I'll Be The One

Chapter 19:

=Normal POV=
[Tuesday, 1/15/2019-4:30 pm]
[Archipelago; Arc Isle]
[Dreki Apartment; A1]

It was a week until midterms, and Hunter had spent most of the last two weeks doing last assignments, final reviews, and studying his ass off. The group of friends were still shocked by the fact he protected them from being ambushed, and being caught by the police in the raid, but they were overall, very thankful to him. All of the friends hung out a few times a week, whether it was the hideout or in someone's apartment. Hideout hangouts were mainly reserved for if they had some work to get done and would relax later over a couple drinks, jokes, snacks, and chatter. Apartment chilling was used to actually kick back and relax with no worry of work. Most of the hanging out was always in Flynn and Hunter's apartment because if they ordered food or needed to go anywhere; the apartment was on the first floor and easy access to the parking lot or for delivery drivers to find. All Flynn or Hunter had to say was Dreki Apartments, first floor, right hallway, and first door on the left labeled A1. Everyone typically had a fantastic time hanging out together; there was hardly ever any dull moments between them.

"So, what should we do tonight gang?" Trevor asked while all of them were sitting in A1 to relax.

"Why don't we go out for dinner?" Roxanne suggested.

"Where too, though?" Madison looked at her.

"I dunno," Roxanne shrugged.

"How about McViking?" Drew offered.

"Yeah, that could work; it's only ten minutes away," Harper nodded.

"We should wait for Hunter to get home from school," Tallon stated. "Ask him if he would like to join us,"

"Weird that you mention that because Hunter should have already been home," Flynn informed as he checked the time on the microwave and stove. "It's 4:30; his class let out half an hour ago,"

"Maybe he got held up?" Elijah asked.

"It is a week until midterms," Avery reminded. "Someone text him?"

"I got it," Tallon said, grabbing his phone and pulling up the messages with Hunter.

4:34 pm
Hey, where you at? We're all gonna go out and grab dinner, do you want to join us?

"Let's give it a bit; it's stills early for dinner anyway," Flynn enlightened. The time continued to tick by until it was 5:15 pm, almost marking a full hour and Hunter not being home yet. It was starting to concern Tallon, but as he was going to text someone else to get an answer, a message from Hunter popped up.

"There he is," Tallon said, opening the message to read it.

Hunter's Cell, 5:15 pm
Wish I could, but stuff to do. Raincheck! Talk to you later.

"Said he had stuff to do and will take a raincheck," Tallon informed the others.

"Can't do much with that then, so let's head to McViking and get some food," Trevor said. The friends nodded in agreement, packing up, and heading out of the complex to get to McViking.

. . .

[5:30 pm]
[McViking]

Arriving at the establishment, the group of friends parked in the few open spaces near one another and headed inside the building. It appeared to be dinner rush, but not awful, so they jumped in line and looked at the menu board to decide what they wanted before reaching the cashier. The friends didn't wait too long before reaching the counter.

"I'll be right with you," the girl smiled.

"No problem, take your time," Seth replied. The girl hurried off to start filling orders for the other customers who were waiting for their food. After a few more minutes passed; the girl returned to the register with a welcoming smiling.

"Hi, welcome to McViking. I'm Maria. Will be this for here or to go?" the cashier, Maria, asked. The friends placed their orders, but not all on one tab. Flynn pain for Harper, Drew, and himself. Roxanne paid for TJ and herself. Trevor paid for himself and Avery. Seth took care of him and Madison. Last up was Tallon.

"Can I do the fish combo, please?" Tallon inquired gently.

"Sure; it will be about a five-minute wait, though. We cook it to order; is that okay?" Maria questioned.

"That's fine," Tallon nodded.

"Alright, and what size will your fry and drink be?" Maria looked at him.

"Uh, let's go medium, please?" Tallon replied. "Oh, and can I do a strawberry frosty as my drink, and add on a six-piece nugget?"

"No problem," Maria tapped a few more things before bringing her eyes back to Tallon. "Any sauce for the nuggets?"

"Honey Mustard," Tallon responded.

"Okay, your total tonight is…$11.75," Maria informed.

"Can you break a fifty?" Tallon asked, holding up the bill.

"Definitely, I just need my manager to override it. It's a new policy…Hang on just one second," Maria said before looking back a bit. "Bossman, I need your finger at front!" she called lightly.

"Be right there, Maria!" called a somewhat familiar voice. From around the sandwich station came Hunter, shocking the friends. "What's up?"

"Override for a fifty," Maria told him.

"Go drop it in the safe," Hunter reminded as she nodded and headed out of sight for a moment while he tapped a few things on the computer.

"Hunter?" Tallon asked.

"Hm?" Hunter looked up and noticed who was there, and then shortly after; saw the others. "Oh, hey, guys," he greeted with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Flynn blinked.

