Steel & Ice (21 page)

Dinner went as good as it could. Mom did
most of the talking, while Dad and I nodded and chimed in
periodically to let her know we weren’t totally tuning her out.
After dinner, we went to the living room to exchange gifts. I got
Mom a pair of earrings and matching necklace. I gave Dad a gift
card to Cabella’s. I thought we were done after I opened a box
containing a sweater from my parents, but Mom passed me an
envelope. I pulled out a check for $500.

“
Oh my god you guys. Thank
you!” I was taken off guard. $500. Whoa! They never gave me
money.

“
Well, your father and I
know school isn’t cheap, and thought maybe you could use it on
books.”

“
Thanks Mom. Dad,” I nodded
to him. “Books aren’t cheap that’s for sure.” Hence the weed
bagging party I was having with Chris and Aaron next
week.

“
Well we’re just so proud to
see you in college, even if you didn’t get a scholarship like your
sister.” Yep, that’s the mom I knew and loved. Compliment. then
back hand.

“
Well thanks. I appreciate
it,” I mumbled. Dad sorta grunted and nodded. “More nogg Dad?” He
just held out his glass. He was a man of few words. I went into the
kitchen to refill his glass, and was accosted by my
mother.

“
So honey, have you met any
men in college? Any
educated
men?”

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

J CELL

“
I’ll be right back, Mom,” I
said, dodging her educated men question. Thank you, J. Perfect
timing.

I took Dad the full glass of eggnog I’d gone
to the kitchen for, and crept into the bathroom. “Hey. Merry
Christmas,” I said softly.

“
Merry Christmas, baby. I
hope you are having a good one,” J said.

“
As good as can be. No
drama,” I replied in a hushed voice.

“
Why are we whispering?” J
whispered and laughed.

“
The walls have ears,” I
said, using my best creepy voice. “I just don’t want my mom to
hear. It’ll be twenty questions and I’ll never get out of here. You
having a good time in St Louis?”

“
Eh, it is what it is. I
miss you.”

“
I miss you too,” I told
him.

“
I should be back Tuesday or
Wednesday. I can’t wait to see you, baby. I wanna be wrapped around
your body for days to make up for the time apart.”

“
Well, as nice as that
sounds I
would
have to get up to pee,” I joked.

“
Really Elle, I miss feeling
you against me when I fall asleep. I’ve slept for shit the whole
time I’ve been here,” J said, without a hint of humor in his
voice.

“
I miss you too J,” I
whispered, more serious as well. “Call me when you get home so we
can catch up. I’m winking through the phone.”

“
I got your wink,
sweetheart. See you soon.”

“
I hope so.”

My Mother was waiting in the hallway when I
exited the bathroom. “Who was that?”

“
Just Chris saying Merry
Christmas.”

“
Oh, did she get a real job?
Or is she still doing makeup?” Mom didn’t think Chris had a “real”
job. She said Chris just “clowned people’s faces up and sold them
overprices cosmetics.” I ignored it. She had a gift when it came to
makeup, whether it was bringing out your natural beauty by
highlighting your best features, or going full on smoky eyes and
dark lips. She truly was an artist when it came to cosmetics. I
didn’t know a thing about makeup until I met Chris. Mom wore the
same blue eye shadow circa-1985 style. Not much to learn
there.

“
Yeah,” I said brushing her
off. “I’m gonna get going before it gets dark.” I really didn’t
care if I drove in the dark, but Dad always lectured me about it,
and I used this to my advantage. Plus I’d weaseled my way out of
dishes. Score! I hugged both of my parents, and thanked them again
for the money. It really was the nicest thing they had done for me
in years.

I didn’t meet up with Aaron. The parentals
had zapped me of my energy, and all I could think about was a joint
and the silence of my apartment.

