I Made Cousin's Grill Famous, He Gave $50 Bonus

I was the guest performer at my cousin Walter Butler's grill house.

With my looks and figure.

With professional singing and dancing, and a handful of other talents.

Single-handedly, I'd taken Walter's failing grill house and made it a hit.

Walter had promised me a hundred thousand as a year-end bonus.

But a few days ago, after his sister Blanche Butler showed up, Walter and his wife turned cold toward me fast.

That day, near evening, I was getting ready for the night's show.

Blanche came up smiling and handed me a fifty-dollar bill.

"Delilah Pruitt, this is your year-end bonus from my brother."

I couldn't quite process it. "Is this a joke?"

"It's not a joke." Walter and Marlene Abbott walked out from the back kitchen, faces stern.

"And starting today, you're done here."

"From now on, Blanche will do your performances at the shop."

For a moment I was too angry to speak.

Back then Walter had been out of options, begging me for help.

Even Grandpa and Grandma Marsh had put in a word for him.

So I'd quit a good job at the dance school to become the "guest performer" at his shop.

And started a livestream to drive traffic.

Plenty of customers from the other grill houses nearby got pulled over.

More people, after watching my livestream online, made the trip just to see me perform live.

Business at the grill house got hotter and hotter.

And now, with the work done, they were throwing me out.

"Walter, you said you'd give me a hundred thousand bonus."

I pressed him.

He only frowned and gave a cold snort.

"I never said any such thing. You've got some nerve making things up!"

Blanche joined in, sneering. "You sing a little and dance a little for a day, and you dare ask for a hundred thousand?"

"The grill house's livestream account has over a million followers. Anyone would blow up on that."

Marlene let out a cold laugh too.

"Delilah, for the past half a year and more we've paid your wages, plus room and board."

"And you're still not satisfied, trying to shake us down. You're just an ungrateful wretch!"

Their words had me shaking all over with anger.

But when I saw the smug look on Blanche's face, I quickly calmed down.

So this was Blanche stirring the pot behind my back.

No wonder Walter and Marlene had turned on me so fast after she'd been here only a few days.

She wanted to take my place, and Walter and Marlene wanted to save that hundred thousand.

Except it never occurred to them that the million followers on that grill house livestream account were all built by me, and me alone.

My top supporter had even put together a devoted fan club, tens of thousands strong, just for me.

All of them regulars who kept coming to the grill house to spend money just to watch me perform.

Since they wanted to be this heartless, they couldn't blame me for showing no loyalty in return.

I didn't argue anymore. I packed up my things fast and walked out of the grill house.

"Bye-bye, Delilah. Come cheer me on in my livestream sometime!"

Blanche called out behind me, smug all over her face.

I didn't bother to look back.

Blanche had just graduated high school, never studied dance, couldn't hold a tune, and had no other talent to speak of.

She didn't even come close to me on the most basic count of looks, and she really thought she could replace me?

I walked straight across the street to Ellison's Grill House.

Ellison's Grill House had always been the number one draw on this street.

Walter's Butler's Grill House had been the least popular.

Now Butler's ranked first, and Ellison's had slipped to second.

The owner, Jonathan Ellison, was surprised to see me.

"Well now, the big star's here. What can I get you?"

He said it half-joking.

"Jonathan, I'm here to talk about a partnership."

I said it seriously.

"Delilah, what kind of partnership?" Jonathan's eyes lit up.

...

Half an hour later, we'd settled the details of the deal.

And signed a written agreement.

Just as I was discussing the night's performance with Jonathan.

Walter and Marlene came charging in.

Marlene lunged at my face like a fury.

"Delilah, you shameless thing!"

"So this is where you ran off to!"

Jonathan shoved her back.

"You've got the nerve to make trouble in my shop?"

Walter and Marlene didn't dare try anything more.

Just then Blanche walked in.

"Jonathan, don't go thinking you've scored a bargain."

"Delilah only blew up because my brother's grill house account has a million followers!"

"Off my brother's grill house, she's nothing!"

With that she led Walter and Marlene out, smug as ever.

Jonathan's face went hard with anger, and he spat after their backs. "Petty people the moment they get ahead."

I couldn't help but smile.

The more smug Blanche and the rest were now, the harder they'd fall later.

After a while, Jonathan told me Blanche's side had gone live first.

I went in to look and found the livestream already had several thousand viewers.

But once a lot of them realized it was Blanche streaming, they kept asking.

"Who are you? Where's Delilah?"

"Where did Delilah go? We want to see Delilah!"

The bright, pleased look on Blanche's face turned ugly in an instant.

And a little panicked, too.

Blanche stammered out a few vague sounds.

Then she blinked hard and squeezed out a few tears.

She put on the most wounded face she could manage.

"I'm the owner's sister, Blanche."

"Delilah wanted my brother to sign over ninety percent of the grill house to her. He said no, so she got angry and walked out."

"Now she's gone to some other grill house, and she's swearing she'll drive our place into the ground."

The moment she said it, the livestream channel boiled over.

