Autumn knew she’d get really drunk at the class reunion.
She guessed that Brandon would too, though they hadn’t seen each other in twelve years.
She watched, semi-interested, as he pissed, shirtless, with the bathroom door open in her apartment the next morning.
“Can I ask you a question?” he said, a bit too loud, midstream.
The sex had been pretty good, but not good enough to open the vault to any question.
“I suppose,” Autumn said, walking toward the kitchen, hoping there was a beer or two in the crisper.
“You’re still a server at Pancake Palace, right? Nothing wrong with that, the place is legendary. I’m just curious, what does a server keep four filing cabinets in her living room for?”
Autumn relaxed greatly, and not just because there were beers in the crisper.
“You know that office complex just north of the restaurant?”
Brandon joined her in the kitchen, and she handed him a beer.
He bent for a kiss and she obliged.
“Yeah, my dad’s law office used to be in that building. What about it?”
“There’s a talent agency on the third floor,” Autumn said, “and after auditions, all the stage moms bring their little future Keanus and Meryls into the Pancake Palace. Those of us who work there call it the Flapjack Flophouse, just so ya know, but anyway…”
Brandon reached his pinkie finger into the string at the hip of Autumn’s underwear.
She reached gently and removed it.
“Anyway...they encourage the kids to draw on the placemats. There are canisters of crayons on every table.”
Brandon smiled. “Yeah, yeah, I remember. I used to draw a purple dick on the Pancake King.”
Autumn shook her head, smiling but not really laughing.
“Well, there are probably some purple dicks in those filing cabinets. I have every one of those kids sign their drawing on the damn placemat and I bring em home.”
“Kind of a weird hobby,” Brandon said “But okay…”
“Weird? Not really. Lucrative. First of all, the stage moms are charmed right out of their wallets when I ask their kids for an autograph. Tips on those tables average 36%, and yes, I did the math. Second of all, one of those little assholes booked a Lifetime movie as a dying kid with a pet dolphin. I put his placemat on eBay and got seven hundred bucks for it.”
***
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Brilliant!
Very nice.