Night-Owl Trucking

Tuesday, 12:41am

It must have been her lucky night: the ladies' bathroom was empty when she pushed her way through the heavy door and quickly made her way to the far end of the room. She slipped into the second-to-last stall and flipped the lock over with a thunk. Luz turned to face the toilet, and the small shelf above it holding the general manager's handpicked decorations. She preferred this stall, not just for the decor—this stall was narrow, and the pair of heavy-duty handrails gave her a place to climb up and sit sideways, feet on one rail, her backside on the other, wedging herself against the back wall. Here, she could lean her head against the shelf and cry.

~

Amity looked up when Gus approached the table, wiping his hands and sweat-sheened arms on a towel. He nodded toward the Hawaiian shirt disappearing into the bathroom hallway, "What happened?"

"I— I don't know," the pale girl shrugged off her stunned stupor and began to wipe her hands on a napkin, "She was really upset about— I— I don't know." Amity pushed herself to her feet and took a single sliding step forward before she remembered her extra-large bear-feet slippers. She took another unsteady step forward to sit down in Luz's abandoned chair to try and pull the damned things off. "She seemed surprised to learn my last name? I guess?"

"What?" Gus laughed, a delighted smile on his face, "She didn't know who you are?" When Amity shrugged again, he scoffed and rubbed his hand over the back of his head, "Classic Luz. How did she not know who you are?"

"I don't know!" Amity sat up straight to look up at him, her hands outstretched in exasperation. A panic she had never tasted before began to boil in the back of her throat. "I have no idea! Eda introduced us this morning, and I guess she only used our first names?" The young man laughed again and she scowled, "It honestly never came up!"

"Hey, sorry, I just—" He shook his head and groaned, "It's just so her, ya know?" He turned back to face the pale girl who had dropped her head in her hands, rubbing her fingers into her forehead, "I heard her voice get loud, but I couldn't make out what she was saying over the pizza oven... I thought she was calling for me to ask a question," Gus crossed his arms over his chest, "Did she think she'd been tricked or something?"

Amity inhaled sharply between her hands, her palms pressed over her face, "No— not at all," She stood again, dropping her hands to look at the young man in the apron, "She seemed scared, or... or hurt, like..." She trailed off, not voicing the rest, like I'd broken her heart. She made to leave, to go find Luz like her instincts were screaming, but Gus reached out to hold up a hand.

"Just— just a sec, okay?" He cleared his throat and looked Amity in the eyes, "I can tell you're worried. Whatever happened, I can almost guarantee it's a misunderstanding. I've not had a ton of face-to-face time with Luz, but we text and voice-chat a lot during our downtimes, yeah? And she's— uh—" He paused to look around, considering, then, shrugged with a sigh, "She has a tendency to... to jump straight to the worst-case scenario when something happens? That's just the vibe I get, based on her stories."

Amity frowned, her eyebrows curling in confusion, "Okay, I get that, but—"

Gus grinned, but she heard him let slip a pained sigh, "You can get it, but not get it. She just learned you're Amity Blight, heiress of Blight Industries, richer than—" He laughed and stretched his hands out to either side, "—than I don't even know! Some European countries, probably." He rolled his eyes when she made a face and nodded. "Right? So, she finds out you're in her truck. Her truck? Eda's company? Your family could buy and sell them a dozen times over before breakfast, and not even notice." A splotchy red anger bloomed around her eyes as she snarled in protest, but Gus held up his hands and talked over her stuttered argument, "I'm not tryin'a be rude, I'm just tryin'a connect the dots for you, okay?" He paused until she gave him an irritated nod. "Luz probably jumped right to her messing up the job, and your family ruining Eda's company; her mistake hurting her friends. Okay? Not cool, I know, but—" He tilted his head and shrugged, "She probably just panicked."