Chapter 2
"I'll take two number 6's, one with no pickles. And, can you add extra pickle and McDougall sauce to the other one?" This guy looked like he had gotten black out drunk the night before and rolled out of bed to walk in here and get something to eat.
I pushed the buttons on screen to take his order. "Yea, I can. You want those to be medium meals?"
"Yes. And substitute, a large Butterscotch Dougall-Shake for the drink on the one with no pickles."
"Will that be all, sir?"
"Yes"
"For here or to go?"
"To go."
"Alright, your total is 123.21. Tap your phone or bank card on the scanner."
I looked to my left at Sammy, who smiled at me. Last week had come and gone, and I still haven't gotten the balls to ask her to hang out yet. We've been hitting it off at work, making each other laugh a lot, but I still didn't know much about her.
She turned her attention away from me and started taking some guy's order. She smiled less when talking to customers, but still held onto it tightly. Her smile, her bright eyes almost twinkling when she spoke to customers. It was like for a brief moment she was captivated by them completely and they had her full attention. Maybe she didn't enjoy this job, but you would never know that just from talking to her. I had even come to find her saying, like, every other sentence was a cute quirk. And the way that tight uniform fit her it was—
"Yeah! Can I get uhhh, a Large McCheeseburger meal with a diet lemon lime soda, and another large fry."
My unclean thoughts were interrupted, but some blue collar type guy who looked like he didn't need 2 large fries. "Sure, yea. For here or to go?"
"For here."
"Ok, total is 73.40. Tap your phone or card on the scanner."
He frowned and pointed at the order display screen. "I ordered a lemon lime soda. Why does it say cola? I didn't order that?"
"Hmm? Oh yea, you fill up your soda from the fountain. They're all the same price too, so it doesn't matter what I pick unless you're going through the drive through."
I don't think he understood everything I said, but me saying it was the same price must've erased his concerns. "Ok." He tapped his card, and I handed him his receipt along with his drink cup.
"We'll yell your order number on the receipt when it's ready."
He took it and walked over to fill up his soda cup.
I looked over at Sammy again, and she was taking another order. I had talked to my other coworkers to carefully find out if she had a boyfriend, and it was looking like I was in luck.
After I found that out, my friends had been hounding me about my reluctance to talk with her. Duuude it's been a week, just ask her to do something outside of work if you're getting along so well. I told you to go slow, but if you go this slow she's gonna be dead before you hang out. Josh and Ray pushed me, but at least Dan offered some sympathy. Come on guys, you don't even know who she is. It took me a long time to work up the courage to ask Bridgette out. But for once, I think Josh and Ray were right. Asking Sammy to hang out outside of work was like diving off a cliff into the water. I could spend my whole life preparing myself for it, but in the end I'm still going to have to jump. And today I was feeling ballsy, I'd have to find the right time, but I could do it.
To my right was Calvin, normally he worked the grill on day shift but, for whatever reason, he decided he wanted to be on the register today. From what I could gather, he seemed like just another college kid working here trying to make a quick buck in between classes. Nothing really stood out about him. Short brown hair, brown eyes, brown shoes, the only things on him that weren't brown were his uniform and his skin.
Since the lunch rush was dying down, I decided to talk to him to pass the time. "Ey how's it going, Calvin?"
He turned to look at me, and he clearly wasn't trying to hide his boredom. "Oh, you know, hangin in there." He stopped for a second and looked at my nametag. "Hey you're the new guy, right?"
"Yea, this is my second week."
"How are you liking it so far?"
"Eh, it's fine. Pays the bills anyway."
He smirked and nodded. "I hear that."
"Ain't you usually on the grill? You taking a break from it today?"
"Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Need a break from all that grease and shit. Bad for your skin, makes you break out and smell like oil. And that smell sticks with me even after I take multiple showers."
"Damn, that sounds like it sucks."
"Yeah, it blows too!" He laughed after making that joke and I joined him.
I stifled my laughter for a moment. "I don't blame you for taking off a day last week if it's that bad."
He quieted his laughter as well. "Oh that, nah, I went to a baseball game with some of my friends."
"I forgot we had a baseball team."
He looked offended by my statement. "How could you, dude? The Kings are on a winning streak. We beat the Washington Nationals 10-4 last week."
"I don't care about sports much. Hope that game was worth it though, that viper seemed pretty pissed about picking up your shift."
As soon as I mentioned the viper, some of the color drained from his face, and he looked unsettled. "Mark didn't tell me who took my shift. It was the viper?"
"Yea, I talked to her. I think her name was Tay or something."
