Amnesia: The Break

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Alex Vine slipped through the doors of Calhouns just at 6:00 when his shift started. His black hair was cut short and his blue eyes scanned the restaurant easily as he tied the apron around his waist, putting a few straws in one of the pockets and picking up his pen and pad, leaning against the counter. His dark red shirt fit him fairly well, showing off his muscle as he smiled faintly at the customers, part of his job. Such a waste of time.
He thought to himself. He was the football team captain, but he was broke because he just bought his new car. That was the only reason he was sitting here at this time, in this place, and not at home finishing his math homework, which surprisingly he excelled at, or annotating his English book, which again, he excelled at. One of the few, unusual people who was a straight A athlete.
 
“I’ll be right back with your drinks.” Becka promised, flashing a well practiced smile at her opening table of guests. But first, she helped a coworker deliver steaming plates to another table, stalling to give her group time to think before returning with drinks and leaving with their order. Weaving back through empty chairs she was more aware of the ponytail caught in the back of her collar than her nametag “Becka Davis” falling to the floor.
She always walked too fast, a side effect of keeping up with friends she had yet to catch up to in height. At least she was well proportioned, and short was an advantage when it kept Lacey from borrowing her clothes. Her older sister could win all the club volleyball championships she wanted, Becka still had more of a life, better grades, car at a younger age and a job to pay it off.
Pulling the light brown curls off her neck she rounded the corner to the constantly occupied front counter, crossing in front of Alex to drop the menus into to a large basket. He didn’t need her to notice him, as a football star everyone paid attention him, she decidedly tried not to. Becka tilted back against the wall where her brown eyes could focus on the dining room and pass time people watching between waiting on tables.
 
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Alex ignored Becka, seeing no reason in speaking to her, until he noticed she'd dropped her nametag. Ugggghhh...this is going to be fun. He thought sarcastically and walked over, picking up the nametag. One of the customers started to flag him down and he went over, picking up their glass. "More water ma'am?"
The lady nodded.
Alex flashed her a smile and went behind the counter, pouring the glass of water and walking over to Becka. "Aye. Walk slower." He said, tossing the tag to her before returning the water to the table. Alex then returned behind the counter.
 
Becka wrinkled her nose “A personal trainer, lucky me.” she replied sarcastically, catching the thing in the air. She waited till his back was turned to uncurl her fingers from the mystery object, her nametag. Becka’s mouth fell open. She tried to relax the shock back into a smile. You’d think after months I could fasten this. Then these things wouldn’t happen! She mused, desperately reattaching the tag just in time to serve another group and avoid Alex. She waited until their paths crossed in the dining room to gesture at the clip and say “Hey, thanks.” A work smile plastered across her face. Might as well have an audience for such common courtesy, if they were lucky that could be their last conversation for months.
 
Alex nodded slightly. "No..problem." He said, a fake smile forced on his face, but the would you just go away was clear in his mind. He then turned, finishing taking the order of the table with two little girls and a father. One of the little girls poked his hand and giggled. Alex gave her a curious look before going to the counter, dropping the order off, and returning with their drinks. He stayed wary of the girl, remembering what happened last month. A little girl, a little older than this one, had grabbed his foot and sat down on it, hugging his leg and not letting go. It took him and her father an hour to get the girl off..he didn't want another repeat.
 
Business as usual, serve and people watch. There was a family of Grandma, parents and their middle school kid. Table seating couples, a guys night out, and an animated group of college students. Her attention was captured by the wiggling of girls too young to sit still, now fighting over crayons. Becka leaned against the wall, legs casually crossed, wondering who would win, the older one with superior understanding of argument and brute strength, or “the baby” who could still burst out crying and screaming for not getting her way. But that was one of Alex’s tables. Her eyes drifted back to the college group. They seemed to be having more fun than anyone else in the room, Becka pushed herself off the wall taking light, quick steps to reach their table and began refilling drinks. She smirked, overhearing bits of the stories that left them all laughing. This was the best part of the job, hanging out with interesting strangers.
 
Alex watched as time started to crawl forwards on the clock. No one seemed to need anything, and he sat bored behind the counter. The family with the young girl left, and as he looked out the door, he groaned. It wasn't just raining, but it was a full blown storm..and he had walked. He glanced at his watch. It was 11:30. They had about two hours left. Hopefully it would clear up..hopefully.
 
The downpour made guests more content to stay put. They leaned back, relaxed, merely sipping on drinks and settled into long conversations. When the storm hadn't let up after the first hour Becka found a chair and forced herself to relax. One hand rested on the bump that was her phone, buried in a pocket under the apron, set on silent, but hopefully very active. Come on rain! Rain, rain rain. She thought, grinning every time a customer left and the sound thundered in. She sat still, conserving every ounce of energy, if it was any slower she would have fallen asleep. Finally it was time to clean up and she set about the job with sudden enthusiasm. She bumped the lump in her pocket over and over, anxiously awaiting the end of the shift.
 
