Personal Yummy #10
Following is the second excerpt that I’m sharing from my coming-of-age novel—set in the nineties—about the inhabitants of an unassuming bar-and-grill in Squirrel Hill, a vibrant neighborhood in the east end of Pittsburgh. The story is told by Jenna, an idealistic, ambitious waitress who is at the center of it all.
Happy reading.
Beth
She’s got it all together.
Tall (close to six foot), shapely (rather voluptuous, actually), fair-skinned, pretty, intelligent, and well-spoken, with brown eyes and abundant hair that she pulls loosely back in a low ponytail, she has her own sense of style while on the job. Instead of wearing khaki shorts or pants as most of us waitresses always do, she wears a short, wraparound khaki skirt, which shows off her long legs. But what is most noticeable about her is that she has a great deal of common sense, is very confident, determined, and focused, and knows exactly what she wants first before anything else: a good, stable career. She is attending the University of Pittsburgh, where she is pursuing a business and computer science degree, and she is working at The Grill to put herself through school, which I can particularly relate to. I remember that I instantly felt a connection to her and felt comfortable talking to her.
We met not too long ago. Whereas I waitress during the day, Monday through Friday, and occasionally on Saturday, she usually waitresses on Wednesday and Sunday evenings and hostesses for a few hours on Saturday evenings. But our paths cross in that in-between time, when she is just arriving for work and I am doing all of the necessary restocking jobs before I can leave. From the start, she has been extremely kind and very helpful in any way that she possibly can be.
But how could I not like her?
The first time we met, you know what she said to me?
“Hi, I’m Beth. It’s very nice to meet you… I hear that you are a dancer.”
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