The Restaurant

Chapter 28

Tina's plan was simple, we get Jesse to go to the new restaurant and see how it runs with her as the manager. Steven would be able to go to school, not lose Jesse, and they could run that branch while Tina came back home and we could be together, again. The problem was, neither Steven nor Jesse was on speaking terms and weren't answering either of us. We would have to be tactful and figure out how to get them talking again.

I began by calling Steven's mother asking if he was alright and if he was coming to work. She hadn't heard otherwise so she assumed he was still going to work, it was both their days off, being at work then would have been strange, even though they would usually come in and visit. I began asking the other staff if they had heard from either of the two. Nothing, until one of the girls said she saw Jesse going to a bar earlier in the day. After some digging around I found out it was the bar we had previously celebrated at after the noodles were a success. I was going to leave work and leave someone in charge, until I realized the only person who knew how to close besides me was Jesse. After we closed, I rushed over to the bar. She had left much earlier. That meant there was only one other place she could be her house. When I got there, her lights were off, and she wouldn't answer the door. I figured I would try Steven, again. As I showed up, I saw Steven and Jesse sitting on the stairs. When I had gotten to them, Jesse was hugging herself and Steven was looking away from her.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," Jesse said, wiping her eyes. Steven just nodded and kept looking away.

"What's going on?"

"We decided to break up."

"You decided, Jesse." Steven never talked to Jesse like that before. I could see how bloodshot Steven's eyes were when he glared at her. Jesse painfully looked at him, then got up.

"Hold on, can we just talk about this?" I asked, Jesse wasn't listening. She was already walking away. I looked at Steven, "Aren't you going to go after her?"

"She dumped me. After everything we went through." Steven was holding his head in his hands. "I love her, man. I want to spend the rest of my life with her."

"Then go tell her."

"I tried, Jimmy. After that first night we fought; I've called her a bunch since, but she kept sending me to voicemail. Then she showed up here, and said she wanted to talk. She said she was holding me back, that I was better off without her. I kept telling her, I was better with her and kept arguing that we could make this work, but she wasn't listening. She said she was breaking up with me, not to call her and not to talk to her at work. Jimmy, I don't know if I can work there anymore."

I sat next to him and put my hand on his shoulder. "What if there was a way to have Jesse and go to school?"

Steven rubbed his eyes, "Jimmy, I told you, there is no coming back from this. Jesse wants us to break up."

"But hear me out-"

"NO!" He shouted in my face. "I listened to you when I first told you I liked her, I went to you for advice when I needed it. Then when I needed your help the most, you left me alone to tell her about this. And now you want me to hear you out?"

"But-" Steven pushed me away and ran inside, slamming the door in my face.

'Well, this was going really great,' I thought.

As I got in my car, I saw Jesse walking down the street, so I tried to pick her up. "Jesse! Get in the car, I'll take you home."

Begrudgingly, she got in the car. We drove in silence for most of the ride, then I tried talking to her.

"Listen, I have an idea."

"Spare me, Jimmy. I don't want to hear it."

"But it has to do with you and Steven," I timidly responded. Jesse glared at me in such a way that I shrunk back.

"I don't want to hear it. I want nothing to do with Steven anymore. He's moving away and I am staying put and that's final."

"What if-"

"What if the next words out of my mouth were 'I quit?'" Jesse asked.

I held my tongue until we got to her house. When we got there, we sat in silence for a minute. I tried to apologize, "Jesse, I-" She had gotten out of the car and slammed the door on my face. Zero for two. I headed home without music on. The first time I had done that in a long time. When I got there, I sat in my car and called Tina, she didn't answer. 'Figures,' was all I could think before turning off my car and going inside. The girls had gone out for the night, so I had the place to myself. I didn't want to do anything except go to bed. When I got into bed, I lay there for a while, my mind kept playing over the scenario. I sent a message to Tina, saying that the plan failed and to call in the morning so I could tell her what happened. After several minutes, I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

***

The next day, I was scheduled to close with Jesse and Steven. Steven had his mom call and say he wasn't feeling well. Jesse went into work mode and didn't say a word to me all night. Luckily, it was a slow night, so we didn't get busy enough that I needed a backup cook. At the end of the night, Jesse cleaned her area and was out the door before anyone else. Normally, she would have helped everyone so we could all leave at the same time. The rest of the staff knew something was wrong, but I wasn't going to say anything. I checked my phone several times for a message from Tina, but there was nothing. That night, when I got home, Kat and Christy had invited over Jen and Aubrey for dessert. Dessert that I didn't know I was making.

"Can you make that thing you did the other night?" Christy asked.

"Ooh yeah!" Kat added.

"Guys, I've had a rough couple of days and I'm tired. Can I just make ice cream sundaes and brownies?"

All four girls stopped and looked at me. I was waiting for them to tell me no, but when I looked at them, I saw the sad look in their eyes. They all came and hugged me. I didn't know why, but it made me feel better. After the hug, I smiled and started walking to the kitchen.

"Not tonight mister," Christy said.

"But I promised brownies." Jen and Aubrey pulled me by the hands to the couch and sat me down. "Oh no," I said whining. "Not another girls night."

Several minutes later, my hair was in a towel, my face was covered in some cream, and I had cucumbers on my eyes. Why do I let them do this to me?

"Tina's plan was to have Jesse be the manager of the new place, Steven to go to school and be a cook there, and she comes home?" Kat asked.

"Yup."

"And now Steven and Jesse aren't talking to each other," Aubrey stated.

"Nope."

"And aren't talking to you," Christy said.

"Nope."

"Why not kidnap them and make them listen?" Jen asked.

"Because that's illegal, Jen," Aubrey replied.

"Christy did it to me and it worked," Jen mumbled.

Christy kissed Jen's cheek, "You were a special circumstance."

"Although, you might be onto something Jen," Kat said.

I lifted my head and my cucumbers fell off my face, "We are not kidnapping Jesse and Steven."

"We don't have to kidnap them, someone else will instead. We'll get them in the same room together and make them keep their mouths shut."

"What do you propose?"

"Perfect choice of words," Kat smiled deviously.