Chapter 22 Kris
“Are you sexually harassing me?” I look over my shoulder at Dave.
We’re in the cafe breakroom. He’s wrapped his arms around me and is leaning against my back.
“I’m trying. Is it working?” he says into my shoulder.
I turn around so that I’m facing him.
“You should be more aggressive with your hands.” I demonstrate by grabbing his ass and squeezing. He laughs, then kind of groans.
“Ahhhhh. I’ll have to work on my technique.”
“See that you do, boss.”
“I’m not your boss,” he says, then pulls me in for a kiss.
The kiss is sweet but with a hint of something more, the promise of what’s to come, tonight. I’ve been going to his place every night after work for the past few days, which has been unbelievably rad, but tonight Dave asked me to go out to dinner. He chose an upscale gastropub in the arts district (his words). He knows I’d be fine with a gas station hot dog, so I’m guessing this is a romantic gesture on his part.
But what is the gesture for? I’m already his. What else is there? I guess we haven’t said the words yet. Maybe he wants to spell out he loves me with twenty-dollar sweet potato fries. I’ll have to wait to find out. I’d rather think about that than the insurance inspection tomorrow. I’ve been getting more and more down as the appointment approaches.
Logically, I know the inspection doesn’t have to change anything, but it feels like once it happens, something’s going to end. I’ll have no reason to keep working here, except Dave. And even if I did stay, chances are Dave will leave eventually. And then what happens? We return to our different worlds and slowly (or quickly) drift apart. Unless the strength of our love, written in the fries, keeps us together.
I sigh into his arms. I never wanted to be a barista and still don’t. I don’t think Dave does either. How funny would it be if we both stayed in this job because we didn’t want to be apart? Am I fooling myself into believing that Dave cares enough to do that?
I don’t think so. My gut tells me Dave’s into me for real. In addition to the salads, the sex, and the random hugs, Dave’s been letting me turn the music extra loud when the cafe’s empty and doesn’t complain if I sneak some potato chips as a snack. And it fills me with this bubbly warmth unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
But he’s been very careful to avoid talking about the future, or commitment, or the extent of his feelings. So, I try not to make any assumptions, and try to keep from declaring my love, while I march towards the inspection that feels like an execution.
My hands flex on his ass and I kiss him harder. Even if we can’t say the words (with or without fancy fries) I want him to feel how much he means to me, how much I want to hold on to him. Maybe tonight will change everything. And then the door opens and we both freeze.
“Oh! Sorry.”
I turn to see Ari with Nate, the young owner of the cafe. Nate’s blushing and Ari’s shaking his head in amusement. He turns to Nate and whispers, “I owe you five dollars.”
I quickly remove my hands from Dave’s ass, and he releases his hold on my shoulders. We turn in unison to face our actual bosses. Ari clears his throat and starts talking.
“Hey, we know you’re, ah, busy here, but we wanted to let you know that we’re going to be doing some additional construction. Even though it’s in the back of the building, it might get loud and disruptive on some days. We’ve got a tight budget and the contractor we’ve got is fitting us in around other jobs, so it might seem kind of random and slow. But we’ll get there, eventually. If it gets too noisy or dusty, we may have to close for a few hours. But we’ll pay you for your time, regardless.”
Dave nods along blandly, but I get a sudden spark of interest. I remember when I first started them mentioning a performance space.
“Can I see it? What you’re working on, I mean?” I say quickly.
All three of them turn towards me.
“Sure. It has nothing to do with the cafe up front, just a side project we’re working on,” Ari explains.
“Right, I know, but if it isn’t too much trouble, I’d like to see it.”
Dave shoots me a curious look, and I shrug back.
“We can show you both now, if you want,” Nate says.
“I’d love that,” I answer and smile.
“Why not?” Dave adds. I can feel his eyes on me. He probably is wondering what I’m up to. The answer is, I don’t know yet.
“There’s not much to look at, but let’s go.” Ari pulls a key ring from his belt, then turns towards the door he came in through.
Ari showed me some of this at the interview, so it’s vaguely familiar. But after we pass through the manager's office and kitchen, there are more doors at the back. I assume some of them are storage, but the one Ari opens leads to something entirely different: a huge empty room with vaulted ceilings.
“Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Ari says.
“Yeah. You totally can’t tell it’s back here at all,” I say.
“We think it started as a speakeasy and then was converted to a supper club in the 30s,” Nate explains.
“Rad.” I can picture where the stage and dancefloor would be, along with the seating and bar. “And it’s just been empty since?”
“Gramps says he vaguely remembers hearing about it when he was a kid. But yeah, we think it's been sitting here like this for years.” Ari gestures into the dark.
“But you guys are going to do something with it?” I prompt.
“We have some high-level plans, but nothing’s solid yet.” Ari looks at Nate and they nod together.
“I see.” I walk deeper into the room, listening to the echo of my footsteps testing the acoustics. Ideas are racing through my head, but they’re just wisps right now, nothing firm enough to share.
Dave keeps shooting me questioning glances. He may as well be yelling, what kind of trouble are you brewing up? I shrug back at him. Whatever it is a hell of a lot better than the dread feeling I’ve had all week.
Ari and Nate lead us back to the cafe, then leave. And Dave turns to me.
“Care to explain your sudden interest in that empty cavern?”
“I don’t know. It sparked some ideas.” I move to my spot behind the counter to start grinding beans.
“Did it now?” Dave doesn’t look like he wants to let this go.
“Yeah. Listen, I don’t have some big plan I haven’t told you about, just some thoughts.” I start measuring beans
“Cool.” Dave hesitates.
“I’ll tell you about them tonight at dinner,” I tell him.
That makes him smile.
“That sounds perfect.”