Let Me Go Back To Sleep

When they arrived there, it was still quiet and not too crowded yet. It was still 6 pm. The band, meaning Frank, Bob and Ray, get there at 8 for their every night gig.

“Cool place,” Karen commented just as they walked in.

“Great, here he comes…” Shannon noted annoyed, as Lynn stood next to her.

“Where are you?” The man said. “I cannot run bar alone! Shift starts at 5:30, you come here at 6!”He exclaimed rapidly, in his Italian accent.

“No one’s here yet!” Shannon replied getting pissed off.

“I do not understand! I pay you to come at 5:30 so you come at 5:30! That is the deal!” The man started shouting.

“Oh, really?” Shannon was obviously about to explode.

“Shhh Shannon!” Lynn whispered. “Just let him be, he can talk all he wants to, it’s fine…”

“No it’s not!” Shannon replied quietly. “It doesn’t matter we’re 30 minutes late, no one’s here yet. He just likes to make our lives a living hell each time he sees us!”

“It’s ok, you know he’ll be spending the rest of the night drunk and passed out in the kitchen, just let it be, we can’t afford getting fired ok?” Lynn whispered back.

“Scusi Signore!” A young lady’s voice then interrupts them.

“Che vuoi?” The man turns angrily to where the girl was standing, asking her what she wants.

“la cucina è in fiamme è orribile!” The girl sounded panicked, which made him leave Lynn and Shannon alone and run in terror towards his bar’s kitchen.

“Whoa! It sounds like something serious is going on!” Karen exclaimed, finding it rather interesting watching them run like that.

“Yeah… she was telling him the kitchen is on fire,” Lynn translated casually.

“Does that mean we need to evacuate?” Karen rounded her eyes.

“No,” Lynn let out a small laugh. “That’s one of the normal everyday things that happen around here don’t worry,” she then added walking towards the bar.

“Buongiorno bella!” The bartender greeted her as Lynn smiled back.

“Karen come over here for a second,” Lynn called out.

“Hi,” Karen said looking at the guy behind the bar while smiling timidly.

“Hello there, America,” the guy said, taking her hand to shake gently… or maybe just hold. Karen seemed to like it. It was mostly because of the muscles, the tan he had, his smile, and maybe even the accent of his that she found so sexy, that made her giggle as if she was a teenager again.

“Make sure you take care of her while I work!” Lynn exclaimed while he kept staring at Karen. “Antonio!” Lynn raised her voice.

“Si Signora,” Antonio replied, kissing Karen’s hand.

“I like!” Karen whispered to Lynn with the widest grin on her face.

“He’s a playboy, be careful,” Lynn replied laughing. “Not that you’re an angel…” Lynn then added receiving a poke from Karen.

“Don’t you have work to do?” Karen then said jokingly.

“Actually, I do,” Lynn replied grabbing a small notebook and a pen from the bar, to then go and greet the people who had just walked in.

2 hours passed by, and Antonio and Karen seemed to be hitting it off pretty well. Lynn would check up on Karen every once in a while to make sure everything was ok. After that, tables started to fill, more people started rushing in to that pub; it was rush hours already.

“Lynn!” She heard someone call her name through the crowd.

“Yes?” She replied instinctively, turning to where that voice was coming from. “Oh hey, you guys are late!” She exclaimed seeing Frank walk towards her.

“I know, where’s the douche bag?” Frank then asked referring to the bar’s manager.

“Last time I saw him, he was failing at his attempt to use a ladder and fix a light bulb,” she replied holding a large set of heavy plates in hand.

“Ok then we’ll just start off without him doing the introduction show with his lame jokes,” Frank decided, hastily turning to get Bob and Ray so that they can commence.

Lynn rapidly yet as carefully as possible carried the plates to the specified cabinet, where she placed them and rushed back to the tables she waits on. Almost every table around her had someone with their hand raised or simply calling for her. She had to work as fast as possible to get the orders and keep the customers happy.

“Hey, hey…” Shannon then said through the rush, standing next to Lynn, trying to get her attention.

“Yeah?” Lynn turned towards her to see her standing with endless number of plates, mugs and forks, carrying them in both her hands. “Oh!!” Lynn realized there was a wineglass about to fall off from the top, so she catches it at right on time.

“Thank god!” Shannon exclaimed walking her way towards the kitchen.

