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“No. It wasn’t. You don’t work here anymore.”
33
Romeo’s day went from bad to worse. After leaving Cap’s he wandered over to work. He wasn’t due in for another couple of hours but with nothing else to do he figured what the hell.
He started the day like most days, prepping veggies. But, before he could even find his groove he cut his hand. It was bad. Not bad enough to go to the hospital, but still pretty bad. A little disinfectant, a couple of bandages, a rubber glove and he was back at it. It hurt like hell, but the pain helped take his mind off her. He still had no idea how things had fallen apart so quickly.
To add insult to injury, it turned out he was going to have to work the grill. Marco had to go to the dentist to fix his tooth, which was now hanging by a thread, and this afternoon appointment was all he could get. So Romeo had to cover the grill. Which he was just not very good at.
Prepping vegetables was boring and time consuming, but it was methodical and calm. It was pleasingly Zen. It was something he did well. Working the grill, or any part of the line, was an anxiety ridden, stress inducing, constant battle against the clock. It was a hot, sweaty, pressure cooker of a job - in most any restaurant. And Romeo hated it.
By the time the night was over he had burned his other hand, overcooked and thrown out at least a half dozen sandwiches, sweated through not one but two t-shirts and got yelled at more times than he could count. All of which meant that he was in no mood for Marco when he walked in.
“What up bitches!”
The rush had slowed to a crawl at this point and the staff was currently concentrating on cleaning and closing for the night. Which Marco had counted on.
“I said what up bitches!” This time right in Romeo’s face. With an ear to ear smile.
“What the hell is that?”
“What?”
He knew what.
“That,” said Romeo, pointing at the gold tooth in Marco’s mouth.
“Oh… That… That’s my new toofus.”
Benny, as always, was confused. “Your what?”
“My new toofus.” Marco grinned broadly, giving them a good look at the new tooth in his head. The shiny, new, gold tooth in his head.
“You got a gold tooth?”
“Uh-yup.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s coolio. That’s why.”
“You look ridiculous.”
“No way. I look good.” Marco walked around to a paper towel dispenser on the wall. He looked into it’s shiny chrome front and smiled big. “I look real good.”
“You look ridiculous.”
Marco slapped his buddy on the back. “Relax my friend. It’s just a temporary. A placeholder till my dentist can fix me up permanently. This is nothing. You should have seen some of the other options he was offering - jewel encrusted script letters and all. I think I showed amazing restraint.”
Romeo continued cleaning. “Whatever dude.”
“We goin’ out?”
“Sure,” said Benny.
“Great. How about you?”
“I don’t think so.”
