Chapter 9

I went back to bed for a couple hours, then got up, showered and got dressed once more. I fixed myself a sandwich, and decided to do a little shopping; I ended up with a hair dryer, a copy of Playboy and Penthouse magazines, and some miscellaneous items. I went back to the apartment, put stuff away, then dressed for work and sat down to read a little. I left the magazines on the coffee table; I was sure at least one of the ladies would want to go through them with me.

Kelly showed up a little early, laughed when she saw the magazines; then immediately sat down on the couch and started going through the Penthouse. She quickly discovered the ‘Penthouse Letters’ section and started reading them; after a few minutes she blushed when she realized she was clutching her breast.

“Now I know where you got all those ideas,” she said with more of that infectious giggling.

“Put the magazine down; we need to get to work,” I laughed at her. “You can read them later.”

We finally got to work; a typical busy Friday evening. Each day, evening for us; was a little bit different, just enough to make it interesting. The waitresses got to interact with the customers, most of whom were quite nice; they’re out and having a good time. The cooks had the challenge of keeping up with the customers and waitresses (with a little bit of friendly flirting going on), getting mistakes quickly resolved, getting the food out fast and in a pleasing way, solving minor problems that arose; it wasn’t a bad job. The only ones not having much fun were the dishwasher and busboy; and we gave them as much assistance and breaks as we could. The managers knew we were good, and pretty much just let us do our jobs.

I was a little concerned about Irene; the cute waitress who had worked with us for many months. Another college student; she had up to now always had a smile on her face, always joking and fun to be around, fun to work with. Tonight; no smiles, no teasing and jokes, she made a couple mistakes; something was not right. I mentioned it to Chris as she passed through the kitchen for something in the back; she smiled and said she’d try to find out what was going on. Kelly made two ‘special’ trips to the storeroom with me; said it was too much fun to do just once a night.

It was after 10 before I was able to meet Chris in the storeroom; she gave me a long, loving kiss and hug, then gave me the news. “You have a little problem. Irene really likes you, more than that actually, she’s been waiting for you to make a pass at her for months. Now, in a very short time, you’re with Kelly; she’s feeling insecure, inadequate, rejected; you name it.”

“I didn’t know she was attracted to me, wanted me to ask her out. I guess I flirted with her; but I joke and tease and flirt with all the girls.” I tried to explain.

“I told her that; that even more than most guys, you are clueless when it comes to women. She’s a little down; she’ll adjust and be back to her old self soon, I think.”

“Should I say something to her?”

“What would you say; what can you say? I’ll let Kelly know so she doesn’t say anything that would accidentally make Irene feel worse.” Chris could see I was bothered by the whole thing, and continued, “It’s not your fault, this is just one of those things that happen. Don’t fret about it, everything will work out in the end.”

I went back to work; I could see Chris and Kelly in a deep conversation while they were working, that went on for quite a bit. Pretty soon I spotted Kelly talking with Irene; this may not be good. They are smiling though, maybe I don’t need to leave for boot camp tonight. The late rush of customers came in as expected, we were ready and got through it fairly easily. Cleanup wasn’t bad; by 2 we were ready to shut off the lights and leave. We had a bigger group than usual ready to go to the diner and unwind; most of the women were going, including Chris, Kelly, and Irene; plus Gary and me.

We got to the diner, moved a couple of the tables together with the owner’s permission, then the girls told Gary and me to go help or play pin-ball or something, they needed to talk. Shit! We helped the owners a bit, but they and their crew really had everything under control. Gary put some money in the jukebox; then he and I played pinball; Gary had a good singing voice and started singing along with the jukebox, fairly softly at first; then louder as I started harmonizing with him. The jukebox wasn’t set very loud, just background; the girls heard us and must have thought we sounded pretty good, they started putting money in the jukebox and making requests. I’m not sure if the other patrons liked it, but they didn’t complain.