Café Q

Chapter Four

I was still eating my noodles when someone walked into the lounge. It was Pike, he was holding on to his book. "So you're replacing Rhett for awhile," he said as he sat down.
"Yeah, until he gets better," I told him.
"That's nice" Pike sighed as he opened his book and started reading. It has only been a minute later and Pike fell asleep right on his book. I wonder if he does this a lot. I'm not going to ask him since it would be weird to ask if they always take random naps. It was hard to believe that he could easily fall asleep, sometimes I have trouble falling asleep at night.

I checked the time and saw that there was only half an hour left until we close. Almost on cue, Pike woke up and looked at the time. He yawned before he got up. "I'm off now" he mumbled as he signed himself out and left the lounge with his book. It got very lonely in the lounge, so I decided to help out for a bit.

Some of the tables were dirty, so I ended put picking up the dishes and wiping down the tables. Nobuo was still working so he cleaned up dishes and put them up. The twins already left, the booth was pretty much closed. Nobuo was the only one that was there cleaning up. Toru was there getting the drinks and putting them up so they could use it for tomorrow. Once Toru finished storing the drinks, he could get off work. Nobuo decided to stay after to help me clean up since he was used to doing it. I and Nobuo became friends really fast, he was also friends with Toru but he and I don't talk much.

It was time to close, Mrs. Cheryl gave the keys to Nobuo since he worked there longer than me. I got out my list and looked at what I have to do first. "First I had to take out the trash," I said as I folded the list and put it in my pocket. "Alright, there are four trash cans, I'll get the two that are in the booth and lounge. You can get the ones in the kitchen. Then you put a new trash bag in the can, they are in the closet" Nobuo instructed me. I nod and went to the closet and got two of trash bags. It was easy to spot the two trash cans in the kitchen and lounge but I didn't know there was a trash can in the booths. I took the trash out, I was surprised that it wasn't that heavy, it probably just had wrappers and food that's old. Then I put in the clean trash bags. The stench was horrible but was quick to throw it out so I don't have to smell it anymore. Nobuo finished throwing his trash bags away and smiled at me. I grabbed the list that Rhett gave me and checked what I had to do.

"We have to sweep and mop the floors now" I recited from the list. "Okay, I'll sweep and you mop right behind me," Nobuo said, then we went to the closet. Nobuo got the broom and bust pan, I got the mop and bucket. We started at the lounge, Nobuo got a head start in sweeping while I went to the kitchen to fill up the bucket. Nobuo was already in the hallway sweeping up wrappers and useless papers. I went to the lounge carrying the mop and bucket. I mopped the lounge and did the boy's and girl's changing room. It was more comfortable to clean the girl's changing room when no one is going to be there. The hallway was next, then the kitchen, booth, and finally the dining hall.

The floors were clean and wet, we tried our best to not get shoe smudges on the ground. Nobuo put the mop and broom in the closet. I had to dump the bucket and rinse it off. The next thing we had to do is tidy the kitchen and the booth. That meant we had to make sure all the supplies are clean and put where they were supposed to go. We also had to put away left out food and wash the counters. Nobuo and I decided to do one separately to make things faster. I did the kitchen and Nobuo did the booth. Nobuo said that Ember put away most of the kitchen's supplies. She seems very dedicated to her work. There were only a few utensils that I had to clean. There was no food left out and I'm glad that they care about saving the stuff that they have. I mostly had to put away the pots, bowls, pans, and plates that they left out to dry.

I sighed as I got out my list. We had to clean the windows that we need to do the tables. "Cleaning the tables and windows are next," I told Nobuo.
"I call doing the windows" he called out.
"Okay, I have more experience cleaning tables anyway," I said, sassily.
"I know you do" Nobuo chuckled. We then got the cleaning supplies from the closet.
About an hour later, all of the chores were done and they collected their belongings. "Are you still planning on going to the grocery store?" Nobuo asked as he locked the café's door. "It's kinda late," I said as I looked at the sunset.
"I'll go with you and we could watch each other's back" Nobuo pleaded.
"Fine" I gave in. Nobuo smiled and we started heading to the grocery store. It wasn't too far away. Once we got there, Nobuo just wandered off and couldn't find him.

I had to pick up some eggs, chips, drinks, and some veggies. Nobuo ran back holding some chocolate. "Let's buy these" he smiled. I grabbed a handful of chocolate bars and put it on the shelf.
"But..."
"Just one," I told him. Nobuo perked up and said, "this one!" He picked up the largest chocolate bar he could find. "Okay, let's go check these out," I said as we went to the checkout aisle. Nobuo was really excited to eat his chocolate bar, so when I finished buying everything he rampaged through the bags to get it. "Careful I have eggs," I told Nobuo. He grabbed the chocolate bar and lifted it up, "who cares, I have my chocolate bar!"

I rolled my eyes and we started heading back to our homes. He went to his place first and I had to walk for quite awhile to reach my place. Nothing happened to me on the way back to my apartment, so the revenge or whatever is happening stopped for now.