Down the Rabbit Hole Chapter 35– Sparkling Diamonds
A/N- The title is a song from the Moulin Rouge. A kiss may be grand but it won't pay the rental on your humble flat, or help you feed your pussycat.
Edd woke up for his first day of work with a knot in his back from the uncomfortable position he had slept in, throwing off the blanket with a groan, he climbs to his feet from his bed on the floor. He had moved into the spare room last night after spending a few hours that day clearing it of the boxes that were stored in it, with Trixie and Dino's help, before it was once again habitable. But being rather short on money, and the fact that his roommates didn't just happen to have a spare mattress laying around, his only option was to make a bedding out of the blankets that had been stored in the closet. Going to the bathroom he takes care of all the morning essentials of everyday hygiene before walking over to the utility closet draped in a towel to pull out his only set of clothes from the drier.
Stepping out of his room after getting dressed, he heads to the kitchen to get something to eat before he headed out to work. "Mornin baby boy," Trixie greeted him as he entered the kitchen, looking in her direction he sees her standing at the counter pulling out a box of cereal from the cabinet. He greeted her as he stepped over to the refrigerator to pull a carton of milk out of it, "So what did you say they were having you do today? It's a bit early for them to be open isn't it, because I'm pretty sure they don't serve breakfast, do they?"
Edd shakes his head no to answer her question as he responds, "Cleaning and organizing their storage area." He had to wonder though, how bad could this little task really be, since all restaurants are expected to keep up a certain code of cleanliness in order to pass their health inspections.
"Oh, fun," Trixie teasingly replied as she sat at the table and began pouring her breakfast into a bowl, "Do you want me to drive you there?"
"Thank you, but I don't want to put you out, so I'll walk," he sits next to her and takes the box of cereal as she pours the milk.
"You know it's thirty degrees right now and its ten blocks to your work," she leans down a little to catch his eye which were cast down at the table, resting her chin on the back of her fingers, "So stop being stubborn already and accept the help given to you."
He wearily nods as he replies and looks up to meet her eye, "Thanks, I appreciate it," he really was thankful to her for offering, but he was just leery about becoming to dependent on such kindness in the future.
Leaning back, she gives him a knowing side eyed glance as she begins to eat her food, knowing full well that he was being stubborn as a way of trying to prove to himself and to them that he could do this on his own, and truthfully, he had to for no one else could do it for him. And hell, she understood all to well that you only had one person in this world that you could truly count on, and that was yourself. She only hoped that this life experience he was going through right now wouldn't cause him to become mistrusting of those in his life who genuinely meant to help him.
After breakfast she walks into her room to get changed, rousing Dino partly out of his sleep as she enters, lifting his head off the pillow he mumbles out, "Where are you going," his eyes just barely open as he lay on his belly.
"I'm taking Edd to work, now go back to sleep," she replied as she changed out of her sweat pants.
"Ok," he yawned out and turns his head to face the other direction, burying his face in the pillow he begins to snore almost instantly.
The drive to the restaurant was comparably shorter then it would have been if he had made the journey walking, the two of them passing the time in the parking lot by listening to music until another car pulled up next to them. Seeing the driver step out of his vehicle, Edd opens his door and joins the man, "Are you Edd?" Looking over at the man, he takes in his appearance, he stood just under six feet tall, with thinning black hair that was already starting to recede in the front to form a widow's peak. A prominent beer belly pushed out the front of his blue dress shirt and forced the front waist line of his black dress pants down to accommodate it, making the man pull up the back of his pants as he walked forward a few steps. He nods slightly to confirm that he was the person the man was looking for, "I'm Cyrus, Leon's brother," Leonidas was the man who had hired Edd the day before yesterday and one of the owners of the business. This must be the other owner and younger brother Leon had told him about, "Come," he beckons him to follow with a motion of the hand that was holding the keys, then turns to head toward the front door of the building.
"Hey baby boy," Edd leans down to look into the car at Trixie, "Make them realize they can't live without you," she passes him a key as she spoke, "To let yourself in when you get home."
Edd smiles and nods, "Thanks," then closes the car door and hurries over to Cyrus as Trixie backs out to go home.
Cyrus waited at the door, holding it open for Edd to enter, "Leon told you what you were doing today right?"
"Cleaning the storeroom," Edd replied as he walked passed him into the building.
