Lost and Found

Chapter 5

Bryce finished bundling up the bills from the first of the drawers when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and smiled and set his phone down in front of him. He put all the change from the drawer into the change counter, thinking about texting her back.

"Stop it," Bianca said as she put the bills from her drawer into the bill counter.

"Stop what? I'm not doing anything." The machine chimed and Bryce took the receipt from it and put it with the wrapped bills.

"You're thinking about her. Is that who texted you?" Bianca grabbed at his phone. He snatched it away and put it back into his pocket. Bianca smiled as she wrapped up her bills and put the total on it. "Can you just stay focused."

"Bee, you know me better than that. I'm always focused when it comes to business."

"True, but you never get that look on your face."

"What look?" Bryce asked as he moved on to his second drawer.

"The look that tells me you're going to lose yourself in your own thoughts and I'll be doing this myself." She moved over to the change counter. "You really like her, don't you?"

Bryce smiled and nodded. "I do."

"So, are you going to go out with her all by yourself next time or do you need me to chaperone this time?" She asked as she laughed.

"Yeah, about that, why did you bring the drinks up with Nick tonight?"

She smiled at him as she took her receipt from the machine. "I wanted to see what she looked like. She's cute."

Bryce smiled at his friend. "It's more than that though. She's smart, funny, caring..." Bryce jumped as the cash machine beeped.

"Oh, wow, if only I could be as focused as you," Bianca laughed as she grabbed another drawer.

Nick strolled into the office. "The bar is cleaned. The bartenders kept up well with the glasses all night, so there's only two loads going now. Liam is working on the floors now and then the tables and bathrooms."

"Plus, the VIP suite." Bianca added.

"I already took care of that." Bryce said. Nick and Bianca looked at him. "What? While the last of the people were leaving, I went up and cleaned it. Gary helped. Which reminds me." He wrote down the bill total and fed the change machine. "Sydney said she'd give us the number of the cleaning company the library uses."

"Really? I thought they would have been employed by the city." Nick said.

"Probably another way they keep their budget in check."

Nick nodded. "I'd appreciate it. I hate cleaning bathrooms. And speaking of Sydney..."

"Nooo, I finally got him to focus," Bianca said with an exaggerated sigh.

Nick chuckled and turned to Bryce. "When are you going to see her again?"

Bryce picked up a third drawer. "Don't know. I have to find out her schedule and think of somewhere to take her." He stood there with the drawer in his hand. He hadn't been to many places outside of the club in the month that he lived here. Shit, he thought to himself, where can I take her?

Nick took the drawer from him. "OK, Bee and I can handle this. Go start on the bathrooms and clear your head."

Bryce nodded absent mindedly at his friends as he walked to the door. "Is this just so you don't have to do it?"

"In part. But you know as well as I do, manual labor always clears your head." Nick smiled at his friend. "It's not like you'll be able to get them all done before we're done in here anyway."