Chapter 12: First Day

SEBASTIAN

As he was getting ready for his first day of work, Sebastian was replaying the expression of pure shock that had graced Artie's face upon hearing the news. He had decided to take Sam up on his idea for him to get a job at the ice cream place for the summer– was it really that unbelievable? (Okay, even Sebastian knew that, yes, it was that unbelievable. But he'd always prided himself on his ability to be unpredictable, so he wasn't all that bothered by Artie's less-than-enthused initial reaction.)

He was scheduled to work from noon to six o'clock, which meant that he'd gotten to sleep in that morning, thankfully, as he prepared for the day that lay ahead of him. Sam had told him to just wear khakis and any shirt he wanted– he'd be receiving a new shirt as part of his work uniform upon his first meeting with his new boss. Sebastian had never thought of himself as someone who got nervous. He hardly ever got butterflies in his stomach before a big event, he'd never lay awake in a cold sweat the night beforehand, and he certainly didn't melt into a stuttering mess in the moment. He just shrugged those kinds of feelings off. If you acted like nothing was a big deal, you were less likely to get flustered, he'd picked up. Working six hours on day one may seem daunting to some, but lucky for Sebastian, Sam was scheduled for the same shift, so he'd have a familiar face to work alongside.

"First day on the job!" Artie teased in a sing-song voice upon Sebastian's arrival into the kitchen that Wednesday morning. Artie was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of fruit and sipping on a glass of water as he flipped through that morning's newspaper. Because, apparently, he was the only one on Earth who still read the paper instead of getting their news from the internet.

He really does have the soul of an old man, Sebastian marveled. Not just in the way he typically dressed (well, during the school year, at least. His summer uniform, Sebastian had recently found out, was completely different– especially if he wasn't planning on leaving the house or seeing anyone that day. Today, for instance, Artie was wearing shorts and a random t-shirt, and he didn't have any shoes or socks on his bare feet), but in the way he went about his daily life. For how embarrassed Sebastian was on his behalf whenever he channeled his inner ninety-year-old, he was also kind of impressed that Artie managed to commit to this lifestyle so completely.

"I'm surprised they're starting you off on, like, the biggest holiday of the summer," Artie commented, looking up from his paper and raising his eyebrows as Sebastian popped a K-Cup into the Keurig machine, hoping to get some caffeine into himself before having to be on up his feet for the next six hours. "That's gotta be some sort of cruel and unusual punishment. What a way to haze the new guy!"

"Huh?" Sebastian asked, rolling his eyes as he turned around to face his step-brother while taking a sip of his freshly brewed coffee, even if it was still steaming hot. He had no clue what the heck Artie was talking about.

"Listen, I get that it's summer and your grand plan has been to not worry yourself with the passage of time and whatnot, but when was the last time you looked at a calendar?" Artie asked him, pointing at the date that was printed on the front page of the Lima Daily News. "It's the Fourth of July, you idiot."

"Oh, is that today?" Sebastian asked, eliciting an astonished expression from Artie. Holidays that were strictly American tended to pass him by sometimes. He was still accustomed to waiting an extra week to celebrate nationalism– Bastille Day wasn't until July fourteenth. Sebastian shrugged. "Alright."

"It's gonna be a busy place," Artie warned, picking up the paper again and engrossing himself in the financial section. "Hope you're ready for that."

Sebastian shrugged again just as the sound of someone honking their horn came from outside. Seb chugged what was left of his coffee, leaving his dirty mug on the counter to be cleaned up by someone else, before making a beeline to the front door. By the time he opened it, Artie had unlocked his wheels and pulled away from the table, hot on his heels.

"This is still so weird to me," Artie called after him, following Sebastian out the front door, but stopping short of following him over to where Sam was waiting in the driveway. "Seeing the two of you off to work together."

"Well, get used to it!" Sebastian called back over his shoulder before climbing into the passenger seat of Sam's beat-up pickup truck and slamming the door shut behind him.