******

Tuesday, it was back to business as usual. I
worked the day shift. It was pretty slow, as was the norm after a
big holiday, especially Christmas. At two, Kevin sent all the cooks
home except me. Around three-thirty, Laura, one of the servers,
came back to the kitchen jumping up and down like a pogo stick. She
was saying something, but was talking and shrieking so much that I
couldn’t make it out. Laura and I were polar opposites. At least
Kitchen Elle and Laura were polar opposites. She was like cotton
candy and I was dark chocolate. She was sweet and bubbly. I was
subtle and subdued.

Kevin came back into the kitchen from the
dining room. Thank god. “Can you translate Kevin? Cuz I have no
idea what she’s saying.”

“
Just come to the dining
room,” was all Kevin said.

As with the kitchen, there was only one
server left on the clock. Today that was Laura, but a handful of
the other servers were still lingering around after their shift,
most likely getting their afternoon drink on. They were all huddled
around the edge of the bar top squealing and laughing like piglets.
The restaurant was empty of customers. I walked up to them, and saw
the vase of flowers they were ooh-ing and ahh-ing about. Kevin
handed me a white card.

TO THE MOST BEATUIFUL WOMAN IN THE
RESTAURANT- THE ONE IN THE KITCHEN. I’VE SEEN YOU EVERY NIGHT IN MY
DREAMS. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU FOR REAL TONIGHT. ~J

All the servers, even Kevin
were staring at me when I looked up from the card. Pressure much?
As they were all crowded around the end of the bar where the
flowers were, I had to walk behind the bar to get to them. Damn
piglets. Make some room. The vase was crystal, not sure if it was
real, but it sure as hell didn’t look cheap. It held a bouquet of
lilies, not a cheap flower. It’s what was tied around the vase that
was worth the most, and paled in comparison to the expensive vase
and flowers. It was a token with a hole in the middle. A piece of
leather was strung though it. It was a token from the arcade. It
was
the
token. The
one J had kept from our first day (and night) together. I was
stunned. I’d had guys drop money on me trying to impress me into
being their girl, but no one ever gave me something with an
emotional value. You couldn’t monetarily quantify the token’s
worth. Nor the fact that he kept it, turned it into a necklace, and
sent it with flowers.
And
to my job of all places, where he knew others
would see it. Just like Master-Card, it was priceless.

“
Well fuck Elle, say
something. We’re dyin’ over here! What’s up with the coin? And who
the fuck is J, and does he have a brother!?” Deanna yelled. She was
one of my favorite servers being a little rough around the edges,
but a straight shooter. Always told it like it was, and had a bit
of a raunchy mouth. Right up my alley.

“
It’s an arcade token,” I
said, still in a bit of a daze.

“
And….” Deanna
pushed.

“
And J is—he’s a friend of
mine.” Yeah, I know. Lame. But I wasn’t telling the piglets too
much. Next thing you know, they’d have an Applebee’s newsletter
circulating with my picture on the front.

“
That’s it Elle? A friend?
That’s all you’re gonna fuckin’ tell us? Come on, gimmee something.
When was the last time someone got flowers here?” Deanna said,
hands on hips.

“
When Nina found out her
husband was fucking his assistant,” one of the servers shouted. We
all laughed. That was some funny shit. Nina threw the flowers in
the dumpster, took a picture of it, then sent it with the divorce
papers to her now ex-husband.

I grabbed the flowers and came out from
behind the bar. “The token is from an arcade we went to. It was a
good day.” And with that, I turned and went back to the kitchen. I
set the flowers on the cutting board on line, and went into the
walk-in cooler. When the door shut behind me, I did a full out
squeal, coupled with some air fisting, and a little dance. Kitchen
Elle had to keep up her dark chocolate appearances, but in that
moment, I was the Real Elle who was a pistachio. The shell was hard
to break through, but the nut inside was soft and sweet.

After I had composed myself and put Kitchen
Elle’s face back together, I exited the walk-in cooler and went
back on line. I had twenty minutes before the night cooks came in,
and I doubted we would get any customers before then. With shaky
hands, I dug my phone out of my pocket and began texting.

ME: where r u at?

AARON: running errands. y?

ME: u close by?

AARON: i can b in a minute.

