Liam adjusted his hat as he walked into the store. The door chimed as he entered. It was his first day working at Beacon Hills' Burgers. Summer had just started, so Liam felt like it was a good time to find a job. He felt lucky he was able to get a job at the most popular fast food place in the entire town. He would not have gotten the job if it was not for his friend Scott being a shift manager and putting in a good word for Liam. Speaking of Scott, he looked up from the cash register when he heard Liam enter the restaurant.
"Hey, Liam! Excited for your first day? I see that you have your uniform on already, great job. I wish I could train you myself, but I have to finish cash count really quick," Scott said. "Hey Mason, come over here really quick," Scott shouted behind him. Soon, another guy who looked to be around Liam's age appeared from around the corner.
"Liam, this is Mason. Mason, this is Liam. It's his first day so, I would appreciate it if you showed him around the store and trained him as much as you can. Thank you." With that, Scott went back to counting the money in the cash register.
"Nice to meet you, Liam. I've never trained anyone before, so forgive me if I forget something. I guess I'll show you where everything is and stuff, so follow me," Mason said. He gave Liam a quick tour of the kitchen, dish room, walk-in fridge and freezer, and the break area.
"Don't worry if it takes you a while to find stuff. I've been working here for almost a year and I still have to ask Scott where things are, occasionally," Mason said with a slight chuckle. Liam was glad he said that. He was already lost as to where everything was.
After the tour, Mason showed him how to take orders on the computer and how to actually make the orders. There was still much he had to learn, but at least know he knew the basics.
"What time are you off?" Mason asked.
"Umm, 8:00, I think," Liam responded.
"Oh okay, cool. We close at 11:00, so that's the latest you'd have to work. I'm closing tonight, so I'll be here for the rest of the night," Mason said.
"Sounds like fun," Liam said.
"Oh, extremely," Mason said sarcastically. Both boys turned when they heard the door chime.
"Looks like we've got a customer. Want to try and take their order?"
"Sure, I guess," Liam said.
Liam followed Mason up to the front of the store, where the cash registers were located.
"Oh no, it's him again," Mason turned and whispered to Liam.
"Who?" Liam asked.
"It's this homeless guy that comes in almost every day. Well, I say he's homeless, but honestly, Scott doesn't think he actually is. Scott says he could just be pretending to be homeless just to get free handouts," Mason said.
"That's messed up. But, what if he is actually homeless? Shouldn't we help him in the chance that he is?"
"Scott doesn't want to take that chance. He could get in trouble with the owner of the store if he gave away food for free, and no one wants to get in trouble with Peter. Scott will usually let this guy sit inside the store for a little while though, especially if it's really cold or really hot out. Malia doesn't let him stick around though."
"Malia?" Liam questioned.
"Oh yeah, Malia is the owner's daughter. She's a shift manager here, too. She has quite a temper, so try not to do anything to upset her if you work with her. She can't stand the homeless guy, she yells at him to get out if he so much as steps one foot into the store. I don't think she needs to kick him out. Usually he doesn't cause any problems. Sometimes he will order something cheap, but not very often. I guess we should see what he wants," Mason said.
Liam walked up to the counter and tried to remember what he was supposed to say to customers.
"Hi!" Liam said. The supposed homeless guy turner towards him. Liam got his first good look at the stranger. He was surprisingly good looking for a homeless guy. Now Liam knew why Scott was doubtful of him. He had a little bit of scruff, and his hair was relatively long, but besides that, he looked normal. Actually, he looked better than normal. Liam found himself questioning his sexuality for a brief second. He had gorgeous hazel eyes, which stood out from the intense dark circles underneath them. When he turned towards Liam, he smiled slightly, and Liam was stunned. He looked like he might have been athletic at one point in time with well-defined muscles. However, he was too skinny to look very intimidating. He wore a thin gray hoodie and some old-looking blue jeans.
"Umm, welcome to Beacon Hills' Burgers. How may I help you?"
"Can I just get a single cheeseburger off the dollar menu with everything on it, and some water," the stranger said while digging through his pockets. He finally pulled out a small handful of change.
"Okay, that'll be $1.07 with tax," Liam said. He watched as the stranger counted out his change. He handed Liam $1.07 in change, but still had some remaining in his hand. A hopeful look appeared on his face.
"How much is a small thing of fries?" he asked.
"That would add another $1.07," Liam said.
"Oh. Well, never mind," the stranger said, the hopeful look disappearing from his face. He put the last of his change back in his pocket, clearly not having enough to pay for an order of fries. Liam handed him his cup for water and the stranger thanked him before finding a seat. Liam went back into the kitchen to work on his order. As he was making his burger, Liam thought back to the mysterious stranger. He felt bad that he could only afford the burger. He was clearly hungry. Liam looked around him. Scott and Mason were nowhere to be seen. Making up his mind on what to do, Liam threw a bag of fries into the fryer. Once the fries and burger were finished, he took the order out to the stranger.
"I made an extra bag of fries by mistake. Do you want them?" Liam asked. The boy was staring—practically drooling—at the fries.
"Are you sure it's okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, absolutely. I could just throw them in the trash if you don't want them," Liam responded.
"No! I'll take them. Thanks," the stranger said as he took the tray of food out of Liam's hands.
"No problem," Liam said as he turned to leave.
"Wait," the boy said. "What's your name, I haven't seen you here before, and you don't have a nametag."
"Oh yeah, I just started today, so they haven't gotten a name tag for me yet. I'm Liam. What about you?"
"It's Theo."
Liam was going to try to get to know the stranger better, but Scott interrupted.
"Hey, Liam, come back here, I need to talk to you," Scott said.
"Sorry, got to go, enjoy your meal," Liam said before walking back into the kitchen to find his boss.
"What is it?" Liam asked.
"Did he order those fries?" Scott asked.
"Yeah, of course."
"Liam, don't lie to me. He never gets more than one thing."
"Okay. I made an order of fries by mistake, but I didn't want to tell you that I messed up in case you got mad at me, so I just gave them to him to try to hide my mistake. I'm sorry," Liam said. What he did not say was that he knew exactly what he was doing when he made the extra fries. He hoped that Scott would believe his lie.
"I understand. Don't worry, I'm not mad at you. It's your first day, everyone makes mistakes. Thanks for telling me the truth," Scott said. Liam let out a sigh of relief.
"You should probably find Mason and help him out with whatever he's working on. Dinner rush should be starting soon, so be prepared for a lot of orders," Scott said. Liam followed his instructions and found Mason already working on a few orders. Scott was right, they got a rush of orders because of it being around dinnertime. Scott took most of the orders while Liam and Mason made the food. Liam did not get a chance to catch his breath for at least an hour. Once it finally quieted down, Mason and Liam went out to start cleaning tables. Liam found the table that Theo was sitting at. He had left a small collection of coins as a tip. Liam guessed that it was all the remaining change that Theo had left in his pocket. Liam felt bad that Theo gave him the rest of his money. However, he pocketed the change, hoping that he would be able to give it back to him sometime soon. Not long after cleaning all of the tables, Liam's shift ended. He clocked out and said goodbye to Mason and Scott. For the rest of the day, he could not get his mind off of Theo. He had so many questions. Was he actually homeless? If he was, why was he homeless? Why was he so attractive? Where did he sleep at night? Were the burger and fries the only food he ate today? Liam feel a strong urge to help him if he could. He just did not know how.