Sam rolled down his window. "Maybe we can hang out after? Later tonight?" Sam asked him, earning a shrug from Artie. "I have my swimsuit in the back seat, just in case."

Artie laughed, nodding his head knowingly, still perched on the landing outside of the front door, not bothering to roll down the ramp in order to get any closer. "Okay, then. Sure, I don't see why not. We can go for a swim. Maybe Q will want to come over, too."

"Cool." Sam grinned, rolling the window back up after giving Artie a little wave. Artie returned his wave before heading back inside, and Sebastian caught the way he'd shaken his head in disbelief again as he shut the front door behind him.

"I'm so glad you actually wanted to do this. Today's gonna be fun!" Sam exclaimed, always the morale booster in whatever room he was in. He kind of reminded Sebastian of a golden retriever puppy– he was enthusiastic about everything. "Busy days always go by the fastest. You'll see."

"Yeah, yeah, Artie mentioned that today would probably be a little crowded…" Sebastian replied. Uncharacteristically, he did start to become a little nervous just then. He thought he was prepared for a day spent doing something as simple as scooping ice cream, but now that two people had mentioned the crowds that were bound to flock toward the shop, he was wondering if he had been blindly confident before. "What do you say, should we make a pit stop by Starbucks on our way there and fuel up for the afternoon?"

Sam shook his head as he continued driving. "Nah. Caffeine makes me feel funny. But on your break, you get a free scoop of any ice cream flavor you want. I usually choose a really sugary one– cake batter or peppermint stick or something like that– and it'll get me through the second half of the shift, easy-peezy."

Okay then, Sebastian thought to himself. If the only caffeine he'd be consuming today came from the one K-Cup he'd made at home, then this was going to be a loooooooong first shift. Maybe they have a coffee ice cream flavor he could eat on his break…

After driving down Main Street for a few minutes, Sam pulled into the parking lot. The ice cream place was this cute little shop on the side of the road that Sebastian had never really noticed before. They make their own ice cream, Sam had told him when he'd called to inquire about the position, and they have a whole bunch of cows in the back that they get the milk from. Next door, there was a mini golf course and driving range that he said brought in a lot of business. It wasn't quite as big as the place Sebastian had visited with the siblings a few months back– the one with the batting cages and the accessible mini golf course that had all of the paved ramps– but it was still admittedly pretty nice.

Sebastian followed Sam out of the truck and into the shop, entering through the back door that would bring them directly to the employees-only area.

"Hey, Mr. Sanderson!" Sam greeted an older guy with greying hair, heading immediately to the digital time clock on the wall to punch in for his shift. "This is Sebastian, he's the guy I told you about."

"Nice to officially meet you," Sebastian told his new boss, sticking out his hand for the older guy to shake. They'd spoken over the phone, when Sebastian had completed a very brief interview to secure the job, but had never met in person.

"And you as well," Mr. Sanderson replied. "Sam speaks very highly of you."

"He does?" Sebastian hadn't meant to sound surprised, but given his extensive history with the New Directions, he didn't think he'd be the first one anyone would be spewing compliments about. "I-I mean, yeah. I'm… sure he does."

From behind their boss, Sam grinned and flashed him a thumbs-up.

"You're coming onboard just as we start our busy season. The Fourth of July tends to bring in a bunch of families, so we're grateful for all the help we can get." Mr. Sanderson tossed him a (very hideous) polo shirt with the store's logo on it, as well as a matching apron. "Once you put on your uniform, Sam will show you around and get you started. He's one of our hardest workers, so if you have any questions, shoot them his way."

Mr. Sanderson clapped Sam on the back before disappearing into his office, leaving Sebastian and Sam alone to get started.

"Well," Sam began, gesturing to the various freezers around the room. "This is where we store the ice cream, obviously. All of the flavors are up there, see?"

