It was another one of those days. Someone had called in and Dani had been asked to work a double. If you would even call it being asked, which she really did not. But it did mean more hours and hopefully more tips for the week. And the extra money would definitely come in handy since she was once again, needing something on her old mustang fixed.

Luckily the lunch crowd had not been that bad, and her tips were stashed away in the little jar under the counter with her name on it. Even though she was on break, she was still going to wait until she was safe locked up inside her own apartment before counting her tips.

Dani leaned her head back, to look upside down at the clock. She still had five more minutes left on her break. And she was so going to take every second she could to rest her feet. The evening/dinner crowd was always much busier. Not to mention, had more bossy and weird customers then, also. Again, Dani glanced at the clock, only one minute left. That gave her time to tidy up.

Her feet, having been propped in the chair across from her, hit the sidewalk and she reluctantly stood. After a quick perusal of the areas, she reached down and picked up her apron, tying it back around her waist. Dani was sure her ponytail was still in place, so there was no need to mess with her hair at all. No it was just time to head back inside and hopefully make some money.

It wasn't often that Piper found herself with a night off with nothing more to do than just relax. Two nights off in a row? It was a freaking miracle. She wasn't sure what god had looked down and decided that she needed a break but she was thankful for it. The events of a few nights ago still rode her hard and she sported a faint line of bruises for proof that it had happened, much to her disgust. Makeup covered the worst of it though and she'd decided that staying at home was making her stir crazy.

So, here she was, stepping out for a bit to grab a bit to eat and hopefully just get a breath of normal life instead of the idiots she was used to dealing with. It wasn't five star ritz quality for sure but at least there weren't a bunch of middle aged romeos trying to find their youth again by grabbing her ass. That in and of itself was better than nothing.

Pushing her shades up on top of her head, the pretty blond stepped inside the dimmer lighting before glancing around. Dressed in faded jeans and a pink baby doll tshirt, her face was fresh scrubbed of the makeup she usually wore on stage and there was an almost "girl next door" look to her as she took in the surroundings. Since there didn't seem to be anyone manning the door and the crowd was slow, Piper mentally shrugged to herself before taking a seat in a booth where she could see most of the room.

As she waited for a waitress to notice her, she pulled out her phone to check for messages. A smile graced her delicate features as she read one and then shot another back before tucking it safely away at the sound of footsteps.

It didn’t take long to get back into work mode; Dani walked behind the counter and started refilling the sugar containers that she had set aside before her break. She looked up when the door swung open and the blonde strolled inside and took a seat in one of the booths. Dani quickly finished up the container, screwing the lid back on before picking up menu and walking around the corner of the counter, towards the blonde’s table.

Approaching the booth, Dani plastered a smile on her lips, that didn’t quite reach her eyes but no one ever noticed…or just didn’t care to notice, and greeted the woman. “Hello…I’m Danielle.” She always said her name when she greeted her table, she didn’t know why since it was on her name-tag. Dani gently set the menu on the table in front of the blonde as she continued, “What can I get you to drink?”

Dani’s smiled faltered a bit as she noticed something on the blonde that she had actually been known to have done herself in the past. Anyone who had ever used makeup to cover bruises could usually spot the same on another. But she recovered quickly and pulled out her order pad and pen for a distraction.

Casting a look around the place, Piper took in the small crowd of patrons before glancing up at her waitress. The friendly smile that was offered was returned before the blond heard her question. Drink? Oh, yeah. Drink. "Um, i don't suppose you have Cherry Dr. Pepper do you? " she asked, hoping against hope since it was her drug of choice. "If not, anything Coke oriented is great."

Taking the offered menu, she saw the womans gaze go to her neck and mentally grimaced. Maybe she hadn't been so good at covering up the evidence as she'd thought. Oh well, she supposed. shit happened, right? If any questions were asked, she'd just tell the truth. IT wasn't like she had anything to be ashamed off and she hadn't asked to be near strangled.

Opening up the folder, Piper glanced down at the offerings even as she wrinkled her noes in thought. "And if you could just bring me a cheeseburger and onion ring, that would be great... I'm gonna splurge tonight on calories." she said aloud, taking milliseconds to know what she wanted before looking back at the waitress. "I'm Piper, by the way...."

After asking the blonde the question, Dani pulled out her order pad and her pen, to distract herself slightly. She clicked the pen on and swiftly jotted the table number and her initials in the left hand corner. When the woman asked for Cherry Dr. Pepper, Dani was slightly taken aback. That, or regular old, wonderful Dr. Pepper was her drink, also. Not that she got it that much. But sometimes you just had to splurge.

“Actually we do. We have one of those stations with the 100 plus choices.” Dani answered. They had gotten the machine installed a few months ago in the back, because Juan didn’t want the rowdy customers to break the thing. He has a strange, ornery old man…but pretty good to work for.

As the blonde opened up the menu, Dani took the moment to actually look at her customer. She didn’t seem to be distraught over having to cover up the marks. And to any normal person’s eye they probably wouldn’t even notice, but having had to cover some herself….she knew. “Cheeseburger and onion rings….” Dani repeated as she quickly scribbled the order across the pad, keeping her pen poised as she asked, “All the way? Anything you don’t want on it?”

"Just regular. Ketchup, pickles, no mustard, no lettuce or tomato. I'm afraid I'm pretty simple in my wants and desires." Piper replied before grinning and handing the menu back. "Is it always so quiet in here? I figured it would still be busy right now. Not that I'm complaining, of course but..."

Letting her voice trail off, the blond glanced around and then absently rubbed at her neck as a twinge of pain was felt. It was an unconscious gesture and easily ignored as she turned back to the waitress. "What do you have by way of pie? Anything chocolate? I swear, I'm DYING for some chocolate pie..."

“Ketchup and pickles…” Again Dani repeated the other. She did that mainly because occasional some idiot would actually be listening and realized that she was writing their order wrong. It didn’t matter that she was repeating what they had said…nope. Just that the waitresses was getting their order wrong. Glancing down at her wrist and the simple small watch that rest there, she answered, “It’ll pick up in a few hours. I’ll just go turn your order in and be right back with your drink.” Dani said with her usual work related, friendly smile. “I’ll check and see about the pie.”

Dani walked to the little window and turned the blonde’s order over to the cook. Then she slid over to the service area and filled one of the tall plastic cups with ice before punching in the right combination to get Cherry Dr. Pepper. She hastened back to the table and set the fizzy glass on the table along with a straw. “Your burger should be out soon…since we’re not all that busy.”

“You’re in luck, there happens to be two slices of the chocolate pie left. I can go ahead a plate it up and set it to the side, if you want…?”