end of the room. At that stage, there were few diners present but there were several tables with 'Reserved' cards on them. One was for a table of eight. Jamie wasn't keen on large numbers at a table; there were usually fewer tips.
In the next few minutes, three of the 'Reserved' tables were occupied and she was busy taking orders. The food had just been served for these three tables when the party of eight arrived. Jamie did a double-take. She recognised one of the party. He was an up and coming front man for a group called 6Feet3. They had performed at the university back in October and they were good. Danny Cooper was the only one of the boy band '6Feet3' present and she didn't know any of the other guests. Her heart began to pound. She had never been so close to a celebrity before and now she was expected to take his order and serve him.
As she approached the table, he smiled at her. "It always makes the meal better when the waitress is attractive," Danny said to the rest of the table. "So I reckon we're going to have a great meal tonight." Danny had implied she was attractive. It boosted her ego. Oh, she wished Alasdair could have heard that and seen the smile she returned to Danny. He asked her what she recommended from tonight's menu. Unfortunately she hadn't tasted any of the meals but said the chef was fantastic and was certain any of the meals would be tasty.
"Any chance you're on the menu?" one of the others asked, but Danny told him not to be crude and apologised to her on his behalf. They had a leisurely meal of three courses and it was just after half past ten when they left. As Danny was leaving, he slipped Jamie at £20 pound note as a tip. As she was pocketing it she noticed there was a smaller piece of paper inside the folded note. She read it and blushed. 'Room 619, 11:15? Knock once only' it said. He was propositioning her. Would she go? She had always thought poorly of groupies who followed bands and slept with them if they could. But she had never been as vulnerable as she was then. It would only be one night. The band were performing the Saturday night and then moving somewhere else (she couldn't remember where) for their next performance. Danny had said she was very attractive. He had made her feel good throughout the evening. She thought of Alasdair. He would be going back to have sex with a girl who could never be described as fairly attractive. It would be something she could dream about for months after if she had sex with Danny.