Tracy sighed to herself. Another month had passed, and another month she was stuck here, doing this crummy job. She looked at her surroundings. In a fancy restaurant like this, a waitress should be making at least minimum wage. If not for the tips, she’d probably go under.
A couple of years into medical school, she had recently failed out after working a few late shifts too many and failing an important exam. Now she was stuck with a gigantic student loan bill. Just the thought of how long it would be before she could claw her way out of that debt was enough to bring her to tears sometimes.
She sighed again while wiping the spilled wine off of a table where one of her rich patrons had got drunk and spilled half the $200 bottle of wine all over himself and the floozy he had brought to dinner. Only a couple years older than Tracy, Paul Hayes ran his own company, and was rumored to soon be one of the world's youngest self-made billionaires.
Everyone knew about him, the way he loved to throw around money, the way he had to be in control. He insisted every time he came in that Tracy be his waitress, and why not? She was the smartest and most competent waitress in the whole restaurant, not to mention one of the prettiest. He had often hinted, sometimes quite strongly, that she could be one of his floozies if she wanted to be, but Tracy always smiled and easily managed to stop his advances. It’s not that she couldn’t do it, she thought to herself.
She had often looked at her body in the mirror and wondered how she continued to be blessed with such a fit physique even with her infrequent trips to the gym. She still had the tight legs she had had since high school, and though she had filled out a little, she was still quite pleased with how she looked. Her br**sts were a B cup but pushed together nicely to give her cle**age when she wanted it, even though they were covered completely by her waitress outfit. Her ass was nice and round, filling out every pair of jeans or skirt that she wore, especially when she wore heels.
No, it wasn’t her body that made her hesitate. It’s that she had no idea what Mr. Hayes wanted. She knew that if she slept with him and didn’t give him exactly what he wanted, he would be done with her and probably this restaurant as well. He was a real good looking guy who kept himself in great shape, with broad shoulders and a nice chest, but he was also her biggest tipper and she couldn’t afford to trade the short term high life for the long-term tip dollars that he could offer. It was a pragmatic decision which sometimes disgusted her, but she knew that everyone works for someone else, and that she was no different than anyone else who made these types of decisions.
The thing he wanted had to be something that none of these girls would give him, since he was with a different girl almost every time he came in, but it was surely nothing that Tracy could offer him. She was prettier than average, sure, but nowhere near as hot as some of the girls he came in with. If she got a little more desperate for money, though, then perhaps...
She put the thought out of her mind, and finished closing down the restaurant. As she waved goodbye to her co-workers, she again lost herself in ideas about how to make money. Maybe she could start her own restaurant...
In a moment, her life changed forever. A drunk driver came around a corner and lost control, driving onto the sidewalk. Tracy jumped but her head hit the car’s windshield and she tumbled over the top of the car. She lost consciousness just after she hit the sidewalk, and the driver never even slowed down to see if she was okay.
***
Tracy awoke a few hours later. Her whole body ached and she was pretty much immobile from all the wires and the IV in her, but otherwise she felt like nothing was broken. A nurse was in the room with her, and soon a doctor came to visit her. A few scrapes, many bruises, and a few stitches in her forehead, but nothing major. The doctor said it was practically a miracle, that she seriously had a guardian angel watching out for her. Tracy might have believed that if she wasn’t already thinking about how much this was going to cost her without insurance. Just one more thing, she thought.
She returned home that very evening, refusing to spend a night in the hospital bed that would have just cost more money. She wondered how she would ever fall asleep with as much pain as she was in, but as the taxi dropped her off, she realized she could barely keep her eyes open. Must have been that pain medication they gave me, she thought. She managed to get inside and lock the door before stumbling to her bedroom and falling into bed. Instantly asleep, she dreamed strange dreams for a while, but eventually fell into a deep slumber.
***
Tracy called in sick, or rather injured, to work the next day, but she knew she couldn’t take much time off work. She agreed to come back in on Friday and Saturday night to make up for it, and knew she’d be doing that an awful lot over the next few months. Kiss my life goodbye, she thought to herself. Friday night she rousted herself out of bed, took some pain medication, and made it to her waitress job only fifteen minutes late.
The manager, while mostly an uncaring prick, let it slide this one time, making it clear he thought he was doing her a huge favor. A great way to start the night, she thought. She was mostly slow and stiff doing her job, but she could do it. The three days she had taken off ended up being a life saver. All of her bruises were gone, and the stitches had already dissolved, leaving a small scar that ran from the edge of her right eyebrow to the middle of her forehead. It wasn’t too noticeable, and in fact she thought it looked kind of cool. She had thrown a little blush on to mask it, but otherwise didn’t think it hurt her appearance whatsoever. She was a little slow serving each of her first customers, but soon she was back into the swing of things, with just a little creak of pain here and there.
At about eight, Mr. Hayes came in with a new young woman on his arm. She showed the two of them to their table, and his date quickly excused herself to go to the bathroom while Tracy went to take the rich man’s wine order.
“Tracy, when I heard what had happened to you, I hoped everything was okay. You look remarkably well healed,” Mr. Hayes said, actual concern in his voice.
“Oh I’m fine, sir. I must be made of steel,” she joked.
“You know, if any of your medical bills are going to be an issue, I have a friend or two at the Chamber of Commerce who might be able to help you out,” he said, very matter of factly.
“Really?” she said, maybe with a little too much hope in her voice.
“Yes, really. Why don’t you come back to my place with us tonight and we can talk it over?” he said. The tone of his voice betrayed exactly what they’d be “talking” about if she went home with him.