Work Text:
Riley Matthews loves her job. She truly does.
Except that sometimes she really really hates it so very much.
Working as a waitress (or is it just waiter now she wonders, after all the suffix implies the feminine version to be less than the male and she’s all for gender equality) in one of New York’s busiest restaurants is certainly not the job Riley pictured herself doing during the summer before college. She imagined something a little more relaxed or perhaps a job where she doesn’t get treated like the gum on the bottom of someone’s shoe. Is that so much to ask?
She blames capitalism. It can’t be helped.
(She also needs the money for college. And clothes. Always clothes.)
There are aspects to the job she does enjoy. Meeting new people and putting a smile on their face is her top priority. There’s also the occasional time where, as she stands by the table with a pen and paper poised in her hand ready to take orders, an old couple will be celebrating their 50th anniversary, and can’t help but ramble about how they met all those years ago. Or there’s a guy who asks her for a glass of water to settle his nerves and shows Riley the engagement ring whilst his date is in the bathroom. She lives for those moments. They give her that warm fuzzy feeling she gets when seeing her parents interacting in precious minutes; a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving for work, her mom resting her head on her dad’s shoulder as he cooks dinner. She hopes to have love like that someday.
And the tips are good. Like, extremely good. She doesn’t quite understand why she gets such great tips but it’s certainly something she’s not going to question. Not when she can use her extra cash to buy Auggie that video game he’s been pining over. It’s good to have some disposable income, and her co-workers tell her she definitely deserves it. Well, almost all of her co-workers.
There is the exception of one Maya Hart.
Tiny smug annoying beautiful Maya Hart. (She has eyes after all.)
Riley spins around the corner of the kitchen to pick up a plate of a steaming sirloin steak just as Maya slams the doors open and passes on another order to one of the staff. Speak of the devil and she shall appear.
“Watch it Matthews.” Maya warns but there’s always a playful spark in her eye and a smirk on her lips to let Riley know she’s not being serious. There’s only one thing she truly gets annoyed about, and Riley loves to let her know exactly all about it.
“Another ten dollars, Hart.” Riley flashes Maya the money in her front apron pocket and Maya’s smirk turns into a scowl.
“You’re a petty thief. That’s the only explanation for this madness.” she shakes her head and Riley laughs as she exits the kitchen to place the order on Table Twelve. The couple, she learns, are on their third date, and Riley does everything she’s supposed to do. She smiles, she’s courteous, she gets everything they ask for. Then when she goes to collect the bill, and her expected tips, she glances down at the scrawled writing on the receipt and frowns.
Tips are not part of a true economy. Workers must accept what wages they are given! #MakeAmericaGreatAgain
Riley takes two long seconds to compartmentalise all her feelings, then plasters a smile on her face and walks to the coatroom in the back of the restaurant. Whether to cry or scream she doesn’t quite know.
It’s only been a few months since the election, but she’s majorly considering emigrating to Canada. She’s even been on their website and everything. If only her parents took her seriously she’d be singing about maple syrup and moose or whatever by now.
Her thoughts are interrupted by the door opening and a blonde head placing a fur jacket on a hook. Maya takes a double take when she realises Riley is stood in the middle of the room clutching a small piece of crumpled paper. She raises an eyebrow and steps forward to yank it from Riley’s hand. Riley doesn’t move and instead watches Maya’s reaction to what she’s about to see. It takes her a few seconds to scan over the receipt and wonder why Riley was so jarred but once she reads the handwriting her expression turns foul. She whips her head up and stares at her.
“Are they still out there?”
“No. They left me to find it.” Riley replies quietly. She doesn’t even want to imagine the scene Maya would’ve caused if they were still in the restaurant. Maya screws the receipt up even tighter and slips it into the pocket of the jacket she brought in. She gives her a questioning look and Maya just shrugs.
“It’s real fur, not faux fur. I figured if anyone else is going to be a Trump supporter it’d be Madame Pompous-Ass I just escorted to Table Thirty-Seven.” she explains and Riley cracks a smile.
“If I knew who they were I would’ve got someone else to serve them.” Riley says. She knows Maya is on the exact same page as her; she’s been extremely vocal to whoever would listen about her support for Hillary. Riley thanks God that a girl as beautiful and exciting as Maya isn’t actually a raging racist or homophobe. That would really put a damper on things.
“If I knew who they were I would’ve told Chef Tompkins to serve their stake raw. Like straight cut from the cow and slapped on their plate raw.”
“Are you really admitting to conspiracy to commit murder, Hart?”
