Chapter 2: Jim's Café
I woke up early that morning to the sound of Alex's snoring. I rolled over on the mattress and stuffed my head under my pillow, hoping to drown out the annoying noise, but it was not happening. Sighing into the sheets, I eventually got up. Usually, I could sleep through his snoring, but once I was up, there was no falling back asleep.
Besides the mattress and a saggy bean bag chair in the corner, there was no other furniture in the room, since nothing else would really fit. It was a queen size mattress, and it took up a lot of room.
I walked over to the far wall, and opened the closet to pick out some clothes for the day. There wasn't much to choose from, and I knew I would have to do laundry soon. I picked a long-sleeved white cotton shirt and a black tank top to go underneath, since the shirt was a little see through. I only had a few pairs of jeans that I rotated between, so I picked my favorite ones. They hung low on my hips and made my ass look great, or so I'd been told. I grabbed some underwear and a towel, and headed to the bathroom.
Before I walked out the door, I wrapped the towel around my naked body in case anyone else was awake yet. I'd had one too many awkward situations where I would walk completely naked from Alex's room to the bathroom in the middle of the night, thinking everyone was asleep, when in fact they weren't.
As I neared the bathroom, I noticed both mattresses were occupied by four people, and both couches looked crammed. There was even a random person sprawled out in just his underwear on the ground. It looked uncomfortable.
I took my time in the shower since no one was waiting on me, shaving my legs and scrubbing my whole body squeaky clean. Memories of cleaning those disgusting bathrooms yesterday made me scrub harder. When I finished, I quickly dried off and dressed. Normally I wouldn't bother with drying my hair, but I wanted to make a good impression for job hunting today.
When I walked out of the bathroom, a few people were up, including Holly, Coral, and the guy in his underwear. He was making coffee in the kitchen, and Holly and Coral were stretching.
"Hey ladies," I said, joining them on their mattress.
"Hey Bells," Holly yawned. She was wearing nothing but a tight T-shirt and some skimpy panties. Her short auburn hair, usually straight and neat, was now sticking up in all directions.
"Morning, Bella," Coral chimed in. Coral was wearing sweatpants and a tank top. She had beautiful dark olive skin, and dark wavy hair.
"Ant plans for today?" I asked.
"Not me," Holly replied, stretching again.
"I was thinking about heading over to Chris's actually," Coral admitted. Coral and Chris had been 'seeing each other' for a while now, but weren't officially dating, which I thought was ridiculous. They were obviously crazy about each other.
"Tell Chris I said hi, I haven't seen him in a while." The last time I saw him was a few weeks ago, at his last party.
"Sure thing. So, where are you off to this early in the morning?" she asked.
"Ah, I have to find a new job," I admitted sheepishly.
"Hmm…" Holly sighed. "Is that what your argument was about last night? You lost your job?"
"Yeah. Alex definitely wasn't thrilled with the news."
"He didn't sound too mad," Holly said.
"Ya, he got distracted…" I trailed off, frowning slightly. When I looked up, they were both giving me knowing looks. I didn't have to say it; they both could tell I wasn't really thrilled being with Alex. But I didn't want their pity; it just made me more uncomfortable.
I got up, not wanting to see where this conversation was undoubtedly headed.
"Well, I'm out," I told them. "And hopefully when I come back, I'll be employed." It shouldn't be too hard to find a job…
I slipped on my clogs and my navy blue hooded pullover, and glanced at the time on the microwave, which read 8:41 AM. Hopefully I could be back in a couple hours.
Three hours, and twelve "I'm sorry, we're not hiring now"s later, I found myself further into downtown Seattle than I would have liked. It was maybe a thirty minute walk, and I never used the bus. But I needed a job before I went back to Alex.
I was walking past a café, but stopped when a sign in the window caught my eye. "Help needed," it read, and I practically squealed in joy. Without hesitation, I pushed open the door, momentarily startled by the jingle of bells my entranced caused. For a second, all eyes turned
to me, and just as quickly, they went back to whatever they were doing. I felt a blast of heat, and quickly shrugged off my pullover.
It was a cute café, with four booths against the walls, and five rounded tables spread out in the middle, which I estimated could seat four each. I made my way to the counter in the back. The employee, who looked about my age, was bent over the counter, with his head resting on his folded arms. He looked like he could be sleeping.