"Wow, Delilah's greed is ugly."

"Isn't the owner her own cousin? How could she pull something this disgusting?"

"She looks so pretty, and her heart's this greedy?"

"You never really know a person. I was blind."

A lot of people got worked up and started posting that they were unfollowing me.

"I'm done supporting Delilah. I will never watch her perform again."

"Don't worry, Blanche, we'll keep supporting your grill house for sure!"

"I wasn't even planning to go out for grill today, but now I'm heading over to show my support!"

"Everybody go eat at their place today. We can't let that Delilah's threat work!"

Now and then someone would remind the room not to take just one side's word.

But every one of those comments got buried under the flood, and none of them caught on.

A satisfied smile crossed Blanche's face.

Then she put on a touched expression and bowed her head to the camera over and over.

"Thank you all for supporting us. You're the ones who gave my family the courage to keep going."

"But please, don't blame Delilah either. She is my cousin, after all."

She forced out a few more tears, the picture of pitiful innocence.

The viewers in the channel got even more fired up.

"Don't cry, Blanche, I'll support you guys forever."

"Sweet Blanche, still this kind-hearted. That Delilah's character is way worse than yours!"

"Blanche, don't stick up for that one. Just tell us which shop she's at and I'll go wreck the place!"

"I'm in! People like that can't be allowed to keep running wild!"

Watching it get to this point, even Jonathan couldn't help frowning hard.

He turned and looked at me, and something in his eyes had gone strange.

He clearly had his doubts about me now too.

"Delilah, this deal of ours, maybe we should talk it over again?"

"You can see how much everyone's got against you right now. I'm worried you'll bring a bad name to my shop..."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I pulled up a video on my phone.

"Jonathan, take a look at this first."

Jonathan looked at my phone, puzzled.

"Delilah, here's the year-end bonus my brother's giving you!"

"Is this a joke?"

"It's not a joke. And starting today, you don't work here anymore..."

I've got a habit of recording video on my phone every time I go on and off stream, as extra material for clipping livestream highlights.

So I'd happened to capture the whole thing, Walter and his family ganging up to force me out.

When Jonathan finished watching, his expression turned to something spectacular.

He pumped his fist hard, eyes lighting up.

"Well, well. That cousin of yours can really act. She almost had me fooled."

"With this, there's no way they don't go under!"

"They brought this on themselves, no saving them!"

Right then, my phone rang.

It was my number one fan, Jade Sinclair.

"Delilah, what's going on over there?"

"You're not actually greedy enough to try to swallow up your cousin's shop, are you?"

"How could you do something like this..."

Jade was a big-shot business owner, and a very successful one.

She'd stumbled into my livestream one day, purely by chance.

My performance caught her attention.

Bit by bit, she became one of my most devoted fans.

She said she loved my dancing, how upbeat it was, full of youth and energy.

That fan club of mine, tens of thousands strong, was one she'd started herself.

And clearly, she was watching Blanche's stream right now.

She couldn't hold back and had called to ask me about it.

Her tone wasn't exactly harsh.

But underneath it, there was a faint edge of accusation and disappointment.

I didn't explain much. I just sent her the video.

A little while later, Jade called again.

"My God, how could they be so shameless?"

"Delilah, don't be upset. I'm going up there right now to expose them."

"That cousin of yours is a real drama queen. I could reach right through the phone and tear her apart!"

I stopped her right away.

"Jade, don't rush. Let it ride a little longer first."

I told her not to blow it open in the stream yet, because the channel hadn't peaked in traffic.

Even if we exposed everything now, the impact would only go so far.

I asked her to quietly tell the group leaders and key members of the fan club first, and to get everyone ready, level by level.

As the sky darkened, more and more customers filed into Butler's Grill House across the street.

Even more than usual, by a good margin.

Plenty of people really had been taken in by Blanche's stream.

They'd come out just to support the grill house.

The viewer count in Blanche's channel kept climbing too.

The buzz grew hotter by the minute.

A lot of the early viewers took it on themselves to fill in the newcomers.

"That Delilah tried to grab something for nothing, wanted to swallow her cousin's whole grill house!"

"This place is everything her cousin's poured his heart into, of course he wouldn't agree."

"So she quit, ran off to some other grill house, and even threatened to put this one out of business!"

"We should all keep supporting her cousin's grill house!"

"Support Blanche! From now on I'm a devoted fan of Blanche and her family's grill house!"

The mood in the stream ran hotter and hotter.

Blanche got more and more worked up.

Her whole face lit up, high on herself.

"To thank all my dear brothers and sisters for your support, let me sing you a song."

The energy in the channel shot up another notch.

"Yes, yes, yes, we're behind you!"

"Can't wait!"

"Blanche, we're rooting for you!"

Quite a few people started sending gifts.

Blanche was so thrilled her eyes narrowed to slits. She cleared her throat and started to sing.

She barely got two lines out before she went off-key.

And she couldn't reach the high notes either.

After a fit of dry coughing, she had to stop.

The mood in the stream turned instantly, painfully awkward.

