He was at the grill when I mustered up my courage to walk to my register, giving me one of his superior looks. Could I just get into a full on tumbling around, wrestling fight with him? Would that make me feel better? I could punch him in the balls again—that certainly made me feel better last time.
Mia didn't say anything, but I could tell she felt like I'd just gotten served. Screw her, the resentful cow. Matilda had her own silent resentment, not that it was much different than before. Ella was in the restaurant, mopping the floor. She awkwardly eyed me. No doubt this was just as awkward for her, especially as Julian had taken off with her last night. He'd probably taken her home and they'd spent the night together. Ugh.
Could we just pretend nothing of it ever happened, instead of having some awkward conversation? Or should I refuse to speak to her? She had, after all, just cut into a fledgling relationship and taken him back. Or was it technically a step Julian had taken? But was an embarrassing moment worth sinking a friendship for? I could go down the whole, you stole my guy-interest route, but she had been there first. There was no way around the 'this all sucked' conclusion.
I served customers until the rush died down, then had to restock. Ella in front, Riley in back, Matilda to my left and Mia to my right—I had a very small patch of safe space.
"Pepper," Julian called as I sucked up my discomfort and walked to the back. Riley I knew how to deal with, I didn't with none of the others, certainly not Julian.
"Yes," I said, feeling my discomfort skyrocket. Could we please not deal with this and forget the whole thing? I walked over to his office where paperwork was strewn over his insufficient desk.
"Perhaps best to cancel that movie thing," he said, standing up.
"No, yeah, of course," I said, completely unaware what was spewing out of my mouth.
"Just not the right time."
"Uh huh," I said and smiled tightly. Can I go now?
He slightly clapped me on the back. Really? Why not a nudgee? But then was there any way he could make this less awkward? I took his silence to mean the end of the conversation and slipped away before he could say anything else.
Now inside the dry store, where we, incidentally, had had a little thing not so long ago. I really didn't want to be in here either. I grabbed the packets I needed and got out of there as fast as I could.
Ella still eyed me with concern when I got back. I knew then she wasn't going to stop until we had words about it. Probably she felt a little bit like shit for the way things had played out. There certainly wasn't any gloating in her eyes, and that was something, I guessed.
I might as well get this over with. Straightening my back, I walked out to her. I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. If we were guys, she would probably assume I would deck her. Guys were simple in expressing their opinions in cases like this.
"Let's just not talk about it," I said when I reached her. "I don't see any point in going over the details. You know, I'm not sure what this means for you and Julian, and I really don't want to get in the middle of it. Alright?"
"Okay," she said and I walked back to my register. There, dealt with. Hopefully, she would never mention it again. I could only hope. Mia had watched the exchange intently, probably dying of curiosity to know what I'd just said to Ella. I was happy to let her imagine anything she wanted.
Truthfully, I didn't know what this meant for my friendship with Ella. I certainly wasn't ruling anything out. Things would just have to unfold. If she was jealous and resentful, that was her business. She could tank this friendship if she wanted; I wasn't going to take steps to—happy to just let this slide and chalk it up to experience.
Perhaps it wasn't surprising that competition was strong for a guy like Julian. With a snort and a smile I thought back on my initial judgement of him when I'd walked into this place, how I’d thought it was unfortunate for him he was so non-descript, average looking, working in a no future job like this. How sad, I had thought at the time, having no idea that he would at one point become a future I really wanted.
Now I was back to having no idea, future wise. I really couldn't see anything beyond next week. Yes, college. I needed to turn my attention there. It just seemed too abstract an idea, if I was honest. I was still going though, and I needed to get some kind of plan in place. Time to let go of the past and turn my attention to the future.
* * *
Chapter 29:
* * *
"What the hell is wrong with you?! Can't you do anything right?" the woman screamed, her jowls wobbling as she yelled and gestured with aggravation. Apparently there was mustard on her burger and it deeply, deeply offended her.
"I'm so sorry, ma'am. If you give it to me, I'll replace it right away." She refused to give the half-wrapped burger to me. I can't fix the problem unless you give me the burger, I wanted to scream, but she didn't want to fix the problem, she wanted to rant. She went on and on. Had she saved this up for a whole week, just waiting for someone to unload on? There was nothing I could do, just stand there and smile, which no doubt infuriated her more. She was making some useless stand, and we only wanted her to go away. "I can give you a complimentary sundae for the inconvenience." That only made her angrier and she yelled even louder, the whole restaurant stopping eating to watch her go off. Could I leave, just walk away? Was that allowed?
"I demand to see the manager," she said, her buggy eyes blazing, her voice shaking with rage.
"I'll just get him," I said brightly and walked out back, happy for the chance to escape. I took my time, meandering to Julian's office. He looked up when he saw me, initially a dark, 'why the hell are you bothering me' expression on his face, until he saw it was me and mellowed. "We have an irate customer out front."
"So, I hear."
"Apparently there was mustard when she didn't want it."
Julian winced sarcastically. Then he groaned and rose, walking past me out to the counter. "How can I help you, ma'am?"