“What are you, a cop? That would explain how you get so many tips. Just threaten people with your handcuffs and bam twenty dollars thank you.” Maya laughs at Riley’s expression when she brings up the tip competition they have again.
“For starters, no I’m not a cop-”
“Thanks for clarifying-” Maya interrupts and Riley hits her arm lightly.
“-and if I had handcuffs, don’t you think I’d use them for something a little more fun than bribing customers?” Riley grins as Maya’s mouth falls open and without a second glance back she leaves the coatroom, feeling immensely proud she managed to get one over Maya for once.
She ignores the fact the score is probably Riley seven, Maya fifty.
“Hey wait up! Matthews. Riley!” Maya calls after her and Riley turns around. “Can I ask you something, like honestly?”
Riley is taken aback at the softness in Maya’s voice, especially after what just happened. Normally, she’d be teasing Riley right back but instead she’s actually nervous about something.
“Yeah sure.”
“And you have to promise not to laugh.” her voice is harsher this time, but only out of protecting herself. That’s the Maya she’s come to know.
“Of course.” Riley says, and touches Maya’s forearm lightly. She chooses to ignore the slow swallow Maya does immediately after it.
“How do you get such good tips? Like I’m not asking for you to spill all your secret methods, or whatever, I just- I could just use the extra money and I can’t seem to get anywhere near anything you do.” she rambles and Riley can’t help but smile at how cute she is. However, Maya takes her smile for something else and narrows her eyes. “Look if you’re just going to make fun of me Matthews-”
“I’m not making fun of you!” Riley quickly clarifies. “I just thought that question was cute is all.”
“Oh.” Maya is back to smirking and Riley knows she’s made a grave mistake. “You think I’m cute? Jeez Riley, I just asked for advice not a marriage proposal.”
Riley rolls her eyes. “Do you want me to tell you or not?”
“Yes please.” Maya grins and Riley pulls her to the side, to clear the way for the waiters rushing past them every couple of seconds. At least that’s what she tells herself. It’s not because that way Maya is forced to be closer to her. Nope, not at all.
“Okay well, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I notice when the customers start getting on your nerves you start to scowl, and generally get a bit grumpy-”
“You’d better be going somewhere with this…”
“I am! Basically, no matter how much someone rubs me the wrong way I always still smile and be polite. I don’t know, people like it when you’re nice to them. Who knew?” Riley says.
“But I hate being nice.” Maya deadpans and Riley sighs.
“Just smile more, Maya. You have a nice smile.” She speaks without thinking and suddenly shuts her mouth as she realises what she actually just admitted. Maya blinks heavily and flashes her trademark smirk.
“How romantic-”
“So!” Riley practically yells to cut Maya off. “My advice is to just suck it up and get better at your social interactions. I may hate having to be Smiley Riley out there all the time, but in the end, it’s worth it you know? It explains how I’m able to kick your ass at tip collecting anyways.” She tries to steer the conversation back to their bickering but instead Maya tilts her head and gives her a smug smile.
“Spend a lot of time thinking about my ass do you, Matthews?”
“Hart!” Before Riley can respond to Maya’s comment (to which the real truthful answer would be a resounding yes), a voice barks at them from down the corridor and makes Riley jump. “What are you doing? Ask Riley out another time, we still have an hour before we close.” Their boss, Simpson, yells and she blushes at his implication. Maya bites her lip and shrugs at Riley. She really wishes she wouldn’t do that.
“I’d better get back to it…” Maya waves her hand in the general direction of the tables and Riley nods quickly. “But thanks for the advice. And all the compliments. I knew you liked girls but jeez that was gay even for you.”
Riley stands there stunned and watches as Maya waves her goodbye and leaves the corridor. She wasn’t that obvious in her attraction to her right? Oh no. She spends the rest of her shift blatantly avoiding anyone who even resembles a certain girl with blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Instead she focuses on making up for the tips she lost from that stupid couple.
God damn Maya Hart.
************
It’s not immediate to begin with in the following weeks, but Maya starts to bring in as many tips as Riley. She starts flashing Riley the cash more often each week, and soon they’re practically neck and neck. Riley wonders if her advice is really that good, or if Maya has now become the petty thief.
It takes her one Tuesday afternoon to figure it out.
She’s cleaning a table and sweeping the crumbs off the surface with her trusty washcloth when she sees Maya approach the table next to her. Instantly, she notices a difference to Maya’s approach; she’s definitely smiling, she’s attentive, and above all she’s friendly.
Almost too friendly.
Oh my god. She’s flirting. Maya Hart is flirting. With the customers!
