See You in Hell

6

Moments from the night of Lobster Fest had come back to Louise in foggy waves. There were several blank stretches in her memory during which she couldn't account for anything she'd done. But one thing was clear; she'd made a fool of herself and worst of all in front of the people she least wanted to be vulnerable around.

The story of her near death experience had already made the rounds across Wonder Wharf. Several well meaning peers had even come up to ask her if she was ok. A question Louise despised under any circumstance. She'd sent all well wishers packing.

To Andy and Ollie, she was indignant.
"Why the fuck did you guys leave without me?"
"Ol was sick, don't you remember? I tried to get you to leave but you weren't having it." Andy was pragmatic. Louise didn't remember.

She had been especially dreading seeing Logan again before their first shift back at the restaurant. She was sure he was going to use the events of the weekend against her somehow. But to her surprise he hadn't brought it up. In fact, he was acting almost suspiciously kind. He had even offered to do the worst prep job when it wasn't his turn - carrying ice up from the basement walk-in. She hated to think this might be out of some kind of pity, Louise hated being pitied, but she was happy enough to take him up on his offer nonetheless.

Later in their shift he'd made an announcement.
"I watched Hawk and Chick vs Sharkman, it was pretty good."
"Pretty good?" Louise was surprised that he'd remember, but insulted by this ludicrous understatement. They had debated it for the remainder of the night.

All this had marked a shift in their interactions from begrudging colleagues to work acquaintances. She wouldn't go as far as to call them work "friends", "friend" was a word Louise hoped never to label her childhood enemy with. But lately when they opened together they'd fallen into a consistent routine of idol debate about this film or that tv show. At Least until the lunch rush started. Then there was no time for anything except barking orders.

She would never have admitted it, but she enjoyed having someone to talk to during the long summer shifts. She missed having Gene around. She and her brother would talk for hours when they'd worked together in the summer, sometimes forgetting to close up on time. This was the first year he hadn't come home from college over the vacation. He was traveling around Europe "Touring" with his alternative keyboard band. She couldn't begrudge him the opportunity to follow his musical dreams, but the summer just wasn't the same.

Getting out of ice duty wasn't the only perk that had come out of the whole lobster fiasco. It seemed Jimmy Jr. had finally decided to give up on her. Whether it was guilt or revolt after she'd puked her guts out onto his feet, she didn't much care. She was finally free of his lumbering shadow.

Unfortunately, the restaurant had a new haunt to take his place. Jade, the girl who'd draped herself all over Logan the night in question, had come into the restaurant 30 minutes into their shift. She'd been a frequent customer lately.

It was Wednesday and the two were flirting shamelessly over the front counter, while Louise mostly tried to look busy in the back kitchen. She'd even gone so far as to open up the grease trap when she'd run out of other things to clean. It was almost as repulsive as the nauseating courtship droning on in the next room.

"We have a major problem." Andy burst into the restaurant with this announcement, Ollie trailing behind him looking flustered. She'd never been more relieved to have a distraction.
"Big Darryl and Rosa blow out." Andy continued, he was out of breath.
"Yea, what else is new?" Louise failed to see why this was news. Those two were always fighting.
"We need to shoot the Lover's Lane scene Saturday and our lovers are broken up!" Andy wrung his hands dramatically.
"Can't we just reschedule?"
"We can only get the car tomorrow." Ollie's tone was forlorn. The vintage car show was coming through Wonderwarf that weekend and Ollie had arranged a deal with one of the exhibitors - he'd work the guys booth and in exchange they had 2 hours after the fair to shoot with one of the vehicles.
"I'm sure we can find another car."
"Not like this one, not a T-bird." Louise rolled her eyes, Ollie's obsession with the vintage aesthetic was getting out of hand.
"Well I don't know where you're gonna find 2 bodies this short notice."
"How about them?" Andy gestured a thumb down the counter towards the sickening pair making eyes at each other across the ketchup bottles Logan was refilling. Louise made an audible gagging noise.
"What? They're a good looking couple. People love seeing pretty people get murdered."
"I don't even know if they're actually dating.." She protested vainly.
"They look pretty cozy to me." They were all openly staring at the two of them now, only half whispering, although neither seemed to have noticed.
"Come on Louise, this opportunity only comes around once a year." Before she could persuade Andy otherwise he was already asking. "Hey! How would the two of you like to be in a movie?"

Jade was interested almost immediately, especially once it was explained to her that the role would require a cute vintage outfit and making out with Logan on camera. Logan was more unsure, but Andy was great at convincing people to do what he wanted, and between the appeals of both him and Jade Logan finally relented. Louise watched horrified as the whole thing played out.

"Don't forget you also get to film Logan getting murdered, what could be a better catharsis than that?" He had a point.