An Unexpected Hunger (8 page)

Grabbing the tray, I started
back to the kitchen to check up on my burger order when I heard the call of my name. Ethan was sitting with another guy at a four top that wasn’t in my section.

“
Ethan…hi!”

“I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Yeah, only for the last few weeks.” I tucked a stray hair behind my ear. “How’s everything with your mom.”

“A lot better, thanks.
”

He introduced
me to his friend, Jason.

“Well, Casey should be by any minute to take your order.”

“You’re not our waitress?” He looked to me with those pale blue eyes, the stubble of his five o’clock shadow sweeping over his jawline.

I looked over at Casey who wore her usual frazzled expression as she took another table’s order.

“Sure…what can I get you guys to drink?”

* * *

Casey didn’t seem to mind too much when I took Ethan’s table. I offered her a table in my section anyway, but she didn’t seem to excited by the idea. Instead, I offered to do the side work at the end of the night so that she could leave a little early.

Nick showed up and sat at the bar with Mia the entire time
until he was flagged from drinking any more alcohol. I made sure Charlie was okay to drive him back to mom’s so he could wait for Mia to finish up for the night.

The band had just played their last song
, and Ricky disappeared into his office, flashing me a disgruntled look on his way there. I shrugged it off, figuring it was just another one of his mood swings.

“Here ya’ go.” I
laid the check on Ethan’s table and grabbed my tip from the empty table beside him. They had stayed well after they were done eating, even after Ricky and the boys were done playing.

Jason
disappeared into the bathroom while Ethan took money out of his wallet and flopped it in the black book.

“So…if you didn’t want to give me your number you could have just said so,”
he said.

I raised my eyebrows and cocked my head. “What do you mean?”

“The number you gave me…it’s no good.”

I
completely forgot that I gave Ethan my number just before I had it changed.

“Oh my God,” I chuckled. “
Ethan…I am so sorry. I had to change my number.”

He smiled and for the first time all night it
didn’t reach his eyes. “Really? It’s like that, huh?”

“I’m serious,”’ I said
, taking out my pen and order book. I wrote my new number down and handed it to him. “Here…this one will work.”

He folded it into his wallet as Jason cam
e strolling back to the table. “Thanks for the great service,” he said. “Let’s get together soon.”

“Sounds good.”

After the last customer left and all my side work was done, Mia and I were the only ones left in the bar. Well except for Ricky who still didn’t come out of his office.

“Thanks for taking me home Mia.”

“No problem,” she said with a smile. “I just have to close out the register, and then we can go.”

I hea
ded towards Ricky’s office, knocking on the door before opening it.

“What’s with you taking tables away from Casey?” Ricky asked. He sat in his usual spot behind his desk,
texting on his phone.

“I didn’t take any tables away from Casey. The customer asked me to take their order and I did.”

“That’s not how it works,” he said, looking up from his phone. He tossed it on the desk and leaned back in his chair. “Sections are assigned for a reason. Don’t do it again.”

I stared, speechless, his contemptuous tone so uncalled for. I
started to walk out when I heard the creak of Ricky’s chair move.

“And another thing,
” he said. When I turned he was standing behind me, leaning against the other side of his desk with his arms crossed, which only made his muscles appear larger. “It’s against policy to fraternize with customers.”

“Since when?” I scoffed. “I think you’ve broken that rule a few times yourself.” I stomped towards him, letting him know he didn’t intimate me. “And exactly
which part of serving someone a crab cake sandwich is considered fraternizing?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

I left out a short laugh, truly oblivious to what he could mean. “No, I don’t. I have no
idea
what you’re talking about.”

“What was written on that piece of paper you handed to that guy?” Ricky nodded over t
o the table where Ethan sat.

“
Ethan? He’s an old friend. We went to school together, and he wants to grab a drink.”

“A friend…yeah,
right. You were so busy flirting with him all night that you left a table waiting for fifteen minutes before Casey finally took their order. Like I said…no screwing the customers.”

“Now
, it’s no screwing?
What
is your problem? I barely even talked to the guy, and now we’re
screwing
? And what business of it is yours anyway? I don’t give you the third degree every time you leave here with your flavor of the week.”

“You don’t like it then find somewhere else to work.” He kicked the door with his foot, slamming it shut.

I sat at the bar, my head throbbing from the emotional tornado I had just witnessed. “What the
fuck
?”

Mia looked over to me
, but said nothing, already use to her brother’s many shades of crazy.

“How in the hell did he even see that? He was in his office with the door closed all night!”

“Cameras,” she said, pointing to the video cameras situated across the bar. “There’s a closed circuit television in his office.”

I rolled my eyes. “Great.”

“It’s kinda’ weird,” she said, car keys in hand. “As long as those cameras have been on, he’s never once said anything to anybody about what goes on around here. And trust me, it’s a lot worse than flirting with a cute guy. It’s like he was spying on you.”

I followed Mia to her car, looking back at the
closed door to Ricky’s office, wondering if he was watching me leave.

THE NEW WAITRESS
Ricky hired, Heidi, looked like she walked out of a music video. I pretended not to notice her annoyingly high pitched laugh every time Ricky made a joke, or every time she went out of her way to touch his arm. What did I care?