He looked around the room to see if there were any customers, and when he saw it was empty, he looked back at me. "Listen, you're new here, so let me tell you something. Don't talk to her. You don't want anything to do with Tay."
I got the feeling I was about to hear some forbidden knowledge. "Why, what'd she do?"
He leaned back and chuckled. "Plenty. You said you talked to her, how was it?"
I thought back to our meeting. "It wasn't great, she called me names before storming off."
"Tsk, you got off easy, dude. One time when I was working, I accidentally spilled some grease on her when she walked behind me and she threatened to gouge my eyes out with her thumbs if I ever did it again. I believed her too."
"That's crazy, and she wasn't fired for that."
He shook his head. "Nope, they reprimanded her for it, but was back at work the next day."
I heard a voice from behind me. "Hey guys, I, like, don't mean to eavesdrop, but I've got a story about her, too."
Both me and Calvin turned to look at Sammy, and she continued. "So, like, on my second month here, she was filling in for someone on the grill. I was, like, learning how the drive thru worked, so I was near her. When it got slow, I tried to talk to her because I wasn't, like, trying to be judgemental because she was a non-human. You know, like, learn more about her. I complimented her earrings, or like her hood rings or whatever they are, and she just insulted me a bunch. She called me a preppy bitch and said I was useless, that if the city walls didn't protect me I'd be, like, chryssalid food, or at best, a bandit's concubine."
"Did she get reprimanded?" I asked.
Sammy shrugged. "I don't think anyone talked to her about it. It was over so quick I, like, didn't know what to do. I just stayed away from her forever. I talked to Mark about it, but he just told me she was having a bad day."
Calvin chuckled. "Yeah, she's having a bad day every day."
"Okay, so she says shit, but Mark said she's all bark and n—"
He cut me off and said, "Fuck what Mark thinks, he's the only reason any of us have to deal with her at all," under his breath. "She's a shitty diversity hire with a bad attitude, and that's just the surface. There are rumors about her."
"Rumors? What kinds of rumors?"
"Were you around for the Human Liberation War?"
"I was a kid, but yea, I remember some of it."
"Well, you know as well as I do that almost none of the non-humans are free from sin. All of them were made by Advent, and all of them have done something bad to one of us at some point in their lives. Even if they're rehabilitated now, that doesn't absolve them of the things they've done."
Guess he didn't care for that diversity video. "Okay, so what? Not every alien was an arbiter of evil."
He backed up. "Hey, I'm not xenophobic or anything. I'm just pointing out a lot of aliens have killed us at some point or helped with it, and what she did was way worse than the stuff most of them did."
"So, what'd she do then?"
He looked around again for prying ears. "She's worked at McDougalls as long as she's been free, but she worked at another location before they built this one. There used to be an old guy named Cory that washed dishes here. He was a cool dude. I talked to him all the time. Anyway, one time during our lunch breaks, he told me about her. You see, him and a few others transferred to this Mcdougalls with her when it was built. He had been working there longer than her, so he got to know her as well as anyone could. Far into a boring shift we got to talking about past coworkers, and he tells me that one time when it was late he overheard her talking about the Blacksites with someone in the office of the old Mcdougalls, and from what he heard he thinks she was a guard at one of the Advent Blacksites."
That had to be the craziest thing I've ever heard. "Are we thinking of the same Blacksites?"
"Yes, the places where Advent fucking melted billions of people into sludge to make new bodies for the Elders. What other Blacksites are there? She was a guard at one of those facilities"
I still couldn't believe it. "Come on, really? There is no way in hell Xcom would let someone like that out into the public."
He shrugged. "Who says Xcom knows everything? A lot of those aliens destroyed all their documentation, wiped data bases, burned files, they were even turning on their own kind in the chaos. Anything to make themselves look better and save their hides from Xcom's judgement. Just like the traitors in the Advent puppet government. She could be one of the ones that slipped through the cracks."
He looked dead serious. "Come on, is this a joke? You guys are messing with me because I'm the new guy; there is no way a homicidal maniac is employed here." I turned to Sammy. "Do you believe that?"
She had a serious look too and nodded. "Maybe she, like, doesn't want anyone to be her friend because she doesn't want them to find out. I, like, don't know if it's, like, 100% true, but if Xcom agents came in and arrested her, it wouldn't shock me."
God, maybe I really did get off easy. "Shit, I didn't know."
He smiled and patted me on the shoulder once. "That's why I'm telling you, you have a right to know. And if you don't believe me, just ask anyone on the day crew, they'll all say the same thing: stay out of her way, for your own good."
"I... I will. Thanks for telling me."