She ranted some more, until Julian broke in. "Shall we replace that for you?" he said, taking the burger out of her hand and handing it to Mia, who took it out back. For some reason this seemed to stump the woman and she now waited, as did Julian, until Mia came back with a new burger. "Here you go," Julian said. "I hope this suits your preferences better." He smiled and walked away, and the woman was still standing there with her mouth hanging open, apparently still wanting to rant, but had no reason to now.
I really hated people sometimes. I didn't return to my register until she had gone. Some people are awful and some of them smell, like horrendously. Even if you knew not to take it personally, you couldn't stop taking some of the crap in. It left me shaky and on edge, and that mental person had managed to transfer some of her horribleness to me. No, I really hated people. Whatever I would do in my career, it wouldn't be to deal with lots of people.
Finally, she was gone, and Mia took her break. I got on with serving the next customer and then a guy was there, wearing jeans and a torn hoodie, holding a knife in his hand. What the fuck? It took me a moment to realize he was holding us up; correction, he was holding me up. Glassy eyes stared vacantly at me, and twitching everywhere—obviously on drugs. Why? Why me? And why hold up a fast food restaurant? "This isn't a bank, you moron," I said before I could stop myself.
"Just give me the money," he said, even more twitchy now, pointing the knife to my register and then back at me.
"I can't open the register without making a sale."
His eyes bored into me. He looked like he was ready to explode with aggravation. Okay that was pretty stupid on my part; I should have just rung something up, but maybe my mind didn't work right when someone was pointing a knife at me. "What's the cheapest thing you got?
"Coffee."
"A coffee then," he said, fishing in his pocket for coins. Really? He was going to pay for it? At least I wasn't the dumbest in this transaction. He flung some coins on the counter. I pressed the sale button and the drawer released.
Out o
f the corner of my eye, I saw movement and I had a total, freezing panic. It took a moment for my brain to catch up, noticing Matilda flying over the counter. The guy was equally surprised, just staring with his mouth open, the knife still pointing in my direction, as if he'd forgotten it was there.
Matilda hit him straight in the face, his head whipping back, then in the stomach and he crouched over. Then a kick to the side. It all seemed in slow motion and the guy wasn't even reacting. Matilda was now straddling him and whaling on him, the knife lying discarded on the floor.
"MATILDA!" Julian roared from behind me, which seemed to break into her endless stream of punches. She got up and pulled herself together, straightening her hair and then breathing deeply like she'd walked into a field of wild flowers. I only stared, purposefully closing my hanging mouth.
Her face contorted again and she kicked him hard in the ribs. The guy didn't react; he was clearly unconscious.
"Why don't you take a break out back," Julian said to Matilda.
"No, I'm fine," she said, calm as day.
"Go grab a drink of water then," he said. It was an order and she turned to him with challenge before relenting.
The guy was a bloody mess on the floor. Finally, he made some noise, a deep, guttural groan.
I turned to Julian, having no idea what to do. He pulled a phone out of his pocket and called 911. I could only stare as he spoke, then hung up, putting the phone back in his pocket.
"What do we do?" I asked.
"Just leave him there," Julian said. "He's breathing, so he'll be fine there."
Looking up, I saw that the restaurant was empty. People had deserted their meals and just left. A guy walked in wearing overalls and saw the bloody guy on the floor. He turned right around and left again without saying a word.
It didn't take the police long and two of them stood around after picking up the knife, and waiting for the ambulance just like the rest of us. Ella had retreated back behind the counter and we all stood in a clump together. Julian was dealing with them, when Matilda came out.
The policemen then moved forward and arrested her. "What?" I said, "That guy was the one who tried to rob us." But they weren't listening. They were leading Matilda away, well, one of them was. The other was staying. "Why are you arresting her?" I said louder, but the policeman just ignored me.
"I don't know," Julian said, standing back with his arms crossed.
"Who saw it?" the policeman asked with a face without an ounce of warmth. Julian shook his head.
"I did," I finally said when no one else spoke up. I had seen the whole thing and now realized I was the only one who had, except the customers who'd all fled now.
"Come this way," he said, curling his finger at me. I wanted to say no, and turned to Julian who gave me a look to say I had no choice. He couldn't help. For a moment, I felt a little betrayed, but what could he do? Slowly, I followed the officer down into the empty front of the restaurant.
"So you saw what happened?"
"Yes. I was the one he was robbing."
"So the other girl, this Matilda Burrage, wasn't a part of it?"
"What do you mean 'a part'? She was standing right next to me. He was holding a knife on me." I felt this was an important point this man wasn't caring about.
"And then what happened?"
"Matilda jumped the counter and hit him."
"And then?"
"She subdued him."
"What happened to the knife?"
"You picked it up," I said, "so you know where it ended up."
"And when he was down, did she keep on hitting him?" A warning bell went off in my head—he seemed too eager, as if he wanted me to say something.
"Does it matter?"
"Just answer the question."
I didn't like him and there were goosebumps up my arms. Something wasn't right here. They had arrested Matilda. Obviously they didn't have their priorities straight. Then it hit me: they were going to do Matilda for assault because they think she didn't have the right to hit him.