He pointed to the signs that hung from the ceiling over each of the freezers. Sebastian nodded. He didn't see any method to the madness of the way they were separated, though, so he knew he'd be referencing these signs more often than not, especially during his first couple of shifts.

"And over here are all of our toppings," Sam showed him, moving around to the other side of the room. "We've got everything from rainbow sprinkles to little crushed-up Butterfingers candy bars. Those are my favorites."

Sebastian nodded again, though he'd never understood the appeal of overdoing the toppings. Sprinkles were fine, he supposed, but the idea of having a certain flavor of ice cream be completely overshadowed by toppings that were a completely different flavor just grossed him out. He'd stick with his usual– plain vanilla soft-serve in a cone.

"And then, lastly, this is the milkshake machine," Sam said, resting his arm on a metal machine with three settings. It looked easy enough to operate. "It's trickier than it looks. I just assumed it would be like the Blizzard machine I used to use when I worked at Dairy Queen, but it's not." Sam shrugged. Sebastian had no idea what he was talking about. "It took me three weeks to figure this baby out when I started working here, so if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. I learned that the hard way. There was peanut butter cup flavored ice cream all over the floors and the walls on my first try."

"Gotcha," Sebastian said, giving him a tight-lipped smile and a curt nod. He had the slightest hunch that he'd have an easier time operating the machinery than Sam originally had. "Okay, is that all?"

"I think that just about covers it." Sam nodded. "We have four windows, so customers usually just form four lines outside. I'll be over at window one, and you'll be at window three. I think everything's pretty self-explanatory, but if you need anything, just yell for me."

"Alright," Sebastian replied, and Sam gave him a goofy little salute before heading to go stand at the counter behind the window he was assigned to.

Sebastian did the same, and as he waited for his very first customer as a working man, he couldn't help but feel a bit proud of himself. Prior to last week, he'd never even thought about getting a job as a teenager. After all, he'd never needed his own income for anything– his dad covered all of that. Seb assumed that– maybe someday when he was way older– he would wind up in an office somewhere, but he'd never pictured himself voluntarily entering the workforce, especially for a job that involved manual labor and a totally ridiculous uniform. He felt a sense of pride for stepping so far outside of his comfort zone and trying something new, and he was glad that he got to do it beside one of his brother's best friends. Sam was always the life of every party, and Sebastian felt like he'd be a fun guy to spend his summer days hanging out with.

The first few hours of his shift were filled with positive interactions, each one helping to build up Sebastian's confidence in his new role as an employee. Families with small children that ordered a round of soft-serves, some teenagers who asked for the strangest ice cream and toppings combinations Sebastian could think of, and he'd even gotten a request for a dog-friendly cup (which, after checking with Sam, Sebastian found out was just a single scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with whipped cream). Everything had gone super well so far, and Sebastian knew he'd made the right decision when he decided not to be nervous this morning, especially after Artie had tried to get him all worked up by telling him that the crowds today were gonna run him into the ground. This was easy!

Both Sam and Sebastian were released to go on their fifteen-minute break around three o'clock, so they each scooped themself a small cone (vanilla for Sebastian, and cotton candy for Sam) and headed out back to a picnic table under a shady tree. As they ate their ice cream, they had a good view of the cows grazing in their fenced-in, grassy area, as well as of the lively mini golf course.

"It smells awful back here," Sebastian complained

"That would be the cows," Sam replied, tilting his head in their direction. "I always go home and take an extra long shower after I leave this place. It drives my dad crazy since it spikes the water bill up so much each month, but he'd have a lot more to moan about if his whole house smelled like manure."

Sebastian made a disgusted face at that last comment and nearly gagged as he tried to swallow the bite of ice cream he'd just taken. Sam clearly had the same problem as Artie– neither of them ever knew when they were going too far and needed to stop talking.

"Anyway," Sam kept the conversation moving, accompanying his less-than-swift segue with a shrug. "How's your day been so far? Not too bad, I hope?"

