Under the Surface (2 page)

I hear
a slight mumble come from the man who I thought was potentially dead.

“I’m
sorry, what was that?”

“
Hmm
maka
lumber
.”
I think he says?

“One
more time, a little louder, please.”
I ask, while tapping my pen next to his head on the table to keep
his attention.

He
turns his head and continues to rest the right side of his face on the table.
He gives me a sheepish grin and with his eyes still half closed he says, “I’ll
take a hamburger.”

“Hamburger,
got it.”
I
write it down. “I’ll be right back with your guy
s’ food.
”
I quickly walk away from the table. The guy that was wasted looked
pretty cute once I got a look at his face, all tan skin and dark hair, but he
better not puke in my section. That’s all I’ve got to say.

I
round up two other table’s orders and continue with my regular rounds. As I
drop off the food at the drunk guys’ table, I make sure to get a better look at
the guy on the right. He’s sitting up now and looks to be functioning again.
His hair is a mess, but in kind of a hot way, and his eyes are green. When I
hand him his food he thanks me with that crooked smile of his, and it makes me
blush.

“
You look familiar,
”
he says to me.

“Maybe
I’ve been your waitress before.”

He
stares at me for a minute as if to mull over my words.

“
Perhaps,
”
he says, but he drags the word on to sound much longer than it
actually is.

“I’m
also a student at the college.”
I manage to get out.

His
response is to just nod his head up and down at me. He does it several times
before I decide to just walk away from the table.

Okay, weird.

The night drags on and most customers begin to filter out around midnight.
Except that table of guys. They’ve stayed past and been here forever. They just
keep talking and ordering more and more plates of fries. The diner doesn’t
close until two, so they have all the time they want.

Maggie finds me at the drink stand while I
’
m returning cups.

“Why don’t you take a break, baby
girl.
The place is practically deserted right now.”

“That’s okay,”
I say.
“I still have a table in my section.”

“Don
’
t
worry about that. I’ll just get Farrah to cover it while you relax for a bit.
No offense, honey, but you look a bit worn out.”

And I definitely
feel
worn
out too. “A fifteen does sounds pretty good right about now.”

She smiles and pats my arm in an endearing gesture. “That’s my
girl. Grab a coffee too while you’re at it. We’ve still got a few hours left to
power through.”

“
Will do, Maggie.
”
I grab a mug off the counter
and fill it with coffee, three sugars, and lots of cream. I never drink this
stuff plain, but with cream and sugar, it’s my life. I would definitely
classify myself as a coffee addict.

I head to the back room and sit down at one of the fold out chairs
at the card table. Maggie was right, I’m beat. These night shifts on the
weekend are really wearing on me. Classes and work all day during the week and
late night shifts on the weekends. It
’
s only September, the school year has just started. I can only
imagine how worn out I
’
ll be
by June.

But this is what I
need
to be
doing. I have to be able to take care of myself, since no one else is going to.

I look up to see Farrah entering the break room. She finds her bag
and pulls out a cigarette. And to my surprise she lights it and takes a drag.

“
You can
’t smoke back here, Farrah.”

“
Maggie don
’t give a fuck.”

I struggle to refrain from rolling my eyes. “Yes she does. There
is no smoking in the restaurant. You need to go out back to do that.”

She gives me a nasty look and inhales one more time before
dropping her cigarette to the floor and stepping on it.
Classy.

She pulls a stick of gum out of her apron and starts chomping on
it. “Oh, here, I forgot to give you this,”
she says while blowing a bubble.

I look up to see several bills folded in her hand. “What’s this
for?”

“That table you had in the back, I waited them, since apparently
you just
had
to take a break. They left this as a tip. I thought it
would’ve been fair for me to get a cut since I helped with the table, but
Maggie said to give it to you since all I did was give them water.”

I grab the bills from her hands. Twenty bucks, damn. “I never get
tips like this,”
I say.

“I know, I was surprised too. I mean, I thought
I
got good
tips. I never get this much, and I actually try when it comes to my
appearance.”

 I ignore her jab at how I dress. I make myself look
presentable when I come to work. I just never completely overdo it like Farrah
does. With her shirts that are two sizes to small, caked on makeup, and cheap
smelling perfume.