A customer walked in the door to get their order taken and our conversation was over. I took my lunch break after working for a few more hours and took a seat in the breakroom. There were two people in there: Lance and Amy. Lance was older, maybe in his late 20's, and Amy looked like she was a high schooler. They were both minding their own business when I asked them about Tay, and sure enough, they each had an unpleasant experience with her. Lance actually had two bad experiences with her. One was when he asked her for help loading a few soda syrup boxes, and the other was her threatening him after he bumped into her in public, outside of work. Amy's story was a lot like Sammy's, she tried to be nice and talk to her and got berated for her trouble.
I'm not one to judge people on the opinions of others, there's plenty of people that got shit to say about me, but how many people saying the same things does it take before it's true? Sure I had a bad experience with her, but everyone has shitty days... No, Calvin's right, I should just stay the hell away from her, even if she wasn't a guard at a Blacksite, she sure isn't trying to win favors with anyone. I've got enough of my own shit to deal with without earning the ire of a Viper.
As I was thinking, eating the last of my fries, Sammy walked into the breakroom. I paused, looking up from a ketchup covered fry at her.
She smiled and did a little wave. "Hi Vincent, enjoying your lunch?"
A glob of ketchup from my fry dripped onto my plastic tray as I took a moment to think what to say. "Uhh, yea. Food here's not bad. And, call me Vince, it's what my friends do. Vincent is too formal for me."
"Ok, so are we, like, friends, then?" She giggled.
I didn't hesitate. "Uhh, yea, if you want to be."
"OMG besties!" I wish I knew if that was ironic or not, but it sounded like a good thing.
She unlocked her locker and pulled out a lunchbox, before sitting down at the table and brushing a few strands of her sandy blonde hair away from her brown rimmed glasses. "I don't, like, eat here often. It's too greasy." She pulled a tupperware dish full of salad out of her lunchbox and began eating it.
I chuckled. "Props to you for trying to stay healthy, I'm too lazy to pack a lunch."
She looked surprised. "Oh, it's, like, not even that hard. A sandwich you made at home would, like, be better for you than eating those burgers every day."
My heart beat against my chest. I had these casual conversations with her before, but now was the perfect time to ask her to hang out. Lance and Amy had left to go back to work a while ago. But I only had so much time. My break was over in five minutes, and at any moment someone else could walk in here and ruin the moment.
I decided to ease myself into the idea as much as her. I asked her something I hadn't yet. "So, what do you do for fun?"
She swallowed a bite of her salad. "Um, just, like, normal stuff. I like going on walks, and eating food, movies, tv, and stuff. What about you?"
"Uh, same, I play video games too much."
"I play games on my phone a lot, but it's, like, candy crush."
"I've got a pc, I built it myself."
That caught her attention. "Ooo, so you're good with technology?"
"I know some things about computers, but I'm no hacker master or anything like that."
She ate another bite of her salad. "That's still cool, I know, like, nothing about computers."
"So you're more of the outdoorsy type?"
"I don't go on hikes or anything, but I like going to some of the parks around here. It's nice to see some grass and get away from the noise of the city."
"I know what you mean. Living near the city wall is a godsend, nice and quiet in my neighborhood."
"My neighborhood isn't bad either, lots of families, but that also means it's loud during the day."
"Yea, I'll bet that's annoying. You got any, uh, plans for the weekend?"
She shrugged. "Not really. I've got to drive my little sister to her soccer practice on Saturday, but that's about it. What about you?"
Shaking my head, I said. "I ain't got shit going on either." I took a deep breath. "Would you like to hang out after work on Friday? Do something fun, maybe?"
She didn't have a look of disgust on her face, so that was a good sign. She took a sip of her water. "Friday, hmmmm. Like, what would we do?"
I can't believe this is actually happening. I talked faster because of my excitement. "There's this restaurant I go to a lot. They've got great Italian beef sandwiches, and they got salads and pasta and pizza too. Maybe afterwards we could go to a park you like and kill some time."
She thought for a few seconds. "Dinner and a walk in the park? Sure, that sounds like a nice way to unwind after work."
That sure was the best sure I had ever heard in my life. It may have not meant much to her, but holy shit, I feel like I could take off into the sky and fly. Could this be love?
Her voice brought me back down to earth. "Here, let me give you my number, so you can, like, send me the details."
"Oh, yea." We traded phone numbers and I told her I'd text her about it tomorrow before running straight into the bathroom.
It was empty, so I pumped my fist in the air and yelled, "Yessssss!" I never thought she'd actually say yes. She barely even took the time to think it over. I took a deep breath. I need to relax, it's just dinner and a romant— platonic walk through the park. We're not even dating, we're just hanging out as friends.
After taking some time to calm down, I splashed some water in my face and went back to work to clock in.
