21 – Working It (2)

 

The lunch rush started up.

Sebastian’s feet ached. His back ached. And his head ached. He wished he could sit down, but he was only allowed one ten minute break a day and wanted to save it.

At least it was almost time for his twenty minute lunch break. He focused on that while he took orders from a large group. What table were they? Sebastian still couldn’t figure it out without counting.

After taking their order, he headed back to the kitchen to serve orders that were ready. Jenny stormed up to him, carrying a tray of three pasta dishes. “Do you remember who ordered these?”

“What?”

“You put in the wrong table number! I went to hand these out, to table ten, but they said they didn’t order this.”

Sebastian peeked around the doorway to the dining area, frowning. Who out there had ordered pasta dishes? He couldn’t remember. Lots of people ordered pasta dishes. “I don’t know.”

Jenny muttered something under her breath. “Since you messed up, you can go out there and ask around. I need to take my lunch anyway.”

“But I was about to take my lunch.”

“You can take yours when I get back.” Jenny shoved the tray in Sebastian’s hands, and walked away.

Given there were three plates, Sebastian deduced it belonged to a group of three, He stepped out into the dining area, and looked around. There were several possibilities. He tried the nearest group of three.

“Hey… did any of you order this?” Sebastian lowered the tray for them to see.

The three men stared at him as though he were stupid.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Sebastian walked off towards the next table of three, but a table of five stopped him.

“We’ve been waiting for someone to take our order,” a man at the table said.

“Right. Um…” Sebastian looked around for somewhere to set down his tray. Failing that, he placed it on the table of five, and pulled out his tablet. Wait. What table was this again?

“I’ll have the minestrone with-”

“Give me one second, please.” Sebastian turned around to count all the tables up to the current one. Table 8. Sebastian typed it in, and pressed the green button. “Sorry. Go on.”

After taking their orders and tapping the magical blue button, Sebastian continued on his search. He walked past a table with two women. One of them called for him. Sebastian turned around.

“We’ve been waiting for refills on our water.”

“Sorry. I’ll get that for you in a bit.”

“That’s what the last waitress said!”

Sebastian ignored her, and walked up to a table of two men and a woman talking. “Excuse me. Is this your order?”

The group said “no” in unison. Sebastian walked a few tables away to the final table of three. It had to be them. He arrived with a smile, and set down the tray, to pass everything out.

The group stared at the tray blankly, while Sebastian picked up a plate of spaghetti and held it out. Nobody showed any indication it was theirs. Sebastian cleared his throat. “Who ordered the spaghetti?”

“None of us… We all got burgers.”

“Right. Sorry.” Sebastian put the spaghetti back on the tray, and looked around for another group of three. His eyes landed on a group of two men, and two women. That’s right! They had ordered these three dishes, because two of them wanted to share one dish. How could he have forgotten about them? He picked up the tray, and headed over.

“About time,” one of the men said under his breath as Sebastian approached.

Sebastian forced a smile, and handed out the plates. They accepted without saying a “thank you.” He hadn’t gotten a single one all day. Not that anyone ever did, but it would be nice for someone to show a little appreciation. Sebastian made a mental note to start doing that himself.

He walked past the two women who had asked him for more water. One opened her mouth.

“It’s coming right up!” Sebastian sped up to the kitchen, to grab one of the many water pitchers. He returned to the table, and filled their glasses. “Has anyone taken your order?”

“Yes. We’ve been waiting awhile for it.”

“Let me check on that for you.”

Sebastian went back to the kitchen, and spotted a couple trays of food, labeled with their respected table numbers. He grabbed the tray for table 4 (was it 4?) and hurried out with it. Right as a man stood up in his path. He collided with the customer. Food spilled over him, and everything fell onto the floor.

“I am so sorry!” Sebastian handed him the nearest napkin.

The man snatched the napkin. “It’s fine!” The harsh tone indicated otherwise.

Sebastian tried to brush it off, and collected the tray and dishes from the floor, while the man marched off to the bathroom.

Sebastian returned to the kitchen, and addressed Gerald. “You’re going to need to remake table 4’s order…”

Gerald looked up from the stove. His mouth fell at the mess. “What did you do?”

“I accidentally bumped into a customer.”

“I’ll remake it, but Barry’s not going to like it. And these customers are going to demand discounts.”

“It was an accident.”

“Tell him that.”

“What’s going on in here?” Barry walked into the kitchen, frowning at Sebastian. “Tell who what?”