I slide the money into my apron and think back to the guys at the
table. I wish I would have been able to carry a conversation with them, instead
of just wait on their table. Now I regret taking this break because I never
found out any of their names before they left. Especially that guy with the
green eyes.

I’m pulled back from my wandering thoughts to the disgusting
sounds of Farrah chewing her gum. I decide my break time should be over. Not
much longer until I can go home and rest anyways.

* *

At
1:50 the place is finally deserted. The cook has gone home and all that’s left
is Maggie, Farrah, and me. A final wipe down of the tables and a cashing out of
our tips will end the night.

“
Well ladies, let
’s try
and get this place wrapped up in the next ten minutes so I don’t miss my bus.”

“
You got it, Maggie,
”
I say. I make quick work of
wiping my section and lifting all the chairs so the morning shift won’t have
any trouble cleaning the floors. I find a grey sweatshirt at the back corner
booth. Someone must have forgotten it.
Maybe Green Eyes did.
I want to
smack myself for that last thought.

I take the sweatshirt and place it in the lost and found bin in
the back.

“Come on Farrah, could you work any slower?”
Maggie
grumbles.

“
Well excuse me, I
’m
working as fast as I can. I’m tired and I don’t have a bus to catch.”

“Honestly, Farrah, some days I wonder why I haven’t fired you
yet.”

“Maybe because I have the most regulars who return for my
excellent service,”
Farrah
says, completely serious.

“Farrah, you get all those sleazy men in here returning on account
of those tiny ass clothes you always wear.”

“Whatever, I’ve never had any complaints.”

I decide to stay out of the argument and wipe down the last of
Farrah’s tables. I want to get out of here, and I don’t want Maggie to have to
wait around for the next bus.

“Cash out your tips girls, and I’ll do the final till so we can
leave.”

Farrah and I cash out, then Maggie finishes with the register.

We make it out the door by 2:00. It’s typically supposed to be when
we close, but I’m thankful for the early leave.

Farrah rushes off to some guy leaning against the hood of an old
beat up Mustang. He wraps his arms around her waist and starts kissing her.
Get
a room.
The guy breaks his mouth away and is practically assaulting her
neck by the looks of it. She makes some fake sounding giggling noise, then
climbs into the car.

“That girl, sometimes I swear,”
Maggie shakes her head to finish her sentence.

I do the same to respond.

“Well, honey, I got to get
goin
’. I’ll
see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, Maggie, see you then.”

She
reaches out and gives me a warm hug, then heads in the direction of the bus
stop. After she leaves, I grab my pepper spray from my purse and hold it in my
right hand for my walk home.

Chapter
Two

Ren

“One more, man, come on,”
Mason says to me.

I down the shot he hands me in one quick gulp. The amber liquid
burns going doing my throat. How many has it been? Seven? Eight? I lost track
after the first five. Not to mention the beers I was drinking before we got to
the bar.

I slam the shot glass upside down onto the bar top. By some
miracle it doesn’t break.

“Alright, Mason, that has got to be the last one.”
I can tell I’m already trashed. I check my pockets for my phone to
see the time. Nope, not in the front pockets. Not in the back ones either.

Shit.
Where the hell did I put it?
“Mason have you seen my phone?”

“Nah dude, did
ya
check your pockets?”

“Of course I did.”

“No use worrying about it. You’ll never find it in this place anyway,
there’s too many people.”

Fuck.
I keep losing my shit when I’m
drunk. Last week it was my keys, this week my phone. What’s next?

“Hey.”

I look down to see a short, redhead standing in front of me.

“Hey, yourself.”
Did that sound smooth? Nope,
probably not.

“I was over there with my friends,”
she nods in
the direction of three girls occupying a table in the corner of the bar, “And I
saw you guys downing all those shots. Can I buy the next round?”

“It’s a nice offer, but I told myself that was my last one. I’ve
already drank enough tonight.”

She pouts and puffs her bottom lip out. “Too bad. Well it looks
like your friend is a little occupied right now. How about I keep you company
while he’
s gone.
”

I see that Mason is at the end of the bar talking to a girl in a
bright, pink dress. He has the stupidest grin on his face. The girl probably
thinks she’s going home with him tonight, but I can only think of a handful of
times Mason’s actually taken someone home.

