The Alternate Ending

Love from the chef

Vincent rode through the pouring rain to get to his job on time. It was his first week at this restaurant and he didn't want to be fired after just a short while of working there.

Just as Vincent locked up his bike, his boss Rody stepped outside, underneath the cover over the door and lit a cigarette. Vincent ran over to Rody and slumped over as he tried to catch his breath. He's always hated how 
unathletic he was.

“Ah… Sorry I'm late- I didn't set my alarm today for work-” Vincent stood up and put his hand over his chest as his breath began to regulate. He wiped the sweat and rainwater off of his face when he finally was ready to face Rody.

“You're soaked.” Rody said, stating out the obvious and took the hand rag from over his shoulder and threw it to Vincent to dry off more.

“I thought I could get here before it started raining… I guess I was wrong-” Vincent grabbed the rag that was thrown at him and dried off as he walked inside of the restaurant, looking around the place as it was his first time actually inside. It was a steakhouse, an expensive one at that. It had some of the fanciest interior in town and smelled of red meat and BBQ.

“If you make puddles make sure to mop them up so none of the customers slip.” 

“Yeah, I've got it. Thanks.” Vincent gave back the rag to Rody and got ready for his shift. He would have to deal with rude customers that left barely any or no tip even though they made way more than him in just a single day. 

Rody went back into the kitchen to make sure everything was prepared for the day and Vincent just stood around waiting for the clock to hit the hour so people would start to come in. And just then a man and a woman came in. Vincent sat them at a two seater table closest to the kitchen. After a few minutes of the menu Vincent took their appetizer tickets from them and brought the tickets to the kitchen.

Another woman came through the door wanting to be seated. Vincent quickly brought the woman to one of the one seater tables and got the appetizers for the other customers. Throughout Vincent's shift he went back and forth, back and forth to the tables and serving the customers.

At the end of his shift he went to the kitchen to take out the trash from today, bringing it to the dumpster in the back. When he stepped back inside Rody was looking for him.

“Ah- There you are Vincent. There were leftovers from the cooks so I thought to give you some.” Rody held a plastic container  with a steak in it.

“You don't have to do that-” Vincent said, trying to refuse the food.

“It's just going to be thrown away if it's not eaten.”

Vincent decided to take the food, he would rather take it than have it be wasted.

By the time Vincent left the steakhouse it had stopped raining. He got onto his bike and rode back to his loft.

He wasn't getting any calls. Good. He told Marieanne that he wanted nothing to do with her.

He reheated the steak from Rody for dinner. It tastes like everything else he eats. Nothing. After finishing his food he went to bed, sitting down on somewhat soft sheets. The mattress creaking under him from his weight. Tomorrow would be another day. With the same things. The clock ticked with every second that passed. And eventually Vincent fell into sleep.

The sun rose in the sky the next morning, breaking through the cracked window curtains. The bright light streaming through the room woke Vince up. He sat up, drowsy. He then realized that his alarm hadn't gone off yet and grabbed it in a panic. After checking the time he breathed a sigh of relief, seeing it was an hour before he usually woke up.