ME: meet me at the back door. text me when
ur out there. hurry.

AARON: R U OK????

ME: yeah just get over here.

God bless Aaron, seven minutes later my
phone vibrated with a text saying he was outside. I grabbed the
flowers, and found Aaron was pacing as soon as I opened the back
door.

“
God Elle! What the
fuck?”

“
Here, take these,” I said,
shoving the flowers at Aaron.

“
What? Where did these come
from?”

“
No time for questions. Just
take the flowers and park across the street. I’ll be over there in
fifteen minutes when Ryan gets in, and I will explain
everything.”

Aaron took the flowers, but not without some
grumbling and a string of profanities. The universe was on my side
that day as Ryan arrived five minutes later. I grabbed my purse and
snuck out the back door, telling Ryan to let Kevin know I’d left,
but only if he asked. I didn’t wait around for a response. I drove
across the street, parked in the strip mall parking lot, and jumped
into Aaron’s car.

“
You gonna tell me what’s
up?” Aaron asked.

I put my head in my hands and sighed. “You
got time to swing by my place for a few and I’ll explain it
all?”

“
Yeah. Is everything OK? Did
something bad happen?”

“
No, but you know how it is
back there. That restaurant is like a fucking soap opera and I
really don’t want my business up in it. And these flowers got the
piglets all riled up. If they found out the story, it would be
worse than a soap opera. It would be a
Spanish
soap opera, una telenovela.”
Aaron laughed. We watched the telenovelas and had no idea what they
were saying, but it was drama central. Like American soap’s times
ten.

“
Alright. I’ll follow you,”
Aaron said as I grabbed the flowers, and got in my car. I drove
home in a slight daze. You know, the one where you get home and
don’t remember if you stopped at any red lights. I went inside with
Aaron behind me, and put the flowers on the kitchen table. I
started taking my clothes off as soon as I set the flowers
down.

“
I gotta multi task for a
second. I’ll start while I shower.” Aaron had seen me in various
states of undress before, so he followed me into the bathroom. I
got in the shower and started spilling to him.

“
So Laura came back to the
kitchen all squeaking piglet like, and Kevin told me to come to the
front. Those were flowers at the bar from J.”

“
So what’s the big deal? Why
were you acting like the mafia was after you?”

I was in super shower mode.
This was not a long luxurious shower like on the shampoo
commercials. I wasn’t making orgasmic noises while I slowly
massaged shampoo into my scalp. This was a
I have no idea when J is coming over, and I need to scrub the
grease off
me type of shower.

“
Pass me a towel, will ya?”
Aaron held the towel over the shower curtain, and I wrapped it
around me. “Another one for my hair.”

“
Fuck, Elle. Story!” He
yelled, handing me the second towel to wrap my hair in.

I stepped out of the shower, squeezed the
towel in my hair, and proceeded to put some product in it so it
would curl nicely. I wanted good hair for J to mess up later.

“
I haven’t told any of the
guys about J. Not even Larry. I don’t want them to
know.”

“
What’s the big deal with
them knowing?” Aaron asked, a perplexed look on his face. Not like
he announced his conquests to the whole world, but he had no
problem telling me and Chris, and sometimes the piglets, about his
steamy nights with hot men. Aaron always scored the hot
ones.

I put my robe on and padded to the kitchen
to pack a bowl. Aaron followed close on my heels. “I don’t know.
You know they can be weird about shit like this. It’ll be like
twenty fucking questions, and then they’ll all wanna to meet him.
Shit, Larry practically pissed territorially on me the first time
he met J at Checks. Ew, and all the guys will potentially be
picturing me naked, and fucking J.”

Aaron laughed. “Nooooooo.
They will be picturing
themselves
fucking you. Not J. Any one of those boys in the
kitchen would give a testicle to get in your panties.”

“
It’s just cuz they can’t
have me.”

“
It’s more than that, Elle.
You’re the chick who’s nice to them, but cool as fuck. They all
want a piece of that. Especially Larry. He’s more or less in love
with you.”