The Great Hendowski

"That guy looked familiar, the one at the bar."
"Well yeah, he was here last night."
"Oh... that band you told me about?"
I nodded.
"I almost took him for a regular!"
Alice was sitting across from me in a booth, casually moving her straw along in her Shirley Temple. It was closing time, thank god. My legs felt busted, no longer attached to the rest of my body. I brushed away a sticky piece of hair from my forehead, and picked up a dollar bill.
"You know," I chuckled, "it looks like we hustled for this money or something."
We had a large pile of bills on our table, stacked and scattered, taunting us... and most likely my brother.
Alice shared my intake and said, "poor Tyler. He gets no slice of this cake."
"Poor Tyler? Ha! He owns the place. I bet he makes bank."
I stuck my tongue out in retort to her blunt eye roll.
"I'm serious, minus expenses. He should feel bad for us. We're practically living off of tips, and tips alone."
"True. I'm almost fifty and I've never come close to owning a restaurant... or any business actually."
"I'm sorry Alice, but the amount of responsibility you have is embarrassing."
Her mouth dropped open, but she laughed anyway. "That, is also true."
We shared good laughs as we began splitting up the tips, ignoring my brother as he paced back and forth in the main dining room. I already knew it was on purpose so we'd ask him what was wrong. He was like that. Instead of telling you, he'd wait for you to ask, and then answer in this overly dramatic way. Voice, arms, everything.
"Okay," I sighed. "What's the problem?"
He stopped and looked over, from what I could see in my peripheral.
"I'm going to be late on bills this week! I don't know what to do." Vibrant moving of arms. Exasperated breath. Anxiety ridden?
"Um, isn't this the first time you've ever been late?" I asked.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything. Being late is going to give me an ulcer the size of a cantaloupe." He finally sat down, but it was clear that it wasn't going to help with the nerves. He began bouncing his legs no more than a few seconds later, which just irritated me even more.
"Don't even ask."
He tilted his head, faking confusion. I knew him better than he knew himself.
"Here, Alice," I handed her a five, and then looked at Tyler spot on. "I'm not working tomorrow. Don't even ask me to come in. I get two days off this week, and I'm keeping them."
"Hey! I'm the boss."
"Tyler," I whined. "If you don't give us breaks, we'll literally break, in half."
"Fine, fine. Not what I was going to suggest, but we'll drop it."
"Yeah, right. You totally wanted to ask."
"Whatever, Zoey." Classic sibling argument. "This isn't even your problem anyway, nor Alice's. I gotta figure this out. Will you guys close up?"
Alice mumbled a sure, and Tyler headed out as quickly as he could.
"That boy is in over his head."
"He always is."

I waved goodbye to Alice, who looked as anxious as ever to leave Rino's, and heard my ringtone blast in my purse. My heart thudded as I tried getting into the car before seeing who it was. The first thing I learned about being a waitress when stalled in a dark parking lot, with no friends around... get into your car as fast as possible, especially if you were in a city like Boston. Not only were there muggers, but... other things. Scary, creepier things.
I huffed as I got in, slamming my door and making sure to lock it. And then grabbed my phone.
The caller I.D. read Austin, and I narrowed my eyes. What was it with these guys?
"Hello?"
"Hey! Zoey."
"Hi... what's up?"
"Oh, I don't know. Just wondering what you were up to."
I wasn't sure if it was the band's sudden push into my life causing stress, but these weird, random moments were starting to twist my nerves.
"Can I ask you a question? What are your plans? I mean, why did Tino come to the diner tonight, asking about me? And what was it with the constant Austin this, Austin that? I hardly know you guys and you keep popping up somewhere, whether it be in my head or not."
It was silent on the other line, minus the light breathing I heard as he thought of what I said, or maybe what he was going to say next. It didn't last long.
"Whoa," Austin paused, "you texted me first about cats."
"But you invite me to a show and before we even make it there, you guys are all over me."
"All over you?" I could hear the humor in his voice, which burned my insides.
"Oh, you know what I mean."
"Zoey, we like you. We just want to get to know you, and hang out. Like friends. Don't you have friends?"
I could tell by Austin's tone that he wasn't trying to be rude, it was an honest question. I took a moment to think about it, because the truth was I didn't have friends I hung out with. There was Alice, but she was a fifty year old co-worker. What would she want to do that a twenty five year old wanted to do? Go out to drink? That was basically it, and that wasn't my idea of a good time. I purposely distanced myself from my neighbors. I would not consider my brother a friend I could hang out with. I came home from work, and did my own thing. It wasn't like I hated being independent, but I'd never forget the loneliness that came along with independence every day.
I considered a few customers potential friends, Mrs. Ross and her husband, mid-twenties like me, but still. Maybe I needed a change of pace.
"Well, I don't exactly hang out with anybody outside of work," I admitted, embarrassed. I waited for the joke, or jokes, but they never came.
He sighed, and it sounded disappointed more than anything else. "You're twenty five and you don't go out?"
"How'd you know my age?"
"Who else? Tino. Come with us tonight."
"Oh, ah, I don't know."
"Are you working tomorrow? Is that why?"
"No, it's not why, and I'm not working tomorrow, actually."
"A nice boss you've got there," he teased. "Are you seeing him?"
"What?" I nearly choked on my own spit. "I'm guessing Tino didn't tell you this? He's my brother."
"Oh," Austin giggled. And then I had to pull away from the roar of laughter coming out of the speaker. It reminded me of a real life Santa Claus. Contagious, I began laughing as well, and we both ended up in a fit over the phone.
"You know what? Fuck it, I'll text you my address," I took a deep breath, resting my hand on my fluttering heart.
"Awesome. See you soon," and with that, he hung up.
And with that, I had to ask myself, what was I getting into? For the first time in years, I felt giddy and warm again. People wanted to hang out with me? And they weren't from work? It was enlightening. Maybe there was more to life than filling people's drinks and carrying trays of hot food.