By lunch I was so over all the questions about Luke from Ella and Landry, part of me thought having a boyfriend wasn't even worth it. I nearly had a panic attack when I saw him walking over to me and Ella at lunch. I could only imagine what sass she was gonna throw his way.
"Hey." He said. "Y'all mind if I sit with you?"
"Of course we don't." Ella said. "I've been meaning to talk to you anyhow."
"Oh Lord." I sighed.
"Hush." She said. "I just had a question is all. Luke doesn't mind, do you Luke?"
"Nope." He said.
"Good." She smiled. "So...What are your intentions?"
"What?" Luke asked.
"Ella, no." I warned.
"Your intentions." She repeated. "With our Lydia here."
"Ella." I said.
"I mean it's important to know what you're after here." She ignored me. "Get what I'm saying."
"I think so." He said.
"Good." Ella said. I wanted crawl under the table. "Just know if those intentions turn to anything but honorable, I will wreck you."
"ELLA." I kicked her under the table.
"Alright, alright." She said getting up. "I'll leave you two be."
Luke laughed. "She's funny."
"Yeah she likes to think so."
"So Coach is making me and Vince watch game tapes after practice." He said.
"Good." I said. "Y'all need to click more on the field…I mean…Sorry."
"To be honest we don't really click that well off the field either." He shrugged. "Anyway, point is if it ain't too much trouble, can you get Landry to take you home?"
"Oh." I said. "I actually have a ride." It suddenly seemed so obvious that if he drove me to school, he would have thought he was taking me home. Only between all the different schedules of Matt picking me up, or me going with Ella or Landry, I just didn't assume. Besides, I kinda needed to get picked up by Claudette for the Landing Strip to work.
"Cool." Luke said. As he started to tell me some story about something Tinker did, I wondered if I should tell him about the Landing Strip. I mean what if the idea of me working there made him think less of me? Or even worse, what if I totally bombed my trial shift and then became the girl who couldn't even get a job at the strip club. Nope. I'd keep this whole thing to myself for the moment.
After school I waited with Els by the parking lot where Claudette was supposed to meet me.
After around 10 minutes she pulled up. "Hey girlies. Sorry I'm late. I was watching one of my Lamaze dvds."
"No problem." Ella said as I got in the car. "Just do me a favor and watch out for Lyds here. She's a little bit of a worrier."
"Feeling squirmy huh?" Claudette asked.
"No I-I'm just a little nervous." I tried to shrug it off. "First day jitters is all."
"Don't go fretting there cupcake." She said. "I'll take good care of you."
Ella winked at me. "You'll do fine. Call me when you're done?"
I nodded and Claudette pulled out of the parking lot. When we got there she introduced me to the Gary manager who was surprisingly nice. We'd carried a giant bag of frozen chicken fingers and some fries out of the deep freezer and started cooking the burgers when Claudette "So you ready to get naked?"
"W-what?" I nearly choked.
"I'm just kidding." She laughed. "Trying to loosen you up a little. Look I was a little nervous before I started at L.S. too, but after a week or so you forget there are half naked girls on the other side of the wall. And you can't beat the money with a stick. Truth be told I came here to get a job as a dancer and had to change my mind when I found out I was pregnant. Best thing that ever happened to me."
I smiled. "That's nice to hear."
"Yeah." She said. "Who would have known us fry cooks make just as much as the dancers."
My smile dropped as I realized she hadn't been talking about her baby. "Is that right?"
"Heck yeah. I mean the dancers make more in the beginning but then they have to pay the DJ and bartender and the costume lady and a ton of other people no matter what they make on stage. We just get our checks and go home. Besides with all my cravings it doesn't hurt to get all the chicken fingers and hot dogs I want."
She was actually right. It was kind of a great gig. I didn't have to run around and be on my feet as much as I did a Applebees and nobody bothered us in the kitchen. We just set the food out on a tray in the hall when the order was ready and somebody came and got it. Mostly we sat back there and talked while scarfing down fried food of one kind or another. Claudette had been on her own back there for a while she was really into having some company. I was surprised when she started cleaning. "Kitchen closes in 20 minutes." She said. "You finish up with the dishes and I'll go check in with Gary. Then its time for us to head home."
When she came back she said he'd offered me a permanent job for the weekends. I'd done it.
I was happy for about ten minutes, but by the time I got home I started getting nervous again. I'd said when I actually got the kitchen job I would tell Matty everything. Now I had it so according to the plan I had to tell him.
"Hey." He said when I came into the house. "You're home late. Were you over at Ella's."
"Um." I bit my lip. "Yep. I was over at Ella's." The plan could wait a little while, right?
