THE RESTAURANT

Setup: The characters from HoA are now in an entirely different universe. The story will revolve around a restaurant and its workers, with some customers too. Hope you enjoy.

(Fabian)

I was having a dream about… Let's just say it's work-related… when I hear a loud ring from what seemed to be far away. I slowly realize it was my phone's alarm clock, and now that my dream was interrupted, I groan as I start preparing for the day ahead of me. I follow my basic daily routine of showering, brushing, cooking breakfast, eating, etc…

I decide to be a bit early today, as the new boss, Amber, was going to observe the crew at work. I honestly did not want anyone to get fired, so I was preparing to vouch for them, just in case I needed to.

While walking to the restaurant, Eddie and I spot each other, so e walk together towards the restaurant.

"So what do you think about the new owner? You think she'll fire us?" Eddie asks.

"Don't worry pal, I got your back. I'm going to vouch for all of you." I reply.

"Thanks, man. It's good to know that the manager has got our back covered."

"I always got your back."

"We know. That's why we made the old owner agree to make you the manager."

"Yeah, thanks for that."

"You're welcome, man."

The rest of the walk to the restaurant was uneventful, nothing notable happening. As we reach the place, I sigh in relief as Amber was not yet there. I check if everyone of the crew was inside. It was near opening time.

I hold up the list of employees and read the names one by one. As if I needed the list anyway. I know every one of the crew personally, and such a list was not needed. But it was regulation, so...

"Eddie Miller?" "I'm here, bro."

"Alfred Lewis?" "Ready to sweep the table and wipe the floor."

"Patricia Williamson..." "Ugh, you know full well that I'm here."

"Nina Martin?" "Ready!"

"Mara Jaffray?" "Ready as well."

"And Mick..." Before I finish what I'm saying, he barges in the door, tired and sweaty.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late, Fabian. I went somewhere and I did not realize it was late, so..."

"Save your excuses, Mick. It's your day off yesterday, so you may not know, but there's a new owner. And she's coming today, so act normal as per her instructions and we'll talk about it later, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks Fabian."

"So crew, settle in. I think she'll be arriving any moment now." I walk to the manager's office and wait for the owner to arrive. By the rules given to us by the old owner, if he were to visit, the manager would clear the office so that the owner would use it, and the manager would go and help the crew. The owner rarely visited, so this rule was not widely used, but I still knew of it. As the new owner did not yet have any rules on her own, the old rules were still in effect. I started clearing my stuff, placing them on a safe in the office, then I waited for Amber to arrive.

An hour or so later, when I already decided to help out the crew, Amber arrives, her phone on her ear. She was busy calling someone, laughing at something the person at the other side of the line said. I point her to the recently cleared office. She nods and heads there, still on the phone with whoever she was talking to. She would laugh every once in a while as the customers start coming in after I open the doors to the restaurant.

After a while, she finishes the call and comes out of the office, with a paper in her hand. She calls me to walk to her.

"Oh, sorry about that. That was my best friend Joy calling."

"That's okay, Miss Millington." I look at the paper she was holding. It was blank, except for the names of the crew and their pictures. I notice that I was not in the list, maybe because my place in the restaurant was secure, for now.

She sees me looking at her papers, and so she says. "I'm going to interview them one by one, and I'm going to take notes. I want to know them more, my way. Will that be fine by you, Mr. Rutter?"

"Of course, Miss Millington. You're the owner. I'm not in any position to disagree."

She chuckles. "Okay, can you please call them one by one into my office?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, Mr. Rutter. First up, Mr. Miller. Can you call him to the office?"

"Of course." As she heads back to the office, I head to the cashier's desk and tap Eddie's shoulder.

"Hey, bro, you're up. The owner is calling you to the office."

"But what about the computer?", he asks, pointing to the short line of people forming about the desk..

"I'll man it for the meantime. You'll be fine, I'll take care of this."

"Thanks, bro." He takes a deep breath, and heads to the office as I process the orders of the people on the line.

It takes almost 15 minutes for Eddie to return.

"How was it?"

"I don't know. She asked me some questions about myself, and then that's about it. And yeah, she does not like waiting, so you should call in the next one as soon as possible."

"Who's next?"

"Mick."

"Okay, I'll tell him."

Mick was a server, so I walk towards the service waiting area of the restaurant to tell him he was up next.

"Hey Mick, you're up next." I point to the office.

"Yeah, man. I'll be there, but who's going to accompany Patricia as server for the meantime?"

"I'll take care of it, Mick. Just go."

Mick hands me the waiter's vest as he heads to the office, and I stand there with Patricia, waiting for orders from the customers.

