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Your mind still feels like a post-bull China Shop–fragment upon fragment lying askew in a sea of pieces… some grouped, some still vaguely intact… and some slowly piecing back together.
You see fragments of y<span class="mu-b">our parents</span>: loving and doting, sure, but a cloud lingers over their heads. <span class="mu-b">Dylan: y</span>our sister: a light<span class="mu-b">house in the darkness… and yet out of reac</span>h…
Lar<span class="mu-b">s: you</span>r vile taskmaster lo<span class="mu-b">rding over GREASE MONKEY like a king in a castle… and your roommate Travis:
Yea… you’ve got nothing.
But one figure continues to etch a space for themselves in your head: a girl with a gruff voice and sunglasses she never seems to take off… grape lip balm and cigarette smoke… closings shifts, walking home, awkward talksatthefoldingtablenexttothemidnightfoodtruck-
“Anyone ever tell you you’re bad luck?”
The question took you by surprise even when you were barely clinging to your last sliver of energy. No, you mutter, blinking your dry eyes as you struggled to dislodge a stubborn slab of fried gunk stuck to the bottom of Frier A, they haven’t…
“Well you’re bad luck,” Grunts the girl with the Aviators as she scours the prep counter next to you. “There ya go.”
She had a way of speaking that made it hard to tell if she was joking or not, but you were too tired to laugh it off back then. Look, you sigh, you didn’t mean to do that-
“Do what?” She asked, pausing her scrubbing to send a judgmental stare your way! “Burn all the Monkey Feet during the dinner rush?”
You’re sorry about that-
“Trip half the staff with the sauce spill you left on the floor?”
And that-
“Clog up the employee toilet?”
You’re… that wasn’t <span class="mu-i">you</span>, actually-look, you sputtered, slowly shrinking under the scent of burnt meat and the girl’s disapproving glare, you’re sorry, okay? You’re… you’re gonna learn to do better, you promise!
The girl leaned against the counter as she gave you a long, appraising stare. “... Hell of a first day.”
You opened your mouth to retort, but paused. Yea, you sighed, she could say THAT again…
You felt her gaze upon you as you renewed the assault on the persnickety grill gunk. Try as you might, you just couldn’t dislodge the damn stuff–no matter which angle or how hard you scrubbed, it just would-
“Here.”
Stepping into your space, Liz swooped in with a freshly-soaped sponge and evicted the grime in one quick JAB! As the two of you silently watched it tumble into the drain, it wasn’t until she nudged your side that you realized you were staring!
Watching her return to her closing duties, you gave her another quiet ‘thanks’ under your breath.
“Any time.” she replied in a gruff, but not so unpleasant tone! “... Ya like spicy stuff?”
>CONTD.</span>
