Café Q

Chapter Eight

Winnie and I had to help the others set up decorations for the inside. Everyone was outside setting up something. I don't know what it is but it seemed like hard work. Jemmie and Mrs. Cheryl are the only people that I've seen at the back. Everyone at the front of the café was cleaning up and fixing up everything. Nobuo, Toru, Ember, and Pike were all working together, that would be pretty interesting. They came to the back to change out of there uniform.

I washed the dirty aprons and exchanged it with clean ones. Everyone seemed to be busy since we didn't get to see them a lot. I had to help Winnie with hanging up the signs. The latter was wobbly and I wouldn't want to risk her from getting hurt. She put up the signs and put away the ladder.

I sat down at the dining table with Winnie. We decided to take a break since we worked all day and set up a party at night. "So why do we have s big party for Clifton?" I finally got the courage to ask.
"It's kinda a sad story, but Clifton never celebrated his birthday as a kid. Birthdays were always useless to his parents, he would never get a cake, presents, piñatas, or just a party in general" Winnie explained to me.
"That is very nice for you to do that for him," I said.
"I know" Winnie smiled.
"Hey, we all done here?" Nobuo walked in with the rest that was at the café.
"Yeah, I think everyone else is working outside," I told them.
"What are they doing out there?" Ember asked. We all shrugged none of us knew what kind of surprise they were doing outside.
"Did everyone bring nice clothes?" Toru asked.
We all nod our head. Mrs. Cheryl told us to bring another set of clothes that was nicer to wear for a party. We had no showers so we couldn't freshen up that much, we can wash up in the sinks but that's all.

The back door opened and a lot of chattering came with it. We all walked out to see everyone else. They were all pretty sweaty and Rhett was pretty greasy. Fin and Ray ran up to Pike and started chatting with him. "Did you work too hard?" Fin asked. "We abandoned you!" Ray cheered.
"Don't be excited" Fin scolded.
"I mean, oh no," Ray said.
"Don't worry, Nobuo helped me" Pike smirked at Nobuo as he rolled his eyes.
"Good Nobuo" Fin said as he pats his head.
"Everyone gets ready, Clifton would be here in twenty minutes" Mrs. Cheryl rushed everyone.

Everyone went to the locker rooms to get changed and wash up. "Hey Zach, can you help me out?" Rhett asked me before he went to the locker room. I nod my head and followed him. Rhett went to his locker and got out his clean clothes. "So what did you do that got you all greasy?" I awkwardly asked him. "I had to put up lights, and had to hook it up to the generator in the basement, you don't even know how bad it is down there. The lights wouldn't turn on and I fell into something that is really sticky" Rhett explained to me his situation. He started taking off his clothes and put them on the floor. Everyone around us did the same thing.

Rhett made me take his clothes to the washroom. He wanted me to go ahead to clean and dry them so he could take them home after the party.

"Hurry Clifton is going to be here any minute" Mrs. Cheryl yelled for all of us to hurry. By that time, everyone already washed off and were dressed in their clothes. We all piled out to the hallway of the back room. "Jemmie, turn off the lights and everybody hide" Mrs. Cheryl instructed. We all ran around the back and tried to find a place to hide. I eventually decided to hide under the table with a long tarp over it. Jemmie turned off the lights and ran off to find a place to hide.

"Hello? Mrs. Cheryl, I got the stuff you wanted. And it took me forever to find the last item" Clifton called out as he began to walk to the back. "Mrs. Cheryl?" Clifton called out. Some people around me had to hold back from laughing. Once the lights came on we all jumped out and yelled 'surprise!' Clifton was a bit surprised at first but smiled along with everyone else. "Happy birthday, I hope your hungry because I ordered a big buffet for you" Caspian laid his hand on his shoulder and led him to where the food is at. We all followed behind him to get a dinner.

