Searching For Spencer

Chapter 2

I try to stop, but my skates decided that that had other plans.
Before I knew it, my hips met the table and the milkshake met his lap.

A loud thud came as my body collided with the table, and a gasp as the milkshake collided with the guys pants.

He quickly got to the end of the booth and stood up, revealing where most of the milkshake had landed. I tried to hold in a laugh as I tried to stand.

"I am so sorry!" I said, still trying not to laugh. "Let me get you a towel!" I started to skate away, but he grabbed my arm.

"You sure that's a good idea?" He asked, loosening his grip on my arm.

"No," I mumbled as I hung my head and looked at the floor. "Hey, Pops? Can I get a towel in here?"

Not a moment later, a large, older man stepped in front of me. He looked at the situation and laughed. "I never said that you had to wear skates. How told you to wear skates?"

"Lenora," I growled.

The old man laughed again. "She got you good, Evan. Now, clean up this mess." He said as he handed me a handful of dish towels before walking back to the kitchen.

The guy let go of my arm, and I didn't even notice he still had a grip on me before he let go.

"You wouldn't happen to have an extra pair of jeans, would you?" He asked. "I'd like to have a dry pair before I go back to class."

I thought for a moment before I nodded. "Yeah, I have some. They're in the supply closet." I said as I started skating away, but was stopped by my arm being grabbed.

"Maybe it would be best if you didn't have the skates." The guy suggested. He lightly pushed me back to his booth and made me sit in it and take my skates off.

I began taking off my left skate but was interrupted by the guy speaking.

"What's with the brace?" He asked.

"I had surgery on my knee," I responded. I continued to untie my skate, and soon we began walking to the supply closet.

I opened the door and looked for my duffle bag. "I just had that damn thing ten minutes ago," I said.

"Looking for this?" Lenora asked from the hallway.

I turned around to see her holding my duffle bag in her hand.

"I'm going to kill you," I growl at her while taking a step forward and grabbing the bag out of her hand.

Lenora snickered. "I'd like to see you try, honey." With that, she turned and walked back to the dining area.

"She's a bitch." The guy said to me.

"Not really," I say to him. "She's going through a lot of stress with family and school."

He nodded. "Understandable."

I nodded and unzipped my bag, pulling out my extra pair of jeans.

"Here," I said as I handed the jeans to him. "They'll probably fit you since they are too big for me."

"Are you calling me fat?" He asked.

My eyes widened and I felt my face go hot. "No, no, no, I didn't mean it-"

He cut me off with a big smile. "I was just joking with you."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Don't do that to me."

He smiled at me before speaking again. "Where do you want me to change?"

"Here or the bathroom. Doesn't matter to me." I said with a shrug.

"I'll just change here." He said before going into the supply closet.

As he changed, I waited for him in the hallway.

After a few minutes, he finally came out and looked at me with a serious expression. "Where did you get these?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "They were my friend's, but I forgot to give them back. Why?"

"Did you get these pants out of my closet?" He asked.

"What?! No! I've never even met you before!" I said.

"Again, I'm joking with you." He said. "But, these are my size and I used to have a pair identical to these."

"Weird," I said.

He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and looked at the time. "Hey, thanks for doing this, but I have to get to class. I'll bring these back as soon as I can."

"Okay," I said as he started walking away. "Just so you know, I'm here until 11:30 every night. And, next time you come back, you've got yourself a free strawberry milkshake."

"Oh boy, can't wait!" He said before he waved to me and walked out of the dinner, my jeans on and his tucked under his arm.

I stood in the hallway until I heard Lenora laugh. "That was fun!"

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" I asked her, already knowing the answer.

"By 'that' you mean messing up your skates on purpose? But, yes. I did it on purpose." She smiled. "Look on the bright side, lover boy."

I cocked an eyebrow. "What is the bright side of this?"

"You have a new friend!" She yelled. "Maybe something better than that." She smirked then winked at me, turning and walking away shortly after.

"That bitch."

~~~~~~~

I wiped down the tables with a wet rag, soft music playing in the background.

"Why am I the only one that stays back to clean up?" I ask myself.

Almost all the lights have been turned off, except the open sign, and the bar stools were sitting on top of the bar. I realized that the busy restaurant is peaceful for a short time.

I look at the clocks on one of the walls and see that I've stayed longer than I thought I would.

"11:42," I said as I looked at the rest of the tables that need to be cleaned. "I'll do the rest tomorrow morning." I walk to the kitchen to drop off my rag before going to get my duffle bag out of the supply closet.

I grab my bag and begin to open the back door, but stopped when I heard loud noises in the front of the dinner.

"Hello?" I called out but got no response. I slowly walked to the front of the dinner and started looking around for someone or something.

"Hey!" Someone yelled from the other side of the front door.

I turned to look at the door and froze when I saw a dark figure standing on the other side of the door.