Chapter 3
Briella
I was behind the grill now of Boo’s Burger- this time me being the one flipping the burgers and frying up the French fries and Dylan working up front at the cash register. The knot of my apron loosened and I sighed, wiping the sweat from my forehead. I always hated working behind the grill in the summer time- the steam rising up from the grill doesn’t help me cool off one bit from the already excruciatingly hot weather. I paused for a moment, putting my spatula down and making a double knot on my apron. It’s going to be hell untying it, considering it’s already out of my reach, but at this point I didn’t care. I just wanted to quickly switch job positions with Dylan already.
Whenever we work at Boo’s Burgers together we take turns at each other’s positions for thirty minutes. As I look down at my watch, fifteen has already passed by. Just fifteen more to go…
“What can I get for you?” I heard Dylan ask and I turned around to hear what the customer’s response would be.
Instead of a customer I find a Long Drop employee- the one I noticed before, working at Looking Up At The Stars. Now that I got a closer look at her, I understood the exchanged whispers between child and mother around her. She had curly hair the color of coin- shiny, beautiful silver. Her eyes were just as strange and lovely, being a lavender shade that I thought only the skin of a flower could adorn. Her skin was a light black- almost like the color of caramel. Once again, I couldn’t help but stare at her. Even Dylan seemed entranced by her strange beauty. Soon she spoke, bringing us back to reality.
“Uh,” she said, pausing and looking a bit confused. “A ham-bur-ger-” she decided on, pronouncing it with clarity. I watched as Dylan licked his lips and ruffled his hair.
“Anything on that hamburger?” he asked, stretching himself a bit ahead of the counter. We both awaited her answer in anticipation. It was like watching a newborn take its first step. She paused once more, before speaking up again.
“Mus-tah-ard?” but it was more of a question then a statement. I could feel my own eyebrows knit together at the request. Dylan however, turned around and faced me.
“Did you get that?” he hollered, even though we were only a few inches away from each other. My eyebrows were still grown together and I had a questioning look upon my face. Dylan shrugged his shoulders though and I knew that if the girl wasn’t there, he would be saying, “Everyone has their weird habits.” He was just that type of guy. So I shrugged my shoulder as well and got working on the burger. As they waited, I could hear Dylan make small chat with the girl. He was also that type of guy- the friendly guy who makes small talk with everyone. I listened intently at the conversation being started by Dylan, not really paying too much attention to the burger I was grilling.
“So you’re new here?” Dylan questioned, and I knew Dylan so well that I could tell he had folded his hands together and was resting his head on it. I took a quick peek behind my shoulder to see Dylan doing just that. I caught the girl nodding her head and before she could see me staring at them I turned back to the grill.
“I’ve been working the yogurt stand for two weeks. I just moved here from…” she trailed off from her sentence and looking back I could see her casting her face away. Quickly filling in the unfinished sentence, she cheerfully said,
“What about you?” Dylan cleared his throat and untangled his fingers that were laced together.
“I’ve been working here for a year now, but I don’t have a specific job here. No one really does. Mr. Lee switches everyone’s station. Anyway, I don’t think I’ve properly introduced myself. I’m Dylan.” Being the gentleman he was, I watched him extend his hand out of the corner of my eye. The girl shook Dylan’s hand and said,
“Oh! There was some human girl looking for you earlier!” She bit her lip and looked away again. “She seemed unhappy.”
Soon I realized that I was still grilling the burger. When I turned around again, I find the steam rising quickly and the burger burnt black. I cursed beneath my breath, took the burger off the stove with my spatula and threw it out. Putting another burger onto the grill, I quickly cooked this one up. I squirted mustard onto the burger itself before slipping it beneath the two sesame seed buns and bringing it up to the counter. I handed the girl her burger, casting her a curious look.
“Order up,” I said in a monotone voice. It seemed as though I saved Dylan the trouble of explaining the situation between him and Layla. “I’m Briella,” I introduced myself, not extending my hand however. “And you?” She opened her mouth, before sputtering out her name.
“Kur- uh, Wendy.” She took the bag from my grasp and said, “So you work the-” pause. “Grill?” I nodded my head and responded,
“And you seem to like adding a question mark after every sentence,” I took notice of. Dylan elbowed me in the stomach and I looked up at him, wide eyed. I pulled on my most innocent face and Dylan rolled his eyes at me.
Wendy widened her own lavender colored eyes, for a brief moment looking scared.
