March 15, 2005
"Six, Truck," Priestly said wearily, flipping chicken breast strips on the grill that would get shaken in buffalo sauce and drizzled in bleu cheese dressing for the day's special.
"Really? That many?"
Priestly nodded. "Tina, Shannon, James, Mark, Danny, and Sonja."
Trucker frowned, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, guys. I don't know what else to do."
"Quit hiring flakes and junkies," Priestly replied, scooping the chicken meat into the tumbler and pouring in enough sauce to coat it before twisting the lid on the container and shaking vigorously. He was glad Joe was out sick, but he was also up to his ears in orders. Every time Jen cleared one from the system, another popped in.
Trucker just ladled soup into the take out containers and slapped lids on them. "Good suggestion." A moment later he said, "I used to be so good at hiring. Sally, Jen, you… What do you suppose went wrong?"
Priestly grinned at Trucker, pleased by the compliment. He shrugged. "Why did you hire Tina?"
"Because she needed a job and she looked normal enough," Trucker replied. "How was I to know she was completely racist?"
"And Shannon?" Priestly delivered the wrapped Buffalo subs to the front counter for Jen to pass on to their owners.
"She needed a job and she's Eddie's cousin," he said, referring to their regular, Eddie, who ate at the grill with his girlfriend, Diane, regularly.
"James?"
"He had a lot of energy. I thought we could use someone fast," Trucker said, referring to the reason he'd had to fire Shannon: she moved like an iceberg, no matter how busy they were.
Priestly rolled his neck along with his eyes on that one. "Energy, yes. Shooting meth in the men's room, no."
Trucker sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second.
"Mark?"
"Going to school, needed the extra cash."
"And got plenty snaking extra helpings from the tip jar," Jen offered, glancing back to meet Priestly's eyes.
Trucker stopped short. "You didn't tell me that."
Priestly shrugged. "I figured a quick goodbye conversation out back would convince him he didn't need to return." And because the guy started bawling the second Priestly shoved him against the bricks and confronted him over it, he figured it was possible the guy wasn't lying when he said he was about to get evicted from his apartment. He told him to keep what he had in his pockets but that if he ever came back, he'd personally put him in the wall.
Trucker smirked. "Did I promote you to hiring and firing?"
Priestly felt his face grow warm and ducked his head. "Sorry," he said, wrapping a couple Spicy Italians.
Trucker shrugged. "Leave that stuff to me, ok?"
"Yeah, man," he nodded. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to overstep. I just can't stand people who steal. Fucking selfish."
"Nah, man, that's cool. I'd have fired him, too. But you've got your hands full already with all the doubles. Let me take care of the details. And, you know, tell me when this stuff is going on. I don't like being in the dark about it and finding out later. You dig?" Trucker told him.
Priestly relaxed a little. He nodded. "I'm sorry, Truck. You're right. I should've said something."
Trucker just slapped his shoulder on the way to the back room to find more soup containers. When he came back out, he asked, "Anything I should know about Danny or Sonja?"
Priestly shook his head. "Nope. Danny got that corporate suck-up job he wanted. Did Sonja give you any reason why she quit after two weeks?"
Trucker tried to smother a grin. "She said she thought it would be more interesting than working for her brother at his plumbing fixture supply, but after a week of handling meat, she figured she'd rather talk toilets all day long for a year straight than work here."
Priestly laughed. "Vegetarian?"
Jen smirked. "I'm guessing," she said.
"Well, gang," Trucker said as he checked his watch, "we've got two more hours to go. Hang in there with me, and then I promise we can strategize about how to find someone clean, efficient, non-thieving, open-minded, with no other job offers."
"Deal," Priestly said, darting back to the grill to flip meat that was about to pass the point of perfection.
March 22, 2005
"Hey, Marty!" Priestly grinned across the counter at one of his favorite regulars. And from what he could see, she'd lost a great deal of weight. She lowered her coffee brown eyes to read his t-shirt, which read, 68. You owe me one.
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand to cover her laughter. "Baby, you are such a goof. Always playin'."