"Did she keep on hitting him after?"
"After what?"
"After he was on the floor."
They were going to pin her for assault because she hit him when he was unconscious. Everyone knew the justice system could go mental on issues like this, giving people years in prison, felony convictions for stuff like this. Matilda had hit him when he was unconscious, but clearly these policemen were not in the mood to overlook that. It didn't matter that the man was holding us up with a knife. Instead of dragging the bad guy away, they wanted to take Matilda.
This was an opportunity to be rid of her. All I had to do was speak the truth. But I also suspected that the consequences to her would far outweigh the actions she'd taken. She didn't deserve to spend years in jail for taking out a robber. Seriously, how was she not doing the world a service?
The justice system wasn’t always known for common sense, arresting people for being naked in their own houses, and mothers for letting their kids have lemonade stands. Although no one here particularly wanted Matilda around, I could never do that to her. I chose to lie. "No, he just fell and then didn't move." My heart was beating in my throat. I'd just lied to a police offer, might even have to do so in court, perjuring myself to end up in prison right next to her, maybe even sharing a cell. Wouldn't that be fun? I wondered if Matilda would be one of those girls everyone else feared in prison, but dismissed the thought.
The policeman looked disappointed. "You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
The ambulance came and the policeman was distracted as they loaded the junkie up on a stretcher and carted him off. The officer came back again and made me retell the whole story. For a minute I was nervous he was going to arrest me too, but finally he said I could go.
"You alright?" Julian said.
"Uh huh," I said and went to stand behind the counter. The guy was gone and the policemen left, leaving us all behind in a completely empty restaurant.
* * *
Chapter 30:
* * *
Julian shut the restaurant early. "I think we all need a break," he said. "I need to call corporate." He walked back into his office, leaving us all standing there.
Adrenaline was pumping through my system and I was feeling slightly shaky. It was a good call on Julian's behalf because I wouldn't be able to remember a thing someone told me at the moment.
Again, someone had come in and just ripped our little world apart, not giving a damn what it did to us.
I walked over to the soda machine and poured myself a Sprite. My hands were shaking and I decided to take a seat in one of the booths. Ella was cleaning up the mess the guy had left behind. It wasn't that bad, but there was some blood. I refused to look at it, feeling like my stomach would lurch if I did, and I didn't want Ella to have to clean up my puke as well.
"You alright?" Wyatt said, taking a seat opposite me.
"Yeah, of course."
"It hits people when they go through stuff like that," he said.
"I actually had no control over that I was saying," I admitted, noting that Riley was joining us. "I told him he was a moron."
"Did you?" Wyatt said with amusement. "Good for you."
"Then I told him I couldn't open the register without making a sale. I couldn't connect my brain to just open the register. And he was just as bad. I actually sold him a coffee." I was babbling, consciously stopping to take a sip of my soda.
Riley sat down next to me. "Deseree went home," he said.
"I should too," I said.
"Are you sure, because you're shaking so bad you're practically vibrating that soda," Riley said. "Give it a minute and it won't have any bubbles left."
"Or I could just hang out here all night," I said sarcastically.
"There's the Pepper we all know and love."
"What do you think will happen to Matilda?" Wyatt said.
"I can't believe they took her. That's fucked up," Riley said. "You're n
ot allowed to defend yourself."
"If she shot him, she'd probably be slapped on the back, but since she hit him, it's a whole different story," Wyatt said.
I was actually worried for Matilda. Her psychopathicness was bound to shine through and they'd never let her go. It was strange how a simple reaction could change your entire life—ruin your entire future. The randomness of it all was crazy. But then maybe only people like Matilda reacted that way.
Ella joined us, sitting down next to Wyatt.
"What's Julian doing?" Wyatt said.
"He's on the phone. He's leaving after that." She said it carefully and I knew she meant they were leaving after that. Whatever I felt, I pushed it away. That was a sailed ship and I didn't want to revisit it.
Mia came to stand by the table. There wasn't room for her and she stood there awkwardly. On some level, I was happy she felt uncomfortable because she could be such a cow. On the other, I knew she felt exactly the same way I did with Ella and Julian, except I handled it better. Good for me for not being a spiteful mess. Equally I didn't want her there, not able to deal with her crap right now, and I also felt bad for wanting her to go away. It felt ungenerous on some level.
"You should go," Riley said to her. "We're all leaving in a minute. No point hanging around."
She couldn't really say no now and I felt even worse. Her awkwardness had just been pointed out. "Okay," she said, holding her head high as she walked off. I closed my eyes. It was all too complex to deal with right now.
"I should probably go too. Nicole will be surprised I'm home early." Ella got out of the way and Wyatt shifted out.
"Are they living together?" I asked when Wyatt had gone.
"Practically," Riley said. "They spend every night together and she waits for him when he's at work. It's as close to living together as you can get without actually saying you're living together." I couldn't imagine what that would be like; having a guy you went home to each night. That was the natural progression, obviously, but it was still weird.
Done Burger Page 15