Eighteen

Cory

Today was just as busy as yesterday had been but possibly even more chaotic with every passenger on board and ready to eat at the same time. I was more than happy that I was bussing today, and not taking orders or dealing with passengers beyond clearing their tables. But because everyone was eating on board today, as soon as one table was cleared, we were resetting it for the next guest.

The cart we used to put the totes with dirty dishes on was full, so I hurried to take it back to the kitchen. Everyone was running around trying to keep up on orders and to prepare for dinner which would also be busy. I rushed over to the dishwashing station and started unloading the cart, not paying attention to much more than getting rid of the massive amount of dirty dishes I'd collected.

"Sorry about this, today is really busy," I said to the dishwasher that was busy pushing a full tray into the machine.

"No problem," Jackson said as he turned around with a big smile and started stacking the trays next to the sink so he could rinse them off.

"Oh my god what are you doing here?" I asked and found myself grinning back at him.

He shrugged his shoulder like there was nothing unusual about his little rich-boy-self working as a dishwasher. "Just earning my keep. I've worked as a dishwasher before and the regular guy that has this shift couldn't make it on this cruise." He worked the whole time he talked, and I would have sworn he'd done this job for more than just the hour or so I knew he had.

"You look like you know what you're doing," I said, and he met my eyes again with a grin.

"I've done this before at the hotel. It's been a while, but I'm doing okay so far."

I looked at the overloaded tray I'd brought and the trays that were already stacked there, and was glad it was him and not me. "Okay well I'll be back with another load in a while."

"I'll have the cart cleared for you the next time you come back," he said and pulled out a tray of clean dishes that he pushed to the side to cool before picking up the tray that had been there and hurrying off toward the kitchen to put them away.

It was hard to look away from him and such a strange juxtaposition to the drunk partier I'd met just the day before. But I liked this version of Jackson, and I hoped he'd stick around longer than one shift. Another busser hurried in to bring another cart of dishes and seeing him got me moving.

The restaurant was still just as busy, but thankfully the line to get a table was not as long, so I could see a chance to catch up for a short time until dinner. We only had an hour from the time the dining room closed after lunch to when it opened for early dinner service to clear all tables and reset them from the casual lunch setting to the more formal dinner service, and we needed every minute we could get to make it happen.

"Cory, just a reminder, tonight's dinner is semi-formal," the ma?tre d said as he hurried from table to table checking on guests to make sure they got everything they needed.

"Are you working the dinner shift too?" Johnny asked as he paused on his way to deliver a drink order.

"Sounds like it. How about you?"

"Yes, I'm on drinks for dinner, and then I'll be helping at tonight's party."

"What's the theme?" Because they all had a theme, and I had given up trying to keep up on them and just made sure I knew that day.

"Eighties. It should be fun," he said and glanced around at the remaining guests. "I better go so we can get everyone taken care of and move onto dinner."

"See you later," I said and went back to setting up the table I'd just cleared. Since no other guests would be using it, I replaced the tablecloth and set it for dinner. That one hour before dinner service started would also be when I'd need to take my lunch break.

The next hour I hurried around bussing tables, taking the cart back to Jackson before returning to the restaurant to fill it again. Finally, I could tell we were making a difference and the clean, set tables finally outnumbered those that guests were still seated at. I was about to take another cart of dishes back to the kitchen when one of the waiters told me to go ahead and take my lunch break.

I rushed to the crew mess hall and was shocked to see Jackson and Johnny already seated at a table. Wasting no time, I grabbed a tray and filled it with a variety of foods before hurrying to take a seat with them. "How's it going?" I asked Jackson.

"Better than I thought it would. I can't believe how many dishes the ship uses in an hour, let alone a whole meal service." He took a bite of pizza and met my eyes. God the look in his eyes. I thought he was hot with his aviators when I could barely see his eyes, but the way he was looking at me now was a whole new level.

My eyes shot to Johnny who I knew for a fact knew what I was thinking, or at least was close, and took a bite of my own food before saying anything. "It really is crazy. But they serve food all day in all the different restaurants and cafés, so it adds up. The kitchen you're working in only serves the main dining room and room service, there are two smaller kitchens that are located in the other cafés," I rambled, making Johnny giggle.

"When I first came to work here, I worked in the kitchen for a while doing prep. After that, serving drinks is nothing," Johnny said.

"Yeah, I've done dishes at a restaurant before, but it's nothing like this," Jackson said, and I was amazed that he seemed proud of the work he'd done. Maybe he really did just need a chance to prove himself, and maybe he'd never been given that opportunity in the past.

"They have to be thrilled with you in the kitchen. Since Orlando wasn't able to make the cruise, they've all been trying to keep up, but it wasn't working," Johnny said.

"Well, I'm hoping I can get caught up on all the dishes by the end of dinner service. I'm glad it was only one day they were without a dishwasher," Jackson said. It was strange to hear them talking about work on the ship the same way Johnny and I normally did, but I loved it, and if the look on Jackson's face said anything, he was happy about it too.