章 3: Chapter 3: Meet the Employees, Part 2
The next employee on our "must introduce to Aurora" list is Laurent Eking James, the bartender.
"Oh, good evening, Miss Aurora Hart."
She's pleasantly shocked that our bartender, who is part of this bar ever since its establishment seven years ago, already knows of her identity.
"H-How'd you know my name?!"
The bartender, who is equally of African-American and Caucasian heritage, answers in a calm way.
"Don't be surprised, girlie. You know the thing with bartenders… they must be knowledgeable in everything. It's an obligation, you know. And with the advent of technologies that allow for instantaneous transmission of messages… no sooner do we learn of the latest goings-on within our immediate vicinity."
"T-Thanks. T-to be honest, sir, I've never been inside a bar before."
"Yup, can confirm. You're indeed a fresh face here in this joint. Let me prepare something to do away with that insecurity of yours."
Leigh and I, who sit alongside Aurora in adjacent bar stools, just witness Laurent's display of mastery in his chosen craft, complete with acrobatic moves.
And out of his cocktail shaker comes a bright-red liquid that is being poured onto a cocktail glass that has been garnished with a maraschino cherry beforehand.
He then serves the non-alcoholic cocktail to our distinguished girl with much aplomb.
"Here you go, Miss Aurora. A Shirley Temple made with lemon-lime soda and some grenadine to get you all perked up. Consider this… my personal welcome gift for you."
"Thank you."
She just sips on the cocktail slowly until nothing of the liquid, not even a single drop nor the cherry garnish, remains on the glass.
"Atta girl! You finished it quickly!"
"I really like the taste. It's not too sweet, for one."
"Aw, you flatter me."
I then cut in.
"Wow, you've definitely given her the VIP treatment. Not in a sarcastic way, of course."
"Well to be honest, Fred, I see in you three a much brighter future. If a certain song says that two became one, then three must become one, too. But first, you all must face your own pasts if you three want to unite wholeheartedly."
"Yes, we know."
"Alright, no more brooding and stuff. You still have more staffers to get acquainted with before the show begins. Have a good one, y'all."
Aurora just briefly bows in front of our esteemed bartender before we continue to the next employee.
And that employee is Felicia Wolfe, the head cook.
Aurora herself now makes the initiative in greeting her with the following…
"Good evening, Miss Head Cook! You own that fuchsia carbon-wrapped Japanese car I saw near the entrance, right?"
As Felicia is currently overseeing her team of cooks preparing the ingredients for tonight's orders, she just gasps at Aurora's question.
"Whoa! Good evening to you, Fred and Leigh… and… uh, yeah, Miss Aurora Hart!"
Besides Laurent, she recognizes our distinguished girl right off the bat.
Her gift of unusual intuition is the cause.
As the culinary world is full of twists and turns, this gift of hers is a great boon, as she's fully aware that anything can go wrong in the kitchen, and thus she will do anything in her power to prevent disasters worse than natural calamities from being served on customers' plates.
Most likely, she has also heard of the news, and thus she knows who Aurora is.
Felicia responds with a poise so confident, complete with her left hand barely touching the center of her chest.
"And yes, I really do have a souped-up stock Japanese car I drive everyday to work. Thanks for the compliment. Say… are you a car nut like I am?"
Aurora just answers in the same enthusiastic way, "No. I just happen to watch lots of car commercials whenever I watch my favorite telenovelas."
"I see, I see. Fred, Leigh, you really did catch a cutie."
Leigh replies with a slight blush…
"'Catch' may be too brutal a word. It would be nice if, instead, you used the term… uh… 'rescue'!"
"Yeah, yeah! My intuition can overpower me at times, that I sometimes can't find the words to describe stuff! Well, anyway, I need to go back to my job. Can't get those eventual order backlogs overpowering us all!"
Aurora gushes, "If that is so, I wish you well in serving nothing but the best to everyone. And someday… I want to eat a T-bone steak. I… once wanted that as a kid, but never actually tasted it."