As I got to the computer by the registers, Mark gave me a side glance. "Where were you Vincent? Your break was over 4 minutes ago."
Fuck. "Sorry, Mark. I was, uhh, taking a shit."
He looked less upset. "Were you clocked out?"
"Yes, I was."
He didn't look upset anymore and nodded. "Good man, but try to not extend your breaks in the future."
"Aye aye captain." I clocked back in and finished my shift out.
0-
After work, I got back home and consulted with the boys about what had occurred today. They weren't doing nothing when I joined the call, just looking around for a movie to watch.
I heard Ray's voice first. "Dude, I'm not watching some shitty movie made for kids."
Then Josh. "Come on, man, we're not gonna watch it to enjoy it. We're watching it to talk shit on it while it's playing."
And finally Daniel. "We could watch a documentary. Xcom produced one on what wildlife has survived after all these years of war and how it's affected them. I heard it was superbe."
Ray chuckled. "I'm not desperate enough to watch a documentary right now. I did enough learning in High School."
"Sorry Dan, it's a no from me too."
I saw my chance to butt in and took it. "Guys, shut up for a sec, I'm back from work and I've got some stuff to share."
Oh shit, what's up, homie? We're still deciding what to watch. "Josh said.
"I had a crazy shift today, heard some stuff about that viper chick..."
"And?" Josh asked.
"My coworkers said she was an Advent Blacksite guard during the war."
Everyone was quiet for a few moments. Dan broke the silence. "There's no way. Xcom would've—"
I cut him off. "I know, Dan, I said the same thing, but some of my coworkers backed up what this guy told me. And they all hate her, she's pissed off at least four of them in some way."
Dan spoke up again. "Well, you said she's a bitch, and your coworkers don't like her. Isn't it possible they just made that up about her because they don't like her, and they all want to believe it? They have the motivation for it."
I had to think about that for a few seconds. "You know, Dan, sometimes you talk a lot of sense. But, I don't know if they lied about it, my coworkers think there's no way she'd ever get fired. And she probably would never be fired if she's still working there after what I heard she's done."
"Damn, I need a girl like that. You think she'd tie me up like a prisoner?" Ray said.
"Jesus, Ray, you know how many people died in those places." Josh said in an attempt to shame him.
"Yeah, I'm just saying Dan is right. There is no way in hell she was a guard at a Blacksite."
I didn't know what to think anymore. "Maybe, I was thinking about talking about her to more of my coworkers this week, see what I could find out. But, whether she was a guard or not, I should just stay the hell away from her. She ain't nothing but trouble."
Ray chuckled. "You sure about that, dude? Almost makes me think you're actually into the viper chick with how much you talk about her. And you haven't even sealed the deal with Sammy yet. Hell, you're not even in the friendzone with her."
"Oh yea, you reminded me. I've got a hot date with Sammy on Friday."
Dan spoke first. "Good for you, what's your plans? There are some movies coming out that sound interesting."
"I'm doing the first one old-school. We're gonna go out to eat and hang out at the park after. I got a nice place picked out already for dinner."
Dan sounded excited. "A nice restaurant for the first date? What'd you pick, Armatio's?"
"No, nothing like that, I can't afford a reservation like that. And I don't even own a nice shirt to wear."
Josh groaned. "Vro, you got me fucked up. Tell me, right now, that you are not taking her to fucking Portillo's on the first date."
Fuck, he knows me too well. "Fuck you dude. Portillo's is awesome."
He laughed maniacally. "I knew it, you fuckin Italian greaseball! taking your dame to a fucking fast-food joint on the first date."
"Chill dude, I'm not taking her anywhere expensive. It's the first date, if you want to call it a date. Portillo's has something for everyone."
Dan took my side. "A cheap restaurant for a first date is not a bad idea. It makes you focus on each other, rather than the ambiance or the food, and it says to her that you're not going to spend a bunch of money on her right away. All in all, it's very personal, especially the walk in the park part. It should give you ample opportunity to get to know her. I'm surprised Vince, I didn't think that was your style."
"Well, I don't know what my style is, I haven't dated much. I just went for it and thought of something."
"I hope it works out for you, man." Dan said. Josh and Ray agreed with him.
"Me too, now let's pick out something to watch before I have to go to bed."
We ended up watching a really old movie that Josh suggested called From Dusk Til Dawn. He's a big fan of the director. I thought the movie was okay. It lures you in and just when you get invested in the characters, they get attacked by vampires out of nowhere. It was bizarre, but enjoyable.