Blanche's face went bright red.

She scrambled to explain.

"I'm sorry, everyone, my throat's a little sore today, so I didn't sing well"

As she said it, she forced out a few more tears.

The very picture of pitiful.

"It's fine, it's fine, Blanche."

"If your throat hurts, don't sing."

"We support you no matter what!"

A lot of people were moved all over again by her "performance."

That was when someone spoke up, at exactly the wrong moment.

"Don't believe this Blanche, everyone. She's flipping black and white!"

"His family promised Delilah a hundred grand as a bonus, and now they're going back on it!"

"They forced Delilah out and dragged this Blanche in to replace her!"

The moment he said it, the mood in the stream went cold.

Because he was the channel's top supporter, its number-three donor, Eric Dunn.

He carried a lot of weight in that room.

"Eric, are you serious?"

"I did think it was strange. Delilah never seemed like the greedy type."

A lot of people couldn't help chiming in with questions.

"Of course I'm serious. You all don't trust old Eric?"

Eric said.

Once he said it, the stream fell into a brief silence.

Clearly a fair number of people believed what Eric had said, and were still chewing it over.

Blanche's panic became visible in an instant.

After two seconds of silence, Blanche's face changed.

"You're talking nonsense. Do you have proof?"

"You say another word and I'll sue you for slander. I'll sue you for slander, you hear me?"

Her face twisted, and she screamed it, near hysterical.

"Of course I have proof," Eric said.

Blanche panicked even harder.

"Then show it!"

But her mouth stayed hard as ever.

And now, of all times, Eric went quiet.

Because I'd messaged him in a hurry, telling him to hold off.

Eric had a temper. Jade had warned him not to make any rash moves.

But sitting there in the stream, he just couldn't stomach it, and he'd jumped in anyway.

"Eric, why aren't you saying anything?"

"Eric, show the proof. What's actually going on?"

A lot of people were pressing him now.

Eric stayed silent.

Blanche, who had looked so tense, relaxed on the spot.

"See? I told you, you can't produce any proof."

"You're just slandering me. I am definitely suing you!"

"Are you sleeping with that Delilah, is that why you're here causing trouble?"

She said it smugly, with a sly look on her face.

And sure enough, plenty of people chimed in.

"Probably. He's the top supporter, of course he's on Delilah's side."

"Now he won't say a word, can't back it up, so he's feeling guilty, right?"

The mood in the stream turned oddly festive again.

Play on, dance on.

At midnight, the energy in the stream finally peaked.

"I know where Delilah is right now!"

"She's at Ellison's Grill House, right across the street!"

Jade, who had stayed quiet the whole time, finally spoke up.

Of course, I was the one who told her to say it.

It hit like a stone dropped into still water.

"Holy crap, holy crap, she's right across the street? Hid herself pretty well!"

"That's way over the line. Everyone knows Ellison's is her cousin's biggest competitor!"

"Anyone there in person? Let's go wreck the place!"

"Come on, come on, I'm in!"

"Blanche, you go too, stream it for us so we can watch the show. Those of us not there can't see otherwise!"

Blanche got worked up too, eyes shining, nodding fast.

"Okay, okay, I'll head over and stream it live for everyone!"

Then the camera followed her out of the grill house.

Dozens of people who'd been eating there streamed out behind her, a whole crowd marching toward Ellison's Grill House.

Watching this, I traded a glance with Jonathan and gave a small nod, smiling.

Soon enough, Blanche came charging in with her few dozen people.

She turned the camera on me.

"Look, everyone, she really is at Ellison's Grill House!"

The stream boiled over, though I no longer had time to watch it closely.

"Little Delilah, everything was fine, so why did you fall out with your cousin?"

asked one of the people who'd come with Blanche, looking heartbroken over it.

He was a regular from around here. He didn't watch my stream online, but he came often to see me perform in person.

"Little Delilah, I love your singing and dancing, but what you did is really low!"

Someone else came at me straight.

"Exactly. Talent is talent, character is character, and your character doesn't come close to matching your talent!"

Someone voiced agreement.

The diners who'd actually been eating at Ellison's, after asking about the so-called "story," turned on me too.

"Jonathan, you'd really partner with someone like this? That's beneath you."

"Right, Jonathan, this time I'm siding with Butler's Grill House across the street!"

"Jonathan, watch yourself. One of these days she'll swallow your shop whole!"

Blanche grew more and more pleased with herself.

"Jonathan, hurry up and fire her, or your shop is going under!"

"Little Delilah, from now on there won't be a spot for you on this whole grill street!"

"No, in all of Riverton there won't be a spot for you. Nobody will dare take you in!"

I just smiled and nodded at Jonathan.

Jonathan laughed out loud and clapped his hands hard.

"All right, roll the recording. Let the real show begin!"

On the big projection screen above the grill house, the picture switched.

In the shot, I was checking my dance costume when Blanche walked over.

Grinning, she handed me a fifty-dollar bill.

"Little Delilah, this is the year-end bonus from my brother..."