Crossing Boundaries

The Diner

Since the diner wasn't that busy; the dinner rush hour hadn't started yet; North, Luke and Silas were sitting around a table playing cards. Uncle stood by a stove stirring something in a big pot. Gabriel led Sang to the center of the kitchen and stooped down to give her a hug. "Hey, Little Trouble. What took you so long to get here?"

The boys looked up from their game and smiled a welcome at Sang. "Hey, Sang," said North.

Sang released Gabriel and went to the others, bending down to give them a hug each. They returned it in the same platonic fashion as they did at school. Sang then greeted Uncle, who nodded at her from the stove.

"Sang, now that you are here, maybe you can tell my lazy nephews to get back to work," Uncle said, with his back turned to them.

"Aw, Uncle, give us a break, we've been on our feet for hours," complained Luke. He really did look tired, with bags under his eyes and hair disheveled, which, Sang decided, looked incredibly good on him.

"You can take a break when the dinner rush is over," Uncle countered.

The boys grumbled but abandoned their game and took their positions round the preparations tables or the stove. Sang rolled up her sleeves and washed her hands at the large sink. "What can I do to help," she offered.

"Not you, sweetie. You smell like dog, which isn't very sanitary in the kitchen area," said Luke taking a whiff of her as he passed by.

"Well, I don't want to just stand around," Sang said, discreetly smelling her clothes.

"Why don't you go bus tables and take customers' orders?" Suggested Uncle.

Sang bristled at this, she'd much rather be in the kitchen rather than in the dining area with the strange bitch, I mean girl. "Why can't I stay with you, I can wash dishes or something."

"What's wrong, Sang? You are usually fine with waitressing any other time," puzzled North, nothing gets by that boy.

"Who is that girl? The one who is working at the counter?" Sang thought she might as well get straight into it.

The boys looked at each other then, using their silent communication. There was an awkward and uncomfortable silence in the air while everybody waited for someone to start talking. Sang immediately became suspicious.

North sighed, dropped the knife he was holding and turned to Sang, "she is someone I used to be close to," he awkwardly said. He looked at the ground the entire time and didn't feel at all comfortable to bring this topic up.

"Close? What does that mean?" Sang asked, totally confused. There was another pause; North's eyes stayed on the ground, Luke was picking at his sleeves, Silas was staring intently at North, Gabriel was rummaging in the cupboard and Uncle whistled away at the stove.

Sang thought for a moment and her eyes suddenly widened, she opened her mouth but nothing came out, finally she blurted out, "is she an ex-girlfriend?"

North looked up then, he stared at Sang for a minute, trying to gage her reaction. "Her name is Sam, we dated about 6 months ago."

Sang didn't know what to say to this. She didn't want to let her emotions show too much; Uncle was in the room with them and he thought that she is dating Luke. Sang didn't want to draw any attention to the fact that she felt shocked and a little hurt that North's ex is working at the diner, close to him.

"Oh, that's interesting," Sang left it at that, deciding on being vague and blank. She put on a brave face and went to go change into her waitressing outfit she kept at the back. She silently dressed and started her job for the evening.