Sunday had passed and Monday had come around before Jeremy even knew it. The weather was the usual hot and sticky June, and Jeremy was wearing a faded band t-shirt and boxers for his home attire. He figured there was no point of getting dressed for a majority of the day; his shift started at midnight, and he'd probably just be sleeping and eating at home before that anyways, so there was no point.

It had been pouring rain all day, banging mercilessly on his windows and making miniatures pools in the potholes on the road outside his apartment. The storm had even caused a small power outage to the building around noon that day. Though Jeremy wasn't bothered by too much; power outages were normal in his building when bad storms came around. He had been eating a breakfast/lunch consisting of an instant ramen packet and eggs at the time, and the light filtering through his thinly curtained windows was more than enough to see. The power had returned by the time Jeremy was done eating and lazily "washing" his bowl and fork.

After his meal he sat on his couch and stuck a now lit cigarette in his mouth to watch TV. It was Monday, so all that was on were shitty infomercials, reruns of sitcoms, and the news. He decided on the news as he slouched back into the couch.

Right as Jeremy was starting to get comfortable, he heard a loud buzz coming from the kitchen table. He turned his head towards the table at his cell phone which he had left during his meal. It was so long since Jeremy had gotten a call or text that the sound was almost alien to him. He reluctantly got up from his spot and went to go get his phone.

Sure enough, it was a new text message from Fritz. Jeremy groaned. "Fuck, we just reunited yesterday and she's already messaging me," He muttered. He had absolutely no desire to text her back or even read the message, much less have any sort of relationship again. His high school years were some of the best years of his life, but remembering the life he threw away only left him with bitterness and regret running through his veins.

He still refused to believe that Fritz would really ignore all the shit he's gone through and still see him as the mostly pure teenager she used to know. Who could possibly be that naive (apparently Fritz was)?

Still, Jeremy opened his phone to read the message and sent a short response to be polite.

-omg did your power go out at your place too? ;-;

-Yeah. Don't text me again. It costs me extra.

-Sorry! yeah it went out for about half an hour here. Payton will give you the details l8r ^o^

"Out of every person from high school, Fritz fucking Smith had to be working at this place," He grumbled bitterly, shaking his head and setting his phone back down on the table.

Jeremy put out his cigarette on the ashtray on the coffee table and lied back down on the couch. He mindlessly watched the news for another hour before drifting back into sleep, mentally preparing himself for his new sleeping schedule to accommodate work.

After a quick meal at around ten o'clock, Jeremy got ready to head to work. He remembered that he would be walking five blocks in most likely rain to work, and he probably wouldn't look his best for his first day on the job. He figured he'd just stick a comb in his pocket to fix up his hair before getting into the establishment. At least his on-foot commute to and from work would be good substitute workout after his gym membership had expired several weeks ago.

Tonight was the first time he had even seen how his uniform fit. To his surprise, he actually liked how his work uniform of a blue shirt, black tie, and black slacks suited him. Plus, the slacks had relatively deep pockets, so he was able to fit his comb, cellphone, cigarettes with a lighter, and pocket taser with relative ease. Jeremy was a relatively muscular and large man, and former police training made him able to defend himself, though he still didn't trust these streets at near midnight- gang violence and muggers weren't anything new to the city.

He left at about 11:25 so he'd have time to spare due to any weather that may arise. Thankfully the only rain that Jeremy experienced on his route was a momentary sprinkle near the end. He had been walking a normal pace, though he had managed to make it to Freddy's by 11:54. Jeremy noticed several expensive-looking cars in front of the establishment and dim lights being seen through the windows.

A burly bouncer that had two full sleeves of tattoos stood in the doorway and glanced over at Jeremy. Jeremy showed the bouncer his name tag, silently cursing to himself for forgetting his wallet that had his ID in it. The bouncer raised an eyebrow.

"New night shift guy?" The larger man asked.

"Sorry, forgot my ID," Jeremy replied with a nod.

The bouncer nodded and stepped out of Jeremy's way almost reluctantly. "Next time come in through the back door during business hours."

Jeremy nodded in understanding. Maybe since he had arrived a few minutes early he'd run into Payton. Jeremy really hoped this wasn't the case; he just wanted to start his shift as soon as possible and have minimal social interaction. With a swift adjusting of his ponytail and necktie, Jeremy pushed through the front doors as inconspicuously as possible.

The lights were dimly lit for the effect of elegance all around the club, except for the much brighter lights at the stage. There were several small groups of expensive looking men and women sitting at the tables and booths in front of the stage, chatting away with one another. The bar was open with a middle-aged man who looked like he was about to pass out sitting behind it.

Someone was playing a piano on the stage, though their back was turned so their face was concealed. Despite the distance, Jeremy could clearly see their completely blue and white ensemble sticking out from the rest of the night club from across the room.

The large rounded booth closest to the bar had quite a few people sitting in it than the other tables. It was about ten yards away, but Jeremy instantly recognized Fransisco in a formal brown suit laughing loudly and talking to the others. He was chattering to the other table occupants while holding a fat lit cigar in one of his hands.

Next to him was a younger girl with brown hair and breasts the size of basketballs, sporting a slimming strapless yellow dress- Cheyenne. She looked extremely bored of all of the others around her as she was holding a skinny glass of white wine with her hand rested on the table. She was the first to notice Jeremy walk in, Jeremy accidentally making eye contact with her. Even from afar, her gaze felt icy and cold.

