Chapter 7 #2
Jaylin huffed. “No one told me my food was ready. And it’s been busy.”
“‘It’s been busy,’ he says,” Carlos repeated, grabbing at his hair. “Aubela’s going to kill me.”
“Why?” Jaylin was doing his best not to scowl now. He kind of thought he had been doing a good job.
“Because I don’t have the authority to hire someone! And you’re going to have to be on payroll after tonight!”
“Oh–” That reminded him. “About that…” Jaylin pulled some bills out of his pocket and offered them to Carlos. It wasn’t an insignificant amount of money, and Jaylin didn't need to be holding it any longer than he had to. “A few people finished and stuff.”
Carlos looked at him as though Jaylin had insulted his mother. “Those are tips.”
“I know that,” Jaylin hissed, more annoyed than concerned now. “But you were busy.”
“I was busy working the other side of the restaurant, because I thought someone had been called in to take care of my side!”
Jaylin took a deep breath and tried to remind himself that Carlos was just high-strung. “Explain why you’re mad. I was literally just doing what you asked me to.”
“I’m not mad!” Carlos shoved at the money in Jaylin’s hands. “Put that back!”
“On the tables?” Jaylin tried to work out. “But–”
“In your pocket,” Carlos near-shrieked. “They’re your tips.”
“But–”
“Miguel!” Carlos wailed in Spanish. “Did you finish the taco tasting plate?”
“Carlos–”
The plate of food was produced, and Carlos grabbed it. “C’mon!”
Jaylin sighed, not bothering to protest, and followed Carlos… back to the little table he’d originally been seated at, which was still empty.
Carlos put the plate of food down—the taco tasting plate was Jaylin’s order, Jaylin remembered now—and waved a finger in Jaylin’s direction. “You will sit here. You will eat your food. You will not wait any more tables. And you will flag me down when you’re done. Capiche? ”
“I thought you spoke Spanish, not Italian,” Jaylin grumbled, but he did sit. Now that his food was in front of him, he was hungry.
“Bon appetit,” Carlos snarked before running away.
Jaylin took his time with his food, trying not to inhale it. Normally he had leftovers from a meal at El Guanaco, but this time he finished the entire plate as well as all the chips and salsa on the table. When he came up for air, he noticed that the restaurant was less busy.
Which made sense, when he checked his phone and he realized in shock that it was almost ten.
When Carlos came back, Miguel was in tow, and they both looked serious. Jaylin watched them nervously, wondering what in the world he had done that was so bad it had made Miguel leave the kitchen.
Miguel sat down across from Jaylin at the little table while Carlos hovered nervously next to them.
Miguel shot Carlos a look that Jaylin could best interpret as annoyed but amused. “So,” Miguel said, placing a piece of paper on the table. “Carlos told me he didn’t actually get you hired before putting you to work.”
Jaylin’s eyes flicked to Carlos. “Uh…”
“It was only going to be twenty minutes,” Carlos said, looking beseechingly at Jaylin. “I didn’t know he was gonna go all server-savant!”
Miguel pointed to him. “You, hush.” To Jaylin he said, “You, I’m gonna need a social security number.”
“What?” Jaylin asked incredulously, not sure he had heard right.
“You’re hired,” Miguel said dryly. “Otherwise Aubela’s gonna wring all our necks.
” He pointed to the piece of paper. “Fill this out, bring it back tomorrow along with a voided check or whatever if you want to set up direct deposit, and we can work on getting you on some actual training and regular shifts. Normally we interview, but you did some fucking good work tonight, so I’ll vouch. ”
Jaylin gaped at him. “For two hours? You could just like, comp my meal or something.”
Miguel looked from Jaylin to Carlos, and then back again. “I’m sorry,” he said mildly. “Did you just say Carlos put you to work and you weren’t even trying to work here?”
“I–” Jaylin’s mind whirled. He hadn’t held a job since he’d started school, because Brent didn’t want him working and Jaylin had too much school work to struggle keeping on top of that he barely had time for anything else anyway.
But his school work had been nothing this week. Jaylin himself had had no idea how to fill all his time. And a job could be such a good thing. It would let him save so much more, so much faster. It would give him such a bigger cushion for when Brent inevitably dropped him.
Brent was already aware of how much time Jaylin needed– needed– to spend on school work. There was no reason why Jaylin couldn’t just… fill some of his newfound free time with a job and not tell him.
What Brent didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
“No, um, sorry,” Jaylin said in a rush. “I was just… surprised? But yes, yeah, I-I’d love to work here. Please.”
Miguel raised an eyebrow while Carlos gave two emphatic, slightly-hysterical thumbs-up.
“Well, okay then,” Miguel said after a moment.
“Servers make eight an hour base rate because three dollars is fucking criminal, there’s family meal on days you’re on shift, your choice if you want to eat it or not, and you keep all your own tips.
Can you come in tomorrow at ten? Gives us some time before we open for the lunch crowd. ”
“Yeah,” Jaylin said quickly. “That’s fine, sure.”
Miguel held out his hand for Jaylin to shake. “Welcome aboard, kid.”
***
Jaylin’s thoughts were still going a mile a minute by the time he finally got home. He wasn’t finished processing the fact that he had acquired a new job, three takeaway containers filled with food, and a pocket full of cash.
He put the food into his fridge, set the paper that he was supposed to fill out with his information on his table to do tomorrow, and pulled the cash out of his pocket to count it up.
Astonishingly, it was eighty dollars and some change.
That was eighty bucks that he suddenly had.