I said goodnight to my friends and logged off of my computer. The blue LEDs in my tower cast a pale glow over my room. My room really could use some cleaning, but it wasn't garbage, just empty boxes and stray clothes strewn about. I walked over to my big bed and pulled back the covers, revealing my viper body pillow. It had a tasteful lewd image of Jeanne-Monette Stardust from Space Banditz printed on it. She had a smile on her face and was showing off some cleavage in her tight white tank top that almost looked like a wife beater. The tight cargo shorts style skirt she was wearing displayed her hips prominently. She dresses pretty casually in the anime when the gang is in between jobs on their starship, part of the fan service, but her character is good. She's cute, friendly, spunky, capable, clever, and helps solve a lot of problems the crew encounters.
She's prime waifu material and I never tried to hide that from my friends, which is why they bought me this body pillow as a joke. Jokes on them though, because I actually use it. I didn't use it right away, but after a while I thought why not give it a try, better than it collecting dust, and she's been my companion in bed ever since.
But tonight was different, I had a date to look forward to. "I am sorry Jeanne-Monette, you're a beautiful girl and you have kept my loneliness at bay for many nights, but I do not need you anymore."
She didn't respond, and I pushed her over to the other side of the bed. My thoughts were filled with Sammy as I drifted off to sleep.
0-
Three days of work between me and my date with Sammy. I figured this week would be a breeze with something to look forward to, but I was still beat every day I came home. It was nowhere near as physical as being a carpenter, but it was deceptive. This job still took a lot out of me and I was ready to pass out by the end of my shift every day. Having that date to look forward to didn't make taking orders any easier, but it did make it easier to get out of bed before my shift.
Although out the week I had brief conversations with other coworkers about Tay the war criminal. Of the ones I talked to, which was most of day shift, not one had a positive experience with her. The guy working the first drive-through window, or as they called it the backdrive, had a neutral experience where she just stared at him angrily and said nothing. More reassurance that Calvin and Sammy were right about her. And, maybe Raymond was right too: I am spending too much time thinking about that viper. She made an impression; I guess.
It was Friday, and I had already discussed the plans with Sammy. I'd pick her up from her house after work, then we'd go to Portillo's for dinner and hang out at Rykers Park for a few hours until she went home. You wouldn't get this out of me if you pointed a gun at my head, but my head was in the clouds and I was daydreaming about this date all day. My shift went by in a flash and the occasional smile from Sammy made it even easier. My shift finished and I was ready to run home.
However, as soon as I clocked out, Mark got my attention. "Hey, Vincent, could you come talk to me in the office for a second?"
A pit formed in my stomach. "Am I in trouble?"
He chuckled heartily. "It's nothing like that. It's a proposal, won't take more than a few minutes of your time."
I was relieved to hear I wasn't in trouble. "Sure, I've got time."
"Great." He turned to walk to his office and I followed him through the kitchen.
Once we were in his office, he shut the door and sat down at his desk. "So, Vincent, how are you liking it here? You've been doing a good job so far."
"Thank you, sir. My honest thoughts are: it pays the bills."
Mark started laughing so hard he broke into a coughing fit. "Ain't that the truth, but let's get to my proposal. A position has opened up on the night shift, and I wanted to offer it to you."
This doesn't sound like a promotion. "Night shift? Why did someone quit?"
He nodded and shuffled through some papers on his desk. "Yeah, the fella who had the position kept skipping out on his shifts, so I had to cut him loose."
"So, what, is this a promotion? Why would I want to work on night shift?"
"You could think of it that way. There's a shift differential for working the night shift. You'd make an extra 25 shillings an hour."
"I don't know, How late would I be staying up?"
"The shift is from 9pm to 5am"
Hell no. If I went on night shift, I'd barely see Sammy. "Forget it. I've stayed up till 2am plenty of times, but 5am every day? I don't want to try that."
"It would really help me out, and you're one of the few people on day shift that would be willing to work with Tay. I could give you a week off to change your sleep schedule."
I can't say I'm surprised after talking to most of my coworkers. "I never said I wanted to work with her."
My hostility caught him off guard and he backed off. "Ok, it's your decision. There are other people I can ask. You can go now, I have some paperwork to file."
"Thanks, have a good weekend." I said as I left the room.
He mumbled. "You too," as the door closed.
With that done, I rushed home and took a quick shower to clean myself up, put on some jeans and a t-shirt, and sprayed some cheap cologne on myself before getting into my junk heap of a car. A black 2012 Dodge Charger that was rusted to shit. When I bought it off of some old guy my Dad knew, there were bullet holes in the upholstery and the windshield was shattered. The A/C doesn't work, and the heating barely works. I think it was a cool car back in its heyday, but now it was a pile of junk I bought for ~10,000 shillings to get me from point A to point B. And it was that transportation for my date tonight, so I prayed it would start as I turned the key.
