Created by Diane Brown, Buena Beach is an online soap opera, giving up all the juicy details of some of the hottest guys and gals of Buena Beach, a small town in Southern California. Check back everyday for a new episode here on HelloBeautiful.com.
Alice
“Alice, did you get that?”
What…huh…did I get what? Shoot. No, I didn’t get it – whatever the heck it was someone asked me to do. Here I am, chair of the Electives Curriculum Review committee and I can’t even stay engaged enough to know what we’ve been discussing the last 15 minutes. It’s the Café. My mind is being held hostage by orders for creamer, finding new bread venders, our fall sales plan, staff coverage for next Tuesday, and the fifty million other tasks I have to take care of by tomorrow. I so want to quit this Vice-Principal gig that it hurts; I’m literally in pain coming in here every morning. But there’s no way I can do that yet – too many bills. Giving up this job means letting go of my car lease and my condo, Netflix, my vacation club, my Nordstrom card, my… my lifestyle.
Then again, it would mean I’d really be able to put my heart into the Café. If I had a man, perhaps I wouldn’t feel so connected to a damn restaurant. Really, though, it’s more than the physical building that I’m attached to. It’s my dream – I did something that seemed impossible in opening this business so, technically, the Café is the love of my life right now.
“Yes, yes. I got it.” That lie means I’ll have to go back and review the tape in my purse that’s secretly recording the meeting. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do that (again!) so that, for once, I could get to bed at a decent time tonight. Oh well. Perhaps another day.
With Ms. Randall wrapping up her report, I tell the group, “Okay, if there’s no other business, meeting adjourned.”
The collective relief in the room can almost be weighed. Not only did today’s meeting run thirty minutes longer than scheduled, but we got stuck in the conference room with the temperamental thermostat that insisted it was a wintry night on the East Coast rather than one of the hottest afternoon’s in Southern California. Like me, most of these people can’t wait to get out of here, practically shoving each other to get out the door. But a few folks linger, taking their time to gather their belongings and head for the door. Like Mr. Gonzalez, smiling as he makes his way over to me.
“Hey, Alice. My brother-in-law says he can get some good tickets to the Angels game on Monday.”
“Yah? Who we playing?”
“Oakland. Should be a good game.” Ever since he learned that I was the world’s biggest Angel’s fan last year, Mr. Gonzalez has been hooking me up with his hook up. At the game I went to last summer, my homegirl and I were practically on the first basemen’s lap.
“Oh thanks, Gonzalez, but I have to work at the Café.”
“Aww, that’s too bad. You work too hard, Alice. Oh, well. Looks like I’ll have to try to find another Angel’s freak.”
He’s so silly. “Freak? Who you calling a freak?”
He laughs, giving me a soft slap on the arm. “Ahh, nah. I didn’t mean it like that. Of course you’re not a freak.”
Well, I don’t know about that.
“I’m just messing with you. I just mean that it would have been fun to go to the game with a real fan, you know? I’ll probably end up taking my cousin or my brother. They’re all Dodger fans, though.”
Wait…he wanted me to go with him?
“Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow. Take care,” he says, waving goodbye to me and then to my girl Jina, better known around campus as Ms. Brown.
Once the coast is clear, I look over at Jina, already knowing that she’s gonna have that look in her eye. And she does.
“What was that?” Jina asks me.
I play coy. “What was what?”
“Look, don’t try to act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I just had my hearing checked and my ears are in tip-top shape, so I know that I just heard you turn down Eddie for a date. I can’t believe that I heard it, but I know that I heard it.”
“Mr. Gonzalez was not asking me out on a date.”
Jina shakes her head. “Oh, no? Well, then what was it?”
“I don’t know – he just wanted some company for the game. He had an extra ticket.”
“Well he sure didn’t come over here and ask me to go with him after you turned him down.”
This girl’s crazy. “Jina, you wouldn’t know a baseball from a basehead.”
“Of course I would. Baseballs don’t accost you while your walking down the street, asking to perform sexual favors on you for money.”
Yah, she’s crazy. Crazy in general, but also a quite mad for thinking that that whole thing right now was about a date. “Anyway…what are you doing next Tuesday – you feel like putting in some time at the Café to help out your good friend?”
“Nice try. Both your plea to get me to work in the food industry and with changing the subject. But I might consider doing the unthinkable and taking your shift on Monday if it means you’ll run down the hall and tell Eddie that you’re available to go with him.”
“Ohhhh, that’s sweet really,” I say, being the slightest bit sarcastic. “But, it’s not happening.”
Honestly, I would love to hang out with Mr. Ramirez after the school bell rings. He’s pretty cute. He’s a nice guy. And, who am I kidding? I’m as dried up as a tumbleweed; any sort of intramural activities with a member of the opposite sex would work for me. After a couple of beers and the rush from the jalapeños on a shared box of nachos, we could really have a good time. I hadn’t really thought of him in that way before, but maybe Jina’s right…maybe he really was asking me out.
Maybe I should reconsider.
“Seriously, Alice. How long has it been since – ”
“Too long. I can’t even say it out loud.”
“Really? That’s truly sad. You can’t let yourself shut down like that – you know, your parts begin to atrophy if you don’t put them to use.”
I know she’s just playing around, but a small part of me panics, not wanting to have to pin an “Out of Order” sign on my thong in the near future. What’s even worse is that, already, I can’t shake this whole thing with Mr. Ramirez. As we close up the room, I’m still thinking about him even as we move the conversation to Jina’s love life (currently, as pathetic as mine).
Even as I start my car and point it in the direction of the Café.
Even when I go over invoices in the office as Chris sweeps up front and turns off the lights at the restaurant.
Even as I snuggle under the covers and close my eyes at 2:06 in the morning.
Damn.
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