Sequel: Close Yet Far ›
Anything but Ordinary
Repetition and a Meeting
(Aimee's POV)
My Bayou Cafe shirt was tied up since yet again the latest shipment of employee shirts had every size but mine. “Aaron! This is bullshit!” laughing at me, my boss went as far as to point as well. “Give me a knife or something to cut this with!” Tugging the shirt back off my tank top, I envisioned how I was slicing this one. “Oh I have ribbon in my bag too!” Running to my pocketbook, I pulled out the sewing kit I always brought on new shirt day. Like I said, mine was always a misorder.
“Oh McCluskley, stop complaining, you like playing with your shirts.” placing a bass strap over his head, the manager went to hop on stage with his band for sound check. “Now the main band will be here soon, be done with arts and crafts by then.”
Grumbling I got to work cutting out the sides of the shirt. Then on one side I simply sewed it back like a usual size adjustment but with hot pink thread. On the other side I cut a few holes and laced the hot pink lace down. Around the neck area I cut it into a v-neck. And trimmed the bottom to keep it from looking like a dress. “Hey Ames, they mess up your shirt size again?” a chick with olive skin, dark jet black hair and equally dark eyes questioned from the opposite side of the bar. “I able to head back, or they still doing sound check?”
“You're gonna go anyways Debbie.” I slid the shirt on and was surprised to see the lead singer of the main band, Ten Year Vamp, was still standing there. “Beer?”
Working the stage area bar, it seemed to be more of a beer night among the college students. Which was fine, could manage pouring beer all night. Was easy to do. Put glass under tap with a tilt and push the lever back. Stop when glass is full. Done. No measuring, not multiple ingredients. Only down side was- “Ames, can you check the Keg, the Bud Light is out!” Only down side was that the kegs ran out quicker.
Nearly running down to the basement, I made it to the kegs and saw one of the new bar backers was staring at the kegs. “Which one is Bud Light?”
Not in the mood I signaled him to step out of the way. Within about ten seconds I had the new keg up and running. “It's that one.”
“Oh.” he disappeared into the cooler but I didn't care. Instead I hurried up to the bar and got back to making money. The more money I had by this September trip, the more booze I could buy. The more Booze I could buy, the happier we would all be. The happier we all would be, the more we would hate coming back. Maybe there was a hole in that plan … “Um” the newest member of the bar staff broke my thoughts. Least a ton of booze meant Heather would behave on the trip. “How do I get back upstairs?”
Really?
Walking upstairs in silence, I would have thought the newbie would have simply followed behind me and figured it out. Apparently that wasn't the case. “Aaron, great set, you have a newb lost in the basement again.”
Ten Year Vamp had already started playing and as usual were right on point. My first stop was to drop off their fresh drinks and then got behind the counter to began a new round of beers from the people I had been taking care of. “I can't stand any of them.” One of the college aged guys told the group. “Especially that one.” Pointing to the TV behind me, I turned to see Bam's grinning face. “He is just so stupid now a days. Like he use to be the best one, but now ...” nodding to myself I walked away towards the couple a bit further down.
The guy leaned on the girl's shoulder as she ordered the first mix drink I had to make that night. Starting the 'Cranberry Goose' I couldn't help but over hear what the guy had spoke into her ear. “You know why I don't want to hang out with the guys?” the strawberry blond shook her head at her beanie wearing boyfriend. Placing her drink down I collected the money they put down. “Cause I want to spend time with you.” Normally I would have puked in my mouth hearing cute shit like that. Instead I thought of West Chester. Damn that Jackass.
“AMES!” Heather's voice woke me up the next day. “Where's my grappling hook?”
How the hell was I suppose to know … dear god tell me the time on my clock was wrong. Reaching my cell phone I saw the same numbers staring back at me.
