red wine » carmy berzatto

3: xanny

————— EVERY DAY AT THE BEEF is a surprise, Alexa has already learned that. And that's not even an exaggeration, because when she was preparing napkins and paper cups, Carmy asked her for a favor.

       "You need me to do what?" she asked back, confused.

"Help me catering at a kids birthday party," he explained. Alexa looked at him, even more confused now. Why the fuck would he do the catering at a kids birthday party?

"I know that probably wasn't what you expected of this job. But it'll be only this one time, yeah? I need the chefs to stay at The Beef, but Richie and I could use your help. We're not really good around kids."

      "Oh okay, sure. Should I prepare some stuff?"

"Would be great, yeah. Pack some oranges, lemons and paper cups in boxes."

      "Yes, chef."

It took her a few minutes to prepare everything the way he wanted. Carmy and Richie brought the boxes into the car while Alexa sat in the back seat. She pulled her phone out of her backpack and groaned when she saw her ex-husband's texts.

Yeah, she wanted to call him back yesterday, but she drank too much wine and fell asleep on the sofa with her phone in her hand.

'Why didn't you call me back?
Are you drinking again?'

'Come on Lexi... I'm worried'

'A divorce doesn't mean
we can't behave like normal people'

Alexa sighed, he was right. They didn't really part on bad terms - both of them wanted this divorce.

'I'm really busy at work, sorry.
What's going on?'

She texted him back and put her phone back into her bag as her boss and Richie entered the car. They were kinda fighting about something - a large inflatable hot dog apparently - but Alexa didn't really care and stared out of the window as the car sped along the street.

Richie's question pulled her out of her thoughts, "You're good with kids, Lexi?"

     "Yeah, I guess."

"Interesting... You have kids on your own?" Richie asked her another question.

     Alexa snorted, "No."

She hadn't known Richie for long, but she knew him well enough to see that he seemed to ask some weird questions regularly and simply told anyone what he's thinking, without any filter.

Carmy on the other hand was quiet, like most of the time the last two days. She looked at the side of his head from behind. His hair was messy, like the last two days. But it suited him. It kinda looked really good.

"Yo, why the fuck are you going to Kennedy?" Richie asked when he looked up from his phone.

       "Chill the fuck out. Cicero lives in that neighborhood."

"No, fucking Cicero's in Wilmette now. You gotta get on the fuckin—"

       "Shit, ah, that's right," Carmy replied.

"It's all good though, I'm in no hurry to see that motherfucker. I swear to God, cousin, if he calls me Rick, I'm gonna fucking lose it."

"Cousin, listen, do me a favor, okay? I'm trying to get us outta this hole. All right? I want today to go smooth. Please don't bring that shit up."

"Chill. I'm not gonna bring up shit. All right?" Richie assured him.

But obviously, Richie did bring up shit. They stood in front of the front door while Richie and Cicero argued, loudly. Alexa stood behind Carmy and already regretted coming here.