The engine sputtered for a few moments as I pumped the gas pedal and the engine sprang to life. "No problems tonight, please." I whispered to my car as I rubbed the dash.
I backed out of my garage and drove over to Sammy's house using my GPS as a guide.
Once I got there, I rang her doorbell and greeted her Dad. He was clearly middle class, an accountant maybe.
Her father offered his hand for me to shake. As I shook it, he said. "Hello, I'm Hal." His grip was firm.
"I'm Vincent."
He nodded. "My daughter has told me about you. You're going to have dinner and go to the park?"
"That's right." His expression told me that he didn't believe me. "I - uh, don't do this sort of thing often. It was Sammy's idea to go to the park."
His suspicion ebbed, but didn't disappear completely. "Alright. Make sure to have her back by 10pm."
I heard footsteps behind her Dad, and Sammy appeared. She had put on a small amount of makeup and some eyeliner. Her sandy blonde hair hung loose at shoulder length and bounced around as she moved. She was wearing a green turtleneck sweater and mom jeans. "You're not scaring off Vince, are you Dad?"
His disposition completely changed when she appeared. He smiled before saying. "Of course not. Make sure to have fun, sweetheart."
"I will, love you Dad." She turned and gave her Dad a hug before we walked to my car.
Her Dad kept watching us as I opened the passenger side door for her. She chuckled. "My, you're, like, such a gentleman."
I chuckled too. "I aim to try tonight."
I shut the door once she was in and we were off to the restaurant. While we were driving there, Sammy turned to me and said. "I hope my Dad didn't give you a tough time."
I shook my head. "Nah, he was chill. About as much as a Dad could be to a boy he's never met."
"Well, he's, like, met you now."
"Was your, uh, Mom home?"
"No, she's working overtime tonight. Both of my parents are working tomorrow. That's why I've got to drive my sister to soccer tomorrow."
"I see."
"You might get to see her when you drop me off back home."
"Okay, we're almost to Portillo's. It's right around this corner."
It wasn't a huge place, but it had plenty of parking because it shared a parking lot with the laundromat next door. The outside of the building was made entirely of bricks, steel trusses, and glass. I guarantee it was a nice building when it had been built before the war, but over time, it had gone downhill. It was known for being grimy, but they made good food.
The inside didn't look much better than the outside, and I could tell from her face that it did not impress her, but I hoped the food and conversation would make up for the atmosphere. They did it up to look like a diner; they covered the tables with cheap red and white plaid tablecloths and a lot of the vinyl chairs had rips in them. There were plenty of people already eating, but there wasn't a line to order, lucky us.
Sammy and I walked up to the counter to place our order. The cashier was wearing a black apron over a red shirt and a hat with the restaurant's logo on it. He yawned and said. "Hey, what can I get you?"
I ordered first. "I'll get the Hot Italian beef with a side of fries and a medium drink."
Sammy took a few seconds to look over the menu before she ordered. "I'll take, like, a chicken caesar salad and a medium drink."
He nodded and typed her order into the system. "Ok, that'll be 200.14."
I waved my phone in front of the machine and it accepted my payment. We both filled up our drinks and found a place to sit. The area we found was pretty clean. As we waited for our food to be ready, we both were quiet. We just awkwardly sipped our drinks and looked at our phones, occasionally glancing in each other's direction.
Shit, this isn't going well. Why have we both clammed up? I gotta say something to her. "So, your sister has a soccer game tomorrow... You, eh, looking forward to that?"
"Hmm?" She looked up from her phone. "Oh, I, uh, I'm not a fan of watching sports, but it means a lot to her, so I'm happy to be there for her."
I felt warm inside after hearing that. "That's sweet of you. You said your parents were working tomorrow on the drive here. Do they work weekends a lot?"
She shrugged. "More than they should. I can't complain because I'm, like, an adult, but they should be there for my sister more. We have fun together, but she wants to spend time with our parents. I'm not a replacement."
"I'm sure she appreciates what you're doing."
"I know she does, but she has a funny way of showing it. She steals my makeup, like, all the time, and I have to go into her room and dig through her draws to find it." She huffed and took a sip of her water. "Do you have any siblings?"
"No, I had an older brother, but he died in the war before I was old enough to remember him."
She looked worried. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that."
I waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, I never really knew him. I don't even know what he was like; my parents don't talk about him much."
"Oh, ok."
As we drifted into awkward silence, the cashier yelled out our order number.
I rushed over to get the food and brought it back. My sandwich was good and she seemed to be enjoying her salad.