That’s like ten different ethic violations, right? Riley runs through the unwritten rulebook mentally whilst watching Maya give a teenage boy a wink and turn away from the table, slipping a bunch of bills in her pocket. Riley throws her cloth at an unsuspecting waiter to her left and commands him to finish her job and she follows Maya to the storage cupboard at the back of the restaurant. She waits until the girl in there leaves and it’s just them alone to slam the door shut and lock it.
Maya spins around quickly at the sound of the lock click and drops the basket of bread she was searching for. Great. Another desecration to add to Maya Hart’s ever-growing list.
“What the hell Matthews?!”
“Don’t you what the hell me! What about you?” Riley scowls.
“What have I done?” Maya is incredulous and crosses her arms.
“You were just flirting! With that boy!” Riley waves her arms around to emphasise her point and instead of being angry, Maya’s expression changes into something mischievous. This can’t be good.
“So what? He liked it.”
“You can’t just-”
“The girls like it too.”
And with one sentence, Maya changes everything. Riley splutters and completely loses focus of her argument against morals and work violations.
“They- they do?” Riley means to sound casual, but she comes across as anything but.
“Mhm.” Maya steps over the ruined bread and comes right into Riley’s personal space. Riley stands her ground and stares her down, using her height to her advantage. “You know what Matthews? I think you like it when I flirt with you too.”
Riley shakes her head quickly and takes a short step backwards, but Maya just matches her and advances into the space she just occupied. Three seconds pass and Riley’s heart thumps loudly. Surely someone needs something from storage by now? Right? Customers are always complaining about the lack of condiments or butter. Someone come and get some god damned butter.
“No…” her back hits the wall opposite the door and she’s shocked at how much distance they’ve crossed. Maya just tilts her head and leans in so close, Riley can count her eyelashes. She’ll be fine as long as she doesn’t look into her eyes-
They’re so blue.
“No? I think you’re lying.”
“I don’t lie. I’m not a liar.” Riley’s only distinctly aware of how dumb she sounds, but she can’t really help herself when all she’s trying to do is stop her body from setting on fire as Maya brushes her lips against Riley’s cheek.
“Really? So if I asked you if I could kiss you, you’d lie to me? Or would you give me the truthful answer?”
“Maya.”
“Yes Riley?”
“Ask me whether you can kiss me.”
Maya gently links their hands and uses her other free hand to cup Riley’s jaw.
“Can I kiss you?”
“Yes.” Riley exhales.
“Are you telling the truth?”
“I told you. I don’t lie.” Riley says and that’s all it takes for Maya to presses her lips against hers.
Her first thought is that she really hopes no-one needs any butter, which is perhaps the opposite of what she should be thinking.
Maya’s a really good kisser. Insanely good. Dammit Riley, why didn’t you do this sooner? Oh yeah, because you were too busy being competitive.
She wouldn’t mind conceding everything to Maya right now. She moans into Maya’s mouth involuntarily and Maya breaks their connection, and she already really misses kissing her.
“You okay, Matthews?” her hand squeezes Riley’s waist, but she doesn’t remember Maya placing it there. Well, she is very distracted.
“I’d be a lot better if you got back to kissing me.” Riley replies and Maya laughs, but puts distance between them. Immediately, Riley starts to think about what she did wrong. Maya senses her panic and places a chaste kiss on her lips.
“I’m stopping to ask you out Riley. Is that okay with you?” Maya whispers against her cheek and Riley’s pulse spikes even faster. She feels like she’s about to pass out with happiness.
“Yes!” Riley exclaims and Maya scrunches her nose. God, she’s cute.
“Can I admit something to you?”
“Yeah?”
Maya suddenly seems bashful and Riley leans forward this time to tilt her head up with her hand under Maya’s chin. She appreciates the gesture and exhales, psyching herself up.
“This may sound weird or whatever, and I don’t ever do this, for like anyone, but I’ve been saving up my tips for the last three weeks to take you to dinner. So how about when shift’s over, we grab something to eat?”
Riley smiles wider than she thinks she’s ever done before. “So there’s the real reason you wanted more tips. I knew it.”
Maya elbows her playfully. “Shut up.” she mumbles, but leans in for another kiss. Just as they’re about to meet, there’s a loud bang on the door and the lock rattles.
“Hart! Is that you in there? What’s going on?” they jump apart at the sound of their boss’s voice. Riley stares in panic at Maya, but she just smirks.
“Have fun explaining this one, Matthews.” she says, and unlocks the door before she can stop her.
“Maya!”
“Hart?”
“Sir-”
“Riley?”
There’s times when she hates her job.
But she really likes Maya Hart.