CHAPTER 25:
"Now look at what you went and did," Thomas spoke down to Alex as John locked himself in the bathroom. "You went and upset John cuz you smeared rice and goddamn sauce all over the bed."
"Bed sheets are washable," Alex griped as he looked over the mess covering himself and, indeed, the sheets he lay in. Not the worse mess he ever had to deal with, but still. At least it was just food, even if it was food he'd meant to eat. It was worth wasting a plate of rice and chicken just to see Thomas frantically trying to shake it out of his hair. He got up and started clearing off the sheets by sweeping the massive chucks of his wasted dinner back onto the crumpled paper plate Lafayette had handed him earlier. "Besides, I know how to get most stains out of stuff like this."
"I would bet that you do," Lafayette said behind him and Alex cast him a puzzled look.
"What's that mean?" he asked.
"Nothing," the French man said with a carefully blank face.
Alex elected to ignore him, seeing as Lafayette seemed to be in a sullen mood all of a sudden and he felt like he had other things to tend to. "Whatever," he muttered. "I needed to wash my sheets anyhow...Can you stop flinging rice all over the floor?!"
"Oh, whose fault is it that they dumped rice in my hair?!" Thomas snapped as he continued to pick out the little bits of starch.
"Hey, it wasn't just rice," Alex retorted. "I dumped curry in it as well." As if to accentuate his point he wiped off a glob of sauce sitting on Thomas's shoulder and relocated it to the man's cheek as he tried to stick his curry covered finger into Thomas's mouth. Alex laughed even as Thomas pulled back and snapped at him to get away.
"James! How the hell did you manage to live with this literal trash gremlin for so long?!"
"Very carefully," James told Thomas. "Alex is right tho, you shouldn't be putting rice on the floor. C'mere, I'll help you get the rest out. Let Alex worry about the cleanup."
As Thomas moved to sit on the floor in front of James and allow him to pick the last bits of food off of his person, Lafayette got up and first collected the paper plates now that everyone seemed to be be done eating before throwing them away and moving instead to help Alex with stripping John's bed. He tried to give the Frenchman a grateful smile but received nothing but a stoic and very neutral expression, as if Lafayette was pointedly trying not to show any emotion at all. Not knowing what to make of it, especially as Lafayette began to gather John's sheets from Alex's hands, Alex instead backed off and decided he'd simply sweep the floor with the broom John had tucked behind the door into or out of their room. He didn't like the way Thomas seemed to growl lowly at him as he got closer to the spot where he sat at James feet, but he decided he'd offer an olive branch of peace anyway. "Thanks for dinner," Alex told him. "I'll try not to rub it in your hair next time."
"Yeah, you do that," Thomas snipped.
"Try again," James minded.
Thomas sighed and rolled his eyes a little. "You're welcome, Hamilton. Tho next time I think I'll bring you a trash bag to pick through."
"Yeah, you do that," Alex replied, smirking to show James he wasn't gunna let Thomas bother him anymore before a thought occurred to him. "Hey, uhh, wasn't I Alex a moment ago?"
"You were," Thomas confirmed without elaboration.
"Why am I Hamilton again?"
"Because you're an ass."
"Yeah, well, you're a dick."
"Better a dick then an ass, Hamilton."
"Not if ya know what you like." He winked at the Virginian just before the bathroom door opened and John reemerged into the room. Alex turned and surveyed his roommate, prim and proper in a fitted black chef's shirt tucked into black skinny jeans topped with a belt, his previously loose hair pulled tight into a messy looking bun at the back of his head, tho now without the curtain of curls to hide the the bruise on his cheek Alex noticed how jarring the wound stood out, and how John was still trying to keep that side of his face turned away from all his friends. He gave him a wolf whistle and flashed him a charming smile as John looked mildly startled by it. "Well damn, don't you look sharp."
"It's just my uniform," John said. "Umm...what are you doing?"
"Cleaning the mess he made, clearly," Thomas supplied as he got up and slipped past John into the bathroom. "Gimme a minute to clean off what Hamilton smeared all over my clothes and we can go."
"I'm gunna wash our sheets," Alex told John.