"How's your salad?"
Sammy swallowed what she was chewing. "It's good, not, like, the best I've ever had, but it's good. Much better than I thought it was going to be." She looked at my fries. "No ketchup?"
"Nah, I don't really like ketchup."
For some reason, that was surprising to her. "Why not?"
"I don't hate it, but I'd rather appreciate the taste of the fry than cover it up. Unless it's the Mcdougalls fries, you have to dip those in something."
"I, like, completely agree with you. How is your sandwich?"
I set my sandwich down. "Great, I love coming here. The beef is always so juicy, it melts in your mouth. The fries are good too, better than McDougalls anyway."
She giggled. "You were right, the food is good, but it doesn't look like they've changed anything in the dining room before the war, or after."
"Ey, you know, I don't come here for something pretty to look at." My heart beat faster. "And I'd rather not have anything distract me from you." Her cheeks got a little rosy after I said that. "Uh, our conversation, I mean. I am trying to get to know you better." Shit, maybe I shouldn't've said anything.
She looked down at her salad and poked at it. "I'd like to get to know you better too, Vince. What kind of video games do you play?"
"I like, you know, uh, rpgs, strategy games, real time and turn based, I play a lot of different stuff."
She looked confused. "What's an rpg, and a strategy game?"
"It's an acronym for role playing game, it's actually an umbrella term that can include..."
I didn't bore her with video games all night, but we continued to make small talk as we finished our meals. Once we were done, we got into my car and drove over to Rykers park.
The park was nice. It had grass, trees, a mile long asphalt track to walk on and a decent playground in the middle of it all. There weren't many cars in the parking lot, but that wasn't surprising. I mean, how many people go to the park at night? There wasn't anyone around aside from some teenagers hanging around the playground smoking weed or cigarettes.
Sammy and I just decided to walk along the track and talk. The moon wasn't full, half maybe, but we could see fine with the ambient lighting from the streetlights. This wasn't a bad part of town, it was not far from Sammy's house actually, so I wasn't worried about being jumped.
Our conversation drifted from telling stories about coworkers to deeper stuff as we got halfway around the track.
"Did your coworker really jump off?" Sammy asked.
"Yea, dude was nuts. He jumped off of a one story building onto a mattress at the construction site, just for the hell of it, and all they did was put him on unpaid leave for a few days."
She laughed. "That's crazy... I bet you miss being a carpenter."
Every day of my life. I sighed. "Yea, I liked the work and it paid better than McDougalls, but you gotta do what you gotta do."
"Do you have, like, a plan for the future?"
I thought for a moment. "I, uh, I don't know. What's it matter anyhow? No matter what I do, it's gonna be hard labor."
She was quiet for a few moments and said. "What about school? Have you tried taking an aptitude test to get into college?"
I couldn't help but scoff. "College, heh, what a joke. It doesn't matter how valuable you make yourself. They use you up and as soon as they don't need you anymore, they toss you aside like garbage, like they never even knew you. Maybe that's just how societies are nowadays. They take as much as they can from the people who built it and give nothing in return."
Sammy got noticeably uncomfortable after my outburst, so I tried to change the subject. "Eh, what about you? You got any plans?"
"I do, - I was going to go to school... to be a doctor."
"Oh, a doctor, that's cool..." Shit.
We walked in silence for a few minutes before I spoke up again. I didn't want to make her mad, but I almost felt obligated to offer her a different point of view because no one else clearly had. "Look, I don't want to shit all over your dreams, but have you thought that through? I mean, you'd basically be competing against everyone who wants that, including the Advent carryover workers that basically work for free because they're prisoners."
She looked at me and I could tell she was upset. "You think I can't do it?"
"I didn't mean it like that. I... No one wants to do the hard jobs, but society ain't like it used to be. Shit isn't easy street anymore, the government needs more laborers, not scientists. That's why they make the entrance exams impossible because they don't need anyone. They just want the cream of the crop to maintain what they have, and everyone else has to work."
She frowned. "Sorry if I haven't resigned myself to a life of hard labor like you. I'm gonna go out and be somebody."
Those words sunk into me like the fangs from a snakebite. I had thought things were going well, but now I wasn't so sure.
The rest of the walk was quiet, as quiet as the start of the date was, and Sammy only decided to say something once I dropped her off at her house.
She didn't look as angry anymore. "Vince, I, I've, like, been thinking about a lot of things... Thank you for dinner and hanging out with me and for helping me make up my mind."
"Uh, yea. No problem, I had fun too. What did you figure out?" I got the feeling this wasn't going to end well.
