Page 29 of Spoonful

Jaylin took a deep breath and tried to remind himself that Carlos was just high-strung. “Explain why you’re mad. I was literally just doing what you asked me to.”

“I’m not mad!” Carlos shoved at the money in Jaylin’s hands. “Put that back!”

“On the tables?” Jaylin tried to work out. “But–”

“In yourpocket,”Carlos near-shrieked. “They’reyour tips.”

“But–”

“Miguel!”Carlos wailed in Spanish.“Did you finish the taco tasting plate?”

“Carlos–”

The plate of food was produced, and Carlos grabbed it. “C’mon!”

Jaylin sighed, not bothering to protest, and followed Carlos… back to the little table he’d originally been seated at, which was still empty.

Carlos put the plate of food down—the taco tasting platewasJaylin’s order, Jaylin remembered now—and waved a finger in Jaylin’s direction. “You will sit here. You will eat your food. You will not wait any more tables. And you will flag me down when you’re done.Capiche?”

“I thought you spoke Spanish, not Italian,” Jaylin grumbled, but he did sit. Now that his food was in front of him, he washungry.

“Bon appetit,” Carlos snarked before running away.

Jaylin took his time with his food, trying not to inhale it. Normally he had leftovers from a meal atEl Guanaco,but this time he finished the entire plate as well as all the chips and salsa on the table. When he came up for air, he noticed that the restaurant was less busy.

Which made sense, when he checked his phone and he realized in shock that it was almost ten.

When Carlos came back, Miguel was in tow, and they both looked serious. Jaylin watched them nervously, wondering what in the world he had done that was so bad it had made Miguel leave the kitchen.

Miguel sat down across from Jaylin at the little table while Carlos hovered nervously next to them.

Miguel shot Carlos a look that Jaylin could best interpret asannoyed but amused.“So,” Miguel said, placing a piece of paper on the table. “Carlos told me he didn’t actually get you hired before putting you to work.”

Jaylin’s eyes flicked to Carlos. “Uh…”

“It was only going to be twenty minutes,” Carlos said, looking beseechingly at Jaylin. “I didn’t know he was gonna go all server-savant!”

Miguel pointed to him. “You, hush.” To Jaylin he said, “You, I’m gonna need a social security number.”

“What?” Jaylin asked incredulously, not sure he had heard right.

“You’re hired,” Miguel said dryly. “Otherwise Aubela’s gonna wring all our necks.” He pointed to the piece of paper. “Fill this out, bring it back tomorrow along with a voided check or whatever if you want to set up direct deposit, and we canwork on getting you on some actual training and regular shifts. Normally weinterview,but you did some fucking good work tonight, so I’ll vouch.”

Jaylin gaped at him. “For two hours? You could just like, comp my meal or something.”

Miguel looked from Jaylin to Carlos, and then back again. “I’m sorry,” he said mildly. “Did you just say Carlos put you to work and youweren’t even trying to work here?”

“I–” Jaylin’s mind whirled. He hadn’t held a job since he’d started school, because Brent didn’t want him working and Jaylin had too much school work to struggle keeping on top of that he barely had time for anything else anyway.

But his school work had beennothingthis week. Jaylin himself had had no idea how to fill all his time. And a job could besucha good thing. It would let him save so much more, so much faster. It would give him such a bigger cushion for when Brent inevitably dropped him.

Brent was already aware of how much time Jaylin needed–needed–to spend on school work. There was no reason why Jaylin couldn’t just… fill some of his newfound free time with a job and not tell him.

What Brent didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“No, um, sorry,” Jaylin said in a rush. “I was just… surprised? But yes, yeah, I-I’d love to work here. Please.”

Miguel raised an eyebrow while Carlos gave two emphatic, slightly-hysterical thumbs-up. “Well, okay then,” Miguel said after a moment. “Servers make eight an hour base rate because three dollars is fucking criminal, there’s family meal on days you’re on shift, your choice if you want to eat it or not, and you keep all your own tips. Can you come in tomorrow at ten? Gives us some time before we open for the lunch crowd.”

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