"Our sheets?" Lafayette repeated, shooting a look between Alex and John.
"Yeah," Alex said, missing the implication. "My sheets could use a wash too. And no sense in wasting money on an extra load, I think they'll all fit in one washer. That's...okay with you, right John? I can use your soap if your particular about it, or is mine okay?"
"Uh, yeah. I'll lend you my student card—"
"I can use mine, it's okay. I'm the one who made the mess, so I'll worry about cleaning it up. Sorry that Thomas and I got carried away."
"It's okay," John said as he collected his shoes. "There's a small vacuum in my closet, might be better getting the rice off the floor. Just like a hand held one. You'll have to empty it's canister into the trash when you're done."
"Sure thing. Thanks."
"Alright, you ready to go?" Thomas said a moment later as he leaned out of the bathroom with wet spots where there had been globs of curry sauce on his shirt. John nodded. "James, you wanna come along or wait here?"
"I'll come along for the ride."
"Laf? Coming or staying? You'll have to ride in the back if you do."
"I am staying," the French man replied, surprising Alex. "I am going to help John's roommate clean up so he does not have to do it alone."
"Awww, thanks Laf," Alex replied, thinking he was mistaken about his seemingly moody behavior.
"It is no trouble," Lafayette said as he bumped past Alex to get to John. Whatever good feeling Alex had about Lafayette tho disappeared as he lifted John's face to his and surprised him with a passionate kiss on his mouth. Alex did not miss the shocked look on John's face or the way his shoulders tensed before the kiss ended. "You have a good day and work, je t'aime tellement."
"Qu'est-ce que tu fous?" John mumbled as he stepped back. Even if Alex didn't speak French himself the tone and look on John's face told him something was wrong. But he didn't have to worry about being the defensive one as Thomas swooped John away and shot his own daggers at Lafayette. "See ya later Alex," John called over his shoulder as he was ushered out the door and Alex did his best to sound chipper as he returned the farewell call.
The door shut behind the departing trio and Alex would be lying if he said he didn't immediately feel the cold feelings Lafayette had for him chill the room.
As Lafayette came over to take John's broom from his hands, Alex reluctantly handed it over without a fuss and backed off, silently counting to ten before asking, "So ummm...did you and John get back together recently?" He decided he'd still make himself useful by stripping his bed down as Lafayette seemed possessive of John's things now.
"What would it matter to you if we did?" the French man replied, eyeing him carefully as he went to retrieve the the vacuum John had mentioned.
Alex made sure he was facing away from the other male as he rolled his eyes. "I mean, it wouldn't. Just...John didn't say anything about something like that and I thought he might've at least mentioned it."
"You should be careful with John," Lafayette said as he turned the vacuum on and bent down gracefully to get at the bits of rice still on the floor. "He is a very private person and he does not like to tell people things about himself. I doubt you will be able to learn much about him in the short time you will live with him." Alex was still facing his bed, so he missed the smirk Lafayette wore on his face as he added, "But you know how to keep your own secrets too, do you not?"
Alex turned to look over his shoulder at Lafayette, a bit of adrenaline spiking his system. "What secrets would I have to keep?"
"I saw you kiss that woman who come to find you at Thomas's house," Lafayette said as he finished with his chore. "You say she is married and just your friend, but just now you think the same kiss I give to John meant something more, so I know you and her are doing much more then being just friends."
"Whoa, hold on, are you saying you just kissed John right then to see how I would react?!"
"You sound mad," Lafayette's voice implied a fake kind of confused innocence and Alex felt his blood boil. Even as the other rose back to his full height Alex found it hard to not want to take a swing at him.
"Well of course I'm mad!" Alex shouted. "Did you even see his response?! Stop fucking with him to—to what point even? Make me jealous?! Are you insane?!"
"So you do like John then?" Lafayette asked, lifting his head to look down his nose at Alex.
"He's my roommate, I would think it would be in both our interests to get along with each other, yeah."
"That is not how I mean."
"Whatever the fuck you mean, you need to come to a full stop and re-evaluate how you're treating John because of it."
"However me and John act between each other does not concern you, and you can stay out of it."