Sebastian rubbed his arm. He really didn’t want to admit what he had done. “I accidentally dropped plates of food all over the floor. We need to remake it.”

Barry pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sebastian…”

“I’m sorry! It’s really hard.”

“Of course it’s hard. It’s work.”

Wasn’t there easier work? Maybe he should have picked a different option.

Jenny walked in, eyes sweeping the kitchen. “What’d I miss?”

“Can I try gardening or cleaning or something else?” Sebastian asked Barry. “I don’t think I’m cut out for this.”

“You’re quitting? After only four hours?” Jenny put a hand on her hip. “Seriously?”

“It’s too hard, and I’m exhausted.”

“So am I,” Jenny said.

“We all are,” Gerald added. “You’re not special.”

Sebastian ignored them, and clasped his hands in front of his stomach. “Can I try working with the cleaning servants instead?”

Barry frowned, rubbing his chin. “We can try it. But you’ll have to wear servant clothes.”

“That’s fine.” Sebastian’s stomach rumbled. “Can I at least take my lunch first?”

“Sure. I’ll alert Harold.” Barry looked at Sebastian. “He’ll be your next supervisor.”

 

~~~~~

 

Maple walked her usual walk home, with Kyra. She really didn’t want to, but they lived in the same direction. It was unavoidable. As was the conversation she brought up, the second they were alone.

“Seriously, who was that picture meant for?” Kyra asked.

“I told you. I don’t know.” Maple’s shoulders slumped. “Probably some new girlfriend he hasn’t told me about.”

“And you swear it wasn’t for you, and you’re not lying to me right now?”

“Of course not!” As much as Maple wished she was. “I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Really?” Kyra squinted at her.

“Really.” Maple stepped into the gutter to avoid upcoming cracks in the sidewalk. She once hurt her ankle tripping over one of the large crevices.

Kyra followed mere inches behind her. “It’s just strange.”

“Yeah?” What was so strange about someone accidentally sending a private picture to the wrong person? Though Maple supposed it was strange someone would take one to begin with.

“I saw you put your phone into your pocket. But when Mr. Johnson asked you for your phone, you took it out of your backpack.”

Maple’s stomach plummeted. Had Kyra been paying that close attention? “I put it in my backpack afterwards.”

“Your phone is pink.”

“All our phones are pink.” They passed the crumbling part of the sidewalk, so Maple stepped back onto it.

Kyra walked alongside her. “Not the one Jake texted you on. That one was black. And smaller.”

“You’re remembering wrong.”

“It’s okay if you have a secret phone you and Jake text on,” Kyra said. “I won’t tell anyone.”

Maple didn’t want to lie to her anymore than she already had. Despite their differences, they’d been best friends her entire life. They told each other everything. Or so, they used to. Kyra never bothered to tell Maple exactly how she got pregnant, and Maple had kept quite a bit to herself too. “I’m sorry. Yes, I have a secret phone. I was just, paranoid you’d let it slip to Ethan and he’d tell my brothers.”

“How’d you get it? Jake?” Kyra grinned. “And you say he’s not interested in you.”

“He’s not! But even if he was, my brothers would never approve. They want me to marry Neil. They’re already making me move in with him, whenever he’s well enough to go home.”

“It won’t be so bad.” Kyra’s voice wavered. Like she didn’t believe her own words.

“I’ll spend the rest of my life taking care of an invalid.” Maple looked at Kyra, who looked straight ahead. “We might not be able to have children.”

“Oh. I didn’t think of that part.” Kyra chewed her lip. “That would be awful. I always wanted us to raise children at the same time.”

Maple gritted her teeth. She understood where Kyra was coming from. But this was what it took to get her to agree Neil was bad for her? “After everything bad Neil’s done, that’s what you’re focused on?”

Kyra stopped to stare at her. “What?”

“Neil hits me, and you brush it off. He might not be able to get me pregnant, and now it’s awful.”

“Because husbands hit their wives all the time.”

As if Maple hadn’t seen her father hit her mother often enough. “Which is exactly why I don’t want to get married.”

“If you obey Neil, you won’t get hit. It’s easy to avoid.”

“But it’s wrong. We shouldn’t get hit for it.”

“Well, that’s the way things are. A husband provides everything. The least his wife can do is submit to him.”

“Or the wife can also work and help provide.” Maple hoped for that.

Kyra laughed. “Maybe if we lived in poverty. But no.” She set her hand on her bulging stomach. “There’s no reason for us to do anything more than raise children.”