Young Love

*Warning - Mental heath, crude humor, language *

Young Love

Jimmy Jones emerged from the bathroom stall, approached the mirror, and wiped the tears from his eyes. He put a hand down on each side of the sink and moved his face close to the mirror, staring into his own eyes, his heavy breath fogging his reflection. “Get your game face on,” Jimmy whispered, smiling at himself. He stayed this way for thirty seconds, frozen, forced smile, staring back at himself. Then he stood up straight, re-tucked his shirt, washed his hands, and walked out the door.

The Fish House had been in business for forty years and was one of the nicer restaurants in this small town. Lee and Sara Johnson have run this establishment for the last ten years since Lee’s father retired and moved to Florida. This place was full of small-town charm. On Sundays, Sara can be seen walking table to table, chatting up the after-church crowd, patting backs, and rubbing shoulders. The people in this town love to come here; they love the atmosphere, the food, and they love and Lee and Sara. It’s no surprise, being that tonight is the local high school’s prom night, there is a line of well-dressed teenagers waiting for their tables.

Jimmy walked over to the board to get his table assignments for the evening. He had requested section four and was happy to see that his wish had been granted. Jenn had reservations tonight; she loved to sit by the windows on the west side of the restaurant and Jimmy needed to be the one to handle her table. He couldn’t wait to see Jenn and her little twat boyfriend, Ben. “We’ll see how much he likes the food here,” Jimmy mumbled to himself and smiled.

“Thanks for the tables boss,” Jimmy said as the shift-lead, Steve Lewis, approached. Steve had worked at the Fish House for four years, two years longer than Jimmy, and was a good role model and friend. He wasn’t shy about giving Jimmy a swift kick in the ass when he wandered from the straight and narrow, which happened quite frequently.

“Not a problem Jimmy. Just be ready to hustle your ass, it’s going to be a full house.”

“You know me. Employee of the month, baby!” Jimmy said as he lifted his arms into the air and smiled. 

He had been awarded Employee of the Month in May, an award he very was proud of, and came complete with a plaque on the wall with his picture. That was the first thing he had won since the third grade when he was named spelling bee champion. He was in Mr. Marquez’s class, a great teacher, although a bit strange. Some of the boys said that he was a pedo and nicknamed him Ivan Calderon Fondle-Larquez. Jimmy didn’t go along with the name-calling; he liked Mr. Marquez but was happy to have the teasing directed at someone else for a change. Why are kids such assholes?

“Oh yeah. You only won because you have soft hands and cover those teeth better than the rest of these clowns.” Steve said, making a crude, two-handed gesture.

“That’s right. I learned from the best,” Jimmy said, winking and pointing at Steve.

“Ok, funny guy, time to move. We are starting to seat guests in your section. No complaints tonight, ok?”

“You got it,” he said as he walked away and towards his first customers of the night.

At table ten, Dale and Cindy something or other were sitting across from one another, smiling and holding hands across the table. God I’m going to puke. Jimmy couldn’t remember their last names; his memory had been failing him as of late. He did remember a story about these two; something about Cindy giving Dale a handy on the bus coming back from a band trip and getting caught by one of the chaperones. High schools were full of stories like this and most of them weren’t true, but that didn’t stop them from spreading like wildfire. “What can I get you two lovebirds?” Jimmy said as he smiled and leaned in over the table.

An hour had passed, and Jimmy had picked up his fifth table. Seated at this table were his younger sister Emma and her boyfriend Jake. Emma was two years younger than Jimmy; she was so smart, kind, a straight-A student, and he couldn’t be prouder of her. She was Jimmy’s best friend; and the only family he had left since their mother passed. “Hi Emmy, you look beautiful,” he said smiling as he put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

After a few trips back and forth to the kitchen, Jimmy made his way back to Emma’s table. He spent a few minutes talking to Jake about the car he just bought, a gently used Mustang, cherry red. Jake worked two summers installing swimming pools, and every penny he didn’t spend on Emma he saved for that car. Being the youngest on the job, they had him doing most of the grunt work; the worst was being down in the hole on one-hundred-degree days, tying rebar, and sweating his ass off. Jimmy liked Jake, he was good to Emma, and he loved her. Jimmy could tell that Emma was happy, and that’s all that mattered.

At eight o’clock, Jimmy was in the back of the restaurant cleaning menus and listening to the Braves game that was playing on the tv. He had cleaned half of the menus in his stack when he heard Marla, the hostess, yell “Jimmy, table twelve.”

Jimmy poked his head around the corner and there was Jenn, hanging her purse on the back of a chair and sitting down. Jimmy felt his heart racing in his chest, his face began to tingle. He started taking deep breaths to calm himself. “Get it together Jimmy,” he whispered to himself through trembling lips. He wiped his sweaty palms and started off towards the table with two menus in hand.

The walk towards table twelve lasted an eternity. Jimmy was sweating profusely. He kept wiping his forehead with his sleeve and reaching into his pocket, making sure that the syringe was still there. When he approached the table, Jenn looked up and gave a forced smile. She looked very uncomfortable, and this made Jimmy sad.

“Hi, Jenn. I love your dress, you look great.”