"Unless he wants to tell me how you're pushing him to do things he doesn't want to do, unless I see you do something that pointedly makes him uncomfortable! Then you know what? It might not be my business, but I'm gunna make it my business!
"You think you know him better then me?"
"No, of course not," Alex said, earning a surprised look from Lafayette. "You were his friend first and he clearly has some misplaced trust in you, whatever! But don't you dare think I'm going to turn a blind eye to you assaulting him like you just did!"
"Assault?! You think I would hurt him?!"
"Maybe not intentionally. But you know what? Just bullying your way around his life doesn't make you a very good friend, I don't give a fuck what your reasons were! You're not protecting him by trying to run me off, you're not doing him any good when you don't listen to what he has to say just because it's not what you want to hear."
"I only do not want to hear him say he like you because John does not belong with someone like you, that is all."
Alex blinked rapidly and raised his brows hearing that. "Doesn't belong—what does that mean?"
"John needs somebody who would be with only him. You do not strike me as the kind of man who is ready to be with only one lover. I can tell that you are like me, very experience, but you're not ready to stop having your experience yet, are you?"
"Are you telling me not to date a guy I only met a week ago as my roommate because you think I'm too promiscuous?"
"I catch you in bed with him, after you try flirting with two of my roommates, after I see you kissing a woman you say is married not to you. You tell me how that looks."
Alex heaved a sigh and pressed his palms into either side of his head, feeling stressed with the mental hoops Lafayette was making him jump through. "Look, I can talk to whomever I please, Laf. I'm not attached to anyone and my talking to someone or showing them a small amount comfort in a difficult moment for them is no indication that I want anything more from them, first of all; and secondly I don't appreciate you spying on my personal affairs, so don't you EVER do that to me again, do you understand?"
"Well then, you should be certain not to lead people on. That is all I am saying."
"Since when was I leading anyone on? Wait, do you feel led on cuz I didn't want you hitting on me the other day?" He laughed, thinking he understood now what this was all about. "I'm sorry, I didn't think you were being serious, we'd only just met!"
"I am not lead on," Lafayette replied haughtily. To Alex it just looked as if he didn't want to admit that Alex hit the nail on the head. "Like I say, this is about John. I know he like you very much but you are not going to be good for him, are you? So I am telling you not to hurt my friend, do you understand?"
"How am I not good enough for him? Like, do you have a problem with me? Is it something I said? Or did?"
"No, of course not what you say. It is how you are. You sex around with this woman or that—"
"Sex around?" Alex laughed, missing the way Lafayette seemed to be becoming more flustered. "Sex around?!"
"You know how I mean, Alexander."
"Yeah, you're basically calling me a whore."
"Are you not?"
He felt like he'd been slapped. Even though he'd said the word it was one he hated hearing. Any previous giggles he'd had at the conversation melted away and Alex crossed his arms over his chest as he felt that anger from before returning more slowly now. He considered Lafayette, who stood staring him down with a hand on his hip, and tried to calculate what he needed to say to put the man in his place and end the conversation. He needed to bring it under his own control because what the French man was eluding too was veering too close to the other box, the box he wasn't a part of. "I don't just sleep around with anyone who opens their legs for me if that's what you're implying; believe it or not, I've got my standards."
"Right, they would be money involved first."
"Okay, first of all, I am not a prostitute. Secondly, where the fuck did you get that idea about me? From me talking to a couple of people? So what, now any guy that talks to a few too many females is selling himself on the street for some quick cash, is that seriously your logic here?!"
"I think you know where my logic comes from."
Alex narrowed his eyes at Lafayette. Burr said he didn't know who Alex was, but that's not the impression Alex was getting here. "No," he said, deciding to play dumb and see if he couldn't force Lafayette to show his hand first. He was done jumping through his little hoops, he was done being toyed with. "I really don't know where the fuck you think you get off accusing me of this shit. Do you have any idea how insulting it is?"
The French man shrugged as if Alex's feelings about what he'd said didn't matter. "Regardless, my point remains. You are not ready to be a good boyfriend so you need to be careful not to make John think you like him as more then your roommate."
"Once more with feeling, when did I do anything to give him the impression that I was more then his friend?"
