11. Leo
Leo
When we walk into the Mile High Diner, it’s loud and crowded, which is typical after a Hollis U hockey game.
We only have to wait a couple of minutes before a table opens up. Nick, Poppy, Travis, Anna, Blake, Briar, and I sit down at a big table in the center of the diner.
One of the table runners drops off glasses of water for us while we look at the menus.
“Hey, guys. What else can I get you to drink besides water?”
I look up and see Lucy standing at our table. Damn, she looks exhausted. Blue-ish circles rest under her eyes. Her smile is strained and forced. And her eyes are a little red too.
“You okay?” I ask.
She frowns. “Excuse me?”
“You look a little tired.” The whole table looks at me. And that’s when I realize how shitty that sounds.
Lucy rolls her eyes at me as she pulls a small notepad and pen from her apron. “Wow. I didn’t expect to be told that I look like shit during my shift. Thanks a lot,” she says sarcastically.
Blake, who’s sitting next to me, elbows me. Nick mouths, “What the fuck?” at me before turning to Lucy.
“We’re sorry about him,” he says. “We’re trying to teach him manners, but it’s not sticking,” he jokes.
She waves a hand and offers a small smile. “It’s fine. Do you guys want anything other than water?”
Everyone orders milkshakes. Lucy turns to me. “What about you, charmer? You want a milkshake too?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m fine with water,” I say, feeling like an asshole. Especially after the way we ended things the last time I was here, and she waited on me. The way her face softened when she thanked me for the tip, and we finally exchanged names.
But now she’s pissed at me again, and it’s my fault. Again.
She takes all of our food orders and gathers our menus.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything,” I say to her.
She rolls her eyes.
“You can spit in his food if you want,” Nick says. “He totally deserves it.”
Poppy nudges him. Lucy lets out a small laugh. “I’ll think about it,” she says before walking off.
“Dude, what the hell?” Travis says to me.
“Yeah, first you get the poor girl fired from her barista job, then you basically tell her she looks like crap?” Blake says.
Briar, Poppy, and Anna all look at me.
“Wait, you got our waitress fired from her other job?” Anna says.
I close my eyes and huff out a breath. Shit.
I tell them what happened at the coffee shop, then how I ran into her at the diner.
“I came here the other day. She was my server, and I apologized to her again and left her a big tip,” I say. “It felt like things were okay.”
“Well, you messed up real good with that comment about how tired she looks,” Anna says. Briar and Poppy nod along.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and lean back, angry with myself. That conversation with my dad after the game put me in the worst fucking mood.
Every time I’m around him, I’m always such an asshole. But that’s no excuse to be rude.
“Maybe you should try apologizing to her again later,” Briar says gently.
“Another big tip might help too,” Poppy says.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” I say.
A few minutes later, Lucy drops off the milkshakes. Our food comes a while after that. She’s polite when she checks in with us, but she makes it a point not to look at me.
When we finish the meal, she drops off the bill.
“I’ll get it,” I say, putting down my card.
Blake pats my shoulder. “Thanks, dude.” Everyone else tells me thanks. Lucy comes by and takes my card without speaking, runs it, and drops it back off. I write two hundred dollars in the tip section, put my card back in my wallet, and get up from the table with everyone else.
“Oh, shit. Someone’s car’s getting towed,” some guy a few tables away says.
Everyone in the diner looks out the window. On the street, in front of the parking lot, a guy in coveralls secures a gray sedan to the back of his tow truck.
The guy at the table whistles. “Damn. That sucks.”
A second later, Lucy runs through the restaurant.
“No, no, no, no!” she says in a panicked voice as she darts out of the entrance. “No, please! That’s my car!” she hollers as she runs across the parking lot.
Without thinking, I take off after her.
“Wait! Please!” she runs up to the tow truck driver. “Please don’t tow my car!”
“Sorry, miss. But I have to,” the driver says. He nods at the fire hydrant a few feet away. “You’re blocking a fire hydrant, and that’s illegal.”
Lucy stands there, her eyes big, breathing hard as she looks between the fire hydrant and her car.
The driver secures her car to his truck, then makes his way to the driver’s side.
“Can I at least grab my stuff from inside the car?” she pleads. “I’ll run inside and grab my keys real quick.”
“That’s against policy. Sorry.”
I grit my teeth. This asshole doesn’t sound the least bit sorry.
“You can get your car back at the city lot,” he says. “We take cash, check, and credit card.”
“Wait, how much is this going to cost me?”
He shrugs. “Probably a couple hundred bucks.”
“Dude, come on. Cut her a break,” I say.
Lucy spins around, her eyes wide with surprise at seeing me.
The driver barely looks at me. “No can do. The city’s cracking down hard on cars that block fire hydrants, especially near campus. Students have been getting away with it for years. It’s a safety hazard.”
“I didn’t see the fire hydrant, I swear,” Lucy says, her voice pleading. “I didn’t get enough sleep last night, so I wasn’t paying attention like I should have. I promise, I won’t do it again.”
The guy hops into his truck. “You can come get your car in an hour,” he says, ignoring her pleas.
She stands there, her mouth agape as she watches the guy drive off.
Tears fill her eyes, and her lip trembles. She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “This can’t be happening,” she mumbles, her voice barely above a whisper, gazing in the direction that the truck drove.
I stand there, watching her, feeling like I’m intruding on a private moment.
But I can’t walk away. I can’t leave her here to deal with all this alone. Not when she’s struggling so much.
Tears fall down her cheeks. She doesn’t bother to wipe them away. She just hugs her arms around herself, her shoulders slumped, like she’s broken.
“Lucy,” I say softly.
“What do you want?” Her tone is weak and defeated. I hate hearing her sound like this.
“Let me help you.”
She closes her eyes and lets out a sad laugh, still not looking at me. “You can’t help me.”
I take a step toward her. “Yes, I can. I’ll drive you to the tow yard. We’ll get your car back tonight, no problem.”
Another sad laugh falls from her lips. She sniffles. “I can’t get my car back.”
“Why not?”
She finally turns to me. Those big blue eyes are red and swollen from crying. She looks so small.
“Because I don’t have the money to get my car back. Not if I want to get an apartment. Not if I want to get Wally back…”
Her voice catches right as she starts to sob. She covers her face with her hands and slumps forward, crying softly.
My chest feels like it’s cracking in half seeing her like this.
I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know who Wally is or why she doesn’t have enough money.
All I know is that she’s struggling. That’s clear as fucking day. She’s working her ass off, and it seems like she can’t catch a break.
That guilt I’ve felt since the second I saw her in that coffee shop slices through me.
I’m the reason why she’s in such a shitty position. Yeah, I didn’t cause all of it, but I’m the reason she lost her job. I’m the reason she started working at the diner, which means I’m the reason she parked her car here and it got towed away.
I caused this problem for her. And I need to fix it.
Gently, I touch her arm. “Lucy.”
Her hands drop to her sides. She’s staring at the ground now. Her face is red and wet with tears.
“Let’s go,” I say softly.
“Go where?”
“To get your car.”
She closes her eyes and takes a breath, like she’s calling on some inner reserve of patience to speak to me. “I told you, Leo. I don’t have the money to get my car.”
“You’re not paying for it. I am. Now let’s go.”