There was a lot of food. I figured that most of it were stuff that Clifton liked. "Man, I'm starving," Nobuo said as he came up behind me. Toru was with him and already got himself a drink. "Then get in line" Toru stated and pointed to the line of people. "Fine" Nobuo sighed as he dragged himself to the line. I got in line also, then Toru got behind me. The line moved at s decent pace and we were able to all get our food and sit at the dining table together.

Caspian made Clifton sit in the middle. "This is a really great party" Clifton complimented. "This is just half of the surprise" Rhett smiled. "Really? Wow, you guys really went all out" Clifton said. We all continued eating and chatting. Caspian got up and left the room. A few minutes later, he came back with a birthday cake. Clifton gasped in surprised. "Is this it?" Clifton asked him. "Nope, there's still more" Caspian set the cake in front of Clifton.

Jemmie got the candles and let Caspian put them on the cake. It took just a few minutes for the candles to get lit. "On three" Caspian smiled. He counted down and we all sand to him. It was off key but we didn't really care. Clifton blew out the candles and a plate was handed to him. "You get the honor of serving everyone cake" Caspian set the knife in front of him. Clifton started cutting the cake and slowly passed it around to everybody.

We all started eating the cake. Then Caspian realized that he forgot to get the ice cream tub that was still in the freezer. He had to run and get it, then passed it out to everyone that wanted ice cream with cake on it. He also went back to grab fruit if we wanted some too. "That was delicious!" Nobuo said as he pats his stomach. Pike had a mountain on his plate which mainly contain fruit. I could tell he likes fruits and vegetables because those are the only things that I see him eat.

"Now to the next surprise" Rhett got up and threw his trash away. He did the same to everyone else. "I can't wait to see what it is!" Clifton jumped up. We all got up and Rhett led us to the back. He was excited to show everyone what he did.

When I got outside, I was amazed at what I saw. All of the cars were on the side, there were only five cars. There was a giant tent that surrounded the whole parking lot. Lights were hung around the tent and a disco was at the center. Rhett quickly ran over to a box and turned it on. Music began to play and everyone smiled at each other.

Everyone started dancing to the music. I was s but embarrassed at first with dancing in front of people but no one cared about how they looked, even Winnie. There was a lot of room to dance at. Everyone spent most of their time outside dancing, we only went inside to go get a drink or something. Toru didn't dance he just sat in his car and watched everyone dance. I could tell he didn't like to be active, unlike Nobuo who was teaching the girls how to twerk. I decided not to be around him at the moment.

By the time everyone was tired and done dancing, it was almost one in the morning. I hope no one was disturbed by the music. Mrs. Cheryl didn't want to stay up so she left at around ten and trusted us. We also had to clean up.

We had to drag the tent to the side of the parking lot. Some people will come and pick it up for us. I had to get everyone's washed clothes and give it to them. The lights, disco, and speaker belonged to Rhett's he and Clifton put it up. Jemmie had some of her decorations taken down, she kept sons but others were thrown away. Winnie helped out Jemmie since she wasn't very strong. Everyone else swept floors, took out the trash, and put everything where it belonged.

After we finished, Caspian forced us to take leftovers. He said that he didn't want to take all of it back home. "Can me and Fin just have one leftover?" Ray asked him. "No, take four because your twins" Caspian instructed.
"And Clifton you get the whole tin to take home" Caspian pointed to him.
Ember laughed and said, "he hates wasting food!"
"I can tell" I sighed. Caspian was stuffing plates with food and handing it to us. "I'm going to eat all of this when I get home!" Nobuo jumped up. He had a bag filled with plates. "You eat a lot," Pike said as he poked the bag.
"Okay, as long as I'm not fat" Nobuo smiled. I looked at Toru as he just sighed.

Rhett locked up and we all started heading back home. Nobuo walked with me until I reached my hotel. Then he walked to where he lived, I didn't know where. I just threw all the food in the fridge and went to take a long shower. I went to bed right after that.