"Do not play dumb, I see how you two look at each other. I tell myself it is just a silly crush he has, and he is smart to know you would never want to be with him, but you act too dangerously with his heart. You are making him believe you would have eyes for only him and I see you how you really are."
"Did he tell you that?" Alex challenged.
"Tell me what?"
"That he has feelings for me? Did he specifically tell you he has a crush on me? That he wants to be with me? Did he tell you anything at all like that?"
"He does not need to, I know my friend."
"But he didn't actually tell you that he has feelings for me, did he?" Alex shrugged, giving Lafayette a Look. "Sounds to me like you're assuming a lot here. You're assuming I'm working the streets for money when I have a great job that is NOT that, thanks. You're assuming John has feelings for me, a man he met one week ago, whom he just barely knows, when he hasn't actually told you shit about it; in fact he went out with someone else that wasn't me just last night, didn't he? And he didn't even want to tell you about that either! You just sound sooooo jealous that your so-called best friend doesn't want to talk to you right now, oh my god. And you know what? He shouldn't if this is how you wanna act about it!"
"You know nothing about what John needs."
Alex couldn't believe how big Lafayette thought his balls were. "I think John knows what he needs better then anyone else does, right? Like, I get that you and Thomas are his friends and want to help him but where are you guys drawing the line between helping him and dictating to him what his whole life is gunna be like? God, just let him make his own choices, let him...let him have his own experiences!"
"Well, apparently he is not good about choosing men who are good for him. You see the bruise he has, oui? He choose the man who gave him that, the one he went out with last night. Do you really think it was good for him to make that choice?"
"Yeah," Alex said boldly, "because he's not a child. And I might not know him as well as you do, but he seems like a pretty smart guy and I don't think he's gunna go back to somebody who abused him. When it comes down to it he's gunna choose to be with someone who shows him they actually care about him and will put in the work and effort to be with him. And you might try to run that person off, because you're scared they're gunna hurt him somehow or that he won't listen to you anymore, but it's not gunna work because they're gunna tell you to piss off and grow the fuck up."
"And you think you would be that person?"
"No I don't!" Alex nearly yelled. "But I think John is not only capable of finding that person for himself, he's capable of choosing them over any other asshole who's just gunna jerk him around and play stupid games with him and his friends. Look, he told me you got all butthurt about not wanting to tell him about that other guy he slept with or how he told you he didn't want to go out with you again the following night—" Alex ignored the glare Lafayette fixed on him then, knowing full well he struck down hard on some nerve and just deciding on the fly he wouldn't give one single flip, "—but that's just the thing, you're not entitled to call any shots for him even if you say it's out of love. If he feels like sharing something with you, he will. And if he doesn't? Then respect that and don't play stupid games with him trying to make him change his mind."
"I do not play stupid games," Lafayette sneered at Alex. "I am looking out for him. I think that you are the one who is mad you never had anyone do that for you, growing up with no family." If the room had been tense before it was nothing compared to the feeling that filled the space then. Alex felt an anger so intense that words failed him for a moment and the suddenly regretful look Lafayette's face immediately adapted only pissed him off more. Alex knew instantaneously that Lafayette understood exactly how much a comment like that cut into him, because of course he too knew what it was like to grow up without his parents, but how dare he, how fucking dare he use that pain as a weapon in some petty fight over a guy. "wait, i did not mean—"
"Oh no, you certainly meant it, or else you wouldn't have said it." Alex's voice was soft, but left no room for misunderstanding. "I think it's time for you to go now."
"I am sorry. Please forgive me."
"No. Get Out."
"I should not have said that. It was unfair to you."
"Get. Out."
"Non, please listen."
But Alex was done playing these games. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found the one he kept for Campus Security. He wasted no time hitting send and holding the phone up to his ear. He ignored Lafayette as he tried to ask whom he was calling, instead focusing on the dispatch operator he was connected too. "Hi, name is Alexander Hamilton, I'm a student with Harvard and I reside in Adams House this semester. There is a man in my room who is refusing to leave my dorm and I would like security to please come escort him out, if it would be possible."
"I am not being a bother!" Lafayette yelled at him. Alex ignored the outburst.
