Free Smart Mouth Waitress by Dalya Moon Page B

my lunch tomorrow. I do applaud your effort and ingenuity, though.”
    I finished chewing my broccoli and swallowed. The sauce was on the sweet side, but teriyaki is sweet, and both of them loved teriyaki. They're just scared of trying new things , I told myself.
    “What does authentic mean to you guys?” I asked.
    They stared back blankly.
    “This guy I like, he's into authentic girls. What does that mean?”
    “No padded bra,” Garnet said, grabbing some bread and buttering two slices.
    “Be yourself, Perry,” Dad said. “Be your own lovely self.”
    Garnet laughed hard, chunks of bread flying out of his mouth.
    “Dad. I'm always myself. I was just thinking … it's like on American Idol when the judges tell the contestants to just have fun with it . What they really mean, according to Mom, is to rehearse your butt off until you have every note and move in your muscle memory, then smile while you're doing it and make it look easy. They're not having fun so much as they're crazy prepared.”
    “How does this relate to dating?” Dad asked.
    “I think I have to act like myself, but toned down, so I don't seem to be trying so hard. In reality, I'll be trying harder than ever, because I'll have to not say whatever pops into my brain. Plus I'll smile a lot and that'll make it look easy.”
    “Maybe you should get a padded bra,” Garnet said. “All's fair in love and war.”
    “My boobs aren't okay? I thought I had nice boobs.” I squished them together, much to my brother's horror.
    My father smacked the palm of his hand on his forehead. “Is this really appropriate for a normal family dinner?”
    “We're not babies,” Garnet said. “Besides, we're not a normal family. Our mother's all over the internet with half-naked rock stars.”
    I kicked Garnet under the table.
    “Bro!” Garnet said angrily. “He's going to see the photos eventually.”
    Dad's face looked even worse than when he'd first tasted the stir-fry.
    “She was at the taping of a TV show,” I told my father. “So she posed with some music industry people. She sent a picture to me last night.”
    Dad got up from the table without a word and went to the fridge. “Don't you have homework, Garnet?” he called back.
    “You're so lucky you're done school,” Garnet said to me, getting up from the table with two more slices of buttered bread.
    “Hey, enjoy yourself,” I told Garnet. “You don't realize it when you're there, but life's a lot simpler in high school.”
    “Yeah? If high school's so great, why don't people stay in it forever and ever?”
    Dad's beer made a psht noise as he cracked it open. “We do stay,” my father said. “We are in high school forever and ever. The pretty girls are always flirting with the jocks, and the nerds are at the bottom of the heap, socially irrelevant.”
    Garnet gave me a wide-eyed look and then scurried out of the room. We try to avoid my father when he's in one of his poor-me moods.
    “Dad, I'm sure it's nothing. You should call her. We're in the same time zone, right?”
    He sat at the kitchen island counter across from me, letting out an oof sound when his bum hit the bar stool chair heavily. “You're eighteen. You're practically an adult. I'm not going to sugarcoat it.” He took a long drink, swallowing half of his beer. “Your mother and I aren't doing so well.”
    My pulse rushed in my ears, trying to block out his words.
    “Dad, did you take your pills today?”
    “It's not your job to pester me about my damn pills.”
    “So, that's a no then.”
    “I forget.”
    “Do you wanna watch a movie with me? Get an early night and see how things look tomorrow?”
    He guzzled more of the beer. “You don't have to look after me. That's your mother's job.”
    “Dad. Don't be like this.”
    “You know, at your age, you have so much hope. You think things are going to get better. You think people are actually capable of change.”
    “People can change.”
    He leaned forward, his elbows on