He couldn't fight the corners of his own mouth from turning upward. "Hey, listen, we're having a send off party for Sally in here on Sunday. It should be a lot of fun. We're really pushing it with all you regulars." Priestly feigned a frown. "Except, Marty, you haven't been here so regularly lately. Would the fact that you are disappearing before my eyes have anything to do with it?" He pretended to measure her before framing her with his hands like a movie director.
She hooted. "Oh, you noticed. Yes, I've had to stay away from you all for a while. I can't control myself around these subs. Except I'm gonna learn to do it because I miss coming in here and hearing all the gossip. And to prove it, today you can make me that Tofurkey thing that's supposed to be like turkey. Just a little one. Like four inches. Go easy on the sugar in my tea, too. One teaspoon and one packet of lemon. No chips."
"Yes, ma'am Miss Marty," he nodded. When he brought her plate and her tea to the table she'd chosen, he said, "But seriously, Marty, you're looking good."
She grinned up at him. "Thank you," she said. "Now, what time will Miss Sally be here?"
He leaned down and looked around like there was a big secret. "Don't tell anyone I told you this. It's supposed to be regulars only…" Priestly smirked back at her as she played along, nodding. "Two o'clock."
She nodded. "I'll be here."
He winked at her and backed away from the table. As he returned to the grill area, Jen turned around and said,
"Can I ask you a favor, Priestly?"
Intrigued, he leaned over on his elbows next to her, his head bobbing. "I don't know. Can you?" he teased, remembering every grade school teacher he'd ever had with that little two word sentence. Jen reacted to them in much the same way.
Dryly, she said, "I think I can manage." Sitting up straighter, her face turned reluctant. "Will you meet me and my friends at Nickel Joe's Friday night?" She looked embarrassed and suddenly covered her face with her hands. "I can't believe I'm resorting to this."
Priestly stood back up. "Well, hey, if that's what it is to you, I–"
She blanched. "Priestly," she said quickly, putting her hand on his forearm, "I didn't mean it like that. It's–″
He laughed. "Relax, Jen," he teased, "I'm just joking. Yeah, I've got your back. What time?"
"They've got a live band, so, nine o'clock?"
He nodded and gave her a thumbs up and a wink. "I'll be there."
March 25th, 2005
Like all bars, Nickel Joe's was a dimly lit, loud, and crowded sort of place. The band, whose tacked up sign proclaimed them Aqua Net Rising, was just doing their sound check when Priestly wandered in. He saw Jen immediately, sitting hunched into a corner table by herself. She looked to be sipping an ice water. He rolled his eyes and headed straight for the bar.
The woman tending at the end he approached gave him a once over and a sexy smile. "Hi, Sugar. What would you like?" she asked, thrusting out her chest a little. He obliged her and gave it a look before meeting her eyes.
He blinked. "Uh, sorry," he grinned, shaking his head a little. "Got any Tequila Rose back there?"
She gave him a funny look and then looked over at the man at the opposite corner. "Hey, Mick! Tequila Rose?"
The man nodded and pointed to the top shelf. She followed his finger to the bottle, which was behind glass.
"I need a double shot of that and a Coke." He said, ignoring her eye roll. He tipped her, anyway, and headed off toward Jen. She was texting and didn't see him coming. "Hey, Jen," he said, hopping up onto the stool next to hers and spinning until he hit her knees with his own. He sat the shot down in front of her. "Time to lubricate," he said, sipping the Coke so she wouldn't think it was hers.
"I can't have that," she shook her head. "The others are bussing here. I'm supposed to take them home later."
He frowned. "Give me your keys," he ordered, holding his palm up. She gave him a look. He snapped his fingers. "Keys," he said again. When she reluctantly put them in his hand, he said, "Thanks. Drink up. You need one more after that, and then we'll see how it goes."
"What is it?" she asked, looking at the pink shot.
"Tastes like strawberry milk with a kick. You'll love it," he nodded at it as she picked it up.
