Most of the places in the area had closed down by this time of night. It was almost midnight, but the diner was still running a booming business. Mike kept the place open till one most nights, but if it was slow he’d close at midnight. The bright light was like a beacon in the dingy darkness of the surrounding street. And the bell rang as she shoved the door open and plopped down at the counter that ran most of the way through the restaurant.
“You looking to pick up extra hours?”
Mike grinned at her from the grill behind the bar as he handed off a cheeseburger and fries to one of the waitresses.
“Nope,” she said, trying to grin back, although she could barely find the energy to sit up straight. The adrenaline rush she’d felt in the subway was gone now and exhaustion had hit her like a brick. “I’m here as a paying customer. Can I get a plate of fries and some ranch?”
Mike looked at her warily. She never came in if she didn’t have to work and he knew it. She knew it too and tried for a cheerful smile as he set the plate in front of her. She didn’t meet his gaze, shoving the fries around the plate as he went back to work.
“Is Lisa here tonight?” she asked, looking at him for a moment.
“I knew there was a reason you were here,” he said, nodding at her as he flipped another burger. “She’s over there. Got tables 15 to 20 tonight.”
Wearily, she pushed herself off of the stool and made her feet walk over to the opposite side of the restaurant. Lisa had just taken somebody’s order and was sticking the pencil back in her long blonde pony tail as she headed back to the kitchen. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Rachel.
“It happened again, didn’t it?” she asked.
Rachel nodded.
“And you left him?”
More nodding.
“Oh, my God!”
The ear-shattering squeal that followed was accompanied by a bone-crushing hug, surprising in someone as petite as Lisa.
“Lees, let me go. I can’t breathe.”
From a safe distance, Rachel smiled at her friend, genuinely this time.
“I need a place to stay,” she said, watching in dismay as her friend behind to fidget, no longer meeting her eyes.
“Tonight?”
“Yes, tonight,” she answered. “Of course tonight. Where else am I going to stay?”
Lisa still wouldn’t quite meet Rachel’s eyes, but when she did look up, there were tears in them.
“I can’t tonight,” she said, swiping at her eyes. “Max has a fever. My mom won’t let anybody stay tonight.”
The clattering of plates and silverware filled the silence between them.
“You told me,” Rachel said, tears forming in her own eyes. “You said that any time I needed someplace to stay, I could come to you. You told me I should leave. You said, whenever I needed, your door was open.”
“Anytime,” Lisa said. “But not tonight.” She looked up again. “Tomorrow. You can stay for a while. I promise.”
She brushed a blonde strand back behind her ear and edged around her friend on her way to the kitchen.
Rachel stood there for a moment, trying to keep the tears in, before she forced her legs to move, to carry her back to the counter and pull herself back in front of the greasy plate of fries. And she pushed them around again as she contemplated her dilemma. Really, she didn’t have anyone else to go to. Nobody else knew about her dad or the way he treated her. And she didn’t want anybody else to know.
She was trying to remember where the nearest homeless shelter was, staring down at her fries, which were swiftly growing cold, when a hand crossed into her field of vision, picking up a fry. She looked up just in time to see Mike pop the fry into his mouth.
“I heard about your little problem,” he told her, chewing thoughtfully.
“Yeah?”
Her eyebrow quirked up. Mike had always been nice to her, but it had never been anything personal.
“Yeah,” he said, his bushy caterpillar eyebrows looked as though they were trying to touch each other. “And I think I might have a solution.”
“I am NOT staying at your place.” Her eyes flared a little in alarm. “I barely even know you.”
“You’re not staying at my place,” he said. “As though I would let you. But you can stay here.”
“Here?” she asked, looking around at the grungy diner. “Thanks for the offer, but booths don’t exactly make good mattresses.”
“I’ve got a cot set up in the back,” he told her. When both of her eyes brows rose into her dark hairline, he continued. “Sometimes the food vendors make really early deliveries and it’s easier to just spend the night here than to hike back from my apartment at three in the morning. The sheets are clean and everything.”
“Ok,” she nodded. “Thank you.”
She blushed a little, looking back down at her plate. Of all the sources that help could have come from, she hadn’t been expecting this one.
“I’m not just going to let you stay for free,” he said.
She cast a disgruntled look in his direction as he threw an apron at her.
“Dishwasher duty for the rest of the night,” he said, grinning.
Shoving her bags behind the counter, she rolled up her sleeves and prepared to plunge her arms in the soapy water. It was a small price to pay.
It was almost two in the morning before all of the dishes were washed and all of the tables had been wiped down. Mike waved at her through the glass of the door as he locked up and walked away. She had the place to herself, sitting on the cot in the back. It was eerily quiet, compared to what she was used to.
With a sigh, she remembered that she still had work to do. She pulled on an old t-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts to sleep in and sat on the bed, focusing a tiny book light on her old enemy, the biochem book.
She must have fallen asleep. The battery from her book light had burned out and her book was sprawled across her chest. The air was still murky-dark and the night was black except for what little light streetlights through the windows. But it wasn’t light that had woken her. It was noise. And she heard it again.
Someone was banging on the door to the diner.
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