Song: Heartbeat by Childish Gambino

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With Michael's soup in hand, I make my way toward his apartment. He only lives a block away from the café. His apartment is a lot fancier than mine as well as the part of town he lives in. Everything around me is modern and beautifully designed.

I enter his building with a pep in my step. I wave hello to the security guard on duty and take the elevator to the fourth floor. Using my key, I let myself inside his apartment.

His bedroom door is closed and all is quiet. He must be taking a nap. My poor baby must be exhausted.

I grab a bowl to put the soup in and a bottle of water. Placing them on a tray I make my way to his bedroom. What I see when I open the door makes my heart feel like it's cracking into a million pieces. The man who I love is naked in bed sandwiched between two women. Sick my bum!

I swallow down my tears and bite my lip to prevent it from wobbling. Without thinking, I grab the bowl of soup and toss it on him. The tray and water bottle I let fall to the floor.

"What the fuck!" He yells as he jumps up from the bed. One of the girls' shrieks and the other who wasn't hit with the soup barely moves a muscle.

"I can't believe you! How could you do this to me?" I yell back. When he sees me standing there his eyes widen to the size of saucers. He opens his mouth and stumbles over his words. "You know what? I don't care about what you have to say. Don't waste my time. We're done."

"Emma! Wait, let's talk about this." I ignore him and storm out of his room. I snatch my bag off the counter, leave his key behind and slam the door behind me. When I'm in the elevator I release the tears I was holding back.

My legs move without me thinking and before I know it I'm walking through the backdoor of Le Crème. I'm early for my shift because I had planned to spend some time with Michael but that didn't happen.

I walk with my head down and try to control my sobs but I know they're loud and ugly. My shoulder bumps into someone and without looking I mumble an apology and continue making my way to my boss's office. I knock on the door and wait for her to invite me in.

"Yes." I hear from the other side of the closed door. When I enter, I finally find the strength to lift my head. Behind her wooden desk, Mary looks over some document. Her long blonde hair is straight and curled at the ends without a strand out of place. When I close the door behind me she looks up from her papers and her brown eyes immediately fill with worry.

"Oh sweetheart, what happened?" She shoves her papers aside and makes her way around her desk to come give me a hug. Once her arms wrap around me I find myself crying even harder. She rubs her hand soothingly up and down my back and waits patiently for me to calm down.

"Michael," I hiccup, "Cheated on me." I sob.

"I'm so sorry to hear that honey but he's a dick for cheating on a woman as sweet and beautiful as you. Don't waste your tears on a man who doesn't appreciate you."

"I know but it hurts," I whine.

"I know it does but you'll get over it with time and find a man a million times better. One who treats you the way you deserve and worships you. It may not feel like it but this might be a good thing. From what you've told me it sounds like even though you were trying to keep things together, he wasn't and today he proved that." She pulls away from me and gives my shoulders a reassuring squeeze. "How about you take a seat and I go get you a cup of tea?" She offers with a small smile.

"Actually, if it's okay with you I'd like to start early. It'll help me keep my mind off this."

"Sure thing sweetheart. The new girl has been having a rough time. You can take some tables off her. I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

"Thanks, Mary."

"No need to thank me. You know you can always come to me for anything." I give her a small smile and go to the employees' room to hang my bag. After attempting to freshen up in the bathroom, I wrap my black apron around my waste and go to the kitchen.

"You okay Emma? You look like you've been crying?" Riley, the head chef, and Mary's husband asks me after he's given me a once over.

"I'm okay. I just got some bad news but I'll live through it." I answer with a sigh.

"Emma, thank goodness you're here. I'm losing my mind. Can you take tables five, six, seven, and eight for me? Five and eight were just seated. Six and seven are almost done. I'll finish up with them and then you can take the next people who get seated."

"Sounds good to me. I'm on it." Not only is this going to help distract me but I could also use the extra money.

"Thank you. You're a life saver." She grabs two dishes and storms out of the kitchen. I follow behind her at a much slower pace. With a welcoming smile on my face, I go to take the order from table five.

Four men sit at the table all dressed immaculately in suits of different colors. When they see me approaching they stop their conversation and all eyes turn to me. Now that I'm single, it means I have the freedom to ogle all the men I want and let me tell you, these men are hot! Calvin Klein model hot. They must go to the gym religiously and it's not fair how flawless their skin looks. But the man who stands out the most almost takes my breath away.

Even though he is sitting I can tell he's incredibly tall and would tower over my small frame of five foot five. His eyes are an amazing bright blue that transitions into a steely gray around his pupil. His blonde hair is cut short but still looks long enough to be able to grip tightly and his skin is a beautiful glowing tan I can tell he got from spending a lot of time in the sun. All in all, he looks hot as sin. He's even more attractive than Michael.

"Hi, my names Emerald and I'll be taking care of you this evening. Can I start you off with any drinks or appetizers?" I place my hands behind my back and twist one of the many rings I'm wearing to prevent me from thinking about Michael. My eyes land on the handsome stranger who's giving me a strange look. I crinkle my eyebrows in confusion then realize that he's probably wondering about my bloodshot eyes.

"What do you recommend to drink?" The dark-haired gentleman sitting next to blue steel, that's what I've decided to call the handsome man because of his eye color, asks. Thankful for the distraction from my ex-boyfriend and embarrassing bloodshot eyes, I answer the question with ease.

"I prefer beer over hard liquor and wine. We have some of the best beers on draft that I've ever tasted but depending on what you are ordering I can suggest something that pairs best with your entrée."

I finish taking all their orders and make my way back to the POA system to send them to the kitchen. Throughout the evening, I notice blue steel giving me the same strange look. When their table leaves it's a relief to not have him looking at me. I would have enjoyed him staring if it was in an admiring way and not some assessing way. The rest of the night goes by smoothly but no matter how hard I try, thoughts of Michael continuously drift into my mind.

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Author's Notes:

Poor Emerald. Michael's such a jerk! This might have been a little predictable but I hope you still liked this chapter and are interested in seeing what happens next.

The image at the top is of Liam Hemsworth who plays Mr. West. I'm going to be posting images of all the characters for those who decided to skip the cast chapter.

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