"I don't know about that," she said dubiously. "I'm not much of a drinker. I mean, have a beer sometimes, but…" She took it as Priestly pressed it into her hand.
"C'mon, it's either that or I stick my tongue in your ear until you drink it." He stuck his tongue out in warning. She fought a smile. Wincing, she held her nose and put it back. When the liquid hit her mouth, she blinked. He watched her swallow and grinned. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?"
"Actually, no," she smiled. "Look, if I don't get a chance to tell you later, thanks."
He nodded. "Remember what I said, though."
She nodded. "Yeah, yeah."
"You can dance alone, too, if you don't want to ask anyone." He stood up. "I'm gonna go play pool for a little while. You with me?"
She shook her head. "Sherri just texted me. They're about three blocks from here, so the cab should be dropping them off any minute.
Priestly grabbed his Coke and wandered to the opposite corner of the bar. He found an open table and racked up the balls. Given how badly he sucked at the game, he figured he'd be able to play until the band started up at least and maybe even until someone was drunk enough to head out to the dance floor. In his experience, bands usually had to play a few songs from their first set before anyone was brave enough to venture out.
He was just about to break when he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey, man! What're you doing here?"
He looked over his shoulder. He stood up. "Mike," he nodded. He hadn't seen much of him since he told Jude not to come knocking. He wasn't sure whether he was just busy or whether he'd been avoiding him. Priestly had called a couple times to see if he wanted to hit Mojo's or Moe's, and he'd get a text back the next day apologizing for missing the call. Since he hadn't been able to afford classes that semester, he wasn't seeing him at the fitness center on campus, either.
"You playing with someone?" Mike looked around.
"No," he shook his head and glanced across the bar. Jen was smiling and laughing with her friends. He looked back up at Mike. "Want in?"
"Sure. Patrick and Kelly here? I mean, have you seen them?"
Priestly shook his head and gestured that Mike should break. A waitress stopped by, and she winked at them. Mike ordered a Guinness, and Priestly shook his head. As she left, Mike broke the table. Balls sailed in every direction, two of them sinking home.
"Man, that sucks. You get better the more you play. I don't."
Mike laughed. He missed his next shot, blaming it on Priestly's jab. "So, did you know Jude's not talking to me?"
Priestly just looked at him. How the hell would he know that?
Mike shrugged. "I told her she was being stupid. I told her everyone and his brother knows you're a couple, so get over your bullshit and just give it a real shot."
Priestly glanced up at him from the shot he was lining up. He said nothing, however, just took his shot.
"She hasn't called or anything?" Mike asked curiously. Priestly shook his head again, surprised that his shot had gone in. He tried to decide on his next shot. Mike seemed to consider his next words carefully. "I'm not going to say I told you so. I didn't want to be right."
Priestly missed. The band stopped with all the "check 1, check 2, check, check" business and started bantering with the crowd, welcoming them to the bar and introducing themselves as the "quintessential 80s hair band band, Aqua Net Rising. He glanced at Jen's table again. Still talking. Good. Jen was still smiling. Also good. No one was missing yet and no guys were at the table to flirt yet. All good.
Patrick and Kelly made their entrance, and Mike greeted them. Priestly nodded, exchanging hellos. He tried to scratch on his next turn. He wasn't in the mood to think about Jude, and the whole thing just felt stupid and awkward. He silently moaned when he missed the shot he was going for.
Mike cleared three more balls on his next pass, and Priestly tried the scratch again, this time succeeding. The fact that it actually looked natural was the amazing part. Patrick laughed. "Still no good, I see. But you're still no match for me," he added. "Want to give it a shot?"
"Nah, man. I came with someone, and she'll be wanting to dance soon." Priestly shook his hand and then slapped Mike's shoulder. "I can't get into the fitness center since I'm not enrolled this semester, but maybe we could knock each other around down on the beach sometime."
Mike nodded. "Catch you later, man."
Priestly nodded and made his way back to Jen's corner. Her friends all looked his way as Jen noticed him coming.
"There he is," she said. "Hey, Priestly, these are my friends. This is Sherri, this is Kate, and this is Samantha. Guys, this is my co-worker I was telling you about."