11:45 AM
Bolting from the bed, I used the same speed to jolt myself into the bathroom. The managers meeting at the store was in less than an hour and I still had to shower, attempt to eat, get dressed and make myself look remotely professional. By 12:13 I was on the road, hair still soaked, make-up half done and uniform literally thrown on. Wasn't even completely sure if my staff tee was completely clean …
Two minutes to spare, I strolled into the store with a Mc Donalds bag, a diet soda and an iced coffee. But then I remembered I left Heather home and we were suppose to car pool. Pretty sure she would figure it out. Walking into the small office, I noticed Todd and Bertha had taken up the room's only two chairs. Guess I was standing. “Hey guys.”
“Hi Aimee! You look like you just woke up.” Todd noted in a nice manner.
Bertha looked like she had spent hours with some cunning way to blame me for the store's lack of profit lately. “She was probably at a bar all night. Then she comes in with her tattoos showing and that nose ring of hers! Plus her ears are all full of jewelry!”
“You do know you are working at a guitar shop right?” I questioned her, knowing full well it was probably a question in Todd's head at the same moment. “It kinda comes with the territory of band related merchandise. Go tell the tattoo artists down the road they can't have their tattoos showing.”
Yes I know one had nothing to really do with the other, but it sounded good. “The reason we are- you do smell of a bar.” Todd turned at looked at me “You still doing night work at that Bayou place?”
Nodding I remembered the bottle of vodka the bar backer had dropped right before closing. Was soaked in it and he was lucky it wasn't a top shelf one. “Had a new guy who thought he could do bottle flips.”
“Smells like he failed.” All I could do was nod more. And all it did was piss Bertha off more. “So I made the trip here because we are opening a new store in Philadelphia.”
The high and mighty store manager looked confused and it was hysterical to me. “So did you check out King of Prussia like I recommended?”
“What is King of Prussia?” Bertha's voice went unnoticed.
“Yes and they are looking at a location there and Philadelphia. One would be a full store and the other a smaller one called 'Guitar Center To-Go.” Todd went on explaining the differences and I listened inventively.
Eventually Bertha got up and left the room. “So I was hoping to have you work as my area manager between the two.” that caught my attention. “the King of Prussia store will be a 'To-Go' store and would be considered your store until we build the huge Philadelphia complex.”
“Complex? What kind of toys- mean equipment are we talking about?” then I realized I lived in New York and not Philly. “Guess I would have to move down there though huh?”
My Bayou Cafe shirt was tied up since yet again the latest shipment of employee shirts had every size but mine. “Aaron! This is bullshit!” laughing at me, my boss went as far as to point as well. “Give me a knife or something to cut this with!” Tugging the shirt back off my tank top, I envisioned how I was slicing this one. “Oh I have ribbon in my bag too!” Running to my pocketbook, I pulled out the sewing kit I always brought on new shirt day. Like I said, mine was always a misorder.
“Oh McCluskley, stop complaining, you like playing with your shirts.” placing a bass strap over his head, the manager went to hop on stage with his band for sound check. “Now the main band will be here soon, be done with arts and crafts by then.”
Grumbling I got to work cutting out the sides of the shirt. Then on one side I simply sewed it back like a usual size adjustment but with hot pink thread. On the other side I cut a few holes and laced the hot pink lace down. Around the neck area I cut it into a v-neck. And trimmed the bottom to keep it from looking like a dress. “Hey Ames, they mess up your shirt size again?” a chick with olive skin, dark jet black hair and equally dark eyes questioned from the opposite side of the bar. “I able to head back, or they still doing sound check?”
“You're gonna go anyways Debbie.” I slid the shirt on and was surprised to see the lead singer of the main band, Ten Year Vamp, was still standing there. “Beer?”
Working the stage area bar, it seemed to be more of a beer night among the college students. Which was fine, could manage pouring beer all night. Was easy to do. Put glass under tap with a tilt and push the lever back. Stop when glass is full. Done. No measuring, not multiple ingredients. Only down side was- “Ames, can you check the Keg, the Bud Light is out!” Only down side was that the kegs ran out quicker.
Nearly running down to the basement, I made it to the kegs and saw one of the new bar backers was staring at the kegs. “Which one is Bud Light?”
Not in the mood I signaled him to step out of the way. Within about ten seconds I had the new keg up and running. “It's that one.”
