THE JOCK JUST WANTS THE NERD [2]

34

||ETHAN||

Right now, I'm on lunch break with Kenny. He came in way late than his intended schedule, but Pamela seems to be aware of his situation so she excused him for his attendance. He looked no better than yesterday, that's for sure. Carla was still busy tending to her meals that she needed to finish up. Kenny and I are sat down at a table, I gave him a bit of my lunch and he soon folded his arms to take a nap afterward.

Later on, Carla came in the room taking off her apron, "Ugh..." she groaned.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"There was this annoying blonde bob-cut woman who kept demanding me to be her waiter because she didn't want a guy to be her server. Like - could you imagine? She even asked for the manager to get involved in something so stupid!" she rolled her eyes as she slumped down next to me and Kenny. Her eyes drifted to our sleeping friend. She sighs with a worrisome look.

"I drove Kenny home yesterday," I brought up.

"Yeah, what do you think of his living conditions?" She said sadly. With a frown and a shake of my head, it really didn't look good for him. Carla agreed. First, Kenny having to deal with work and school, second, his uncooperative parents, then living in a far and deteriorated neighborhood. I couldn't imagine how hard it would be in his shoes.

"It's rude to talk about someone when they're trying to sleep," Kenny glared at us whilst keeping his head low.

Carla and I flinched in startlement as we both looked at him, "sorry," we both apologized.

-

As I went back to work, Kenny took charge of the register again. Business is going smoothly, and the restaurant is almost packed as well, regardless of it being only quarter noon. The doorbell rings as another person comes. Peering through the service window, I see Jackson walking in. We both caught each other's gaze so I smiled brightly at him and gave a wave. He seems surprised, probably because I now take place in the kitchen. Jackson returns his happy grin. His eyes then shift to Kenny who was waiting for him to take his order. "Geez, this is a place for eating not ogling," Kenny rolled his eyes. Jackson gagged and coughed as if something got caught in his throat, his face now reddened as a beet.

"Sorry," Jackson murmured. I giggled at him, which only made him feel more embarrassed. "A-anyways, I'm feeling pretty hungry right now, and it's nice to see that you're a chef too," Jackson said, feeling a sense of pride. He begins looking through our menu papers, his finger tracing along as he picked which one to have, "I'll have the Lamb Herbs de Provence..." He had somewhat of a struggle pronouncing those last parts which I found funny.

"Anything else?" Kenny raised a brow, inputting it in the register.

"Ahh, Coca-Cola too please..." He added. Once it was settled, Jackson paid and finished the transaction.

"You heard him, Ethan," Kenny nodded as he turned towards me. Jackson gave me one last look before he found himself a spot to take a seat. After that, I got myself ready to prepare his dish. Taking out the lamb chops from the freezer, I left them out to defrost and went to our stocked pantry. Picking out the spices, I brought them over to my station, preheated the stove, and so on.

-

Huffing out a breath, I added the final details to my work. Carla came over for a second to check on me. She smiles, "you really love making things presentable huh?"

"Why of course, I'm also giving this to Jackson."

"Now that would make way more sense," she giggled, "Gotta give your guy the best of your best huh?"

As I finish up, I let out a sigh of content as I stare at the plate of food; dashed with garnishes and pureed, I was about to handle it when one of the other waiters came by, "Which table is this for?" he asked.

Motionless I looked at him while he held it in his hands, "o-oh, it's uh... table 1" I murmured. He gives me a nod and exits the kitchen. As I watched him approach Jackson, they shared quick interactions before the guy excuses himself to pass out the other pending orders. Jackson looked around my direction before admiring my gift for him.

"Dang, I was hoping you'd get the chance to give it to him yourself..." Carla pouted.

"Heh, it's okay, we're pretty busy anyways," I grinned at her.

"You two, we have another order, stop bickering," Kenny alarmed us once more, our heads turned to look at him along with 2 more customers waiting in line.

"Sorry," we both apologized.

-

As matters begin to slow down and other co-workers' shifts are ending, Carla, Kenny, and I went ahead and had the chance to clean up the tables. Jackson was still waiting as always, and I would catch him watching me. As I carried out all of the last platters, I went by to sit with Jackson. "Hi," I beamed at him.

"Hey..." Jackson replied, "What time do you get off work?" he asked.

"Oh, around 3."

Jackson fumbled his thumbs together, almost as if nervous, "Say... would you like to..." He was barely audible from mumbling. I tilted my head at him. "Would you like to hang out after again?" he finished.

Raising a brow, I guess it would be nice to socialize with him. I was about to say yes but my mind went to Kenny and remembered that he no longer had his bike. Looking over back to see him talking with Carla.