Linh stood outside of Osaka-ya clicking off her phone and pulling her headphones out of her ears and stuffing them into her coat pockets in a jumbled mess. Then she jogged up the two steps into the restaurant and walked in. A soft bell sounded and Kelly ducked her head around the corner to see the door.
“Kels,” Linh beamed up at her and walked up to the hostess counter and right around it to sneak into the back. Kelly reached out a hand and stopped Linh.
“Antony is here.”
“Okay?”
"You're not allowed in back.”
“Oh come on, it's like five minutes,” Linh looked over Kelly's shoulder at the small employee break room and kitchen beyond. It sparkled clean, the mop was out, Antony stood next to the walk-in cooler with a clipboard and a checklist.
“You're not allowed, Linh,” Kelly slightly pushed Linh backward and she took the hint.
“I guess I'll just...wait outside then,” Linh turned and walked slowly back out of the restaurant into the dark night. It was five minutes to ten and the restaurant was empty and ready to close for the night. It was cold and breezy. Linh pulled her coat tighter around her and leaned against the frame of the door looking out into the street. She shoved her hand inside her pocket and pulled out her headphones once more.
Kelly turned back into the kitchen. Antony looked up briefly from his checklist as she mumbled a quick apology and pulled the long handle of the mop towards her, wheeling the bucket towards the back. He looked away again and turned into the walk-in cooler to check inventory. Kelly pulled the mop out of the bucket, already the water was losing its suds, it dripped orange and grimy onto the title floors. Kelly sopped it down into a pool of blood and continued mopping.
Jodi came out from the basement with several large trash bags in her hands. “Will this work?” She asked to no one in particular. Kelly looked up from her mopping, and Trent from his work over the counter. He looked at the trash bags and then down at the dismembered body he was cutting up on the counter.
“It's trash day tomorrow,” Jodi added optimistically.
“Yeah, yeah that'll work.”
“Sorry Linh, Antony had us deep cleaning everything tonight,” Kelly laid her hand on Linh's shoulder, making her jump out of her podcast. Kelly was the last one to leave the building, locking up the front door and flipping the sign to closed, now at a quarter to eleven. The rest of the crew had left from the back, one by one, at different times, after their part of the clean up had finished. Linh looked down at the time on her phone and gave a sort of huff of annoyance but then started toward the sidewalk.
“He's a real Nazi about work huh.”
Kelly smirked. “Nazi is not exactly the word I'd use.”
“Whatever, he's totally anal.”
Kelly nodded, linking her arm with Linh's as they headed out into the night back to her duplex.
“First of all, the outfits he makes the girls wear.”
Kelly was wearing her waitress dress now, a black thing semi shapeless that reached down to a little less than halfway down her thigh. It was paired with sheer black tights and had big obnoxious buttons all the way down the front. Easier to strip you with, my dear, she imagined the Big Bad Wolf Antony Meninski saying to her over and over again. He had never said it to her just yet, but she was sure it was a story that had been floated through the grapevine around the time she had been hired. Maybe he had said it Jodi, she was the most Little Red Riding Hood of the lot of them.
“And those employee meetings. Like, waitresses don't usually have that much invested in a shit hole like that.”
“It's a paycheck Linh. In case you didn't know, it's hard to get one of those these days.”
Linh rolled her eyes, hard, while turning them onto Kelly's street.
“We can't all be as lucky as you and have a full ride to play soccer in the middle of the Midwest.”
“Well thank god we're not all as lucky as you.” They had reached Kelly's place. She unlocked the front door and held it open for Linh. “Dude fucking gives me the creeps,” Linh mumbled into the darkness of the hallway.
“Yeah yeah yeah,” Kelly playfully grabbed Linh by the back of her waist and kicked the door shut behind her. “I'll get a better job tomorrow,”
Linh reached down and wove her fingers through Kelly's, “You always say that, Kels.”
Kelly walked them both awkwardly through the hallway and into her living room which was mostly furnished by the elderly couple she rented from. The couch was ancient and velvet and mustard yellow (perhaps it used to be green). There were no overhead lights. She pulled an arm away from Linh and flipped a switch, turning on two floor lamps which cast the room in a somewhat brighter gloom. Her arm back around Linh's waist, she pushed her towards the couch and, tripping over the rug, toppled them both onto its cushions. Linh wrenched around until she was comfortable and Kelly pulled a crochet throw blanket down on top of them.
“And you never leave.”
“I know.”
“Why can't you leave?”
Kelly leaned in and kissed Linh into silence. Because it's a cult and you don't get to leave.