"Fabian, what's that all about?" Patricia asks me.

"Oh, it's just an interview by the new owner."

"Ugh, really? What a drag." She complains. An order comes up, and she goes to it first, which was a relief. Patricia can be... hard to talk with sometimes...

When Mick comes back from the office, I hand him the waiter's vest back. He tells me that Nina Martin was next, so I headed to the kitchen to tell her.

"Um, Neens. The owner would want to talk to you for a second in the office."

"I'll be there in a second, Fabian. Let me just clean myself up a bit."

"Okay."

While Amber was interviewing the others, I would take turns managing their duties. The old owner was kind of cheap, so we were a bit understaffed and we needed everyone to be working their posts. I did not tell Amber yet, as I did not want to bother her with hiring of new applicants. I'll have to tell her some time.

2 hours have passed before everyone was done being interviewed, and I finally can return to my job as manager. Amber comes out of the office to observe all of us, keeping a watchful eye on everyone, and the job they were doing. She was taking notes on the papers she was holding.

The day went by uneventfully, a normal day by any means. The regulars and the other customers come and go as I watch on, making sure that everything was alright. Amber was in the office, processing things on the computer.

Closing time has arrived, and so I flipped the sign from OPEN to CLOSED. We wait for the last customer to leave, then we start helping Alfie rearrange the tables and chairs back to the normal place they should be in. Then I hear Amber clear her throat. We all look towards her. I can see some were afraid they were going to get fired.

"Everyone, stop whatever you are doing and pay attention." She says sternly. I swallow a lump in my throat, fearing the others might have done something wrong answering the questions at the interview, or that they may have done something wrong while working. The next statement she said was a big surprise.

"You are all fired." He points at everyone, including myself. Everyone looks to each other, ready to leave the place. I think everyone wanted to cry. I can see tears forming on some of their eyes. I had to vouch for them, no matter what.

"But Miss Millington, I can explain."

She shushes me. She starts out sounding irritated, "What can you explain, Mr. Rutter? That everyone's performance is substandard? Is that it?" She looked really angry.

I look down, replying, "I'm sorry, Miss Millington. We're going now." We slowly turn to the door to leave this place, the place we considered our 2nd home, but now that we were all fired, there was nothing we can do but leave.

In a more gentle tone, she clears her throat. "Before you go, I have to tell you... That I'm just playing with you guys." She bursts to an almost uncontrollable laughter, as we stood there, not really knowing what she meant by that.

"Of course you guys aren't fired." She tells us after her laughs subsided a bit. "I'm not that cruel. Besides, I was impressed by the operations of this restaurant. Even though you are understaffed, there's a chemistry about you guys that allows you to work efficiently, and of course I would not want to disrupt the wonderful atmosphere you guys created at this place."

Oh, so that's what she meant. She was just messing with all of us. And we all fell for it. Some breathed a sigh of relief as they too understood what she was saying. I have to say, that was a damn convincing act she had done. We were all fooled by it.

"That was not funny. You almost gave me a heart attack." Patricia groaned.

"It was worth it, seeing all your reactions." She laughed, and they all glared at him, apart from Alfie, who was stunned by what just happened, and myself, who could not help but ask myself, "She's just something else, isn't she?"

"Guys, I'm sorry. Jeez. It's just, my best friend told me to prank you guys, and I couldn't say no."

"Oh, that's cool, I guess." Nina commented, as everyone sort of, understood. After the shock wore off, our composure was back and we continued fixing up the place.

It made Amber ask, "I thought Alfred, um, Alfie told us that music was supposed to be blaring through the speakers as you guys were doing this."

"Um, not if the owner is here, no. And since you're the owner..." I begin.

"I'll allow it. It will be our daily routine."

"OUR daily routine?", we all ask.

"What do you think? I'll be coming here every single day, and I would want to join such... festivities."

"O-kay..." We all look to her, a bit weirded out. It seems that she will be here every day, unlike our old owner, who was rarely here.

"Why? Don't you guys want me to be here? I promise I'll be fun, and not disturb you guys..." She smiles. We talk to each other for a moment, before deciding it was better if she were here with us.

"We want you to be here, Miss Millington." I reply.

"It's Amber, remember? It's after work hours.", she points out.

"Oh, you're right. We want you to be here, Amber."

"Glad to hear it. Now let's get the music up!"

Alfie plays the music with the remote (He was the one in charge of the TV and radio remote, the perks of being the 'janitor'), and we were underway.

Hahaha. I hope I did not scare you with that one. You guys honestly thought everyone would get fired, didn't you? Admit the truth. Anyway, I'll be back next time. Thanks for the very kind reviews.