"Alright," he pulls the door closed and locks it behind them then flips on the lights, "Follow me," he leads the way into the kitchen area and into a small room with shelves. Edd looks around at the disorderly and filthy shelves, holding back from showing any signs of disgust at a restaurant that would have such a messy storage area. "I need each shelf scrubbed clean, so you're going to have to take everything off first," he reaches passed Edd and toward the floor to grab a bucket. Handing it to him, he points toward the dishwashing area, "You can fill this and find soap over there," dropping a scrub brush into the bucket with a thud. Edd looks down at the bucket in his hands and sees that it also lacked a certain cleanliness that a cleaning item should have, the scrub brush was no exception. "After you get them cleaned, I want you to organize each item on the shelves so that its all the same item in a row," he looks Edd in the eye for emphasis, "Do you understand, every item behind the first one should be the same thing."
"Yes, I understand."
"Good," he pats him roughly on the shoulder as he starts to walk away, "I'll leave you to it then." Cyrus opens a door next to the dishwashing station and turns on the light, Edd could see a desk inside along with a few other decorations and knew that this must be the office. The boss takes his seat in the leather office chair and starts on the morning paperwork, leaving the door open to monitor the new kid, eyeing Edd as he walked across the room to fill the bucket with soap and water.
Returning to the storeroom, he begins to take each item off the dirty shelves and winces a little when he finds that some of them were nearly glued to the surface, leaving behind a ring where they once stood. "Note to self, do not ever eat here," he freed another can and places it on the ground, "I don't care how hungry I am." Edd spent the next two hours scrubbing, scrapping, wiping, washing and organizing the shelves properly before he was nearly finished with his task, and the dirt on his clothes attested to the filth he had just wrestled with.
During this time Cyrus would come by every now and then to check up on Edd's progress, to make sure the boy was staying busy and not slacking off and to add another request to the already daunting chore as the other staff started to arrive for the day. "The dirt around the feet," he points to the bottom of the shelving unit, making a circular motion with his finger, "Could you see if you can get that up as well," this addition tacked on another hour of cleaning to the job. Edd didn't mind, for this meant more money in his pocket, and a better chance to impress them, and hopefully when they see his value, might give him more money and offer him more hours.
That was the plan anyways, and his hopes were high as he knocked on the office door filled with confidence at a job well done as the kitchen behind him bustled with food being prepped and cooked. "Come in," was heard roughly on the other side of the door a few seconds later and Edd opens it to step through. Cyrus sat in the office chair on the other side of the desk from him looking annoyed, the woman in the office was straightening out her clothes as she walked swiftly toward the door and passed Edd, "What is it Edd?"
Edd turns back to face him after making way for the departing woman, "I'm done," he points in the direction of the storeroom.
Cyrus stands and picks up an envelop from the desk and made his way out of the office not waiting for Edd to step out of his way for him to pass. Walking with a purpose he made his way over to the doorway of the storeroom and looks in at the now spotless and well-organized shelves, "Good work," he praised him flatly and raises the envelop to hand to him, "Here's your pay."
Edd takes the envelop and Cyrus walks quickly back to the office as Edd checked its contents, "Um, it's a little short, I was supposed to be making two-fifty an hour."
Without stopping Cyrus replies, "Leon told me two, talk to him."
Edd was tempted not to ask this question, but he needed the money, "When do I work next?"
"We'll call you," Cyrus closes the door behind him cutting off the conversation and dashing Edd's hopes on the ground. Clutching the six dollars in the envelop against his chest, Edd looks around the kitchen and feels the sting of being on his own, as no one seemed to care that he just got screwed, and without the courtesy of lube no less. Feeling dejected Edd slowly walks from the kitchen to the front door and made his way out of the building to start his walk home, barely raising his eyes off the pavement as his emotions and worries got the better of him. This was going to be way harder then he had originally thought, and a spring of anxiety filled his belly as he wondered if he was going to be able to make the rent.
His roommates were understanding that he wouldn't have it right away and were giving him extra time to pay them back his portion, but would he be able to do that and still make the next month's rent on time. "God, please help me," he breathed out to himself as he looked up and saw the side road he needed to take to get back to the apartment. Should he go back? Or should he just accept his fate and leave now before he got to attached, and go back to the streets he seemed to be destined to return to? Turning on his heel he takes the street toward the apartment, a new fire of determination filling his belly and overpowering his fears, for one little bump in the road wasn't going to derail his train. Oh no, he was going to make it, he was going to show everyone that he is stronger than this hardship he faced, that the hatred and greed of this world wasn't going to defeat him.
