CHAPTER 9

I exhausted the whole 1hr having unnecessary thoughts in my head and finally the alarm went off. I sighed heavily,very annoyed at myself for wasting that time. I knew I was gonna get off work with a heavy headache but I had to go to work. I could afford to miss my first day.

I stood up from the bed and went into the shower for a quick bath. After that,I came out to get clothes to wear,I suddenly realised that I didn't even know the kind of clothes I was supposed to wear to work.

Shit! I groan very loudly. Now another problem. It's like the universe was conspiring against me. I could never win today no matter what I did.

I ended up wearing a causal put together,picked up my wallet and my phone , went outside,locked my door and came down to my car.

And the worst thing happened. I put my key into the ignition and tried to turn on the car,it roared but refused to start. I tried it a second time,still the same thing. This car had never failed me. Why was it today of all days it decided to do this shit! I was even cursing more than I normally did.

I knew the car had needed some servicing in the mechanic for a while and yet,I ignored it saying to myself that I'd find a day to take it for checking and repairs and then today of all days,it decided to give up on me. I hated myself this instant.

The only option I had was either board a bus or take an uber. I checked my time,before I could sit down at this particular spot and wait for an uber,I'd be very late and it will upset Fat Tony so I chose to take a bus. This might have been one of the dumbest decisions I ever made in life because I immediately realised taking a bus would require me to walk a certain distance before I got to the bus station. Regardless of the situation, I decided to continue walking and I did so as fast as I could.

I finally got to the bus station while racing like I never did in my entire life. Luckily for me,the bus was about to leave and I jumped inside. I took out my headphones, put them on and sat very close to the window and of course,not without doing the very thing everybody does when they sit on the window seat on a bus,imagine I was in a music video.

I got to the bus stop and alighted. I walked a little distance till I got to the club. I arrived at the nick of time,just about the time my shift started. At least I was safe today on my first day. Nothing happened.

I walked inside,Luca was already there, talking again on the phone. I wondered who he was always talking to. The previous day when I came in for the first time,he was talking to someone on the phone and now,the same. Was it a sister? A brother? Mother? Father? Perhaps,a lover. I assumed,with him stating he had a crush on a friend of Fat Tony,that means he was sort of gay or maybe bi. I'd have to ask him though. I knew people were sensitive when it came to their sexuality,they always felt people wanted to judge them. I guess homophobia had really played a number in our society,sadly.

Luca ended his call and smiled happily at me "Drew,so happy you could make it. I was about to get worried that you'd dip or something. Come,you have to put an apron immediately. Fat Tony would be here any minute from now and if you are not on an apron,you are completely screwed. Dead. Annihilated. Extinct. Eradicated. Destroyed. What other synonyms are there?! You still standing there?! Come come come please!!"

I rushed immediately and grabbed the apron and wore it. I swear if it had gripped that piece of cloth any harder with the force I used to grab it,I would have ripped it into shreds.

Just as I finished putting it on,lo and behold! talk of the devil! He was just standing right behind me looking at me like I was some naughty 2-year-old that was caught stealing ice cream from the fridge.

"You are late. On your first day. What explanation do you have for that?" He said coldly.

Was this man ever happy in his life? I wondered.

I was panting slightly now, " I am so sorry sir-sorry Fat Tony- My car broke down and I had to take the b- "

I didn't even get to finish because he simply stomped off to his office and left me there hanging. I wasn't sure whether to go after him to apologize or to ignore it and start working.

I turned to Luca for help. He was so sympathetic towards me and he said,"Don't worry, everything is fine. That's how Fat Tony is. He derives joy from making people crumble in front of him. I bet it's his kink though. He gets off on seeing people afraid and almost shitting their pants ,"Luca lowered his voice and said this," I bet he's a notable member of the BDSM community,in fact I am sure he's into that kind of stuff. The master and slave and pet shit. He definitely looks like he'd enjoy such things. I don't mind though and I don't judge at all but he should not make our lives such a living hell. We are not even his pets for christsakes. Although I'd not mind being one. He's hot and rich. That's a sweet combo" he ended by shaking his eyebrows at me and then staring dreamily into thin air.

I was grateful to Luca was easing the tension that had already built inside me.

"Luca,you are one crazy person. So you really like every hot guy you come across?" I laughed.

" Oh yes. Mind you,it's hot and rich,not just hot. I could like you if you were just hot but you'd have to be rich too. I am broke so I need a rich guy to make my life sweet. Okay take for instance,you, Drew,you are hot hot for real but could I date you? Nah,you are a bartender just like me. So how we gonna afford fancy dates on those big restaurants just like in the movies? So you see,I could like you or any other guy like you but we'd be suffering"

"Luca,you just called me broke. I am offended right now." I said laughing.

