See You in Hell

16

Louise woke the next morning to her brother standing over her.
"Hey, you need to get up. It's almost 7."

They'd stayed out too late. The night had continued long after they'd finished their sandwiches. Gene had been drawn away from their table most of the time - a steady stream of old friends had shown up to pull him away. Reggie's was like Grand Central Station late-night on summer weekends.

Even without her brother as their buffer, Logan and Louise never ran out of things to say. The conversation flowed easily and Louise found herself actually enjoying it. When Reggie came over to kindly shuttle them out the door at 2 am, Louise was shocked. She hadn't realized how long they'd been sitting there.

Lying in bed after they'd made it back to the apartment, Louise had found it difficult to get to sleep. Her heart was racing as her mind kept returning to what Logan had said. Louise knew better than to make too much of it, Logan was just a natural flirt. She knew his words didn't hold water and anyway he'd been talking in the past tense. But despite herself, her thoughts gravitated towards the tantalizing possibility that it had meant more than that. It didn't help that her room became almost unbearably hot in August. She tossed restlessly trying to find the cool parts of her pillow while beating back her imagination.

Now, facing the grim reality of early morning prep, she was silently cursing her past self. When Louise made no signs of movement Gene flicked on the light switch.
She could only groan in response, pulling a pillow over her face.
"There are pancakes downstairs."
"Really?"

Pancake breakfast was a long held tradition of their father's. Normally, Bob almost never made morning meals, Linda was the designated breakfast parent. But there were exceptions on holiday weekends. When the family needed to wake up extra early to prepare for big crowds, their Dad would lure them downstairs with the promise of made-to-order short stacks fresh from the griddle.

When Louise finally dragged herself down to the Restaurant she was greeted with the warm nutty aroma of browned butter. Gene handed her a plate when she came into the kitchen.
"Eat quick. We got a lot to finish."
Louise was touched that Gene was keeping the tradition going, he'd even made her favorite - banana walnut. They sat at the counter together, too tired to talk, the only sound was the scraping of forks on plates.

Prep work was the standard stuff. Lots of chopping. They prepared what felt like mountains of pre-cut lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onions for the expo. Then they moved to the "add-ons". Gene fried bacon, while Louise sliced cheese into pre measure portions. They hauled extra ice from the basement, refilled all the sodas, and rolled utensil sets into napkins until their fingers hurt. Last was the meat. They brought up all the ground beef from the walk-in, pounds and pounds ordered special for the day, and worked methodically. Gene portioned it out and Louise rolled each wad into a neat patty, stacking them high on tray after tray until they'd filled the fridge. This was the most crucial element, if they ran out of patties they'd be dead in the water.

"It's a madhouse out there!" Logan had arrived with coffee and doughnuts.
His start time was later, but even by 10 the crowds were already starting to form on the streets. He tried to pass Louise a cup before realizing her hands were coated in a slippery film of meat juice.
"I'll just, uh, put this here for you."
"Thanks." Louise wished she'd taken the time to at least brush her hair after rolling out of bed. There was an awkward shuffle of apologies as she maneuvered around him to the sink to wash her hands.
Luckily Gene appeared, alleviating her from the pressure of making conversation.
"What are you two standing around for? We already have a line forming outside!"
They both snapped into action.

Once they opened the doors there was no more time to feel awkward. The day was a blur. Logan took orders and ran the food, Louise was on grill duty, and Gene manned the counter, fryer, and expo window. Throughout the day Louise found herself becoming increasingly irritated with her older brother. Making her breakfast had been a nice gesture, but now the novelty of his return had begun to wear thin and so had her patience. Gene was a ball of energy. He threw his weight around the kitchen cheerfully ordering everyone around and exclaiming that being back was such a "rush". She'd forgotten what a diva Gene could be - he had definitely inherited their Mother's proclivity for theatrics. Louise also couldn't help being a bit bitter. He hadn't been tethered to the restaurant for the last 3 months. It was a luxury to miss it. He hovered over her, backseat driving her grill technique and attempting to re-arrange her order tickets.
"Can you just concentrate on your own job?" She snapped finally.