Page 21 of Sizzle
“Have I?” Alex’s lips tilt in a half-assed grin and for some reason I can’t catch my breath.
Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought.
“Fine, be that way,” I say. Because clearly I’m still fifteen years old.
“What do you need?” Alex asks, his voice low. I scrub my palms down my thighs to stop my hands from shaking. Right this minute, what I need is confusing the hell out of me.
“Elliot?”
If I didn’t know for a fact that I’ve just given myself brain damage, I’d say I was turned on.
That makes no sense whatsoever, because the only other person here is Alex. Alex my roommate, Alex my closest friend, Alex who also happens to be a guy. I don’t know what the fuck is happening to me right now so I do the only thing I can think of: ignore it.
“Can you keep an eye on Meg and the other bartenders?” I say, keenly aware that it’s taken me way too long to answer to Alex’s question. “The crowd was pretty wound up even before the lights went out. I want to make sure nothing gets out of hand while we figure out if we can stay open tonight.”
Alex gives me a long, searching look. I hold my breath until finally he nods and lets himself out of the office. As the door shuts behind him, I scrub my hands over my jeans again.
What the hell is wrong with me?
That’s it. Starting tomorrow, I’m dating again. I am obviously about to lose my shit if close proximity to just about anybody makes me shake like this. I mean, it’s Alex, for fuck’s sake. He’s my best friend.
Who’s a guy.
I don’t have time for losing my mind right now. I’ve got a building full of people waiting on me to tell them what to do, so I grab as many flashlights as I can carry and head back to the floor.
Twenty minutes later, I’m calling it.
“Okay, everybody!” No swearing since this time I’m addressing customers too. “Just found out the power company won’t get here for another couple of hours. Hate to say it, but Duckbill is closing for the rest of the night.” Groans all around, which is gratifying since I’m about to lose the bottom half of my best sales of the week. “Thanks for being patient with us, folks. Your servers will cash you out and hopefully we can pick this back up first thing tomorrow. Be safe getting home!”
The storm had peaked a while back, so there was no reason for people to linger. Many had already headed out as soon as the rain tapered off. Me and the rest of the staff spend the next half hour or so helping the remaining customers, flagging down Ubers and cabs, making sure the most committed drinkers aren’t driving themselves.
It takes another hour to get the staff squared away. I swear I will never again bitch about how long our computer system takes. This writing shit out thing sucks donkey balls.
All the aggravation and extra work aside, though… I freaking love this shit. I love it that all these people are looking to me for answers, for me to tell them what to do. Boss man, that’s me.
Sure, it’s hard sometimes. Isn’t everything? It’s a lot of responsibility. But it’s worth it, knowing that they trust me to tell them the right thing to do. It’s twice as gratifying on nights like tonight, when everything could have gone straight to hell in a heartbeat. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not stoked about losing business to this storm. But getting through the hard shit and seeing smiles on people’s faces when they leave?
Yeah, that’s on me. I’ll take it.
And maybe sometimes I resent them for it, too. Like, why is it so hard for somebody else to take charge? Why does it always have to be me? But when I get to the end of a night like this, I remember it’s okay, ‘cause I can totally handle it.
Finally, after nearly an hour of writing out the day’s sales by hand with only two flashlights to keep me company, I lock up the office and do a slow check of the kitchen. Almost everybody’s finished and clocked out for the night, and if the conversations I overheard earlier were any indication, nearly every one of my employees is hanging out at the bar across town for an impromptu afterparty. I could make an appearance—several of them made a point to invite me. But that’s a line I don’t cross often.
Then again, I might be able to get a jump on that whole dating thing I’ve been thinking about all night…
Nah. I’m feeling something tonight, but that’s not it.
“Boss?” The quiet voice comes from a booth just outside the kitchen. Joelle stands up.
“Hey, I thought you took off hours ago,” I say. She’s so damn pretty that I miss the first part of what she says.
“—Was supposed to be my ride because of the storm and the buses aren’t running, but then he took off.”
“I can give you a ride home, if you want,” I say, catching on.
This is not my best idea ever.
Then again, twenty minutes in a car with Joelle Munroe might be enough to get my head back on straight.