Disclaimer: Dark Angel isn't my baby. There really is no Happy Burger chain that I know of. (don't sue, don't sue!) I made that up. Along with the characters of Linda Johnson and Brandon Taylor. That's all I own here.
Story: Max gets called in for an interview, Sketchy gets drunk, and the plot thickens...
A/N: Hey, guys! First off, I'm so sorry for the long wait on this particular update! Feel free to re-read or skim the first chapter to refresh your memories. I'll try not to let writer's block claim the dark recesses of my mind for such a long stretch ever again. It probably doesn't help that I was working on my other story, "MIA," at the same time... Oh well, enough rambling. Here's the next part. A huge Thank You! to those of you who took the time to review: Dazedizzy, candyabble, kimmie, Pai2, and ladyfaith. You guys rock! Happy reading!
"Unnngh…" Max woke with a groan to the ringing of her cell phone that was tucked inside her coat. Still a little dizzy, she stumbled to her feet and saw that she had been lying out on the open street behind a butcher shop and a little Chinese takeout place.
She hissed at the sight of a back door with a Chinese symbol opening. A furry blur streaked out of the door down a nearby alley, yowling loudly in alarm all the while. The door opened again to reveal a fat, greasy man hurrying after the cat saying, "Heeere, kitty kitty! Come on! Come ta papa!" Max growled and staggered away from the place while fumbling for her phone in her leather coat. Gotta shut it up. Won't stop ringing! Damn, my head hurts!
Max flipped open the phone and blinked at it several times to focus her eyes before attempting to hit the 'receive' button. "Hello?" she said thickly into the phone.
A professional sounding voice answered. "Hello. Is this Max Guevara I'm speaking to?"
"That depends. Who's calling?"
"My apologies. This is Linda Johnson answering a job interview request from a Max Guevara. Is he available?"
Job interview request? 'He'! "Yeah, you're speaking to her."
The woman on the other end faltered a bit. "O-oh. I'm t-terribly sorry, miss. How embarrassing! Um… I was wondering if you were still interested in getting the job…."
"What job?"
"The job you applied for. Here at Happy Burger?" the woman said slowly.
Max didn't know why on earth she would have ever applied at the cheesy burger place, but she must've needed a job. In all honesty, she didn't remember. The only thing she was certain of was that her name was Max Guevara, since this Linda Johnson woman reminded her. And the fact that her head hurt like a bitch. As for the 'why' of it…. Max had no clue. But it hurt. Bad.
"Oh. That job. Um, sure. I'm still interested." I must've applied before… whatever happened to hurt my head. That must mean I need this job. I would only apply there out of desperation, right? "Everyone could use money, right?"
Linda laughed lightly. "Indeed. So when would you like to come in for an interview? Is your schedule clear for Tuesday the 15th? Around 9 AM, if that's alright. How's that sound?"
Max couldn't think of any conflicting schedule issues since she couldn't remember having a schedule or any kind of social life to speak of, so of course it sounded fine. "Sounds great. Um… what day is today?"
Linda laughed that little laugh again. "Why Max, it's Sunday the 13th."
"Okay…"
"Is there a problem?"
"No," Max said simply. Other than my headache. Her speech was getting more intelligible, so she hoped that the headache would fade soon, too.
"Great! See you then!" Linda said cheerily before hanging up.
"See ya," Max said to the dial tone. She shut her phone. "Now what the hell'm I s'pose ta do for two days before that interview? Hm. Maybe I should find where this Happy Burger place is… or where I live. I do live somewhere, don't I?" She walked off to look for a familiar sight, or some kind of shelter, muttering to herself angrily that it would be much easier to get around with a bike and without a stumble to her step.
Sketchy, Alec, and Original Cindy sat at a table together in Crash with three big pitchers of beer between them. They were working off their anger at their boss by trying to lose themselves in an alcohol-induced stupor.
"Man. I can't believe he did it. Normal always complained, but I never thought he'd ever get mad enough to do it," Sketchy mused into his glass.
OC nodded and pursed her lips in a frown. "I know. The man is unbelievable. He threatens my girl every day, an' finally, after 'bout two years of list'nin' to his shit wit nothin' hap'nin' 'gainst her every single time, she does the same thing she's always done 'n' gets the boot. Cheers for consistency, eh fellas?" she said dejectedly, raising her glass in a mock toast.
Alec and Sketchy clinked their glasses with OC's wryly.
"We gotta get 'er back. There's no way Normal can stick with that decision," Alec insisted.
"It ain't fair," Cindy said angrily in agreement.
Silence reigned at the table for a minute until Sketchy, by this time on his fifth round, belched gracelessly and raised his head from the table.