Cheyenne nudged Fransisco's arm and glanced towards Jeremy's direction to the other, muttering something as well. Fransisco stopped talking to look over at Jeremy. He tilted his head towards the door near the stage and Jeremy got the message rather quickly. With a quick nod of response, he headed towards the far left door.

As Jeremy walked by the stage, he managed to catch a glimpse of the pianist. The man had fair white skin and brunette hair that was neatly styled and bangs that swept across his forehead. He had a vest and button-up shirt combo, both blue, and a red ribbon that hung around the collar. White pants and shoes accompanied his attire. Jeremy couldn't see too past the man's elbows from where he was, but he could've sworn he was wearing gloves.

The man at the piano gave a momentary glance down to Jeremy as he passed by. He raised his eyebrows at the other, almost in a playful manner, before returning to his work.

Jeremy just kept on walking, his cheeks lightly flushed due to the embarrassment of being caught staring. Hell, it was probably just a one-night performer, so it probably didn't matter what that man thought of Jeremy. He promptly opened the door and went down the couple of hallways to the security guard office.

It was a moderately-sized office that sat in the space between two hallways, and had two doors that connected the room the right and left side to connect to those hallways. There was a metal desk with four large drawers and a swivel chair in the middle of it. Numerous security cameras sat on the wall in front of the desk. Other than that and a water cooler in the corner, the room was otherwise empty.

Jeremy sat down in the swivel chair and made a quick check of the security cameras on the monitor. All seemed well- all of the activity was being shown in the three main room cameras, so the rest of the cameras was basically deserted.

It didn't take long for Jeremy to notice that the kitchen camera was offline. "Guess it got zapped by the power…" Jeremy said, shrugging his shoulders and sitting back to get comfortable. Payton told him smoking was allowed in the office, and included a complementary ashtray sitting next to an ancient-looking phone, so Jeremy took it upon himself to light a cigarette. It's not like there was anything else to do for six hours.

Right as the wall clock struck twelve, the phone on the desk rang. Jeremy promptly sat forwards and took his cigarette out so he could talk properly.

"Uh, hello? Hello, hello?" The voice on the other end asked.

"Payton?" Jeremy asked back.

"Oh, hey Fitzgerald! Welcome to your first day of your new job. Did the uniform fit okay? I, uh, probably should've made you try the shirt on during training… b-but if you need a new one it'll be no trouble."

"Yeah, it's fine. Didn't you have the evening shift tonight? I didn't see you on my way in."

"I uh, had my car parked behind the building, so I just left through the kitchen. The kitchen… oh yeah! You've probably noticed the, uh, kitchen camera being offline by now. The storm zapped it earlier, and we've ordered the replacement, but it won't come in for about a week. B-But there's a hallway camera outside of the kitchen door, so if some, I don't know, robber comes in you'll see 'em. You're a strong guy, I trust that you can rough him up a bit."

Jeremy had to stop Payton from rambling before he talked about his damn wife again. "Payton, hold on a sec. Why are you calling me? Am I not supposed to be here?"

"N-No, you're right on time!" Payton exclaimed, "Calling the newbie for last-minute questions kind of a mandatory thing the boss makes me do, but it won't take too long. Plus there was some stuff I forgot to tell you during training…"

Jeremy put the phone on speaker and sat back again with his cigarette now back in his mouth. Knowing Payton, this would take a while.

"Anyways, the stuff I forgot. Let's see, uh… I already told you about the kitchen… oh yeah. Uh, listen, Fransisco's been under a lot of pressure lately, so try not to bother him if he's working in his office at night. Uh, if he needs you to do anything for him during your shift, just please do as he says without argument. I mean, he's a really nice guy and all, but he can be a bit, uh… irritable and hostile when stressed. Plus, doing the boss favors can really get you some nice things in return. Hey, before you know it you could be the boss's new right hand man and living in a penthouse!

Jeremy took out his cigarette and blew a puff of smoke out of his mouth. "What's his deal?" He asked, "Bills?"

"Uh, no. He's having trouble with some of his associates after a small incident a few weeks ago. And there's lots of tensions in the building altogether, which gives Fransisco major stress. Heh, I don't blame the guy, right?"

"Hmph. Anything else I need to know?"

"Huh… I think that's about all the major things I forgot. If I think of anything else, I'll leave you a note tomorrow. Have a good first night, rookie!"

Payton had hung up the phone before Jeremy even answered to that message. Jeremy let out a sigh of relief and resumed to his smoking. His stomach gave a loud growl, making Jeremy just remember that he didn't bring any food to last him. By now Jeremy had learned not to snack as much as he used to due to low income, so ignoring the hunger wouldn't be too bad. At least the water cooler was there to give him a drink.

Jeremy watched the cameras of the main stage area as people began to gradually file out over a course of around fifteen minutes. After every club patron had left, Jeremy saw Fransisco put an arm around Cheyenne and hug her, earning a shove from Cheyenne in response. The cameras didn't have audio, but he could tell Cheyenne said something in an angry tone to the older man.

The other cameras showed various staff cleaning up and heading out for the night. The man in the blue outfit had headed out one of the stage doors and into a door to the right of the building, eventually followed by Cheyenne and Fransisco.

Soon it was just Jeremy in the building. Six long, long hours (hopefully) alone with only his thoughts and Pall Mall in his squeaky swivel chair trying to fight his urge to fall asleep.

It wasn't the most glamorous of jobs, but it sure was better than sitting on the corner of the street begging for change.