The m
oment she went on my shit list was when she called out last Sunday morning barely a week since she was hired. Ricky called me early, saying he would come by to pick me up, forcing me to cancel my beach day with Mia.

Today,
I hoped my plans didn’t fall through. I flinched every time my phone rang, hoping it wasn’t Ricky calling me into work on my day off. I waited for Mia on the porch steps, relieved to finally be able to spend a Sunday relaxing with my toes in the sand.

“It’s nice to get away from the bar,” Mia said. She leaned back in her beach chair, digging her toes deeper into the wet sand.

“I know…it smells so much better here.”

We both laughed
, and joked about the infamous aroma of food that we all came home smelling like.

“So…how are
you liking the job?” Mia asked.

“I like it. You’re brother’s mood swings make me a little dizzy
, but other than that…it’s good.”

“I know
it gets frustrating, but he means well. I tried to get him to go to therapy after mom died, but he refused. God knows he could of used it…especially after what my dad put him through.”

“He told me what happened,” I said.

“Really?” she asked, surprised. “I barely ever hear him talk about it…or mom for that matter.” Mia’s eyes drifted out towards the ocean, her face no longer maintaining the perma-smile she always had.

“I couldn’t believe it when they took him away in hand cuffs. It didn’t seem real.
And the worst part is my father just left him there…refused to help him in any way. Said something like,
he got himself into this mess
, blah, blah, bah.”

“Well,
” I said. I wanted to say something encouraging. “He seems…better now.”

Mia sighed. “I guess you could say that. He has his moments though…but nothing close to what happened that night. I hope I never have to see that again.
My dad still treats him like shit…it makes me sick to my stomach.”

I smirked
, suddenly remembering a memory of Ricky. “I remembered one time, sophomore year, when he slammed Jimmy Sarrano in his locker for touching my ass in the hallway. I’ve never seen someone so scared in my life.”

“Yeah,” Mia laughed. “He always did have a thing for you.”

I darted my head in her direction, complete
ly blind-sided by her comment. “Jimmy? He had a thing for everybody.”

“No,” she said
, smiling. “
Ricky
.”

“What?”
I cried.

“Come on,” she continued. “You had to have known.

The breath was knocked out of me. I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out were incomprehensible noises.

“He had a crush on you all throughout
middle school and high school. You were that one girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day. He would never say so, but I could tell that he was devastated when you left for California.”

“Are you
-” I didn’t get to finish, as Nick and Ricky came shuffling through the sand.

“Damn MiMi
…you look hot in that bikini.” Nick leaned in, planting a peck on her lips.

Nick and Ricky
plopped on the sand. The sight of Ricky shirtless never got old, especially when he was in a good mood. Suddenly, I felt self-conscious wearing the bathing suit Mia lent me that was a size too small. I adjusted my top, trying to subtly stretch the material to cover more skin.

I could
feel Ricky’s eyes on me. When I looked up he gave me a shy grin.

After his temper tantrum last week about
Ethan, I prepared myself for a week of hell. Instead, he acted like I barely existed, and I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed.

“Not babysitting the boob brigade at the bar?” I asked Ricky.

“No…Joe’s there. He’ll keep them in line.”

Mia laughed. “Yeah, right
. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about the bar. I’m going for a swim.”

She grabbed my hand and dragged
me to the water. It was icy cold and knocked the air right out of my lungs. Splashing behind us were Nick and Ricky determined to get us soaking wet.

Ricky splashed water my way, and my skin prick
led with goose bumps.

“Hey!” I said, holding up both hands. “Too cold!”

“Aw, come on you baby.” He ran towards me, and I squealed, wading through the shallow water. He grabbed me from behind, hoisting me up into his arms.

“What are you doing?” I shrieked
in a fit of laughter. Ricky stomped deeper into the ocean. “We’re going for a swim.” He carried me further and further, threatening to drop me a few times while I begged him not to. Each time he pretended to loose his grip I held my arms tighter around his neck.

When the water was deep enough, he let finally let go, our bodies bobbing
up and down as each wave passed under us. I dunked my head under, letting the water smooth the hair away from my face.

Ricky said smiling,
“You know…I couldn’t help but notice how hard that bikini is working to stay on. One wrong move and you might have a problem…not that I’m complaining.”

“Stop it,” I said, trying to keep a serious face.

“Stop what?”

“You know what.”

He laughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He swam closer to me, pulling me in close to his body. I felt one of his hands on the small of my back the other gently pulling back my wet hair. “You mean this?”

“You know you are the most confusing person on the planet
, right? One minute we’re shopping together like BFFs, and the next you’re accusing me of harassing the customers and stealing tables.”

“I’m sorry,” he cooed. “But you make it so easy for me. Plus, that guy looked like a total douche
bag.”

“What? He was wearing chinos.
Guys who wear chinos can’t be called douche bags.”

“Chinos?” Ricky
cried. “Chinos are for stuffy lawyers who belong to country clubs.”

“Well then that’s perfect,” I said. “Because he starts law school soon.”

“Has he called you yet?”

“No.”
My body was so tense in his arms, and I refused to let myself relax, not wanting to get too comfortable.