"Hey, guys! I gotta idea!"
Alec and OC stared at Sketchy with guarded expressions. A sober Sketchy came up with outrageous ideas. There was no telling what a drunk Sketchy would think up.
Taking their silence for an urge to continue, Sketchy said, "Remember the time Normal tried to can Herbal for smokin' weed in the bathroom?"
OC shot him an annoyed look. "Yeah, what's ya point?"
Alec, right on top of Cindy, looked confused and asked, "Who's Herbal?"
The two Ordinaries looked at Alec and tried to explain. "He was this rockin' guy from, like, Jamaica - "
" - he was on the Jam Pony crew wit me 'n' this fool an' Max - "
" - and he was performing a religious ritual in - "
" - he was caught gettin' high in the bathroom at JP. Normal got up off his raggedy ass an' fired 'im," Cindy finished to a staring Alec. She turned to Sketchy again. "Now git ta da point, fool!"
Sketchy swayed in his seat and held up defensive hands. "Okay, okay. Remember how we got Normal to take it back?" he slurred excitedly.
Alec's eyes widened. "You mean he hired him back after doing drugs at Jam Pony?" he asked, amazed. He himself had been thinking that anything involving drugs at JP would result in permanent termination. A 'You're fired. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200' -kinda thing.
Cindy's eyes widened as she shared Sketchy's excitement. "Yeah, after the employees all protested with a slow-down! That's what we're gonna do. We gonna go on strike to let him know how much my girl means ta all of us. We gonna give Normal the slow-down from Hell!"
The three friends raised their glasses in triumph to toast once more. Alec's went to the center since his transgenic brain wasn't really affected by the alcohol. A slightly intoxicated OC's glass glanced off the side of Alec's, and Sketchy's glass missed entirely, sloshing alcohol all over his friends sitting across from him.
Alec and Cindy helped Sketchy to his feet, and the trio staggered off arm-in-arm to find the rest of the Jam Pony crew to tell them what was going down.
Tuesday the 15th, 8:50 AM
Max opened the door to the smelly little fast food place. It couldn't really be called a restaurant. It was too grimy and low-quality, so Max just thought of it as a 'place'.
Her head still hurt. Not nearly as bad as before, but the pain was still there. On top of it all, she had butterflies beating around in her stomach. She was nervous. This was her first interview, wasn't it? Whether or not it was, the thought of being interrogated seemed nauseating to Max. Hopefully she could stomach it, both her nerves and the smell of the place. Max felt like she had gained at least ten pounds just by smelling the grease.
Max told the bored-looking cashier that she was there for an interview. The cashier looked stunned. He gathered his wits, eyed her up and down eagerly, and went to go get his manager.
A woman with strawberry-blond hair pulled into a loose bun and a manager's blouse and nametag smiled in greeting. She did a visual once-over of Max, too, before saying cheerfully, "Hi there! You must be Max. I'm Linda. We spoke on the phone, remember?" Max nodded. "Good! Now you just take a seat in the dining room. Feel free to get a drink, and I'll be right out." She handed Max a cup and walked off again behind the flimsy swinging half-door.
Max walked off to the soda machine and filled her drink cup and sat down at a semi-clean table. Ew, the chair's sticky! Now she had time to stew in her nerves. Great.
Max had crashed at an abandoned motel the nights before, and she was very hungry. It was hard living with no possessions besides her cell phone and the clothes on her back.
She had tried to beg for food, but the good people of Seattle were so selfish and apathetic to the needs of strangers that she was given curses more often than food. So she had stolen some food and claimed the motel room as hers. It was the least the damn city could offer her after the terrible time she had had trying it the honest way. So much for honesty. Oh well. If they could be apathetic, so could she.
Linda came out and commenced the interview, asking all kinds of asinine questions about why Max wanted to work there, how she had come across it, and what she could bring to the company. Max noticed the employees all trying to find excuses to go into the dining room to spy on the 'newbie' getting put to the question. Most were male, all of which were bordering on drooling at the sight of her. They hoped fervently that Linda hired this one.
"OK, now what is your favorite color?"
Max stared. "My favorite color?"
"Yes. What is it? Pink? Blue? Red?"
Max wrinkled her nose at 'pink'. "Actually, I like black."
Linda gave a tight smile. "Alright, Max. Then we'll make sure to get you a nice, black uniform! How many hours can you work?"
Max wore a small smile. Thank God that it was over! "However many you can throw at me. How soon can I start?"
Linda looked thrilled. Her eyes practically shone with tears of joy. "Oh, wonderful! You can start tomorrow if you want! Come in at three o'clock, alright?"
"Great. See ya tomorrow."
Max left the place with Linda's and the associates' eyes on her back.
