Friday night was always the busiest. 

That was Cameron’s first thought as he got into his Cherokee. He opened Spotify as he rolled down the windows. “Fuck me, it’s even a nice day out”. They were going to be slammed tonight. He put it on shuffle and made the left out of his apartments as Brooks and Dunn came on. “Lipstick letter ‘cross the mirror this morning,” he sang along in his best twang. He was an unabashed fan of country music, didn’t care what people thought about it.

He pulled away from the complex, probably speeding a little too much for the laws’ liking, but it was tough not to speed on a day like today. In reality, Cameron thought, speeding is probably the worst way to enjoy the weather since he was going to work. A red light finally stopped him and Cameron pulled out a cigarette. As he lit the Royal, he noticed the little kid in the car next to him staring. Welp, never gonna be a role model that way.

Unfortunately, he caught green lights the rest of his way to work, because of course he did. There was a certain jinx to it, like it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t said anything. But that was the curse of the restaurant business. And Cameron was basically the Lavar Ball of speaking misery into existence. Sometimes it felt like being a walking Murphy’s Law. He flicked his cigarette into the distance as he reached the parking lot. Managed to find one of the last spots left, cutting off a family in a minivan. He hoped they weren’t customers, but then he wondered why he even cared at all. This place was slowly killing him.

It felt like a creeping death most times, the kind of unease and uncomfortability that starts at the base of your neck and spreads across your limbs to the floor. Being in there was soul-crushing sometimes and the stress was showing on Cameron. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that he had quit smoking for good.

He went around the back to the kitchen door.

“Hey, man.”

Jon, one of the cooks, was leaning on the wall next to the door, taking the last few drags off a cigarette. He was kinda a jackass, but all of the cooks were, really. Cameron didn’t mind him. His eyes did look a little glassy though.

“How’s it been today? We been busy?”, Cameron asked. “Nah, it’s been alright. Tonight could be rough though.” Jon stomped his cig out and opened the door. “Let’s fucking do it”, he grumbled.

Something metal was blaring from the speakers when he walked in. Already, Cameron could feel the drums in his head. It was every goddamn day with Mike, the day shift manager. “I think I’d go fucking blind if I had to listen to this 24 hours a day like he does”, Cameron mused. “Blind? Don’t you mean deaf?”

He hadn’t noticed anyone behind him but Olivia was standing there as he turned around. “What’s going on, kid?” he said to her. She glared at him, her blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders. “Don’t call me ‘kid’, I’m like three years younger than you”. Olivia wasn’t bad as far as servers went. She was nice enough and did her job well. Always made Cameron’s life a little easier when he was expoing. Not bad to look at either, with toned legs rising up to a thin waist and sapphire blue eyes. He decided they had to be colored contacts. He’d heard something about her sleeping with someone else who worked at The Oxford but he couldn’t remember whom and he didn’t really care. Wasn’t any of his business anyways.

“You been here all day?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m working a double. Should be some good money though, I’ve got a 15 top at 6:30.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, it’ll be a great way to start the night!”. He could tell she was just trying to be peppy for her own sake. His withering stare held on her for a second and she moped off.

His head still hurt a little from last night. Or maybe it was all the cigarettes. Or the lack of water. Who knows. He’d gotten off early the night before and played poker until 3 in the morning. He’d done…..okay. But he didn’t sleep for shit and waking up at 2pm guarantees at hangover still at 5.

Dave was waiting for him. Of course. “You alright, bud?” Dave was a thick guy and his concerned face always made it look like he just pulled a hamstring running the 100 meter. “Why wouldn’t I be, man?” Cameron looked at him as he fixed his tie into his shirt. Not that customers ever really saw him, but the shirt and tie was a new policy with the front of house and he had to play along. Trying to class up the joint a bit, he supposed.

“Heard you got pretty rowdy last night, Jackson was saying something about it this morning” Dave pulled his jowls into a grin. “Yeah, I was fucking stoked to break back even.” Cameron said flatly. Dave must have missed the sarcasm. “Well, shift meeting starts at five. Do we have specials yet?” “I don’t know, I just got here?”

“Well, find out,” Dave said.

Great, Cameron thought, glad people actually communicate before I get here. It was going to be a long Friday.

He thought about stepping out for another smoke in those five minutes and saying fuck the specials. But it was too early in the shift for that. He walked back into the kitchen to find Brian. Brian was still kinda new, only been there a few months, but he’d been a head chef somewhere out West and he seemed like a good guy. He vibed well with the rest of the kitchen and everyone had good things to say about him. “Yo, Brian, what are the specials tonight?”

Mike walked up to him “Cam, what’s uppp?”. Mike was in a good mood. He was always in a good mood on Friday. On Fridays, no one got mad at him for getting drunk immediately after his shift.

