Asphyxiate

.9

"Yes mom. I just finished unpacking the last box. The place is looking great." I say into the phone whilst arranging the furniture in the living room.

"Good good. You made any new friends or met any neighbor perhaps?" Mom asks through the phone. I hear vegetables being chopped in the background. She must be murdering innocent vegetables for dinner right about now.

"Actually, yes. I met these two really nice girls who live right below me. They helped me with my stuff too." I say as I bite down onto the granola bar I picked up in my new fridge.

"That's great, honey. Dad wants to talk to you. He just walked in, here he is." I heard the sound of a phone being handed over and in a second it was dad on the line.

"Hello child." He says with a robotic tone. I chuckle at him and reply,

"Hello father." I respond with a matching robotic tone.

"How you settling?" Dad asks through the line.

"Pretty well. I am loving the place you guys picked out for me." I say as I sit down on my couch. "The couch is so cozy."

"Glad you like it honey. Have you eaten dinner? Your mom's serving up dinner here in a bit. I bet you could smell her lovely coleslaw from there." I hear my dad grinning in the other line. I don't want to admit that he's right so I just mutter a whatever.

"I am about to head out actually. Goodbye family. I love you!!" I say into the phone and wait for their goodbyes before I end the call.

***

The cold February air hits me as I open the door to head outside. I wrap my coat tighter around me. If you knew me personally, you'd know I get cold really easily.

Flashback a couple years ago, I remember Morgan trying to warm my hands with his breath. I shake the horrible memory away. Stop reminding yourself of him Harper.

As I walked out the double doors, I hear my name being called out. I look behind me to see that it was only Jamie and Lynn, the two girls who helped me with my stuff.

"Hey guys." I say as they reach my side.

"Hey Harper. You going out for dinner?" Jamie asks me with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm just looking for a nice place to eat at. Can you recommend anything?" This time Lynn speaks up, grinning from ear to ear.

"Perfect! You can join us then! We know this lovely place just a few blocks away from here." She says as they trap me in a hold so I can't say no.

It's been a couple of days since I have settled in and these girls have been so nice, they're like my newfound best friends.

"It's not like I could have said no anyways, right?" I say smiling back at them.

"True." Jamie assures me. We continue down the street until we reach this quaint little diner up ahead.

When we walk in, we were immediately greeted by the smell of hot dogs, burgers, steaks and everything meat. It smelled homely.

"Mmm. If this place is as good as it is smells, I might eat here every day of my life." I declare as I walk through the doors. The twins laugh at me as they sit at a booth.

"I'm guessing you guys are regulars?" I say as I sit down across them.

"Uh huh. We don't even need a menu but for you, we'll get one." Jamie says as Lynn calls out to a bus boy.

"Oooh la la. New meat." Lynn says as the guy approaches. She winks, trying to seem discreet even though she is fleetingly obvious. The guy doesn't seem to give two flaps though.

"Sooo. Harper, what do you want?" Jamie says as she hands me the menu. I examine the menu for the best pick and just decide to let the experts choose.

"Give me your best meal here." I say as I continue looking mindlessly at the menu.

"Whatever." The guy says as he jots down our orders rather really sourly, it was really rude. Once he left, I voiced my thoughts out but not before letting Lynn speak first.

"Talk about rudeeee."

"I know right?! Should we like complain? Back in New York, we don't take this sort of crap." I say as I look at the bus boy, busying himself with being cranky.

Although he is really blessed with Adonis looks, with his tan complexion, muscle ripped body, clean cut brown hair and piercing blue eyes, he certainly has no manners and does not deserve to be in this diner.

He hands us our dishes and slaps down our meals. RUDE.

"I think it's time we spoke with the owner." Jamie concludes.

***

We speak with the owner to voice out our complaints, although it was mostly me complaining but thank heavens they were heard and the owner was very apologetic for his new staff. Jamie and Lynn, being regulars knew the owner pretty well. I bet justice is being served.

Just as we were finishing our meals, the owner comes out with a smile. He approaches our table.

"Again, I am very sorry for Cameron, trust me no one else in here will treat you with bad service. He has been dealt with, I just fired him." He smiled at his last words as if he were proud.

Jamie and Lynn smiled at this, seemingly not caring, but I on the other hand was very shocked. I didn't mean for the guy to get fired, just maybe getting an earful from the boss, you know?

I let out a nervous chuckle. "That seems rather extreme though, right? I mean, you could have just gave him an earful." I say laughingly so he takes it lightly.

He laughs back at me and playfully nudges my shoulder. "Oh, he deserved to be fired. He practically begged me for this job last night saying he really needed to pay the rent for his sister's apartment because they were way behind the due date and he was the only hope, so I said yes because I felt sympathetic. But with how he acted today, I say he doesn't really need this job if he doesn't even care to act properly to the customers."

My jaw dropped at what he just said.

Did I just fire a guy who really needed to pay rent?

I feel so horrible right now.