"Sure, sure. Since you'll be a frequent face around here… you'll have your wish granted someday. So… until then, ta-ta!"
We three waste no time waving her goodbye as Felicia goes back to overseeing everything in the kitchen.
Dax Sagdiyev, the barback.
He's a sly kid, but he means well.
He once told us about why he acts this way now.
He came from a middle-class family; and his parents and close relatives wanted to double or even triple their riches… and thus they all fell victim to various marketing scams and Ponzi schemes.
No sooner did his family fall on hard times, and thus he vowed to himself that he would trump those scammers in terms of slyness.
And as a good consequence, his slyness also helps him in his line of work, as barbacks are expected to assist bartenders in keeping up the lively aura of the bar itself.
With his slyness, he instantly thinks of the things to do to ensure everything is in running order and performs those actions efficiently.
As Aurora introduces herself to Dax, and Dax responds in kind…
"Wait a second. Are… are you related to that guy?"
He just chuckles as he comes up with an instantaneous answer...
"To be fair, I've been asked that thousands of times, and it's making my forehead vein pop in secret anger every time. But I still have to keep my cool, so I just have to deny, deny, and deny any connections with him. Yes, I am of Kazakh ancestry, but never in any way am I related to him… except for the 'cultural learnings of America' thing. End of story."
"S-Sorry if I asked you this. I guess… curiosity kills the cat, after all."
"No worries, Miss Aurora. Speaking of cats… I think… you would look cuter with a cat-eared headband! Chocolate? Vanilla? Maple? Coconut? Any food-based color is fair game!"
"N-No thanks, Sir Dax."
"That's OK. I'm just speaking my mind. Anyway, got some more preparations to do before this joint opens. Have a great time, you hear? And Fred and Leigh, thanks for inviting her! She deserves to be a patron, in my humble opinion!"
And finally, we will pay a courtesy call to Zachary Madeira, the bar's owner and manager.
He has a master's degree in hotel and restaurant management, which is why this establishment survives in this cutthroat world of hospitality businesses.
And also, he hates simps.
"Simps are nothing but crybabies, man-children, and losers."
That is his daily mantra, which is becoming a running gag for us two.
The reason for his line of thinking?
He's plain sick and tired of his contemporaries on social media praising random cute girls they meet on the street to the high heavens, like they're goddesses or something.
As a worn-out meme shows, "senpai will never notice you".
He fervently believes that men must first get out of their basements and take the first yet painful steps for their objects of affection to say yes to them.
And if ever I get asked if I simped for Leigh… the answer's a BIG. HARD. NO.
We just met each other by some miracle, and grew fond of each other after that.
That will be a story for another day.
Now back to Zack, as I want him, the head honcho with the awesome cowboy hat that never fades in color or quality even after two decades, to be familiar with the girl we've rescued.
"So, this is the girl you two have saved last night! Good call in saving her! Well, since you've introduced her to our wonderful place, she'll be welcome anytime here, free of charge!"
"T-Thank you so much, sir!" Aurora airs her gratitude.
He then segues to something more important, as it's about the show we'll be putting on to serenade the patrons.
"Now then. Honestly, Fred and Leigh, what I want to hear from you two tonight is a country cover of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. Come on, someone has already made a freaking polka version of it, for crying out loud!"
I respectfully confute, "Sorry, but I'm no Freddie Mercury. There's only one of him, and he's already dead. But then… we'll do our best to cover this legendary song, in our own little way… someday."
"Alright! That's the spirit!"
"But for now… we have a set list ready… and it'll be energetic… in more ways than one."
"Good, good! I'm waiting with bated breath what kind of songs you'll crank out!"
"OK. We'll head to the backstage pronto."
"Better make a killing like usual, y' hear?"
Leigh and I enthusiastically nod in agreement as we both accompany Aurora to an empty table near the front of the stage.
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