“You seen Brian anywhere?” “I think he went out back for a smoke.” “No, he didn’t, I just came from out there,” said Cameron, sighing. Mike looked up at him from the label he was writing, “Then I don’t know”.

Brian was up at the bar talking to Nathan. Took a full five minutes to find him. Dave glared at him when he walked back into the server alley with Brian in tow. “Oh, so nice of you to join us,’’ he said dismissively.

“I do what I can.”

“So like I was saying…” Cameron drifted off as Dave went on. It was the same speech every fucking Friday like that speech from that movie Waiting where the manager says that dumb “Extraordinary” line. He’d gotten great at making people think he was paying attention. He glanced around the room. Olivia and Amanda, inseparable as always, were writing down every word that fell from Dave’s mouth, like there was a big test they were studying for. Luke was behind them, near the drink machine, puffing on a vape and very clearly staring at Olivia’s ass. Cassie was there too and she winked at Cameron when he caught her eye. Cassie was the best. Like a pack leader, she took care of the whole restaurant, mind, body, and soul. She was as much a work wife as she was a work mother, Cameron thought, with her purse full of cigarettes and candy for coworkers in need. He snapped out of it in time to hear two of the specials, “...and it will come with a lemon butter cream sauce and garlic mashed potatoes. The last one is a bacon-wrapped filet over mushroom risotto with a nice demi”. Fuck, okay, only one and a half specials. Now who was being a jackass, he thought. He’d have to go grab a special sheet from the hosts. He didn’t even know which one was working tonight.

Moriah was on with Emily, as it turned out. The two were going over the reservation list as he got to the host stand.

“Oh Cameron, there’s a fifteen-”

He cut Moriah off, “ Yeah, I heard, Liv told me”.

“Okay fine,” she huffed, “Guess you have the breaking news then”.

“Errr, something like that. Have you guys printed out the special sheets yet?”

“Nope, we don’t even know them.” Emily piped up. “No one tells us anything up here.”

“Well, fuck.”

“Promise?”

“What?”

Emily grinned at her own joke. “But no, we don’t have them yet, sorry”.

Dammit, he thought. Now Brian is gonna know that I wasn’t paying attention. Oh well. He headed back to the kitchen. It was hotter than hell back there. The long sleeve shirt made him sweat like a motherfucker, but at least he could roll up the sleeves once service got going. Brian was on the front line, finishing the soup of the day. “Brian, what are the specials?”

“Are you fucking kidding? You were standing next to me.” “I know, I’m the worst.”

“Yeah you are. Alright, I gotchu.”

“You got flounder going with the mashed potatoes,” he gestured towards the specials he had made for the kitchen. They were on it like a pack of dogs with a fresh kill. “ We’ve got the risotto with the steak.” “Right, I heard those.” Brian looked at him “So why’d you ask me?” “Oh, I didn’t realize that was it.”

“I swear to God, Cameron, there are a lot of knives back here.” “Alright, I’m leaving, I’m leaving.”

Such was life as expo, Cameron knew. If the cooks and servers didn’t both hate you after the shift was over, you probably weren’t doing your job. It was a lot like trying to herd cattle, except that the cattle were people and didn’t take kindly to being referred to as cattle when Cameron said that aloud once. He stepped outside for a smoke. His phone said 5:30. Just enough time to relax before the shit started. Luke was already out there, his head in exactly the same place. “Ready?” he asked.

“Sure, yeah.”

He didn’t really sound so sure, Cameron thought, but oh well. He took a long drag of his cig and held it in. “You hear about the Warriors’ game?” Luke was a big sports guy, probably the biggest in the restaurant. Cameron respected that about him, it always gave him a topic when he had a table. “Nah, what happ-”

Cassie came out the door, interrupting him. “Cameron, I don’t want to play restaurant tonight.” “Me neither, Cassie, let’s just run off together and drink.” Luke perked up there, “Can I come??”

“No!” they both said at the same time, laughing. At least the people aren’t so bad.

They shot the shit for a few minutes and headed back in. Luke stayed out there, with the excuse of “I don’t have any tables” and a grin. As Cameron washed his hands, Olivia walked by him through the door. I didn’t know she smoked ..., he thought.

He ran into Jackson on his way back through the kitchen. “Hey man, what’re doing telling people I got rowdy?” he exclaimed with a smile. “If anything, you were the fucking rowdy one. All in on two pair, I thought Miles was gonna fucking choke you out.”

Jackson just grimaced at him “Yeah, it almost made up for how I felt this morning. Which, by the way, is right now, I woke up like 40 minutes before I had to be here.”

“Jesus Christ, man.”

“Yeah, drugs are bad, okay? I get it. It doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t do them, but I’m aware of what happens the morning after.”

“Or afternoon after”

“Whatever, fuck you, I’m going out to smoke.”

“Have fun.” Cameron walked back to the expo window and sighed. Why did they all decide to get so fucked up last night? Everyone knows that Friday is always the busiest night.