"Excuse me?" I asked, trying not to sound rude or annoying, like customers usually did.
"Huh?" he grunted, lifting his head up. When he saw me, the rest of his body shot up. "Oh, sorry," he said, grinning. He then looked me up and down, blatantly checking me out, when his eyes finally rested on my face. I suppressed the urge to slap him.
"Can I help you?" he asked hopefully. I assessed him quickly, figuring him to be a preppy jock from the local university. He had his blonde hair spiked up in an obvious attempt to look casual, when in reality it probably took him two hours and a bottle of gel to style. And it didn't even look that good.
"Ya, actually," I finally said. "I saw the 'help needed' sign in the door, and was hoping to talk to a manager about it."
"Oh, really?" He sounded surprised and excited at the same time. Maybe it was too much caffeine, or maybe just him, but either way, I could tell he would get on my nerves if I had to spend extended time with him. "That's great!" he exclaimed. "Hold on, let me go get Jim." He turned towards the back and called loudly "Jim!"
A balding middle aged guy came out of the back, looking annoyed and tired.
"Mike," he grumbled. "What is it now? Please don't tell me you forgot the code to the register again…"
"N-no sir, this girl here was asking about the help sign in the window," replied a slightly flushed Mike. Jim turned to me, with a polite smile.
"Lookin' for a job?" he asked me with hope.
"As a matter of fact, I am," I smiled in return.
"Jim Korman," he said, holding out his hand. I took his hand to shake it.
"Bella Swan."
"Why don't we have a seat and see what we can come up with," he suggested, leading me to one of the empty booths. "Would you like something to drink?"
"Oh, um, no thanks," I replied. I wasn't sure if he expected me to pay for it, and I had no cash on me. We took our seats on opposite sides of the table. He then looked closely at me.
"You're over sixteen, right?" he asked. Did I really look that young?
"Eighteen," I said, trying to keep a smile on my face.
"Good. Now, do you have any experience with serving or making coffee?"
"Definitely," I answered. I then began to list all the food and customer service related jobs I'd had in the past couple years. Tactfully, I left a few off the list because I didn't want to sound too fickle. It wasn't my fault that I kept getting stuck with shitty jobs and shitty managers.
At the sound of a loud crash, we both turned towards the commotion to see Mike on all fours picking up cups and plates and stacking them on a tray. "Sorry," he yelled in our direction. "I'll run them through dish again!" I had to suppress a laugh.
"That's Mike, by the way," Jim said, turning back to me. "To be honest, you're a godsend right now. I don't know how much longer I can handle Mike working on his own. He's been working here for two weeks now, and he still doesn't know the difference between an Espresso and a Cappuccino."
"Well," I laughed, "I've been drinking coffee my whole life, so you wouldn't have to worry about that with me."
We chatted for a few more minutes, and he told me about his café, which apparently was called Jim's Café. Then he exaggeratingly threw his hands in the air and exclaimed "Well, I can't think of any reason not to hire you."
"Really?" I asked, surprised. Normally, they take your information and promise to call you back, even though they usually don't. "That's great," I declared.
He asked me if I could work mornings during the week, and I agreed that would be fine. When I asked how soon I could start, he laughed and said, "How about tomorrow?" That was fine with me.
"What about dress code?" I asked. "Is there a uniform?" I quickly glanced over to Mike, who was wearing an off-white ugly knit top with black pants, and prayed that wasn't the uniform.
Jim followed my gaze and chuckled. "No, there is no uniform. Just wear a white top and black bottoms. Just nothing too revealing, okay?"
"That sounds good," I nodded, happy with the dress code. I was used to vests, or polos, or overly revealing skirts and tops. Then I remembered my nose ring, lip ring, and studs, which I forgot to put back in last night.
"Do you have any problems with facial piercings?" I asked innocently.
He folded his arms in front of his chest. "What are we talking?"
"Well," I started. "I have three piercings in each ear, a nose ring and a lip ring." Gauging his reaction, I continued, "But I can keep them out if you want…"
"Hmm… I don't see any problems with that. My 23 year old daughter has a bunch of piercings and tattoos. I think it's important to be able to express yourself." He winked at me and laughed. I sighed in relief. Despite the distance, working here might not be so bad.