"He is my roommate's friend, but my roommate left a little while ago and I am uncomfortable having this man in my space," Alex told the operator. "I've asked him to leave several times and he has refused, I'm not sure what else to do beyond physically throwing him out and risk getting into an altercation with him that would showcase conduct I am sure Harvard does not want associated with their establishment."
"You are really calling security on me? I cannot believe you!" Lafayette gasped, indignant. "I even try to apologize and this is how you are? Thomas is right, you are ass!" He shoved past Alex once more to get to the purse he'd left on the seat but refrained form doing so again as Alex began to tell the operator that he was becoming physically aggressive. "You want to be alone so bad? Fine! But do not think John will be coming back here by himself when he get off work! I will be moving him out where you cannot come to his place ever and that will serve you!"
"He's making threats to forcefully move my roommate out now," Alex just kept telling the operator, "No, I don't believe my roommate would approve of that." He stepped aside and allowed Lafayette a clear path to the door, saying nothing as he gestured for the man to leave on his own if he so wished.
"You are a despicable man, Alexander Lin Garland Hamilton." And with those final words Lafayette left the room, and left Alex in a state of horrified shock.
"John!" Peggy cried with alarm as soon as she caught sight of him. "What Happened To Your Beautiful Face?!"
He nervously chuckled as he slung his backpack around to the shelves reserved for the storage of employee personal items and stuffed it in among the other purses, jackets, hoodies and bags. "I got into a fight," he said. "An awesome fight!"
"Lemme see," she cooed at him, reaching for his face and examining the bruise closer. "Oh baby, does it hurt?"
"Not as much as my ego did when I took the beating," John replied. He tried very hard not to flinch as she kissed his injured cheek.
"What are you getting into fights for?" she asked as she let his face go, moving instead to hug him around the waist like she usually did when he got in for the day. "You can't be doing that or else my daddy is gunna have second thoughts about the kind of man you are!"
"Tell him I was defending your honor from ruffians who were nay saying it," John told her. He squirmed uncomfortably as she squeezed him where it hurt in his abdomen, trying to shrug her off without making her feel like he hated her all of a sudden.
"What were you really getting in a fight for?" she pressed.
"I bet a guy three bowls of Cup Noodles that my favorite baseball team would beat his and he didn't wanna pay up when they indeed won."
"John!"
"You don't fuck around when it comes to Cup Noodles." Beside the employee storage rack was the shelf with extra clean rags, fabric napkins in a plethora of colors and the clean aprons for the kitchen and wait staff. John fished one out to go over his uniform, swinging the ties around his waist and knotting them off in the front. "That shit has magical powers."
"Was it really such a stupid fight you got into?" Peggy asked as she followed him around to the front where he could clock in on one of the POS computers.
"It wasn't anything you need to worry about," he told her with a pat on the head. "Really Pegs. I'll be okay." He gave her his warmest smile and that seemed to satisfy her. "You should get back out on the floor, shit's about to pop off, eh?" He let her hug him one more time then headed back for the kitchen, ready to get into the swing of a nice busy shift.
"YO BRO WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?!"
"YOU LIKE IT, EH? WANT ONE TO MATCH?!" John yelled as he passed the dish area.
"If you think you can take me!" the kid from dish laughed happily at him. Simba was only a year older then him but also a foot taller and altho he was skinny like John he sported just enough muscle mass to gain an upper hand anytime he and John got bored enough on slow days to play fight each other. For all John's training as an older sibling, he just couldn't compete with his co-worker's longer and stronger arms. "For real tho, who's messing you up?"
"No one, don't worry about it," John told him.
"Man, you almost look like my uncle."
He snorted and rolled his eyes. "The creepy one that hits on your girl?"
"Yeah. Better be careful now, or Nala will clock you like she did him last Christmas." He chuckled and John shook his head. "Bright side tho, I think my mom really likes her now."
"That's good to hear man," John said. He slapped his hand against the hand Simba offered him and let him pull John close to his chest by it, swinging the other one up to pat him on the back as the guy returned the favor across John's back. The embrace, tho brief, felt like a welcome home even if he did flinch as his chest still hurt. Oh well, John had already said he'd show up to work today, as far as he was concerned there was no use calling out for a bruise and wounded ego.