When Max left, Linda heaved a huge sigh of relief. She felt like crying! This was too good to be true! The girl was perfect. She was just what Linda needed to keep her job.
Linda's thoughts turned ugly at the thought of her overbearing boss threatening her like that. He had no right! Linda had given almost ten years of her life to this rat hole, and one man was going to send it all crashing down on her head!
Linda's hand tightened around her pen as she wrote up the official paper work to show her boss. This should show him, the arrogant asshole!
He told her that the Happy Burger chain was suffering financial losses due to increased competition and lack of competent employees. And managers. He had made that painfully clear.
Linda was already being run ragged with juggling the marketing job as well as the usual tasks of a Restaurant Manager. Now he was threatening to demote her or flat-out fire her if she couldn't find a competent employee to start turning the place around.
The stupid prick had even given her a list of criteria to match to that employee! And he had put them up to some pretty high standards. His list specified that more people would choose Happy Burger to get their fast food if the employees were attractive, intelligent, had some personality, didn't balk at hard work, and gave a damn about the company.
An added bonus would be if they were willing to work many hours, to devote most of their time to bettering the place and learning its workings. Linda snorted at the thought. 'An added bonus.' More like a 'must', with him.
He had ranked the traits in that order, making looks the most important thing. That was ridiculous! If Linda interviewed a smart, intelligent kid with a good head and a good set of morals willing to work every day if they could, she would be forced to turn them down if they were ugly! The perfect employee, pushed away if Linda found them unattractive. A load of bullshit. Besides, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? What would happen to me if I hired someone I didn't think was too bad but he found ugly? Linda shuddered. Duh, she'd be fired. Stupid prick, she thought for about the twentieth time that morning.
The problem was, nobody fitting his outrageous criteria wanted to work at a place like Happy Burger. Hell, practically nobody existed who was both attractive and smart! And even Linda herself felt a little foolish admitting that she had worked at that particular fast food chain for so long.
But then she saw a new application in her office, and she had leapt at it as soon as she glanced at the name, phone number, and clean police record. That had been enough for the time being. She had decided to call for an interview immediately. After all, Linda was desperate, and she hadn't received a single application in months!
Even still, Max was too good to be true. She went above and beyond expectations. She fit all of Linda's ass of a boss's criteria and then some! Max was stunning and intelligent, she definitely had personality, and all signs indicated that she was willing to become a Happy Burger slave for money. Just too good to be true!
Linda whimpered at the thought of it all turning out to be a dream. She prayed she wouldn't wake in her bed to find it so. Wait... No, it couldn't be a dream. Her boss was still alive. In her good dreams, Linda was the boss and her current one had died some sort of violent and painful death only days before. Linda was no killer, but it sure would be nice if dreams came true...
"Miss Johnson?"
Linda jerked and looked quickly up from the table where she had been interviewing Max moments before. She felt like she was going to swallow her tongue. "Yes, Mr. Taylor?" she said breathlessly.
"Linda. Thought I'd lost you there, love. You said you had a new face to interview. Mind if I sit in?" It wasn't exactly a request.
Linda kept a smile off of her face somehow at dodging that particular bullet. "Why, Mr. Taylor, you just missed her. It went very well, though. I hired her on the spot!" she said, letting that smile show at her last sentence.
Mr. Taylor glared irritably and ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair in frustration. "Without my clearance?" he said angrily.
Linda shrugged cheerfully. Damn straight. "Well, sir, she fit all of your specified criteria. Wasn't that what you wanted?" asked a wide-eyed Linda with feigned innocence.
Her boss scowled at her. "All of it?" he asked disbelievingly.
To think when Brandon Taylor had first transfered to her store Linda had thought him attractive. Then she saw his personality, and it was decidedly ugly. "Well, sir, when she starts tomorrow, you can see if she fits for yourself, right?"
Brandon snorted. "And then what if she doesn't fit, eh love? Not even I can fire the girl without a good reason! She would need to be written up three times before I can legally do that. You however, love, have been written up twice now. If this girl's no good...," he trailed off menacingly. "Let's just say it's three strikes 'n' you're out. Understand?"
Linda swallowed hard. "Yes, sir. I understand."
"Good." And with that, Brandon Taylor, the restaurant's General Manager, stalked off to the office, leaving a trembling Linda Johnson by herself at the table.
Max Guevara, you had better impress the hell out of Brandon, or else I'm a goner!
A/N: Well, I hope you liked this next installment! I'm trying to make this move a little faster than my usual writing style allows... Let me know if the pace is too quick/slow/whatever. I love to hear (well, read) from you guys! Please review to tell me if I should bother with continuing this! Thanks for reading!