Alex started wiping down tables and moving dishes to the kitchen. He waved at the man doing dishes, who just laughed. Then, Alex returned to the counter, sitting on the edge, stumped on what to do. They had about 30 minutes before time to leave, and he still had to figure out how to get home. He turned as a hand touched his shoulder. "Hey, Zach. Hey, can I catch a ride home with you?"
Zach chuckled, but shook his head sadly. "Sorry dude, getting low on gas." He pat Alex's shoulder. "Good luck." He said as he returned to the kitchen to finish his job.
Alex groaned as he stood up. What to do..
 
Once the dishes were all clear Becka moved on to wiping down chairs and stacking them, allowing the sweeping and moping to commence. The volume on the radio had been turned up and she scuttled around the dining room in time with the beat, preoccupied with making a mental list of people to get together with in the daylight.
 
Alex noticed no one had swept and pulled out a broom, starting to sweep himself and nodding his head to the radio as it played. Most of the workers started to leave at their staggered times, leaving three of the workers there 5 minutes later when Alex's shift ended. He sighed, throwing the dirt away and putting the broom up. He looked out the window. The storm raged on. He leaned against the wall and rubbed the sides of his head with a sigh. This sucks.. he thought to himself.
 
Done! Becka threw her apron into the pile and pulled out the phone. She absentmindedly stepped to the side to get out of someone’s way, eyes glued to the phone. There was the message from her sister “Mud Volley Ball. Lunch. Get a team or you forfeit. <3 Davis #1”
“YES YES YES!” Becka practically shouted. There were other messages, two of her friends had already texted to ask if there would be a game or not. Her fingers flew across the screen making replies, the lights went out. “Coming!” she exclaimed to the room, not sure if it was the power going out or just the lights being turned off. She scrawled the last invite before using the phone as a light to weave through the tables to the door.
 
Alex was still standing by the door. Everyone else had left. He stared outside, cursing himself for what he was about to do. Cursing himself for not checking the weather. With a sigh, he turned and faced Becka. The only other employee left in the shop. "Becka.." Alex started weakly, his arms crossed with a sigh. "Do you mind driving me a block to my house?" He asked, titling his head a little to motion at the storm and the fact he walked. He looked helpless almost. It was weird, such a big football jock, standing there, wishing he wasn't there.
 
The Becka’s head turned, following the direction of his nod to the raging storm. Just how much rain would I wish on Alex Vine? The silence lingered. “Yeah, it’s late.” She said without looking back at his shadowy form. Not at night anyway. She justified to herself, and even Alex would not be able to crush her excitement tonight. Pushing open the door she bounded across the parking lot, evading larger puddles on the way to her car.

Flicking on the dome light she scrambled to pull textbooks from the passenger seat to make room for him, plopping them into the back. The back was the messiest part of her very clean car. All candy wrappers and empty paper cups were collected in a plastic bag on the floor. The cup holder held a half finished water bottle and paper from a fortune cookie. Last year’s birthday present lay on the seat, a bulging cd pouch that had come already filled with a music collection as eclectic as her friends. Becka hit the clutch and turned on the ignition, she loved her car.
 
Alex followed silently behind her, slightly glad she said yes, yet upset he actually had to do this. He had looked around the empty parking lot as she moved things before he sat in the passenger seat, buckling up and setting his elbow on the armrest, his head resting in his palm. "Thanks..Becka." He said, looking outside at the rain washing across the windows. "Blue house, black door, white numbers 6298." He said, describing his house for her. "One story."
 
“Great.” She replied sarcastically, backing out of the spot sending a shower of water across the parking lot. “I have NO idea where you live. I don’t get many football party invites, so I’ll need more directions than that.” She insisted, coming to a stop at the edge of the lot and waiting for an indication of which way to turn.
 
"Right, go about a mile, and then take the first left at the third red light. I said a block, it's not too hard." He said sighing. "And then just go straight into the neighborhood, I'll point out my house when we get there" He added, looking over at her. "And I can get you into some if you ever want to come to one, I do owe you now."
 
She pulled her eyes off the road long enough to glance sideways as if he was speaking Chinese "Well if I ever want to come, I'll let you know." she replied, pretty sure neither of them wanted that to happen. "I tend to be busy those nights anyway with..." what the heck do I do on those nights? her mind was blank. It was after 1 in the morning and all she could think about was tomorrow's mud volleyball game. "...stuff with Lacey, and friends and stuff anyway." She groaned at her own atrociously butchered statement.
 
Alex shrugged. Personally, he didn't care either way, but he knew his manners. "Thanks." He said again, hating silence but now knowing what to say. He stared out the window at the pouring rain and sighed slightly. "You know..you're kinda lucky to have good friends like you do." He added in a quieter voice, almost as if she wasn't supposed to hear it.
 
The quiet was torture, but she merely mumbled a "yeah." for his thanks. When he spoke again the darkness hid her open mouth and wide eyes. I wouldn't want to hang out with your jerks either, she thought. "But you have the pick of the school, what more do you want?" She exclaimed almost accusingly before taking a deep breath and continuing on more calmly "People idolize you. Any one of hundreds of people would have lunch with you if you asked. Seriously, what are you looking for?"
 
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