“Thanks, Jimmy.” She smiled a little, and the line between her eyebrows relaxed a bit.

“Hey, Ben. You still driving your daddy’s truck?” Jimmy asked, not looking in Ben’s direction. I can’t believe she threw away two years for your scrawny ass.

“Yes, Jimmy, that’s my only option for driving, I don’t have a job.” Ben’s father owned a Ford dealership and Ben had been driving around a brand-new, black F150 all year. Jimmy was jealous. It was a beautiful truck; Jimmy could save his paycheck and tips for two years and wouldn’t be able to afford anything that nice.

“We’re hiring busboys if you aren’t afraid of a little work.”

“Jimmy!” Jenn snapped at him, the line between the eyebrows was back.

Jimmy took their drink orders and stopped off to say goodbye to Emma and Jake. He hugged his sister and shook Jake’s hand, telling them he picked up the tab, and to be careful and enjoy their evening.

The walk back to table twelve seemed shorter now as Jimmy had relaxed a bit. Balancing a tray full of drinks and cheesy bread, he was no longer sweating, the syringe tucked safely into his pocket.

“Here you go,” he said as he placed the drinks and bread on the table. “Look, I’m sorry I was busting your balls,” Jimmy said, looking at Ben. He knew he needed to diffuse the situation a bit. Jenn was pissed when he walked away with their drink order, and he didn’t want her to request a new waiter.

Ben nodded, “It’s all good Jimmy.”

“Ready to order?”

Jenn spoke up first. “I’ll have the trout with spinach, Jimmy,” she managed to force a smile as she handed him the menu.

“How about you, Ben?”

“I’ll have the gumbo.”

“Any food allergies?”

“Only peanuts,” Ben said as he handed Ben the menu.

“I’ll have that right out, let me know if you need anything else,” Jimmy smiled as he walked away towards the kitchen.

Jimmy had known about Ben’s peanut allergy for a month. His buddy, Matthew, played baseball with Ben. After one of their games, the team went out to dinner together, where he disclosed this allergy to the wait staff. Ben told the team that when he eats peanuts, he breaks out in a rash and gets itchy. Jimmy had gleaned this very useful piece of information from Matthew the night he told him about Jenn and Ben dating.

The kitchen was backed up and it took fifteen minutes for the food to come out. The staff was so busy, no one noticed when Jimmy pulled a syringe out of his pocket and emptied its contents into Ben’s bowl of gumbo. Jimmy stirred and mixed the homemade peanut paste into the gumbo until you couldn’t tell it was there. “We’ll see how much fun he has at prom while he’s itching his ass off,” Jimmy whispered to himself, smiling and holding in a laugh.

Thirty minutes later, Jenn and Ben had finished their food, ordered dessert, and were currently working on polishing that off as well. Jimmy watched intently from the back of the restaurant, Ben wasn’t scratching or looking uncomfortable at all. Maybe I didn’t use enough?

Fifteen minutes later and the desert is finished. Jen gets up to go to the bathroom, and Jimmy walks to the table to get a better look at Ben and to deliver the check. From three feet away, nothing, clear skin, no red, no scratching. “Here is the check,” Jimmy said, setting the tray containing the check down on the table. “Everything ok?”

“Yes, thanks Jimmy, everything was great.”

Jimmy nodded.

“Look, Jimmy, I’ve been wanting to tell you something. I wasn’t talking to Jenn while you two were dating. I know you think I stole her from you. But the truth is we didn’t go out until you guys had been broken up for well over a month, according to Jenn anyway. I know that’s not going to change how you feel about me, but I just wanted you to know.”

Jimmy didn’t know what to say. Most of the anger that had been brewing in his chest had now fizzled out. Dammit, Ben! He felt ashamed now about putting peanuts into his food. Jimmy looked Ben up and down, his skin looked fine, and he wasn’t scratching. “Thanks for telling me, Ben. I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk.”

Jenn returned to the table and gathered her things. Jimmy hugged her goodbye, shook Ben’s hand, and they were out the door and on their way.

Thirty minutes later Jimmy was in the back of the restaurant, cleaning menus again, counting tips, and listening to the TV. He was glad things worked out the way they did, he was at peace with it.

Steve walked into the room and patted Jimmy on the back. “How’d you do tonight, bud?”

“Not too bad, decent money, my feet are killing me though. I’m ready to get the hell out of here.”

Steve opened his mouth to respond but something on the TV caught his eye. “Holy hell, that’s not good. Turn it up!”

The local news broadcast was on. A blonde reporter in a power suit was standing in front of what looked to be a wreck. It was very blurry, the cameras were too far away to see clearly, and the flashing lights didn’t help.

Jimmy stared at the screen, trying to get a good look at the cars. All the while listening to the reporter tell the story. “Two-car collision…head on…F-150…swerved across the median into oncoming traffic…three dead…teenagers…red Mustang.”

The camera zoomed in on the wreckage and Jimmy’s heart sank into his stomach. He began to sob uncontrollably after seeing the image of a black F-150 and a red Mustang mangled and mashed together on the side of that road. “What have I done?” he screamed as he ran out of the restaurant.