"Hi," he said, shaking hands with each girl. Sherri was tall and slender. She reminded him of a weird hybrid blend of Cameron Diaz and Catherine Zeta Jones…Cameron's eyes and Catherine's height and dark hair. Kate was shorter and cheerleader-ish with bouncy blonde hair and a bouncy personality to match. Samantha had short dark hair and dark eyes and seemed quieter but still friendly.
"Those are some serious mutton chops, Priestly," Sherri said, her eyes lit with amusement.
He lifted one shoulder. "Yeah. You like 'em?"
"There's something oddly sexy about them," she replied. "And I don't usually go for too much facial hair."
"That's true," Jen said. "Most of her boyfriends are smooth as a baby's butt."
Priestly grinned at her. "I'll be right back," he nodded to them. He returned to the bar, where the same girl as before waited on him. She was friendlier this time when he repeated his order.
"Is that your girlfriend you bought the drink for?" she asked, looking at him appreciatively again. Apparently, the thought that he was ordering the pink drink for himself was enough to put her off and have her making assumptions about him. Once they proved false, she did the 180 back to admiring him.
"Nope," he said flatly. He still tipped her, though he thought about not doing it.
Jen looked at him when he brought her the second Tequila Rose. That was all he intended to give her until he saw how she handled her booze.
"Ooooh," Kate said, eyeing the shot. "I'm going to go get one of those," she announced and disappeared.
Jen drank the second shot. Sherri gave him a smile but said nothing.
Two songs later, he grabbed Jen's hand. "Let's go dance." She froze. Resisted. He leaned close to her ear and said, "Jen, trust me. C'mon…"
"There's no one else out there," she said quietly, her eyes round.
"Look around the room," he urged, watching her eyes as she looked around. "Everybody's chair dancing. Everybody wants to be out there, but they don't want to be the first. I guarantee you we won't be alone for long." He tugged her firmly behind him.
He halfway regretted it when he saw the genuine terror on her face, but it was too late to turn back, so he just started moving to Lita Ford's Kiss Me Deadly. He winked at her as, as predicted, several other people suddenly appeared on the dance floor. She started out stiff, but he saw her gradually relax a little as Sherri, Kate, and Samantha joined them.
The band went straight into another song before the crowd could disperse. A cheer went up from several members of the crowd as Sweet's Ballroom Blitz started. As the chorus came up, he put his arm across Jen's body, hooking it at her left hip, and guided her to turn with him before switching sides to spin her the other way. She wasn't a bad dancer, really, when she wasn't frozen by self-consciousness. Thankfully, the two double shots had done their job and she was feeling nice and relaxed. She grooved as well as anyone else out on the floor. Priestly grinned fondly at her and did a little air guitar, rolling his head on his shoulders.
After a couple more songs, the band slowed things down for a ballad. He cocked a questioning eyebrow at her and she shook her head, "I'm thirsty," she mouthed. He nodded and followed her off the floor. She stopped at the bar. He started to follow, but he saw a guy in a black t-shirt and jeans say something to her, so he went to the table, instead.
Sherri and Samantha were there. Kate, it appeared, had accepted an invitation to dance and was still on the floor.
"You're awesome, Priestly," Sherri said, carefully watching the bar to see if Jen was headed back. He just looked at her. "I can't get her to dance usually until the second or third set."
"Seriously," Samantha said, nodding. "You must be, like, magic or something."
He just lifted one shoulder and grinned, sucking down his Coke as Jen came back with a glass of something that looked suspiciously like water. "Jen…" he said watching her suck greedily at the liquid. "It's too early to switch to water."
She smirked at him. "I'm thirsty. I'll have a beer later."
They sat out for a few songs before GNR's Paradise City came on and Sherri grabbed Jen's hand with a whoop. When she didn't even look back at him for help, Priestly hung back to watch what would happen. What happened is the guy in the black shirt and a couple other guys circled Jen and Sherri and they all grooved together. He didn't want to mess that up, so he stayed at the table for a few songs, then joined them for the next several after that.