"I'm quitting Mcdougalls and I'm not putting in a two weeks notice. I'm done, I'm gonna do what I should've done, like, a long time ago and prepare for the entrance exams."
"Ok, cool. So... when would you like to hang out again?"
She sighed and looked away from me. "You're, like, a really nice guy Vince, but we don't have any chemistry." She must've seen the disappointment on my face. "But we can still be friends."
"Were we ever anything more than friends?"
"I guess not. Have a good night."
"You too, Sammy."
I waved goodbye, and as soon as she was inside, I got into my car. I listened to some Pink Floyd on the way home, but it didn't make me feel any better. Once I turned my car off, I stared at the concrete wall inside my garage for what felt like an eternity. There were some totes full of crap I didn't care about by the wall. As I walked up to them, I felt the rage surge within me until I couldn't contain it anymore.
I kicked one of those stupid totes as hard as I could, repeatedly, until I had caved in it and smashed whatever was inside. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! God, how could I be so fucking stupid! I just had to open my big fat mouth! Fuck!" I kicked that same tote a few more times for good measure before walking inside.
I took some time to cool off before I got online and when I did, no one else was online. They had their reasons, I'm sure, but I was completely alone. I turned on the new episode of Space Banditz I hadn't watched yet, and hoped that would make me feel better.
The basic premise of this episode was like all the others. The crew of the starship Spirit of Enterprise go off in search of a way to make a quick credit in the galaxy, so they can eat and keep the ship fueled. Sometimes they robbed people, literally, and with scams, and sometimes they did bounties and caught criminals.
There was a twist partway through in this episode though. While the crew was pursuing a lead about the whereabouts of a valuable gem, they were attacked by the Blood Gorger gang, ruthless mercenaries that they had spited in a previous episode. It got intense, and Jenne-Monette was captured when they were attacked. The crew had to stage a daring rescue to save her that involved blowing a hole in the life support system of the Blood Gorger's ship. I was one he edge of my seat until she was safely aboard the ship.
Everyone celebrated the rescue, and the valuables they stole, together, but as the night went on, everyone filtered out of the room until it was just Captain Doug and Jeanne-Monette left.
She slithered over to him and sat next to him on the couch. "Thank you for saving me, Capitaine."
He chuckled. "Of course. We never leave anyone behind, everyone comes home."
"But you and the crew risked so much for me. Am I really worth all that trouble?"
He put his hand on her shoulder. "Jeanne, you're my number 2. I need you, and the crew needs you. Don't you ever doubt yourself."
She looked away from him at the ground. "Is that all I am to you? I'm only your number 2?"
Doug scratched his short beard and looked shocked. "Jeanne, I didn't know you felt that way…"
She looked at him with fierceness glowing in her eyes. "How could I not! All these adventures… you took me in when no one else would. You've done so much for me. I only wish I could do more for you."
"You go above and beyond every day, and everyone knows it. If anything, I should be doing more for you. And it's thanks to you getting captured that we were able to borrow all these Tribexian crystals from the Blood Gorgers."
"Shut up and kiss me, you hunk of human."
She lunged at him, and they shared a passionate kiss. I felt tears well up in my eyes as the anime's outro played. I shut it off and laid in my bed, staring at the ceiling in silence.
Am I unlovable? Have I become so jaded over these years that I drive people away from me? Could any girl love me? I was just trying to help. Sammy, she actually liked me until she saw that side of me. I doubt she even wants to be friends after that; I'll just save her the trouble and never message her again. It's probably better this way, rip the bandaid off early before we got attached to each other.
I looked over at my Jeanne-Monette body pillow. Wiping some of the wetness away from my eyes, I reached over and grabbed it. Set adrift in my emotional melancholy, I pulled her close and clung to her tightly, like a life preserver. The soft silky pillowcase felt nice on my skin. I may have been alone, but I felt less alone.
"I'm sorry I pushed you away. Could you forgive a fool like me?"
She didn't respond, but I knew her answer. I closed my eyes and tried to think of something pleasant as I drifted off.
0-
When I woke up the next morning, I didn't feel any better. I ate some breakfast and spent most of the day brooding. Eventually, I made up my mind about something. I got dressed, threw on a jacket, and walked over to McDougalls. When I got there, I saw Mark at the counter, he looked surprised to see me.
"Ah, Vincent, what can I do for you?"
"I'll take the night shift position."
He looked surprised, but also happy. "Ok, it's still available, so it's all yours. But, you didn't have to walk here to tell me, you could've called."
I nodded. "I know. Can I get a Large Double McCheeseburger meal, and a Chicken McDougall?"
"Sure." He typed my order in. "Is that for here or to go?"
"To go..."