"Not bad at all," Sebastian responded. "Pretty easy, actually. I was kind of expecting worse, to be honest."

"That's good to hear," Sam told him with a smile that appeared even bigger than it probably was, thanks to the monstrous size of his mouth. "I'm glad that it doesn't sound like we're gonna lose you on your first day. When I suggested the job to you in the first place, I was hoping you'd say yes. I was just, like, thinking, 'I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse'."

The way Sam had dropped the tone of his voice and added a bit of an accent made Sebastian cock his head. Though, it did sound awfully familiar…

"The Godfather?" Sebastian guessed, eliciting a bright-eyed expression and an enthusiastic nod from Sam. "Damn. You're just as bad as Artie, with all of the random movie quotes thrown into casual conversation."

"I was excited when you called me the other day and said that you wanted to go out for the job," Sam continued. "You know, after you seemed pretty against it back at the pizza place. What made you change your mind?"

Now it was Sebastian's turn to give a half-hearted shrug. "I don't know. Maybe Artie was right, that I needed something to build up my character a little bit. You don't get very far when you have things handed to you all the time, I guess."

Sam let out a chuckle at that. "I don't know if that's true," he said. "You're lucky. If my family was like yours, I wouldn't have ever considered going out to get a job either, so I don't really blame you. But I still feel like I'd be a lot more successful if I did have someone laying my life out for me."

"You're a hard worker, Sam," Sebastian told him, not getting fazed by the sudden slightly-serious turn their conversation had taken. He didn't really know what Sam was alluding to, but he sensed that there was a deeper story there somewhere. He'd have to ask Artie later. "Your work ethic will work to your advantage someday, I'm sure of it."

The blonde guy shrugged again, not looking like he cared much about advice coming from someone like Sebastian, who'd been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. "Maybe. We'll see, I guess."

After popping the final bite of his ice cream cone into his mouth, Sam dusted off his hands and wiped them on his shirt before standing up from his side of the picnic table.

"Well, that's time. Back to the grind," Sam said with an almost inaudible sigh. "In a little bit over two hours, we'll be jumping in your pool, so I'm just gonna keep thinking of that. Having something to look forward to makes the last few hours go by in a breeze."

Upon returning from their break and re-entering the ice cream shop, Sebastian and Sam found that the place was much busier now than it had been when they'd left just shy of twenty minutes earlier.

"Oh, wow," Sam commented, clearly just as surprised by this sight as Seb was. "It's not usually this busy at this time of day, but that's the Fourth of July for you." Then Sam changed his voice again, calling on another one of his infamous impressions. "Spartans! Prepare for glory!"

Sebastian didn't know what movie that one was from, but it didn't seem like Sam really cared anyway. He had already snatched his apron from where they'd left them on a hook by the door and strode back to his window like he was ready to go off to war. Sebastian reached for his apron and returned to his counter as well, ready to get back to work.

"Hey, what can I get started for you?" Sebastian asked the next group of customers in line, a family of four with an infant and a toddler.

"Chocolate ice cream with extra sprinkles for me," the father said before looking to his wife.

"I'll have mint chocolate chip, and vanilla in a cone for him." She gestured to the small boy at her feet.

"Sounds good. What sizes?"

"Hmm?"

"Sizes…" Sebastian repeated, pointing at the cups displayed in the window that showed the different size options they offered.

"Mediums for us is fine," the woman answered.

"And for the vanilla cone?"

"He's three," the guy scoffed.

Sebastian wasn't sure what the little boy's age had to do with anything.

"Um, that's nice. Happy for him. But I still don't know what size…"

"A kiddie is fine," the woman said with an eye roll.

"Uh, I'll have those coming right up for you," Sebastian told them before turning away and heading toward the freezers.