When the band took a break, the crowd wandered back to tables and the bar. Priestly was feeling the effects of too many Cokes. When he left the men's room he glanced over at their table and saw black shirt guy leaning over, talking in Jen's ear while another guy in a blue shirt chatted up Sherri. Kate and Samantha were nowhere in sight, so he figured they had gone to the bathroom together the way women did.
He saw Mike, Patrick, and Kelly sitting at a table near the pool tables. They saw, him, too, so he stopped to say hello again and check in on them.
"Who's your friend?" Kelly asked.
"What friend?"
"The one you've been dancing with. The girl in the blue shirt."
"Jen. I work with her."
"You dating?" Kelly asked.
He shrugged. "Why?"
She gave him an odd look. "No reason," she said. "Just curious."
"She's just a friend," he acknowledged warily.
"Well, I think she's upset. She just went outside. She was walking pretty quickly. Or maybe she's sick," Kelly said.
Priestly turned to look at the table. Samantha and Kate had returned and were talking to the two guys and now Sherri was gone. And Jen was gone. He nodded back at them. "Guess I'd better go find out what's up."
Mike and Patrick nodded at him. He nodded back and squeezed Kelly's shoulder. He pushed his way out the door and searched out Jen, who stood dejectedly against a pillar just outside the door.
"Whatcha doing out here?" he asked lightly, pointing over his shoulder into the bar, "The fun's in there."
She glanced at him. Her eyes glittered in the darkness. "I'm getting tired. We should go soon," she said dully.
He waited. "What's really going on, Jen? You were having fun in there."
She shrugged.
He came to lean against the post beside her. "What?" he nudged her gently.
"I thought he, you know. I thought he liked me."
"Who?"
She shrugged. "Tony. The guy in the black shirt."
"He's been dancing with you half the night," Priestly shrugged. "I'd say he likes you."
She glanced up at him glumly and then looked away. "I meant I thought he was interested in me. And then he asked me if Sherri was seeing anyone."
"Maybe he's asking for that guy in the blue shirt who's been hanging all over her," Priestly suggested.
Jen shook her head. "He asked me what she's into, what she likes in a guy. Like I'm her personal secretary or something."
He put his arm around her. "Okay, so he's a dick who can't see what's right in front of him. Don't use that as an excuse to go back in your shell, turtle. Life is good out here, too. Seriously. You don't give yourself enough credit, Jen. Just because one guy isn't into you doesn't mean they're all like that."
"Sure," she said, but he knew she didn't agree with him at all.
"Jen, let's go back inside. I think the band's about ready to start up again." He used the arm he had around her to tug her free from the pillar.
"I'd really rather just call it a night," she said. "Let's go in and gather up the girls."
"Nope," he shook his head. "We're not leaving until at least midnight."
"Priestly," she ducked out from under his arm. "You can't just…just…" She searched for words. "You can't just pressure me into doing what you want."
"What? If I didn't pressure you a little, you'd still be sitting at the table waiting to dance." He put his hands on her shoulders. "Jen, I offered to come out with you because I knew I could push you to get outside yourself. And you took me up on it because you knew I could, too. So how about I do what I'm supposed to do and drag your ass inside and onto the dance floor and eventually, you'll be able to do this all on your own and won't need me anymore, and I'll sit at home alone on Friday nights instead of hanging out with my buddy, Jen."
She smirked. "Look, I know you don't understand how I feel. You're outgoing and…outrageous and everyone loves you because you are outrageous, and I'm none of those things. You don't–"
"If you say 'you don't understand' or put yourself down again, I'm going to grab your ass and start grinding on you on the dance floor," Priestly threatened darkly. "In front of everybody," he added.
Jen's eyes widened in surprise. He figured he'd at least shocked her into silence for a little while. When he pulled her out on the dance floor, he gave her a look that said he meant what he said. She smiled and she danced, and he didn't hear a negative peep out of her for the rest of the night. They didn't leave until the lights came on for last call.