The redhead rests her tiny hand on my left bicep. It doesn’t take
a genius to tell that she’s coming onto me. I can see that dirty look she has
in her eyes.
Come home with me
? She doesn
’t even have
to say the words for me to hear the question.

She is pretty hot. Nice little toned body and her dress is leaving
almost nothing to my imagination. Something about her though seems familiar to
me, but I just can’t place it.

“Sure, I could use a little company”
I respond.

She smiles up at me and drags me over to her group of friends
across the bar.

“Ladies, look who I found tonight,”
she says to
her friends.

“Well if it
isn
’
t Ren Warren.
”
A blonde girl at the table says to me.

How does everyone always seem to know who I am?

“And you are?”
I ask, but my words probably
come out as a slur. I’m feeling pretty wasted at this point.

“You don’t remember me?”

I think for a moment but can’t remember. She does look familiar,
but then again the redhead looked familiar to me too.

“No, sorry.”

“I’m Bethany.
Lyla’s
friend
.
”
A devious smile casts onto her face.

Lyla. Fuck.

Damnit, just when I thought I was completely free of that woman,
she somehow makes an appearance back into my life. Even if it’s just a mention
by one of her friends.

Lyla and I
broke up
almost a year ago and I still haven’t
gotten over my anger for the shit she pulled. How could I have not realized she
was cheating on me through most of our relationship?

I don
’t want
anything to do with her or any of her fake friends.

“I’m not surprised you’re joining us for a drink, Ren,”
Lyla’s friend continues, “Lyla’s told us all about how you’ve been
making your way through every girl on campus. About time you made it into her
circle of friends. We’ve been waiting for our turn.”

HELL NO. I was not about to have anything to do with
any
of
Lyla’s so called friends. And that “making my way through the girls on campus”
comment was complete shit. Lyla knows that’s not the truth, she’s
just trying to start something.

“Well it looks like you’ll be waiting forever ladies.”
I say.

And with that I release my arm from the hold of the redhead and
walk away from the table.

 Hopefully that
is the last of anything to do with
Lyla.

I find Mason standing at the bar with some of our friends. He has another
beer in his hand and the girl from earlier is nowhere to be seen.

“Ren!”
Mason shouts to me when I walk over, even
though I’m standing right in front of him.

“You’re yelling,”
I say. Except I think I’m
yelling too.

“We’ve got to take a few more drinks before we go. Adam wants to
get out of here so let’
s
hurry up.
”

Even though I told myself earlier I wouldn’t take any more drinks,
the temptation of more alcohol is pretty appealing to me right now. “Fuck it,”
I say. “Another round!”

A small group around us shouts a cheer of approval. Mason gets
four more shots lined up on the bar in front of us. I grab the first and drink
it quickly. My body sways as I reach for the second and I grab onto the counter
for support.

“Here buddy I’ll help you out,”
Mason says while putting
an arm around my shoulders to steady me. His shots must be finished already and
he shoves the last one down my throat.

Burn. Like literally my throat is burning from the alcohol. I
cough a bit, and close my eyes. The side of my body hurts like hell all of a
sudden.

I hear a few people calling my name.

“Ren? Ren?”
I hear. I’ll just keep my eyes closed for
a minute longer, maybe the pain in my right arm and leg will go away.

“Come on man don’t quit on us now, the night is young! It’s not even
midnight yet.”

I open my eyes and all I see is a hardwood floor.

Shit, I think I just hit the ground.

“Ouch,”
is all I can get out of my mouth.

“He’s alive! Praise God above, Ren is alive!”
It’s Mason talking now and he sounds like he’s joking around. I
see him make a dramatic show of bending down to lift my body off the ground.
“Let’s go to the next stop. Where to, Adam?”

“To get something to eat, I’m fucking starving,”
Adam responds.

Food, yes. I definitely need some food. Just as long as I can keep
my eyes open.

“If we’re going to have to drag his ass around maybe we should
just take him home.”
I hear Adam say. But I’
m hungry, so I can
’t go home. Mason has eaten all the food at our house, I’ll starve
to death and die if go there.

“Nope,”
I say while using every last bit of my
energy to hold my body up. “I can walk just fine. Let’s eat.”

With a shrug to his shoulders Adam says, “Okay then,
let’s
go.”

My group and I get into Adam’s car and head to some diner ten
minutes from the bar. My first impression as I walk in is that the place is too
damn bright. Absolutely blinding.