"Sorry boo. It's nothing. I am broke too. Two broke people serving at a bar makes the best friendships,I tell you. Don't worry. You'd meet Bella too. She will come in tomorrow. Our fellow broke ass. Haha. Don't tell her I said that about her. She'd go crazy. I'd already told her about you and how hot you are so she's planning to shoot her shot and if she ever finds out I tried to sabotage her by calling her broke infront of you,she would erase me from Earth"

I was laughing now "Luca I won't. I mean,you can't call me hot and I go ahead to betray you. I cross my lips"

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Working with Luca was truly a blessing. He was taking time to teach me everything I needed to know on bartending and mixing drinks. I even watched him attend to a customer and I was learning little by little. He continued to put me through everything and then very soon enough,the club started to fill up with people who come to spend their time and drink so it got really busy for us.

But one thing was that Luca never lost patience with me and I truly grateful for that. I hated when people snapped at me. It made me lose focus especially when I was trying to learn new stuff. By the time I served three to four customers,I had already grabbed the basics. So as usual,the music became louder and we served and served and served more and more people. It was a tough job but with Luca there,it was completely worth it.

But I noticed that Fat Tony didn't come down at all,all through my shift,he never showed up. I had meant to ask Luca the reason later anyways. Why would he even sit in the office for that long and what was he even doing there? The man was very curious to me. And just then I remembered blue eyes. And the fact that I had seen Fat Tony and blue eyes together didn't even help ease my curiosity. I felt a deep emotion within me that made me feel like there's more to this story that I didn't know about.

After serving almost what appeared to be our last customer,the music had stopped playing by then and everybody had gone home,I checked my time,it was 2:45am in the morning. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I thought it would even be later than that. I guess everybody decided to retire home early today.

Luca and I cleared the entire bar and cleaned up before we left the club. We got outside and for the first time in hours,I had a rush of fresh breeze.

I turned to Luca," how do you get home?"

"Oh,I walk home. I don't live very far from here though. Just across the street "

He pointed across the street, probably in the direction of his house and I nodded.

"Well,I'd be waiting for the bus. My car really did break down,I wasn't lying earlier"

"Oh that's fine. The bus should be here any minute from now. Should I wait with you or you can take care of yourself?" He asked me very kindly.

"Oh thank you very much but I will be fine. You should go home and get some sleep. Okay?".

He yawned and started walking home and waved me goodbye.

On a second thought,I called out his name and he turned. I walked up to him and said," I forgot that I wanted to ask you something.

You know when I left yesterday,I was in my car when I saw Fat Tony come out of the club with another man,can you remember who the man is?"

He thought about it for a second and said, " Tall, clean-shaven mixed race with blue eyes,right?"

I nodded and he said,"Sure,yeah. I have seen him a few times. He do come to see Fat Tony but him and the other one I have a crush on,they are like very close friends,I think. But my crush comes more than the blue eyes. The blue eyes rarely come at all but my crush is always here."

Luca turned and looked at me contemplatively and asked, "Why?"

"Oh it's fine,it's just I recently moved in to a new apartment and the one with the blue eyes is kind of like my neighbor so I wanted to know whether he knew Fat Tony".

"Oh okay,Yeah they are besties. Is there any other thing?"

"Yes. When does Fat Tony leave? Does he just stay inside his office all night? I didn't really notice him come out at all all night. Is there another exit out of the club apart from the one we all know,the general exit…?"

Luca answered,"Drew,I am grateful he didn't come out at all. Whenever he comes out,he looks for faults and he won't say them till work is over and it's time to go and he comes down to start beating it on my head and worse still calling me Lukie in the process. But to answer your question,he doesn't come down every night. Sometimes he does,sometimes he doesn't. And I know nothing about any other exit. I just know the only one we pass through. Okay?"

I heard the sound of the bus and I immediately bid Luca farewell. He was already walking away tiredly while nodding. I jumped on the bus grateful for another day ended in peace. I was even thankful towards the fact that my work didn't seem that bad and that Luca was there to help me go through it.

I got down from the bus as I reached the bus stop as I followed the path to my house. Everywhere was quiet. And I was walking in a brisk manner. At this point,I cursed myself as to why I hadn't fixed my car before it broke down. I didn't have the strength to run so I continued walking and that was when I realised, hearing the sounds of footsteps right behind me, that someone was following me.