There was already one cook on the line, and Simba's eclectic collection of music playing loudly from the speaker he's set up on the line, so John finished getting ready by tying an apron around his waist and washing his hands. "Yo Bass, what you got?" John asked, a bit rhetorically as he pulled on gloves and read the tickets already hanging up.
"Set me some plates out, these buns are about to be done," Bass told him as yet another order started to come through. "Then pull them fries up when you're done laying out the veggies."
"Got it chief," John said, his body already clicking into action. He pulled out the amount of plates needed, lining them up with the tickets hung on the line above them. Bass swung several buns around and John worked on stacking the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles that each of their burgers came with onto them. As he pulled the fries up from the fryer behind him, two more tickets had printed and a third was beginning. John quickly dumped the fries into a large metal bowl and began to toss them with salt. He stepped around Bass, plating each of the fries as his co-cook plated each of the burgers. A fourth ticket was printing. "Order up!" John called through the window and hit the bell meant to alert the waitresses that food was ready as the set the finished plates out for delivery.
"Four fries, an onion ring, and two bowls of soup," Bass called to him.
"Got it," John said. He dumped what was left in the bag of fries into a fryer basket, then called "Behind!" as he slipped past Bass to get another bag to fill the orders and a box of onion rings. "Behind!" he called again as he moved in their cramped space back to the fryer. He poured out the rest of the needed fries, and a little more on top, then portioned out the onion rings. Then he dropped both baskets. He spun and grabbed the already printed tickets just as another started to come through. He quickly scanned the orders in his hands as he put them up, then got the next ticket. "You got another Western Burger, Bass," he called, then he grabbed the mushrooms from their spot in the cooler and tossed them to his coworker. He set out the plates again, lining them up with their respected tickets, except for the soups which he filled right away from the steam table and put them in the window.
Another two tickets printed one after another.
"Gunna be a busy night," Bass called to John. "Why don't you move on down there baby boy, I'll show you how it's done!"
John laughed as he rang the bell for the soup orders. "We gunna be dancing toniiiiight!" he hooted, turning in place to some kind of mariachi song that was playing from the speaker. Sundays were usually steady if nothing else, but John didn't mind because it meant, more often then not, that he would have someone else on the line to help him close. He stopped as Bass set out the buns he would have to stack and couldn't help the smile he had. Whatever was happening around his life, it was good to set it aside and focus on work. In a weird way, this was his sanctuary, a place where he felt the safest and most at ease with himself. Most of his coworkers knew he was gay now, it had come out when he asked Lumiere on a date and been laughed at, but despite how mortified he'd been afterward everyone else just didn't seem to care. They still joked with him and included him in conversations. They still relied on him and helped him when his work load was too much. Even Lumiere didn't seem put off by John immediately following the confession, John had been the one more upset by the whole ordeal obviously. But Lumiere had tried to make up for it by pulling John into the bar area when it was slow and covertly pointing out cute boys to him while he filled drinks. There was certainly a part of John that never wanted to leave this place as his employment, a part of him that missed it dearly every time he had to unofficially quit for several months in the summer and several weeks in the winter.
John heard a crash come from the bar up front and he stuck his head through the doorway to see what was going on. A guy he'd never seen before stood over some shattered glass that was once a cup and looked positively mortified. John noted the cast on his arm and remembered what Ms. Lovette had said about hiring a new guy. "Job opening!" Simba called from dish, clearly not seeing the look of near panic the kid wore. The other two bartenders were already working on sweeping up the glass and apologizing to the waiting customers, too busy with the growing line to worry about the new guy, so John swung around and tapped the kid on the shoulder. "It's okay," he said to the kid's startled and near teary eyed look. "It's just a glass, guy."
"It's the third glass in two weeks," the other mumbled.
"It's replaceable," John said, remembering how anxious he'd felt his own first few days working here two years ago. He pulled him by the sleeve of the blue work shirt he'd been given back into the kitchen then steered him toward a niche where a chair and small table were kept for employee breaks. Of course not everyone sat in the cramped little space for their meals, but it was there for whenever there was just nowhere else to sit in a crowded dining room. "Take a minute, you look like you could use it."