"I…Thought you quit back in November?" Avery added in.

"I'm here working," Hunter responded as Maria returned and she showed him the little slip. Hunter scanned his finger on the side of the computer as the draw popped open and Maria returned before it to get Tallon's change.

"Boss, coupon on drive-thru!" another voice called.

"Coming," Hunter quickly.

"Wait, Hunt…Talk to us about this. Why'd you come back to work?" Tallon questioned.

"Just…Give me a bit to handle this rush and I'll come talk to you. I can't right now…Front and Drive-Thru are slammed, and I'm down a runner and sandwich maker until-," Hunter began.

"I'm here, Hunt! And I brought help," stated a voice who hurried behind the counter.

"Until now. Thank Odin…" Hunter sighed. "Scott, get on sandwiches. Verena, corner. Olivia, run for front,"

"Yes, sir!" the three replied, hurrying into the back to get into uniform and then on their assigned positions.

"I'll come talk to you soon, I promise…I just need to get all this under control first," Hunter mentioned before walking out of sight.

"Your change is $38.25. And I'll have everything out to you right away," Maria promised as Tallon took his change, setting the bills into his wallet and coins in his pocket. The group waited for their food as it came out faster now that Hunter apparently had some extra help. Once all of the friends had their food; they found a place to sit down and start eating. All the while watching Hunter run around to do different things.

. . .

[6:35 pm]

Over an hour after arriving, the friends were just relaxing with dessert such as ice cream or cookies as Hunter was headed to come out from behind the counter. "You guys got this for a bit?"

"Rush is over, we're alright," Scott called to him with a thumbs up. Hunter nodded as he moved towards the dining room and near his friends. Hunter grabbed a chair and plopped down to join them tiredly.

"You look beat…" Drew pointed out first.

"It's been busy since I got here at 4:15," Hunter stated.

"So…What happened? Why'd you come work again?" Seth asked.

"Had too much free time," Hunter informed. "I originally quit to spend more time with Cassandra, but since that whole thing blew up in my face back in November…" Hunter mumbled a bit. "I decided to come back and work a bit until June; they already know I'm leaving again after I graduate," he added.

"But why, Hunter? You enjoyed having the free time before; you were spending it with us or your dad and uncle," Trevor questioned.

"I still have time for all that and school, but there were just some nights I sat home and did nothing for hours. I came here last Tuesday after one of my classes for lunch and got to talking to some of the employees who mentioned that things were lacking serious management since I'd left. We got more into talking about it and when I saw it with my own eyes; I stepped in and took charge. It only took one call to the office to reinstate me as general manager," Hunter explained.

"Hunter," Tallon looked at him seriously now. "Come on, dude…It's more than that,"

Hunter sighed. "I gave you the main reason, but I guess the rest of it was that I needed to be busy and distracted. I'm not saying I don't get that with you guys, but we mostly sit around and talk or laugh while drinking. This place keeps me busy for hours, and I can make money while I do it,"

"Why did you need a distraction? What's going on?" Drew pushed lightly.

"Eh…It's just…A hard time of year, guys. I told you about it; that this is when Mom started getting really sick and weak, dying slowly and there was nothing dad, Greg, or I could do for her. I mentioned before that the hardest part was watching someone you love suffer and be powerless to stop it. I had a lot of free time last year when it all happened. I was miserable. I decided to do something productive rather than drink like I did around Snoggletog," Hunter looked off to the side a bit.

"Oh, Hunter…We're sorry," Harper frowned.

"But good on you for finding an alternative than drinking," TJ mentioned quickly as the others glared at him.

"But yeah, figured I'd come back to work," Hunter said. "Won't be here nearly as much, but three or four nights a week, a couple opens…" he shrugged. "I already told the office I couldn't work as much as before because this is temporary until we train someone properly to take my place. Have no idea how the other guy made it to GM when he didn't know the job. And I don't know who trained him, but it wasn't me…" he mumbled. "I'll have too much work in second semester to do this job as much as before,"

"Thought said you only had two classes?" Roxanne asked.

"I have three classes, and a dissertation which is worth either half or most of my final grade. It's basically my graduation project," Hunter said.

"What's a dissertation?" Elijah wondered.

"In short its-," Hunter stopped, glancing to the employees standing around. "Hang on," he told his friends. "Hey! If you have time to lean; then you have time to clean!" he called.

"But Hunter!" one of the girls said.

"We're just talking while it's slow," said a male.

"You talk on your time, which is break or off the clock, but not right now when there is work to be done. You know your jobs for post rush; restock and clean," Hunter stated.

"But boss, this place is immaculate!" said another worker.

