Page 6 of The Good Char
Was she kidding?Booze, in this heat?We served booze at the family restaurant, but I was never tempted to try.Yellow liquids looked wrong to me.
The guy lifted up a twelve pack and Cindy laughed, looking at him seductively.“Sure, I will come with you Jarred.”
She knew him?I mean, it didn’t matter, look at them!Look at what they were suggesting!I quickly grabbed her wrist.
“They’ve already been drinking.You don’t need to be riding with them to god knows where Cin, you need to grow up and think,” I pleaded.
“Grow up?”she snapped, automatically turning defensive.“Really?You are the one with a bottle stuck up your ass!I am grown and I will go with whoever the hell I want to go with, now let me go!”
She jerked her arm back and I was hurt.Couldn’t she see that I cared about her?
“Fine!Then go!”I said in a huff, turning my heel in frustration as I walked away from them all.The truck sped past me with a roar of the engine, their laughter fading away into the distance while the truck accelerated up the street.
I wasn’t going to let it bother me, not one bit.I hope she gets so drunk that her hangover tomorrow makes her sick all day.
Once the thought left my mind, guilt assaulted me and my eyes burned with unshed tears.After walking about thirty minutes in the blazing heat, I made it home and ran up the stairs and closed my door.I threw my purse on the floor and fell face first across my bed, replaying the argument Cindy over and over in my head until I fell asleep.
Chapter4
The next morning came fast.It felt like I only closed my eyes for ten minutes.I jumped out of bed quickly, put on my pants and a tie-dyed t-shirt and swiftly ran down the stairs and outside to my bicycle.
“Oh, no.My helmet!”I jumped off, ran back into the house.When I returned outside, I quickly picked the bicycle up and headed to The Good Char.
He told me to come today.I needed to make sure I was there early.
I rode my bike as fast as I could on the sidewalk while enjoying the breeze of the cooler morning air and ringing my bell so I wouldn’t accidentally run over anyone.The sun was already starting to rise higher as I parked my bicycle and made my way into the front of the mall.The doors were already unlocked for the other employees and a security guard sat at the front, nodding to me in greeting.I waved and used quick strides toward the food court.I arrived to find the manager already sweeping the floor and grumbling to himself.
I guess his broody personality really was just deeply rooted and not because of people around him.
“Darn kids with no training, how hard is it to put trash in the garbage can?”he griped.I watched nervously as he cleaned in front of his area, bending over to pick up cups and tossing it in the nearby trash bin.His biceps stretched the sleeve of his black shirt as he grabbed his broom again.
I felt bad.I should be the one doing that.Teenagers didn’t care about keeping our environment clean, it was something that frustrated me too.I walked over to where he was cleaning and without speaking a word, began to pick up the trash with him.
“You’re the girl I hired yesterday,” he snarled while shaking his head at the last bit of trash on the floor.
“Yes, I am.I’m so sorry, I didn’t catch your name the other day.My name is Kimmy,” I told him cheerfully.
He looked at me like he was constipated and I worried if he was taking care of himself.Maybe that was why he needed extra help at The Good Char.
“Dzik.Call me Dzik.”
Huh.Haven’t heard that one before.But what do I know?
I beamed and quickly went to grab the broom from his hands to alleviate him of the mundane tasks.As the manager, he shouldn’t have to do this.He was so kind in taking me in as an employee.I wanted to show him my gratitude.
While I swept, I began to nervously ramble, trying to get my bearings around him.“I figured I should come and get an early start on learning everything I could from you about my job.I mean, sweeping is sweeping no matter where you are, but the stuff behind the counter, that’s something else.”
Thank goodness there wasn't a lot of trash left.I quickly finished cleaning around our area and then gave him a brilliant smile when I was done.
Mr.Dzik was decked in all black beneath his apron.Despite being in shorts, he looked good, like he couldn’t be anything other than a manager of something here.I looked at myself and my face flushed with embarrassment.
“Oh, was I supposed to get a uniform?I’m so sorry.That was my fault.I should have asked for one the other day.Do you by any chance have any on hand that would fit me?”I gave him my best puppy dog eyes and realized that beyond his grumpy exterior, he wasn’t that much older than me—I didn’t think.He looked to be in his mid thirties, possibly.
That constipated look was back.
He shook his head and stared at me with such intensity that my face flamed even more.I tended to ramble when I was nervous and feeling like I was letting someone down.I didn’t want to let him down on my first day.
After we both finished, he mumbled something and walked behind the counter into a back room.He wasn’t gone long before reappearing with an apron draped across his arm.He threw it at me and I almost didn’t catch it in time if it wasn’t for my awkward acrobatics saving me before I could fall.I turned them in my hands and examined them with pride.The Good Charwas written across the chest.