He was stunned by the rudeness of their interaction. Everything had been going so well so far, but this difficult family seemed intent on ruining that. As he scooped their orders, Sebastian replayed their conversation in his mind. Was it something he said? Or were these people just having a bad day and deciding to take it out on him?

"Alright, we've got a medium chocolate with extra sprinkles, a medium mint chocolate chip, and a kiddie vanilla in a cone," Sebastian said as he returned to the window. "That will be fifteen seventy-five."

"I asked for extra sprinkles," the guy told him in an annoyed tone as he looked at his cup of ice cream. "Does that look like extra to you? There are barely any on there."

Sebastian looked down at the cup he was holding. You couldn't even see any of the chocolate ice cream, it was all hidden beneath the rainbow candies. Sebastian didn't know if he was being serious or not. "I-I mean, that's a lot more sprinkles than I would ever put on my ice cream…"

The man still didn't look pleased, but he didn't argue again either. However, just as the three-year-old was given his vanilla cone, he tilted it sideways and the single scoop of vanilla plopped onto the ground. Immediately, he began crying.

"So, are you gonna replace that?" The dad asked loudly in order to be heard over the child's screams, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Uh… I don't know if I'm allowed to do that," Sebastian said, uncertainly.

"What do you mean?"

"Um…"

Luckily, Sam seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, ready to rescue Sebastian.

"Hey, what seems to be the problem?" Sam asked the perpetually-annoyed parents, taking a glance at their wailing son. He still wore a smile on his face, even though it was pretty obvious that they were giving Sebastian a tough time.

"His ice cream landed on the pavement before he even had the chance to take a bite!" The father complained.

"Alright, I'll make him a new one, coming right up!"

All Sebastian could do was stand there, dumbfounded, as Sam replaced the lost scoop. He returned a moment later, with a small bowl of vanilla with a cone on top.

"Here you go," Sam said. "I put it in a bowl so that this way, it won't fall again, but he can still enjoy the cone." That seemed to satisfy them, and they handed Sam a twenty-dollar bill. "Have a nice day!" Sam told them after giving them their change.

"Next time, when the kid's that little, give them a bowl too, just in case," Sam advised Seb, giving him a gentle pat on the back.

The family left and Sam returned to his own window, but that interaction left Sebastian feeling frazzled. Since his line was beginning to stretch further and further into the parking lot, though, Sebastian didn't have a moment to recover before he had to serve the next people in line. His heart rate sped up and his palms began to sweat. He was going to need to pour himself a big glass of red wine tonight to take the edge off.

As much as Sebastian always hated to admit this (and it seemed to always be true)– Artie had been right. The holiday had brought out a huge crowd, and the store had descended into pure chaos. Not to mention, the heat and humidity seemed to make people extra irritable. All the while, Sebastian was trying not to fall apart himself. He was finding it incredibly difficult to set his snarky comments aside and not snap at these random people. He didn't want to be fired on day one! Over the span of just a few hours, the Fourth of July had quickly become Sebastian's new least favorite holiday.

"Sebastian's not cut out for a life of labor."

Artie's words from the other day echoed through his mind. He was beginning to get overwhelmed, and he knew that he could easily start to spiral. But he wasn't going to let himself do that. No, he was going to take all of Artie's doubts about his workability and let that light a fire under his butt. He was going to prove him wrong.

Sebastian glanced over at Sam. The way he served each and every customer with a smile (and the occasional impression) helped him to rack in the cash tips that took up space in the pockets of his apron. Seb studied the way Sam worked, taking mental notes and hoping to model himself after him.

Artie may have been right about Sebastian not being fit for working life, but if Seb was anything, it was competitive. Had Artie already forgotten all about why they'd been in a months-long feud in the first place? It was because Seb always strived to be the best. He may be a fish out of water in this particular environment, but he wasn't gonna let anyone else see that.

Keeping that in mind, Sebastian mentally set a new goal for himself to reach: over the course of the summer, he was determined to become the best damn ice cream scooper Lima had ever seen.