Don't Touch...

Audrey twisted her hands around in her lap. This was all too awkward. Who was this man? Why was he here, when it was supposed to be just her and her mom? He was invading their Thursday night ritual of eating Chinese food from the carton and watching Audrey Hepburn movies, because that’s who Audrey was named after, Audrey Hepburn. Men just didn’t watch Audrey Hepburn movies. It was against something in their Man Law, wasn’t it?

Her stomach churned painfully as she watched them smile at each other and then look over at her and smile at her. Was this her mother’s boss? No, it couldn’t be. Her mother’s boss was old from what she heard. Old and not very kind, from what her mother said.

“Darling,” He mother said lightly.

“Mother,” Audrey replied in the same tone.

“This is Rick, Audrey, say hello.”

“Hi Audrey, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Rick smiled

Odd, Audrey thought, I’ve heard nothing about you. Her hands started shaking as she continued to rub them together. She looked up into Rick’s eyes then back down to her hands quickly. He had dark eyes, like the pitch black of the night sky.

“Hello,” She chirped quickly.

“How do you feel about going out to dinner with Rick?”

Audrey shrugged, now rubbing her palms down her thighs to dry them. Why did mother want to go out to dinner with Rick? What about Thursday night ritual? What did Rick think of her? Did he notice her anxiousness? She pulled the sleeves of her cardigan down over her hands and pushed her hair behind her ears. It felt like her whole body was trembling. She didn’t like new people.

“Why don’t you go grab your jacket darling, we’ll wait in the car,” Her Mother said.

Nodding, Audrey left the kitchen and went down the hall to her room. She could hear them talking about her as she pulled her jacket on. Her Mother was telling Rick about Audrey’s… disorder. Telling him not to be offended, that it was just the way she was. That she’d warm up to him. Why was she telling him all this? Audrey didn’t like it, he didn’t need to know, he would judge her if he knew.

Sliding on her shoes she stepped out the door and made her way to the elevator. Mother and Rick had already gone down; though she swore she could still hear them talking about her in hushed tones. Her skin prickled as one shaky hand punched the button. After pushing another button inside the elevator, Audrey quickly squirted some hand sanitizer into her palm. She hated the elevator, so many people in it all the time and all their grimy hands touching the buttons. She always tried to get in one by herself, but even then she could practically feel the germs swarming the air. But it was better than the stairs, she supposed.

Some people would describe Audrey as having severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She believed everything had a place and everything needed to be in its place. Every perfume bottle in her room was arranged by height order, all her books were alphabetical by author, and her closet was color coordinated. It was the way things were supposed to be, in order. There were others who classified Audrey as just having issues. Which was true, you didn’t meet a girl with social phobia, OCD, and Mysophobia every day. That put Audrey in the category of being a freak at her school.

Rick opened the back passenger’s side door for Audrey as she walked out the front door of their apartment building. She averted her eyes and took her seat in the back of the car uncomfortably. Placing her bag neatly beside her feet on the floor, she crossed her legs, waiting patiently for this Rick fellow to get in the car. He was quite slow at doing so.

“Where are we going for dinner?” Audrey asked quietly while Rick was still outside the car, now speaking rather harshly to someone on the phone.

“That Italian restaurant near Main Street, you liked that one right?” She replied.

“Yes,”

Audrey’s Mother understood her antics. She knew Audrey wouldn’t eat anywhere with a dirty kitchen or where she found a fly or even a hair in her meal. In fact, she would never go to that restaurant again, it didn’t matter whether it was good or not. The Italian restaurant they were going to was one of the cleanest she had found, and she checked the kitchen every time she went. Not once had she found so much as a grease stain. The staff had come to know her well there and she had grown comfortable enough around them to say hello.

By the time Rick had gotten into the car and the three of them arrived at the restaurant it was well past eight- o-clock and Audrey was becoming restless. She wasn’t enjoying being around Rick any more than she would have enjoyed chewing on shards of glass. It wasn’t that painful, per say, more uncomfortable. Plus, she liked to eat at seven. Eight just seemed too late for a full meal.

“Why hello Audrey, Miss Pelm,” Their waiter, Peter smiled at them.

“Hello,” Audrey said quietly.

Peter was their usual waiter; Audrey had grown to like him. He knew what she normally ordered and how it was supposed to be prepared and he was always very kind to her, even if he was paid to do so. All the employees at this restaurant were kind and impeccably trained. It was always nice to go to a restaurant where there was good service. Not just good food.

“Would you like to see the kitchen?” Peter asked Audrey who nodded and stood from her spot in the booth.

From the corner of her eye she noticed Rick give her mother an odd look as if he was confused. Her mother returned it with a small smile before beginning to explain yet again about Audrey. It was rare that anyone would understand why she did such things as inspect kitchens.

The kitchen was a familiar place for Audrey. People rushed around to get food to the pass where the head chef would taste it all and check it to make sure it was perfect. She found the whole ordeal to be enrapturing. How everything worked in sync. It was wonderful.

“Audrey!” The head chef, a large dark haired man named Luigi, greeted in his heavy Italian accent.

A round of ‘hellos’ came from around the kitchen after her name was called out. She smiled at the kitchen staff and made her way around in her normal routine. It was as clean as it always was, with the exception of a few pots and pans lying around, yet to be washed. If Luigi was strict about one thing, it was the cleanliness of his kitchen. He was raised being told cleanliness was close to Godliness and he had taken it to heart. Or so he said, Audrey just thought he wanted to be as close to a god as possible and it made her giggle whenever he spoke about it.

“Up to par?” Peter asked. Audrey nodded.

“It always is!” Luigi exclaimed with a large grin spread across his face. “Who’s station is the cleanest?”

Luigi’s staff had always bet on who’s station would be the cleanest when Audrey came. Luigi liked to think of it as giving a staff member employee of the month. Though it was nothing like employee of the month, none of them gained anything from it.

“Sauce,” She smiled.

“Ellen! Good job!” Luigi called out to the woman who worked the sauce station who pumped her fist in the air in a short lived victory.

Peter led Audrey back out to her Mother and Rick who were talking at regular volume now about something or other, though they quickly stopped speaking once Audrey came into hearing. She grimaced, they were keeping something from her, and it was eating her alive.