A Broken Story

2.3 Not So Friendly Encounter

Time flew by and 2 pm was closing in, Andy decided that it was time to pay the check and wait for Jenna to finish her shift. Around the same time, the group of guys started to stand up and leave but the one who stood out the most went to the bathroom. I finished up paying and saw Jenna was picking up some dishes from their table, "Hey, your shift's ending soon right?"

She turned around while balancing plates on both of her hands, "Oh, yeah, yeah, mind waiting for me outside while I clock out?"

"Sure, I'll see you then." He walked out of the restaurant and opened his phone to wait for her, trying his hardest to ignore the obnoxious yelling of some guys nearby.

A little bit of time passed and his twitter was just filled very interesting and definitely not depressing news but he saw Jenna walking out of the staff area in the corner of his eye, prompting him to put his phone in his pocket.

Just as he thought Jenna was coming out, the guy who went to the bathroom cut her off and started talking to her. Andy didn't want to make any assumptions and he didn't seem to be doing anything malicious, so he waited. That is until he saw the scared look on her face and the guy stepping forward, forcing her to step back and be cornered by the wall.

Andy stomped inside with a balled up fist, finally hearing what he said to her, "Come on, babe. Just ditch the punk and come with us," he rest his hand on the wall by her head, "I promise I'll treat you right."

"N-no..." Her voice was quiet and shaky, her eyes down on the floor.

"Stop being so stubborn and just come..." He was about to grab her wrist but Andy quickly stepped in and grab a hold of his.

"The lady said no." The gruff in Andy's voice was prominent.

A guy turned his head towards Andy, his eyebrows tense and he gritted his teeth, "Mind your own business, punk. This has nothing to do with you."

Andy looked back at Jenna, "Jenna, is this man bothering you?" She was silent but nodded slightly, "Ok, come here." He offered her his hand and she held it gently, letting it guide her right beside Andy, "You made my friend scared. You can either walk away now or we make a scene, right here and now."

The guy looked around, everyone in the restaurant were staring at them and a couple of men in police uniforms were just stopping outside. He violently tugged his arm out of his grip, "This is not over." He stomped outside and left with his friends.

With that over with, Andy looked at Jenna, "Are you okay, Jenna?"

"Y-yeah, thank you Andy." She looked around at all of the eyes on them, "Can we get out of here now?" She gripped his hand hard.

"Yeah okay, let's go." She led her by the hand and walked out of the restaurant and stood by the sidewalk. He looked around, trying to think of a place they could go, when he saw the two "officers" leaning on each other, "Barney?!"

One of the men in uniform was in fact Andy's friend Barney and when looked at from the front, the uniforms were obviously a cheap costume and it was slightly ripped, "Andy! Hey, fancy seeing you here," He looked anxious and wrangled his friend by the neck, "Have you met Tom? Tom from work, my other friend." He forced a big smile.

"Right, what's with the costumes?"

He looked down at his outfit, "Ooohh, would you believe me if I said I was at a costume party?"

"That ended at 2 pm?" He couldn't raise his eyebrow any higher.

Barney let out a long sigh, "Tom and I had... an arrangement with a lady friend last night and this was the only set of clothes that we could find after a certain... altercation."

An awkward silence followed after that revelation, "For a second, I hoped you had a normal explanation."

"Ha Ha." Barney finally noticed Jenna, "Who's your friend there?" He said with a sly smile.

"Oh, right you haven't met yet. This is Jenna."

"Hi." She said with a nervous smile and waved.

"Hey, Jenna! Nice to meet you, didn't think I'd find Andy with a girl so soon. How did you to meet? Are you on a date right now? I love your outfit. And..."

Andy cut him off, "Can you not interrogate her right now? She had a rough day at work and could do without the stream of questions."

"Oh, okay. Sorry about that." A car then drove up to them, "Oh, looks like our rides here. We'll get out of your hair now." He dragged Tom inside the car and yelled with the windows down, "Have fun on your date!" That guy can be a piece of work sometimes.