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Or something.
That was hard to remember now too.
Kevin sighed.
He really wanted today to be a good day, and he’d spent most of it dragging ass around his apartment. When he’d heard someone on the other side of the wall knock the first few beats of “Shave and a Haircut”, he’d knocked back twice immediately.
He wasn’t supposed to go into work for another hour, but he was desperate for a distraction.
Kevin grabbed his phone and his keys, and then he headed to the door. It was precisely that moment he realized he hadn’t eaten today, so he made a pit stop in his kitchen to grab two Ding Dongs. He left, locked up, and walked around to the front of the restaurant.
It was a weeknight, so it wasn’t unusual for there to be so few customers. Most of their business was delivery or pickup, though they still had a dozen cherry red tables for those who wanted to dine in. Kevin greeted them as he came in with a friendly nod, though his attention was drawn to the very frazzled blonde woman behind the counter.
It was Julie, the assistant manager of the restaurant. She was also the lead cashier, head waitress, and in charge of customer relations—that was to say she was a saint and had the patience to deal with blatant stupidity that Kevin did not.
Seeing her upset was troubling.
“Fuck, I’m glad to see you!” Julie moaned, clearly exasperated.
“What’s wrong?” Kevin frowned.
“Pizza Hut called. Steve is trying to deliver their pizzas again. Got mad, stormed off.”
“Christ.” Kevin scrubbed his hand across his face as he joined her behind the counter. “Did he at least go to the right Pizza Hut and not the abandoned one?”
When Kevin thought of Steve, one word came to mind:baked.
Steve had worked for every pizza place in town and been fired from each one for failing his drug tests. Kevin had hired him and promised not to ever make him pee in a cup as long as he showed up to work and did his job.
Steve always showed up, but not always at the right restaurant.
“Well.” Julie snorted. “I can tell you he at least made it to the new storeeventuallysince he tried to run off with their food, but I don’t know where he was before that.”
“Joe hasn’t called, has he?”
Joe Button was the owner of a local bar called Ripley’s that Kevin worked part-time at. He was a good friend of Kevin’s and helped keep an eye out for Steve.
“No, but listen!” Julie shook her head. “James is cooking a huge order right now for the Munsters House.Two dozenextra large pies.”
“Wait, what?” Kevin opened up the first Ding Dong. “Someone’s living there now?”
The Munsters House was the local nickname for an old Victorian mansion. It was impossible to miss, a dark behemoth of tall spires peeking out from behind a big cornfield near Kevin’s old high school. It was said to be haunted with a basement full of bodies and every other typical urban legend. The truth wasn’t as exciting—it was simply that no one had lived there for decades.
“Yup!” Julie confirmed. “My friend Greta told me that the old owner came back and moved in last week.”
“Seriously?”
“I’m just telling you what she told me, and now we have a big damn order to fill. Maybe they’re having a housewarming party.”
“Shit, it better not be a prank.” Kevin frowned, finishing up his snack and glancing back at James in the kitchen.
James was a young man with self-described chaotic goblin energy. His hair was never the same color for more than a week or two, he was easily excitable, and he was totally obsessed with anime. He was obsessed with a lot of things actually, like Satan apparently, but Kevin didn’t really understand all of it.
The only thing Kevin cared about was that James was the best pizza cook he’d ever hired and could run the kitchen solo even on their busiest nights.
If James insisted on hanging up framed pictures of his OTP, Deku and Katsuki, back there, Kevin didn’t care.
“Can you drive it over?” Julie asked worriedly.