***
Levi opened the door expecting to see his cousin, but instead found Brad.
“Hi Bud!” Brad enthusiastically waved and then took a step forward, onto the threshold before the house.
“Uhm,” Levi half smiled and looked sheepishly up at Brad. “It's kind of...”
“What, no open door policy anymore?” Brad flashed a grin. Levi's parent's house had always been open to Brad. Since he was five years old and his parents moved them onto the same street as the Schulers, Brad had been following Levi around the neighborhood and playing in his house. And besides, the Schulers always had an open door policy. Levi was proud of it. Once in middle school they had sheltered a runaway for a night—a kid named Matthew who had been one of those emo types. Brad was pretty sure Matthew ended up enrolling for MBA after college; he was buttoned up now. Sometimes Brad thought it was because he had spend a night here. Levi's father was one of those suburban dad's who made you feel like everything was alright. His mother was loud and on top of the world. Combined they made you feel like you could do anything, be anything, that you weren't limited to what people thought of you.
Of course none of that was anything Brad consciously put any stock in. The Schulers always had open bottles of wine in the fridge and a giant pantry filled to the brim with every snack a young boy could want. How Levi stayed as small as he did was a mystery to Brad who regularly raided their stores. Even now, almost a year after graduating from college (Levi with a Film Studies degree, Brad with a Finance one), Brad still knew where he could go for a good snack and some free booze.
Levi rubbed his toes into the cement of the front steps, half of his body hanging back in the house and holding the door open.
“My dad's hosting the Seder this year.”
Brad nodded even though he had no idea what a Seder was or why it mattered.
“So, like, everyone's here,” Levi looked back inside where he could hear his mother Camille arguing with his senile grandmother about the wine.
“Yes, of course, we'll save the nice red one for the dinner--”
“No this is no good, this is no good.”
“This is your son's favorite.”
“My son!?”
Levi stepped outside and held the door closed behind him. He looked at Brad desperate for him to get the hint. Levi was never really good at setting boundaries, especially not with Brad.
“It's a Jewish thing.”
An ohhh of understanding came over Brad's face and he noticed that Levi was wearing those khaki's that he hated, and his hair had been combed and sort of gelled down, and he wasn't wearing his lanyard or covered in ink like he usually was.
“So?”
“Soooo,” Levi started, “the last time you came over for a holiday you said, to my grandfather, that your dad told you the Holocaust was a hoax.”
“Well....”
“Well no, man, it's not a hoax.”
“I was just saying that my dad had a lot of evidence,” Brad trailed off.
“The things you choose to believe in..like, seriously, dude.”
Brad reached his arm up to swat away the conversation. They had had this conversation several times. The Millers and the Schulers didn't really get along outside of Brad and Levi, and it was still questionable whether or not Brad and Levi got along anyway. Brad mostly forced the friendship on Levi until it had been happening long enough that Levi thought he might as well just accept it or accept all that time wasted through the years. And, on top of that, Brad said a lot of things were a hoax. He generally didn't believe in anything.
“Well, do you have to be Jewish?” Brad asked, the glimmer in his eyes hopeful. Jewish holidays, from his limited experience with Levi, usually had a lot of wine. “I promise I won't say anything about the Holocaust....or my dad.”
Levi took a deep breath and then looked around him, like he didn't want to be caught, and then he gave in. He always gave in.
“Yeah, come in, just--” Levi looked Brad up and down. It could be worse. He was wearing a Nike t-shirt and jeans, with a zip up hoodie that smelled more of cigarettes than it did of weed, thank god, and a new pair of basketball shoes.
“What?”
“Just, nothing, come on.”
Levi opened the door and Brad waltzed right in through. “Camille! Your favorite son is here.”
Camille looked out over the breakfast counter from the kitchen at Brad as he walked in. She didn't look particularly thrilled.
“Welcome Brad, there's plenty of food to go around.”
“What's a Seder anyway?” he turned back to ask Levi who was shutting the door and checking his watch.
“It's the first meal of Passover.”
Brad nodded, pretending he knew what Passover was. “Ahhhh, yes, the first meal of Passover.”
“We drink wine, eat special food, and tell stories.”
“Right, had me at wine,” Brad grinned and walked into the kitchen to join Camille and wrestle a glass of wine out of her. She had just managed to usher her frustrating mother-in-law out of the kitchen and into the living room by the time Brad descended on her. “Looking as beautiful as ever Camille,” Brad said charmingly smooth with a wink and a reach into the center of a platter of appetizers.
“Help yourself, Brad.”
To be continued...here
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