“Oh.” he disappeared into the cooler but I didn't care. Instead I hurried up to the bar and got back to making money. The more money I had by this September trip, the more booze I could buy. The more Booze I could buy, the happier we would all be. The happier we all would be, the more we would hate coming back. Maybe there was a hole in that plan … “Um” the newest member of the bar staff broke my thoughts. Least a ton of booze meant Heather would behave on the trip. “How do I get back upstairs?”
Really?
Walking upstairs in silence, I would have thought the newbie would have simply followed behind me and figured it out. Apparently that wasn't the case. “Aaron, great set, you have a newb lost in the basement again.”
Ten Year Vamp had already started playing and as usual were right on point. My first stop was to drop off their fresh drinks and then got behind the counter to began a new round of beers from the people I had been taking care of. “I can't stand any of them.” One of the college aged guys told the group. “Especially that one.” Pointing to the TV behind me, I turned to see Bam's grinning face. “He is just so stupid now a days. Like he use to be the best one, but now ...” nodding to myself I walked away towards the couple a bit further down.
The guy leaned on the girl's shoulder as she ordered the first mix drink I had to make that night. Starting the 'Cranberry Goose' I couldn't help but over hear what the guy had spoke into her ear. “You know why I don't want to hang out with the guys?” the strawberry blond shook her head at her beanie wearing boyfriend. Placing her drink down I collected the money they put down. “Cause I want to spend time with you.” Normally I would have puked in my mouth hearing cute shit like that. Instead I thought of West Chester. Damn that Jackass.
“AMES!” Heather's voice woke me up the next day. “Where's my grappling hook?”
How the hell was I suppose to know … dear god tell me the time on my clock was wrong. Reaching my cell phone I saw the same numbers staring back at me.
11:45 AM
Bolting from the bed, I used the same speed to jolt myself into the bathroom. The managers meeting at the store was in less than an hour and I still had to shower, attempt to eat, get dressed and make myself look remotely professional. By 12:13 I was on the road, hair still soaked, make-up half done and uniform literally thrown on. Wasn't even completely sure if my staff tee was completely clean …
Two minutes to spare, I strolled into the store with a Mc Donalds bag, a diet soda and an iced coffee. But then I remembered I left Heather home and we were suppose to car pool. Pretty sure she would figure it out. Walking into the small office, I noticed Todd and Bertha had taken up the room's only two chairs. Guess I was standing. “Hey guys.”
“Hi Aimee! You look like you just woke up.” Todd noted in a nice manner.
Bertha looked like she had spent hours with some cunning way to blame me for the store's lack of profit lately. “She was probably at a bar all night. Then she comes in with her tattoos showing and that nose ring of hers! Plus her ears are all full of jewelry!”
“You do know you are working at a guitar shop right?” I questioned her, knowing full well it was probably a question in Todd's head at the same moment. “It kinda comes with the territory of band related merchandise. Go tell the tattoo artists down the road they can't have their tattoos showing.”
Yes I know one had nothing to really do with the other, but it sounded good. “The reason we are- you do smell of a bar.” Todd turned at looked at me “You still doing night work at that Bayou place?”
Nodding I remembered the bottle of vodka the bar backer had dropped right before closing. Was soaked in it and he was lucky it wasn't a top shelf one. “Had a new guy who thought he could do bottle flips.”
“Smells like he failed.” All I could do was nod more. And all it did was piss Bertha off more. “So I made the trip here because we are opening a new store in Philadelphia.”
The high and mighty store manager looked confused and it was hysterical to me. “So did you check out King of Prussia like I recommended?”
“What is King of Prussia?” Bertha's voice went unnoticed.
“Yes and they are looking at a location there and Philadelphia. One would be a full store and the other a smaller one called 'Guitar Center To-Go.” Todd went on explaining the differences and I listened inventively.
Eventually Bertha got up and left the room. “So I was hoping to have you work as my area manager between the two.” that caught my attention. “the King of Prussia store will be a 'To-Go' store and would be considered your store until we build the huge Philadelphia complex.”
“Complex? What kind of toys- mean equipment are we talking about?” then I realized I lived in New York and not Philly. “Guess I would have to move down there though huh?”