“Every light in this restaurant has to be on right now,”
I say to Mason as we pile into a booth with the other three guys.

“Close your eyes, then every light will be off. See, I can solve
all the world’s problems.”

It’s not a bad idea. I close my eyes and place my head on the
table, hoping to slow down some of the spinning happening inside my head.

But the spinning doesn’t
stop. And I can
’t fall asleep
over the laughter and stories being told by my table mates.

“It’s hot in here too,”
I mumble to Mason with my
head still down on the table.

“God you are just the whiniest drunk ever. How does any woman ever
put up with you?”

“My mouth is good for more things than whining.”

Mason erupts in a roar of laughter next to me. “Okay, lady killer,
close your eyes and shut the hell up.”

I comply and take off my sweatshirt to cool off.

Again I try to fall asleep, but it doesn’t work. I’m interrupted
by some woman coughing up a lung and asking for our drink orders.

 “Now that I finally have your attention, my name is Emilie,
and I’ll be your server this evening. Can I start you off with any drinks?”

Eric of course is a dick and pulls some cheesy line on the poor
girl.

“Eric damnit, show the girl some manners,”
I hear Adam say. “Please excuse my friend here, we don’t usually
let him out of the house.”

The waitress gives him a laugh. Adam is probably pulling what he
thinks is a charming smile on her.

“It’s alright, really.”
She responds. “
So drink orders?
”

Adam lets her know that we will all take water. I could definitely
use a glass right now, but Eric has other ideas. He tries ordering a beer but
is denied for whatever reason that I couldn’t hear, by the waitress.

“Okay then, five waters. I’ll be back in a sec’ to take your meal
orders.”

“This place doesn’t serve alcohol? Why did we come here?”
Eric says.

I turn my head to the right to pay attention to the conversation.

“It’s a family diner, what did you expect?”
Adam adds. “And we came here because I was hungry and the food at
the bar we were at sucked. I agreed to drive your asses around tonight, so I
get to pick where we eat.”

“We left the bar just after eleven. No one turns down this early.
I thought when we left we were going someplace good.”

Adam doesn
’t sound too
happy when he says, “Well if you want to go to another bar you can. But I’m
staying here and eating, and I won’t drive you home.”

“
Fine, I
don
’t need food. I need beer, and women. Lots of women. You can take
that waitress home you were flirting with, but there is no one else here for
me.”
He turns his attention to Justin, “You want to join?”

“I’m down,”
Justin responds.

“Alright, we’re out. Have fun eating food and getting sober. And
Adam, congrats on being the only man in this joint getting laid tonight.
Gentleman,”
he says directing his attention to the rest of us. “I’ll be sure
to pray for you.”
He crawls underneath the table, along with
Justin, and makes his exit out of the diner.

“I swear to God I have no idea why I hang out with him sometimes.”

“Because you’ve known him since birth,”
Mason says to Adam.

“
And isn
’
t he
your cousin?”
I add in.

“Shush
ya
drunk,”
Adam jokingly says to me. “But seriously though, on a more
important note, do you guys think I have a shot at the waitress?”

I try not to laugh at how ridiculous he sounds.

“No.”
Mason tells him.

This time I can’t hold my laughter in. And I feel Adam toss a
napkin at me. “Ren, how many people tonight need to tell you to shut your mouth
and keep your head down on the table? I was asking Mason’s opinion.”
He tries to sound firm, but I know he isn’t really mad.

“And my opinion,”
Mason says, “In case you
already forgot, was no. No you do not have a shot at the hot waitress that was
at our table. I already took a look at her, and she basically told me, in that
moment when our eyes locked, that she wanted to take me home and do very, very
filthy things to me.”

“Liar.”

“Believe it, Adam, believe it. When she comes back here pay
attention to when she gives me sex eyes.”

This conversation I’m listening to sounds ridiculous. Adam could
probably pull this waitress, or at least have a better chance than Mason could.

“Fine. I’ll pay close attention. But keep quite now, she’s on her
way over.”
Adam says.

“I guess I grabbed too many waters,”
I hear the
girl say. She sounds kind of timid. Like she got nervous coming back to our
table.

“It’
s cool,
we
’
ll still
taken
‘
em
. Eric and Justin left to go back to
the bar.”
Adam says to her.