Lynn had too much to do already. One guy needed another beer, the other table thinks their plates are too cold, another person needed a new glass of water, while a new table was calling for her to take their order, just as a man started yelling out for her to get him another burger. That was only the people she was able to hear, which was half of what the customers wanted.

“Rose!! Rose!!” Lynn then called out for the other waitress.

“ROSA!!” The waitress corrected her with anger.

“Okay… can you please take that to the bar on your way there?” Lynn asked politely, as she was in a hurry to answer her clients’ requests.

“You know, you work here for 2 years. Two years and you never say my name right!” The waitress started, with her pissed off Italian accent. “It is Rosa!” She repeated stressing on the ‘a’.

“Oh for the love of god!!” Lynn exclaimed giving up on trying to ask her for that favor and deciding to finally make the walk to the bar herself.

“Eey bella!!” The bartender said as soon as she got there.

“No time Antonio!” Lynn said hastily going on to his side of the bar, then kneeling to get the needed stuff.

“Ok just to tell you bella, your friend disappeared,” he explained.

“What?” Lynn stopped working to then look up at him. “Karen?” She then asked.

“Yes yes, America,” he replied. “She say she will see you at your place,” he then added serving a drink to one of the men at the bar.

“What? Why? She doesn’t know her way around yet!” Lynn exclaimed, standing up in the middle of what she was doing.

“I don’t know,” Antonio said. “She get phone call, then suddenly she want to go! I had no time to do my tricks with her what a shame!” He exclaimed.

“What? She has a phone?” Lynn frowned. “Already?” She thought it was weird.

“Merda!” The bartender cursed in Italian. “I don’t have her telephone number!” He remembered.

“Wait… wait, what did she say when she was talking on the phone?” Lynn asked trying to see why Karen might have wanted to leave like that.

“Uhhh…” Antonio tried to remember. But he stood there for over 30 seconds trying to remember, while Lynn was in a hurry already.

“You know what, forget it,” she then said as she was about to leave.

“I think it was… she say… I know where she is,” Antonio replied.

“What?” Lynn stopped to turn back and look at him. “What else did she say?” She asked, finding this whole thing intriguing.

“And she say Gerald…. And… girlfriend,” the bartender said still trying to remember Karen’s phone conversation.

“What?” Lynn frowned. Her heart started beating fast only at the thought of hearing his name. “Gerard’s girlfriend you mean?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” Antonio looked lost at that moment. “Gerald… Gerard… I don’t know,” he repeated.

“Why would she be talking about me?” She wondered out loud.

“You are Gerard’s girlfriend?” Antonio asked.

“What? No… I mean…” She didn’t know what to say. That feeling of sadness came back to her. She felt too depressed all of a sudden. “I need… a break,” she stated sadly.

“It is rush hour!” The bartender exclaimed.

“I don’t care, I need to get out,” Lynn shook her head refusing to stay in. All that noise and the people calling for her sounded too unbearable all of a sudden right now. The crowd, the smoke, the faces… it was too suffocating for her. She needed to get out.

“Shannon!” She then yelled out for Shannon who standing by a table, taking an order. “Fill in for me, I’ll be back in 30 minutes,” Lynn said.

“Are you CRAZY!” Shannon exclaimed knowing she will never be able to make it on her own, it was too packed. Lynn ignored all the rest and made her way out that pub as fast as possible.

As soon as she made it out where there were no more rush, she could feel like it was okay for her to cry now, it was too dark for anyone to see anyway. That feeling of guilt was still eating her on the inside. She could never get rid of it, not on such a day. She sat on a cliff next to the pub, feeling as if her world was falling apart all over again. This lump in her throat forming again, she missed him so much! She wished he was with her, she wished he was holding her at that very moment so that she wouldn’t feel so alone. The wind blew and it started getting cold. She started wishing it was her who died and not him. She started blaming herself for everything just like she has done for the past 2 years, and especially when it came to this specific day. She wished this problem was solved in any other way, she wanted him back, she wished he was alive, and that was the thought that pushed her tears to eventually roll out.

She cried with all her heart, as if she didn’t even care if she looked crazy to whoever sees her now. She cried her guts out, sliding herself from the cliff to the ground, pulling her knees up to then rest her head on them. She was about to go through a deep depression state and there was nothing she could do about it.