"Am I in trouble?"
"Not with me," John told him gently. He sat the guy in the chair and held him by his shoulders, giving a reassuring squeeze. "Listen, this place has good and bad moments. Even on the worst days you're only gunna be here for a few hours, right?" Hesitantly his new coworker nodded. "Right. So no matter how rough it gets out there, just remember that it can't last forever. And tomorrow will always be a chance to start over. That's how I got through my first few weeks while I learned the ropes."
"Yeah...okay..."
"I'm John, by the way. What's your name?"
"Evan."
"Okay Evan, look, I think you could be good at this job if you just relax and cut yourself a little slack here. The rest of us aren't working with a cast like yours and we all have muscle memory giving us a leg up, but you'll get there. Maybe pouring drinks from the tap is boring, but I know that's a one handed skill so don't worry if you can't mix anything with both hands just yet. Work on what you can do, we'll worry about catching you up when the cast comes off, okay?"
"John, the tickets are coming in hot now!" Bass called from around the corner. "Get your ass in here and help!"
"Alright, I gotta get back on the line, but you jump back in when you're ready, alright?" John squeezed his shoulders again before letting go and skipping back toward his area in the kitchen. Bass had hung several tickets on the line and John scanned them quickly before assessing what needed tending right now. "Sorry chief, you got these fries yet?"
"First couple orders are down, get me the plates, you slacker."
"Bitch, bitch, bitch," John mocked as he set the plates out before checking on the fries. He pulled the potatoes up and drained them, then dumped them into the bowl for salting, and spun abck around to stack the buns Bass had plated. "You know you just stand there at that grill and poke those burgers while I do all the dancing. You got my taco salad meat down?"
"You ain't even started that salad yet, boy. I'm nearly done with all this. Getting ahead of yourself now aren't we?" Bass said as he threw the meat John had asked about onto a corner of the grill.
"I can go faster then you, old man," John shot back playfully. "Keep up with me!" He smiled as he pulled out one of the salad plates and started filling it with lettuce, then snatched a bag of Doritos out of the box kept above his head and crunched them into bitesized pieces. Bass plated the burgers he was now done with and John dropped the bag next to his salad plate too grab and plate the fries. "Three more classics, a Cali chicken and BYOB," John told Bass as he grabbed the finished plates and put them in the window. "That's after you give me that taco meat."
"Taco meat ain't done," Bass told him as he collected the burger patties John told him they needed.
"Well look who's falling behind now," John said as he opened the chip bag and proceeded to pour the crumpled chips around the edge of the salad plate. "Toss me another bag of fries and a box of onion rings please."
"Trade you for that salad plate."
"Deal." John caught Evan's eye as he scurried past to get back to the bar. He smiled and was happy to see the other male smile a little back. He handed over his salad plate and took the bag of fries Bass handed him. "Yo, where my onion rings?"
"I didn't agree to marry you," Bass said as he scooped the meat for the salad onto the plate he now held then laughed at his own joke.
"You're married to me for the next hour, you better have my ring!" John shot back. "And don't even think about no karats or diamonds neither, they better be made of onions."
"We getting Simpsons married then?" Bass handed the salad back to John before retrieving the onion rings.
"Sure thing, chief. Also, where my buns at?" And he pointed to the empty plates he set out for the upcoming orders.
"First it's rings, then it's buns. Your damn generation is so entitled. Back in MY day you had to walk uphill both ways in a blizzard to get your buns, and they'd be frozen when you got them home."
"You had buns back in your day?" John said as he dropped the second fryer basket and turned to finish the salad.
"Yeah, a dino steaks too," Bass chortled. "If we could catch 'em."
"Okay grandpa," John said as he put the salad in the order window. "Order up!" He moved the tickets down the line and picked up the next five that had printed since they'd been bantering, looking them over before calling out the next few orders. He stuck them up along the line and calculated how he was gunna balance the fryer between the alternating orders of rings, fries and now chicken tenders and chicken wing orders that were coming in. Deep breath, and he told himself he'd get through it. It couldn't stay packed forever. "Here we go."
END CHAPTER