Climbing the stairs to the second floor he pulls out the key that Trixie had given him and unlocks the door. Stepping in he could hear Dino before he saw him, talking in a seductive voice, "Young big dicked white boy looking for a daddy who knows what he wants and how to get it." Stepping further in he sees that he was reclining in his chair, talking on the phone, "I'm five-ten, smooth defined body, with brown hair and chocolate come fuck me eyes. So, if you're interested in knowing how many licks it really takes, get ahold of me daddy and we'll find out together." Pulling the phone away from his ear he turns it and pushes a button on the keypad and then listens to his recording as he greets Edd, "How was your first day?"
Edd scrunches his face, annoyed that he was reminded and answers, "don't ask," slumping down on to the couch in defeat.
"That bad?" Dino turns the phone once again and hits another button then another then hangs up.
"What were you doing," he asks motioning toward the phone in Dino's hand, seeing the grim on his hand he knew he needed to take another shower.
"Oh," he looks down at the phone quickly then back up to Edd, "Megaphone,' motioning with his hand holding the phone for emphasis.
"What?"
"Phone classifieds," Trixie informed him as she entered the room from the kitchen, "Hey sweetie," she leans down and kisses Edd on the cheek in greeting, and sees the look in his eyes as she pulls back, "Rough day?"
Edd mildly grunts in exasperation, "It's apparently a touchy subject," Dino answered for him.
"That place is disgusting, then they had the nerve to short me on my money," he leans his head back against the couch, groaning out in frustration.
"Told you so,' Dino added, but was not helping matters much with his statement.
Trixie slaps him on the foot and scolds him, "Hush," then turns to Edd again, "Don't give up yet sweetie, it'll get better."
"I'm not," Edd replied suddenly, snapping his head back upright, "I'm going back in there tomorrow and talk to Leon about my pay, then ask for more hours or I'll, or I'll," he was at a loss for words, for what could he do if this was the way they were going to continue to treat him?
"Or you'll find another job," Dino finished for him but was once again not being helpful, "Well I wish you luck my man."
Trixie turns to him and pulls out a twenty from her pocket, takes his hand and slaps the bill in it, "Why don't you make yourself useful and go get us something to eat."
"But my ad," he motioned to the phone.
"No ones going to answer that damn thing for another hour," she exaggeratedly motions with her hands, "And if by some miracle a trick does call before you get back, I'll be sure to get his number."
Getting up in defeat, he grabs his jacket off the back of the recliner as he spoke, "Fine, whatever," and begins to head toward the door.
She follows right behind him, closing the door as they leave, stopping him in the hall, "Dino, I know you have a soft spot for the boy or he wouldn't be here, so why don't you stop frontin."
He rolls his eyes at her insinuation and starts to walk backwards away from her as he spoke, "But baby, you know me, I don't sugarcoat shit." Turning around he heads towards the stairs at a quicker pace. Sure, he thought Edd was a good kid and wanted to help him out but hiding the truth from someone was never in his nature, even if it was hard to hear at the time. And they just couldn't support Edd financially even if they wanted to, it wouldn't be good for him or them, for it would only cause trouble in the long run.
"But can't you be nicer about it," she said softly but he heard it as he reached the stairs and felt a small ting of guilt that just maybe the tough guy act was a bit too much, but shrugged it off quickly, for he is who he is, and to expect anything else would be a front. But when he returned thirty minutes later with a McDonalds bag in one hand and a drink holder in the other, he kept his mouth shut about his opinion on the matter of Edd's work. He did receive a reply to his ad after another forty-five minutes had passed and started his own night shift job. His john was an older man who wished to be escorted out to dinner, then they would go back to his place to enjoy the rest of their evening together, Dino would finally return home as the sun broke the horizon, a few hundred dollars richer.
A/N- I don't know the name of the service, but yes, before the advent of grindr or tindr there was phone classifieds as well as newspaper classifieds. Where you would pay money to post an ad and the person responding would pay money in order to get ahold of you.