Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Brook

Four Years Later

Irushed from one customer to another as the lunch rush spiraled ever more out of control. I had been working at the diner for coming up on seven months. It was hard, back-breaking work, but I was making decent enough tips that I was able to afford some repairs on my car and pay my half of the rent on the apartment I shared with a friend.

If there was one thing the last four years had taught me, it was keeping a job was much more difficult than getting a job. I had worked over a dozen jobs over the last four years and suffered the indignity of getting fired from every single one of them. It was always the same, everything would be going fine, but eventually a customer would complain one too many times. Today was no different.

Once the lunch rush was out of the way, Rubio sat me down. “I think you’re a great employee, Brook. You know I do. I just can’t have dissatisfied customers leaving bad reviews telling all their friends about their poor customer experience at our diner. I inherited this business from my pops. It’s all I’ve got in the world, so I have to protect it.”

“So, what you’re saying is you’re gonna have to let me go, right?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m trying to tell you. Your last paycheck will be automatically deposited on Friday. And, as you already know, terminated employees are not welcome to come back as customers for at least thirty days.”

“I just wish you would give me one more chance.”

“No can do.”

“But it wasn’t my fault,” I protested, and truly it wasn’t. Customers would hit on me, and I’d try and be polite. Laugh and joke with them, but you always got guys who had to be handsy and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Surely Rubio knew this?

My soon to be ex-boss shrugged, “These guys pay my bills, and it don’t look good when the servers backchat the clientele. Plus, it wasn’t just that guy, I had a phone call from a woman saying you were rude. You need to move on, maybe find yourself a job where you’re not interacting with the public every day.”

A bit bewildered I admitted, “I have no idea what kind of job that would entail.”

Rubio shrugged again. “Neither do I. That’s why they make employment offices. They help you out with that kind of shit. Look, I’m sorry it didn’t work out here, Brook. Time to skedaddle. I need to get back to the kitchen.”

And so I left yet another job, all because men couldn’t keep their hands to themselves.

***

When I walked through the door of my apartment, my roommate glanced up from doing her nails. “You got fired again, didn’t you?”

I dropped down on the sofa and kicked off my shoes, exhausted. “Word gets out fast. How did you know?”

“It’s happened so often I can tell by the look on your face. Do you have something else lined up? Are you going to be able to cover your half of the rent this month?”

“Nothing else sorted yet. I should have enough to cover the bills. I’m going to take a shower and then start a new job search right away.”

“Look, before you do, there’s something I’ve been meaning to bring up with you.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Tell me what’s on your mind. If I can do anything to help, you know I will.”

“As I’m sure you’re aware, our lease is on a month-to-month basis now. I’ve been thinking about moving to San Francisco.”

“Where in the world did that idea come from?” I asked, shocked. “You and I have been best friends for four years. You’ve never once mentioned moving to the big city.”

She screwed the lid back on her nail polish and set it aside. “I’ve been with you through a lot of personal drama, Brook. I stood by you back when your asshole boyfriend was smacking you around and performing the world’s biggest mind fuck on you for two and half years and stalked you off and on for another year. I stood by you as you got fired from one job after another. Friendship is a two-way street, and while I love you, it’s just too damn exhausting. Me and Joey have been talking, you know his friend owns a club in San Francisco? He said he could set him up with a DJ slot, and they’re always on the lookout for hostesses. I’m not abandoning you babe, but it’s not healthy for me to stay here.”

This felt like being abandoned by my parents all over again, was I really such an awful person? I couldn’t believe that Deb thought of me like that. “Why did you never tell me you felt this way?”

She shrugged. “We were always too busy solving whatever problem you had going on to worry about what I thought. I just don’t have the mental bandwidth for this anymore. I need to move away, have a fresh start, and worry about myself. I can’t keep living in your shadow.”

Pain lanced through my chest, but she wasn’t wrong to feel this way. At times it seemed like I was a magnet for all of life’s misfortunes. “I understand. I truly do. I’m so sorry if I’ve been selfish. I wish I had thought more about how my actions were affecting the people around me, most especially you, Deb.”

“Maybe it’s time you made some changes for yourself, Brook. Working all these retail and fast-food jobs is wearing your down. It’s also a lot of risk. It seems like every time someone complains you get written up or given the axe. Service jobs suck because customers expect perfect service, and I know you can’t help how you look, but you know what a lot of guys are like in those places. They think everything’s on offer including the servers.”

“You’re not wrong about that.”

“You need to find a job where you only have to keep one person happy, like working as a personal assistant or something like that.”

I nodded, fighting back tears. That was exactly the kind of pie in the sky dream that would never come true for me because I didn’t have the training or experience to pull something like that off. Debra saw me as a normal person like her. Even after having a bird’s eye view of my life over the last four years, she still didn’t understand what I was up against in terms of getting ahead in life. Things were different for her, she had a college degree and a supportive family. So, I just agreed with her.

“Yeah, I think you’re right about everything. Maybe it is time for us go our separate ways.”

Deb reached out to give my hand a squeeze. “Just for a little while so we grow and experience new things. I promise it won’t be forever.”

I headed to my bedroom wondering what on earth I was going to do for rent. Twenty-two years old and what had become of my life? These should be the best years of my life, instead I seemed to be constantly chasing my tail trying to survive. I lifted my hand to put my purse on the dresser and winced as a twinge of pain shot up my arm. It was an old injury, compliments of Trent, my abusive asshole stalker ex. That tatted up bad boy turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life. He had given me a place to stay when I was homeless, after getting thrown out of my childhood home. I repaid him by keeping his house, washing his clothes, and working my ass off to keep the bills paid. While he slowly slid into a long dark alcoholic spiral, which resulted in escalating violence that eventually landed me in hospital with a broken arm. Glad that shit was finally behind me. If only I could find a decent job, then maybe I could turn my life around and find some true stability.

I was so tired of being fired from one job after another, losing everyone I ever cared about and being cast aside. Surely there was one person in the world who could love me enough to keep me around.