"And I busted my ass all last week to make it such, so I'd like to keep it that way. The dining room tables can be wiped down, the trays can be collected, wipe down the condiment stand and restock it. I'm sure cups, lids, and dipping sauces can be refilled for front and drive-through…You can do prep-work, sweep…Come on guys, you've all worked here for a year or more; you know the job. I know the other guy let you slack off, but that's not how I run this store, so move it," Hunter ordered.

"We don't close until 1 am, we have plenty of time to do all that…Can't we have a little bit of relaxation time after that rush? You're sitting down and talking with friends…" another argued.

"You're usually a lot more chill…" someone mumbled.

"I am your boss before I am your friend. You know I don't care if you relax a little WHEN the rest of the work is done, and currently; it is not. All MY work as GM is done. Food order, inventory, schedule, and the office is clean. The rest of the work I do is designate my employees to their stations to clean, and prepare them for working. Now, get to work or I'll start writing people up and I don't think some of you can afford it because you're already on your second warnings; a third is termination. So quite literally…Do your work or get fired. You got to comfortable with the other guy letting you laze about, and that don't fly on my shifts. And let me remind you that we close at 10 pm because we're in Winter hours until April, so get to friggin work!" Hunter warned. The employees tensed and quickly dispersed to get to work. "That's what I thought,"

"Iron fist much?" Tallon chuckled a little.

"Have to. Day shift told me about the lack of management during the night shifts. The other guy never made them stay busy, so they do whatever they want. I can't have that," Hunter said.

"Ah, fair enough," Avery nodded.

"So, what's that dissertation thing?" Drew asked.

"The shortest explanation is that; The master's degree thesis and doctoral dissertation are written documents that describe the graduate student's research. It's basically a huge research paper on a topic decided upon by me and my teacher, then approved by the student committee between fifteen and twenty-five thousand words. It's gonna take up a huge portion of my second semester, so I have less, and shorter classes to make time to do it," Hunter explained.

"You already have your schedule?" Flynn wondered.

"Yeah, got it when winter vacation was over on the 7th," Hunter nodded.

"What classes you looking at? Easy stuff?" Madison asked.

"Advanced Logic and Languages, two separate classes that will be two hours each. And then I'll still have one day of Music," Hunter informed lightly.

"And the rest of the free time will be work at that paper, right?" Seth questioned.

"That's right," Hunter replied looking towards the area behind the counter; he pressed a button on his headset. "I hope you know that I know all of you are ganged up in the drive-through corner because you think I can't see you. Also, get off of your phones before they become mine and locked in the safe until the end of your shift. The salad fridge is stainless steel and acts like a mirror; get to work. This is your last warning before I start writing you up," he informed as a group came out from the drive-thru corner and began wiping things down and restocking.

"Well, we should get out of here since you're working," Tallon said.

"I'll be home by 8:15 pm. I'm not closing tonight, just for a few hours because the other closer forgot about something he had to do with his daughter at school. Some recital, so I said I'd work a few hours," Hunter shrugged.

"Awesome, we'll see you when you're home then," Avery said.

"Okay, I'll see you guys in a few hours," Hunter smiled, standing up and saying goodbye with a wave of his hand before moving behind the counter and towards the back of the building, probably where his office was. The friends cleaned up their area and left McViking to get back to Dreki Apartments. Hunter sat in his office chair, sighing heavily and looking up at the ceiling. Hunter had a lot going on in his head lately; the one-year anniversary of his mother dying, turning twenty-two and his mom not being alive to see it, his feelings for Cassandra existing, and the new ones for Tallon. Hunter went back to work to get a distraction, but it wasn't doing much for him. Hunter just wanted to finish this shift, and relax a bit.

"Boss, we're starting to get a bit busier!" one of the girls mentioned after poking her head inside the office.

"I'll be right out," Hunter informed. The girl nodded, and then headed for the front to help out. Hunter took a deep breath before blinking and feeling some fatigue and wishing he had an energy drink. Hunter got up and cracked his back, preparing to head out and keep working.

"Hunter, there's someone here for you," one of the males stated on the headset. Hunter moved out front to find Tallon there.

"What's up, Tal?" Hunter asked.

"You look pretty beat, so I thought you could use one of these to get through the rest of your night," Tallon handed him a Red Bull.

"Oh, my Gods! You're a life saver! I was literally just sitting in the back wishing I had an energy drink," Hunter laughed a little. "Thanks,"

"Guess great minds think alike. It was no problem, Hunt. See you at the apartment in two or so hours!" Tallon waved and headed back out the restaurant doors. Hunter smiled a little before moving to the back to set his drink down; then return to the front to help out. Hunter was immensely grateful that Tallon was thinking of him in that regard to bring an energy drink. Now, Hunter just needed to survive until 8 pm when the closing manager returned and then he could go home to relax and hang with his friends for a bit.