Rules Are Dull, But Certain Ones Count
On the way home, Puck sighed. "I wanna get a job."
Everybody swiveled around and stared at him, eyes widened, even Henry, causing him to make an especially sharp turn to swerve away from skidding the sidelines of the road. "Kid's gonna kill me one day," he grumbled.
"What do you mean you want to get a job?" Sabrina asked suspiciously.
"Well, how else are people able to make up for screwing things for other people?" retorted Puck. "If I got a job, I could do what I want and be able to pay for it with no problem."
"Use whatever reason you want if it'll keep you busy," Granny said, uncertain.
So with the positive note aside, Puck snuck on Sabrina's laptop again, browsing through websites until he found one that caught his eye.
NEED A JOB?
WANT MONEY IN CASE YOU SCREW UP?
THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED TO GO!
Puck glanced at the spot the site recommended, Burger Burns. It was a gourmet restaurant that had just recently opened up in a town minutes away from Ferryport Landing. Their food seemed very pricey but delicious. He smirked, plotting. Money plus his good looks would get him anything he wanted. And who knows? Maybe if he got a lot, he could consider forgiving Sabrina for not owing him the seven million dollars.
He saw a quick application with the title of "JUST ANSWER THESE 10 QUESTIONS AND YOU'RE HIRED!"
The questions were fairly easy and only two of them needed some meddling with the truth before Puck was able to send it. After two minutes, another window popped up, showing him his schedule for the next week. Puck slumped in his chair, relieved. Applying for a job was hard work. Thank goodness he was spared from job interviews and such.
Indeed, nowadays nearly everything seemed possible. Who knew you could get a job just like that, thanks to technology?
"Puck!" Sabrina yelled out suddenly, showing she was present in the room and caused Puck to jolt out of his daze of feeling satisfied. She sighed, a sigh one could describe as exasperation, but not exactly surprised at the events happening. "Don't you have anything else better to do than look up random junk online?"
"Usually, I do," Puck replied honestly. "I'm a busy man. But when it comes to unnecessary stuff, the important part of anyone's day, I can't help but reserve it."
Sabrina rolled her eyes and leaned across his shoulder to peer at the screen. "Burger Burns? Seriously?"
Puck flushed. "What were you expecting? It's gourment food! Who in their right minds wouldn't work there?"
She ignored him and continued to scan the page he'd agreed to the rules and guidelines of, blue eyes darting back and forth. When it seemed like she was finished, she smirked and straightened herself. "Did you read the whole pamphlet?"
"Only the stuff that mattered," answered Puck. "Not like it matters anyway."
Sabrina smirk turned up wider and now she was holding back laughter. "If you say so," she said, turning to go out the door and trotted down the hallway. As soon as she assumed she was out of earshot, she laughed.
Puck frowned and shook his head. Sometimes, his theory of Sabrina being out of it due to multiple injuries at war seemed completely valid.
When Puck arrived for his first shift, he actually felt overly confident. Shocking as it seems, Puck actually did show up on time. But hey, he had to show respect to his true love. They've been together for as long as he could remember. So when he saw the menu of fancy burgers hanging above the counter, he did tear up a bit. Honestly, it was a detail he really didn't like mentioning to anybody who hadn't been a witness to it.
A man who he could only assume would be his manager emerged out of the swinging back door behind the counter. He had a thick goatee and slicked black hair. He eyed Puck with eyes of steel, and suddenly Puck had a moment of doubt and a tiny part of insecurity washed over him. It was the exact same look his father had given him since he was a fledgling.
But then the man bellowed out in such a goofy, light-heating voice that had Puck snap out of whatever state he had temporarily fallen in.
The man cried out in a foreign language, a wide smile plastered across his face.
"Uhh.." Puck stared at him, bewildered for a few seconds. "What?"
Once again, the man spoke, this time doing careless waves of the hand and shrugging.
Groaning, Puck massaged the sides of his temples. "You're foreign thingie is hurting my medium-sized brain."
As the man made another attempt, Puck tried not to zone out and managed to translate one word. "Okay then," he sighed. "At least I know who you are now."
Puck's new manager thrust a T-shirt at Puck. He pointed to himself, chattering another unknown statement before walking around the counter before waving at Puck and going through the double doors, which flipped back and forth behind him.
Ugh. Did the application say anything about speaking foreign? Puck thought, throwing his uniform over his gritty hoodie. Oh, well. He was doing it for the money and food anyway. He didn't need to be arching over little things like this.
The bell chimed, and Puck looked up to face his first new customer. She was a pretty girl with curly black hair and dark blue eyes. She wore silver hoop earrings and wore a dark brown trench coat.
Puck flashed his biggest, most flirty grin. "So, what can I get you?"
"Hello!" The girl said, giving Puck hope until she pointed at the menu behind him, telling him her order. And of course, not in English.
He smacked his head down against the tabletop. Now he had to deal with foreign customers? Puck began to think that this was a restaurant entirely dedicated to foreigners, such as French people. He vaguely wondered if the sign outside read that.
"Oh, um…" Suddenly, a light bulb went on. "You want a hamburger! Right!" Puck snatched a pad that was sitting at the side next to the register and furiously scrawled out the order. "A hamburger…on a plate...with…mayonnaise?"
The girl just kept smiling at him cheekily.
"Alright, if you insist. I'll give you a discount," Puck winked at the woman before turning to get to work. He was an expert chef and managed to make quite a fancy meal using bread, lettuce, and the ordinary household ingredients you would find in your own fridge. But when he turned back towards the register, the girl was gone.
Feeling disappointed, Puck roughly placed the fresh hamburger down on the counter and leaned his head against his fist, sighing. Then, realizing he wasn't on his game today and wasn't doing what he was supposed to, he lifted the burger and started to eat it.
Not long after he was halfway through it, the bell chimed once again, and Puck saw the girl again. This time, she was carrying a thick, modern-looking book.
"Okay, I don't care if you're foreign or pretty, but leaving after you just ordered food? Even I don't think that's right," Puck protested, glaring at the girl.
All she had the nerve to do was hand over the book.
"I don't read, okay? You can take this crud back," Puck started to give back the dusty textbook, but not before he glimpsed the title. FRENCH LESSONS: LEARN HOW TO TRANSLATE ENGLISH TO FRENCH
He slowly looked back up at the girl, who was now going through her purse to pull out the money she originally owed him for the burger, which was now getting cold.
"No, it's okay. Keep the change." Puck told her.
She blubbered out something else, but surprised Puck by finishing her sentence with some English, very slowly. "I'll see if I can come by tomorrow. Work on language, then we'll talk." the girl responded, waving at Puck before exiting the restaurant.
Puck scrawled down whatever she'd said before, frantically going through the crimped pages. He found bits and pieces of words. Twenty minutes later, a dopey smile spread on his face and he could only numbly stare into space, heart fluttering with hope.
A/N: Ahhhh, don't kill me! I tried something different here, but don't fear, Puckabrina will have to come by, right? I am not giving anything away besides that! Hope you enjoyed! Review if you get the chance, please!