"So we'll see you at 8am tomorrow?" he asked.
"I'll be here," I promised. As I was attempting to get up, he stopped me.
"How about some lunch before you go?"
"Oh," I said shyly. "I actually don't have any money on me right now."
"Oh, nonsense. It's on the house!" Now that I thought about it, I was hungry.
"I guess a free lunch never did anyone any harm," I smiled.
"Good!" he exclaimed. "Let me just get you a menu."
I ordered a chicken salad sandwich and ate it quickly. It was surprisingly good, adding on to my optimistic feeling about my new job. Nice manager, easy dress code, and good food. If only it were closer to Alex's. Maybe if I could manage to carry cash on me, I could actually take the bus every now and then. Alex wouldn't like it, since he liked to commandeer all my extra cash, but he wouldn't necessarily have to know.
After waving goodbye to Jim, I quickly made my way back to the flat. Once I got back, I glanced to the microwave to check the time, noting 3:11, but my attention immediately shifted to the left. A tall guy with wavy dirty blonde hair, with his back to me, was making a sandwich next to the sink.
"Barry!" I shouted in excitement. He quickly turned around, his face lighting up when he recognized me.
"Bells! Come here and give me a hug!" He held out his arms, and I didn't hesitate to run into them.
"How've you been?" I asked into his chest. Barry had his own place a couple blocks away, but he came to visit sometimes. The last time I saw him was maybe two weeks ago.
"Oh, you know, same old same old." He released me and leaned back against the counter behind him. "Alex said you were job hunting today?"
"Ya. Is Alex around here?" I asked hesitantly, quickly glancing around.
"Nah," he shrugged. "He went out a while ago. Said he had something to do."
I nodded. I wasn't sure if he would be happy or not about the job I got, and how far away it was.
"So did you get a job?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"As a matter of fact, I did," I replied, smirking. "It's downtown, a place called Jim's Café. I think it's near that university."
"SUAS?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's it."
"Well, I'll have to come down and visit you sometime. Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to get served by my favorite waitress, now would I." He smiled jokingly. Barry and I met just after I moved to Seattle when we both worked at the same restaurant. Since then, he often referred to me as his 'favorite waitress.'
"Where's your metal?" he asked, catching me momentarily off guard.
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, but quickly realized what he meant. "Oh!" I exclaimed. I then ran to the bathroom to find my earrings, nose and lip ring.
When I emerged, Barry clapped his hands together once and exclaimed, "There's the Bella I know and love." I laughed at that. Barry was a good friend to me, and always knew how to make me laugh. He really was a great guy.
We chatted a bit longer as he finished his sandwich. When he was done, I asked, "You want a drink?"
"Sure," He replied, heading to the fridge. After grabbing a couple beers, we made our way to the vacant couch and turned the TV on. An old rerun of Family Guy was running, which was always promising. After a few minutes, Barry pulled a baggy out of his side pocket filled with weed, and some rolling paper. After skillfully rolling a joint, he lit up and inhaled. In my prior life, watching someone light up a joint in front of me would most likely have left me extremely uncomfortable. Not that it ever happened though.
Now, however, I was used to it. After taking a good sized hit, he casually passed it to me, and I casually accepted. I took a large hit and relaxed back into the couch, waiting for the high.
It wasn't that I enjoyed being high, or even drunk for that matter. I guess it just made it easier to live this life. It made this lifestyle make sense. I didn't have to think about the past, or the future. I didn't have to think about anything I didn't want to think about.
Sober, I was in pain and I was numb all at the same time. I couldn't deal with the things that threatened to tear me apart, so it all just built up inside me, threatening to ruin me from the inside. It was a short term solution to something that was sure to come back and swallow me whole. But I didn't think about that. I guess you could say I was jaded to the world around me. Things that should have scared me, or angered me, or hurt me, or surprised me; they just kept happening, and I found myself just not caring.
I may not have always recognized the pain, but was always there.
I sighed, taking the joint again and inhaling hard. I felt my head fall back and smiled. When I was high, it didn't hurt anymore.
Reviews are much appreciated, as well with advice and ideas :) thanks!