That he could put into savings, or use for a little extra on groceries, or… anything he wanted.
And he had the chance to make more now, at a job he was even kind of good at, no real reading or writing required because he just memorized everyone’s orders. He’d had to scribble down approximations for the kitchen as best he could, but there hadn’t been any complaints so maybe it didn’t matter?
It was kind of mind-blowing how easy it had been.
He tucked the cash away and jumped in the shower to try to calm himself down some, getting into his coziest clothes for bed.
He’d had a long day and was tired, and he had the luxury of actually going to sleep now, when he wanted to, instead of having to stay up and try to muddle through more reading.
He settled into bed with his phone and earbuds to listen to more of his book, when he realized he had gotten a voice message. From Hiro. That he must have missed, amid everything else that had happened that evening.
Fuck, the fact that Hiro kept sending Jaylin voice messages instead of texts warmed Jaylin down to his toes.
It was such a simple thing, but so—so nice.
Instead of having to struggle through trying to read a message or making do with his phone’s robot recitation, Jaylin got to have Hiro’s voice in his ear.
He licked his lips and set it to play.
“It was really nice to see you again,” Hiro’s voice said, as pleasant and smooth as always.
“I know you mentioned you have star charts to do for your astronomy class. Would you be interested in hanging out Sunday night? It’s supposed to be cloudless, so perfect for looking at the stars.
We could do dinner first, if you wanted. My treat.”
Jaylin played the message three times to make sure he’d heard it right.
Yeah, he and Hiro had talked about astronomy when they were together earlier–Hiro had brought up Jaylin’s class, because Hiro was a ‘self-professed astronomy nerd’ and Jaylin had mentioned that making star charts was part of his homework, but he hadn’t thought Hiro had been serious when he’d lit up and suggested they go stargaze together sometime.
Apparently Hiro had been serious about both the stargazing and about wanting to spend more time together.
Jaylin stared down at his phone, trying to think. Because he might be terrible at reading words, but he wasn’t half bad at reading intentions. It was a skill he’d picked up trying to survive, and for the most part he wasn’t off with his interpretations.
Hiro was giving Jaylin all the signs that he was interested. In Jaylin.
For some reason.
Jaylin could easily explain away their first few meetings as Hiro trying to do a good thing. Helping his friend’s little sister’s friend. Sure. That made sense.
But this would be the fifth time he’d invited Jaylin out, and that was after already helping Jaylin put all his disability accommodations into place.
Jaylin didn’t technically need Hiro anymore, and Hiro knew that.
Giving Jaylin a present for no reason, inviting Jaylin out for dinner with stargazing for dessert…
those weren’t things you did because you were doing a favor for your friend’s little sister.
You did those things because you were interested in someone and wanted to get to know them better.
Jaylin couldn't quite tell if he was flattered by someone like Hiro wanting to give him the time of day or worried. On the one hand, Hiro still didn't set off any alarm bells and he hadn’t made even the slightest insinuation that he wanted something from Jaylin that Jaylin didn’t want to give.
Jaylin liked him. Hiro was smart and considerate and kind.
He had a silly and slightly dramatic sense of humor that never failed to pull Jaylin out of his shell.
He was so thoughtful, asking Jaylin about food preferences and then remembering them.
Jaylin was only just getting to know Hiro better, but he wanted to keep getting to know him.
On the other hand, Jaylin knew he was doomed to disappoint the man when Jaylin inevitably fucked up.
Not to mention the fact that Jaylin was already kind of… taken. Kind of.
It wasn’t as though Brent considered Jaylin a boyfriend or vice versa. The very thought was laughable. It had been made quite clear from the start that Jaylin was a plaything. He was an easy piece of ass who was at Brent’s beck and call, and Brent liked the power trip.
But Jaylin couldn't afford to lose what Brent was giving him.
He needed to pay for school, he needed to pay his rent, and he needed to put food on the table.
He couldn't work enough hours at the minimum-wage jobs he was qualified for to pay for all those things.
Not with all the time he needed to put into school just to stay afloat.
His train of thought ground to a halt. All the time he had had to put into school… before his accommodations.
Before this evening. He had eighty dollars in cash that he hadn’t had two hours ago. He had a job that he hadn’t had two hours ago. A job that paid eight an hour plus tips, that he could actually conceivably do. Because school would take so much less time.
There was no way he’d be able to be free of Brent this semester. Maybe not even next semester.
But maybe… maybe there was the possibility of it happening after that.
The thought unfurled a tentative hope inside of him, and had him glancing back down at his phone. What if?
What if he didn’t have Brent to worry about? Could he have seen where things might have gone with Hiro?
As it was, there were a million reasons why Hiro might lose interest in Jaylin. He could decide Jaylin wasn’t worth it, like so many other people already had. He could find out about Brent, and that would be a nightmare all on its own.
Jaylin should politely say no thank you. Should let Hiro become a happy memory. One that was tinged with maybes and what ifs but not colored unhappily with real-world disappointment
He should say no. He had to think of the right now, like always. He had to think of Brent—any time spent with Hiro was another chance for Brent to find out about him. He had to think of Hiro— the man didn’t deserve to be saddled with Jaylin’s baggage.
But…
He really didn’t want to.
He didn’t want to say goodbye to Hiro already.
It had been so fucking nice to spend time with someone who was kind to him, who was maybe kind of into him, all the while without feeling like there was anything required.
He wanted to hold onto this one small thing as long as he could, even if he knew it was selfish. Even if he knew it wouldn't last.
It was late, but Jaylin dictated a message anyway. “I’d love to. What time?”