The city was crawling with rich, entitled assholes and, by now, working in a restaurant that recently made the 'top ten new restaurants' list this year meant Sookie had already been exposed to many of them. For the most part she'd learned out how to deal with them without letting them bother her too much, but once in a while there was someone who was extraordinarily rude and she had to remind herself why she needed this job and couldn't afford to quit.

Tonight seemed to be one of those nights.

"Are you alright?" Jessica asked, handing her fresh paper towels.

Shrugging her shoulders, Sookie patted herself dry. "A little sticky but I'll live."

"I can't believe that bitch threw her drink at you."

"I can't believe they didn't kick her out for it."

Jessica pursed her lips. "If Sam was working tonight, you know he would have."

"Yeah, but he's not." Gazing at her reflection in the mirror, Sookie pulled out the tube of lip gloss from her pocket and refreshed her make-up. Her pride may have been wounded but there were people out there waiting to pick her apart and she'd be damned before she gave them that chance.

"Are you sure you don't want to go home early?" Jessica asked. "Andy said you could."

"Yeah but he'll also take those hours off my pay check so he's not exactly doing me any favours."

"True."

Sookie gave Jessica a self-deprecating smile. "I love working Friday nights here, don't you?"

"Tell me about it," Jessica sighed, pulling down on the short black dress that was part of her uniform. Luckily for Sookie, she was a bus person which meant she didn't have to don the mini-dress and instead was required to wear a fitted black t-shirt and dress pants. Unluckily for her, she was still exposed to customers when she had to bring them their food and drinks when the servers were too busy. That was precisely what she was doing when a customer wasn't satisfied with the way her bloody Mary was prepared ("too much tomato juice, not enough vodka!") and threw it at Sookie to emphasise her displeasure. "We should go back," Sookie said.

"I know."

With a heavy sigh, both girls exited the bathroom designated for employees only.

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As much as Sookie didn't want to see the bitch who had thrown the drink at her, she still had to walk by her several times when she was bringing other people their food in the lounge area. Unfortunately for Sookie, the woman was part of Eric Northman's entourage – which meant money was no object and could be used to rectify any problems.

Eric Northman. Now there was a man who embodied everything she hated about the wealthy and the privileged. Smug, snarky, arrogant and insolent. He came to the restaurant quite often, usually with a large crowd that seemed to grow more obnoxious every week, and had a way of looking through the staff and never really at them - as if he didn't deem them worthy of his attention. Despite his horrible personality, Sookie knew some of her co-workers would still scream with joy if he were to pay the littlest bit of attention to them just because he was rich and hot. Toxic combination, in her opinion.

"If you're done daydreaming, table eight needs cleaning up and there are people waiting," Andy yelled, interrupting her thoughts.

"Sorry. On it."

Clearing her mind of unpleasant thoughts, Sookie went back to work.

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Holding two plates of hot, steaming entrees, Sookie was backing out of the kitchen when she collided into Eric Northman. The tall, towering giant that he was, she was surprised she didn't drop any of her plates. Unfortunately, he looked less than pleased that the drink he'd been holding had splashed onto his shirt.

"The service in this place is really going to hell," he drawled. Without once looking at her, he grabbed the small towel that was sticking out of her pants pocket and started dabbing his shirt with it.

Fuck you too. She didn't say it, even though she practically had to bite her tongue not to. Instead, she plastered on a polite smile. "Sorry about that but this is an employees only area. You're not supposed to be in here."

Suddenly she found herself the focus of his steely blue gaze, and she had to concede maybe it was a blessing he didn't really look at people like her. There was something cold about his eyes which left her unsettled. And she didn't like feeling this way.

"Let me get this straight," he said, raising his eyebrow at her. "You run into me and somehow this is my fault?"

"Sadly I wasn't born with eyes in the back of my head and so I didn't see you; I apologize for that," Sookie replied in a curt tone. "Is there something you needed?"

"Yes. People who know how to do their jobs properly."

"That would be lovely. Along with people who knew how to read signs and follow them accordingly," she said snarkily before she could stop herself. Fuck.

"What's going on here? Mr. Northman, is there something we can help you with?" Andy huffed, all nervous and flustered. As a manager he believed upper-class clientele like Northman were always right and the staff had to do everything possible to ensure their satisfaction. Which meant she was screwed.

Maybe it was the coward's way out, but Sookie really wasn't in the mood to be humiliated twice today. "I'm going to go deliver these plates. Excuse me," she said quickly and rushed out before Andy could stop her. Andy was going to fire her, that she was sure of, but he would have to do it in private and not in front of that asshole.

Over the next several minutes, she formulated a plan for herself. She was hopeful Sam, the other manager, would give her a reference. With her experience here at Tonic, it wouldn't be too long before she found another waitressing job – the most preferable option considering she was in college during the day. Hell, she could always turn to telemarketing to pay the bills if she couldn't find a job rightaway.

When Eric Northman came into her line of sight again, she couldn't help but meet his gaze. He was staring directly at her, his face devoid of any emotion but scrutinizing her with an intensity that was nerve wracking. It was only when she noticed Andy behind him that she was able to tear her eyes away. She braced herself for the worst. Much to her surprise, however, Northman went back to his table at the lounge with Andy following him like an eager lapdog.

Maybe Andy was going to fire her at the end of the night which meant she was putting in a full shift today. At least that was something. Mentally shrugging her thoughts away, she refocused back on the task at hand.

For the next hour, Sookie found herself constantly running around and trying to keep up with the busier-than-usual crowd. Despite that, she couldn't help but notice Eric Northman watching her like a hawk the entire time.

And a part of her wished she could go back to being invisible to him.