“I’m not from around here. You use different terms.” She flipped her silver hair behind her, reminding me of those annoying cheerleaders who always flicked their hair in class when bored. “But I’ll get used to it,” she added, her tone coming off fierce, almost rude. I bit my tongue from saying something snarky back, and I could feel Dylan pinching my elbow, taming me as well. He knows how I can get sometimes.
“Yeah, maybe,” was all I said in response. She smiled- and for some reason I thought of it as bitter sweet.
“If not, maybe you can get used to me and my ways.” She faced Dylan then. “Have a nice day.” And before leaving us, she looked at me and said, “Don’t burn yourself.”
I bit my tongue, my teeth pressing harder and harder into it until finally, I could taste blood. Dylan was still pinching my elbow and despite my squirms and mumbled curse words, he didn’t let go until Wendy was out of sight.
“What’s her problem?” I asked, as I placed my hands behind my back and tried to untie my apron. The knot had gotten tighter somehow and my fingers fumbled as the knot wouldn’t budge.
Dylan came up behind me, so close that I could hear him breathing softly, his breath hovering just above my ear. “Need help?” he asked me, his voice ringing right into my ear. I nodded my head as I heard my own heart pound against my chest. His long, thin fingers worked on the knot. He wasn’t fast enough, but I had a feeling he was taking his own time. “You know, maybe you should be a bit nicer to people,” Dylan suggested. I shook my head, tendrils of my black hair escaping and falling in front of my face.
“I’m nice,” I said, hearing the doubt in my own voice. Dylan chuckled beneath his breath and shook his head.
“Only to me,” he whispered, finally freeing me from the apron. I reached behind me to find that he was still standing there. My hand softly brushed his stomach and he reaches down and catches it, spinning me around to face him. “Play nice, okay?”
The thing is- I don’t trust people easily. Sometimes I just don’t trust people at all. I’ve been losing faith in humanity these days. It may be because of the horrible acts of crime that appears on the daily news every day. It may be because every person I know had somewhat disappointed me. Everyone that is, but Dylan. As he holds my hand now and forces me to look into his eyes, I can’t help but nod.
“I’ll play nice.”
*****
Work ended too late- ten thirty instead of ten. Mr. Lee came by Boo’s Burgers and ordered for me to clean the stand and close it up. Dylan stayed behind with me as well as Evan and Matt. It took us about twenty minutes to clean everything up and then close it. We mainly goofed around the whole time, not wanting to go home just yet. I tossed the last spoiled hamburger into the tin trash can and then rubbed my hands together.
“You have a ride home?” Evan asked me, reaching inside his pocket and twirling the keys around with one stubby, chunky finger. I bit my lip and looked down at my converse sneakers. Allie was supposed to take me home, but I called her to tell her to go on ahead without me. So she did. I shook my head no and cursed beneath my breath.
“You can drive me, right?” I asked, looking up at Evan. He cocked his head to the side in faux-thought, tapping his foot annoyingly.
“I don’t know…” he said, trailing off. I punched him in the arm and he laughed. “I’m not even going home yet.” My eyebrows furrowed together at that statement. It was ten thirty on a Tuesday, where did Evan have to go at a time like this?
“Have a hot date?” I joked. Matt laughed and I looked at him, his shoulders shaking with laughter at the thought of Evan actually going out with a girl. Evan frowned, still playing with his car keys.
“No- I’m going to a party,” he stated, mater-of-factly. I whistled, Matt was still chuckling and Dylan ran his fingers through his hair.
“Whose party?” Dylan asked curiously, his fingers still running through his glossy locks. His ponytail had come loose and he had the rubber band used to hold back his hair around his wrist. I wondered how it was possible for a boy to have glossier hair then my own. I made a note-to-self to ask Dylan what shampoo he uses.
“Susan O’Neil’s,” Evan said, and immediately a picture of the girl had popped into my head. She was in a couple of my classes, but we never talked before. She was always that obnoxious girl who speaks too loudly and laughs too much at her own jokes. I tend to steer away from her.
“Ugh, that annoying bitch?” Matt groaned, kicking his shoe against the dirt. Evan’s frown deepened and he flicked Matt.
“Shut up. It’s not like you have to go Matt.” Matt crinkled his nose, swatting Evan’s fingers away. He shook his head and said,
“Who else do you think is going to drive your drunken ass home?” Dylan paused to think about this.
“You’re right. So we’ll all go?” We nodded our head- we’ll all go.
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