“She’s adopted, it’s a fair quest
ion!”
“Moving on, Mitch, we’re moving on.”
“Oh come on Dom,” With a grin as heavy as an anvil, Mitch tossed his friend the egg they’d been amusing themselves with for the past hour, “All this talk of how you’re so worried dirtbags are going to come flocking to your sister-”
“I never said flocking.” A faint thud resounded as the tank of a human being caught the shell softly in the palm of his hand.
“But you implied she was going to get hit on left and right,” Smirk unweaving, Mitch took a half step back as the egg was airborne again, “Yes or no, do you think she’s hot.” Catching it in a cradle, he almost broke it when he lost himself to laughter at Dom’s glaring blue eyes.
“She’s my sister.”
“So is that a secret yes?”
“I’m going to chuck that egg at you next time I get it.”
Halfway through tossing it back, Mitch suddenly froze.
“That’s what I thought.”
Bringing his free hand to his nose, he cleared his mind with a chuckle. “E-”
“Gentlemen!” Both men suddenly shot their necks to the new voice, more due to volume than surprise. Well, volume to Dom. Not overly fond of the new speaker, his glare lessened, but hints of it could still be seen. He folded his arms while she placed hers on her hips, looking up at him like she owned him despite being four full years younger and a hundred or so pounds lighter. ...And eight inches shorted. “Oh come on Dommy-Wommy, don’t look at me like that. I am your boss after all.”
“First off all, you’re
just a manager. Second, shouldn’t you be napping?”
She giggled, but in an evil, ‘I hope you die in a fire’ sort of way. “Just coming to say my whole store had better be clean if you’re going to be playing games with your boyfriend.”
“Would you like to lick the floor you stuck up little-”
Mitch tried to cut him off with a cough. He failed.
“-Brat.”
“Oh good, I thought that was going to be so much worse!” Mitch received a heck of a look from the others. Shaking his head with a smirk, he just tossed the egg lightly to himself. “Power’s out and the food’s expired. Real boss wants us here to get the ball rolling immediately for when it comes back.” The girl’s eyes narrowed on him. “Cole told me when I walked in, it is his shift Beth.” She rolled her vibrant green eyes at him. They popped heavily against her black eyeshadow, but when neither man gave her any further response, she finally walked away. “What’s her deal with you anyway?”
“I dated her sister in high school.”
“End badly?” Once again, the egg started flying between the two of them, quicker and quicker as they built up their subtle competition with the other.
“Yep.”
“How?”
“We just drive each other insane.”
“Well you do have that effect on people.”
“And she’s a vegan,” Dom chuckled, tossing the egg just slightly harder than normal. A faint crack could be heard as Mitch caught it harshly in his hands, but he breathed a sigh of relief seeing the membrane was still holding the insides inside. “What were you about to say before her bitch of a sister came over though?”
“Bitch? There it is!” The duo shared a quick laugh before the brown haired one suddenly grew serious, “Ever find out how Jack got suspended the other day?”
“I heard he blew up on Lilly. Cussed her out even.” The tank shrugged after a moment, slowly making his way towards the kitchen and out of the lobby. The entire thing was designed to look like the thick of the woods, their only light pouring in through the window, in a way, it was ironic they couldn’t function without power, “Why?”
“I don’t know, just thinking,” Following from behind, Mitch rolled the egg in the palm of his hand, “Seems odd, huh? Jack’s usually way calmer than that. Did he say anything to you about it?”
“He hasn’t called me back yet. He probably just had to sleep it off.” Mid step, Dom’s foot suddenly hovered midair. “...Roy’s been acting funny too though. He called in sick today.”
“Yeah, h-” The slender of the two had to pull a quick double take, blinking rapidly as he processed in the information, “Roy called in sick? I caught him green as the grinch throwing up like a bulimic in the bathroom once, swearing he was fine. And since when does Jack sleep?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Both men were quiet for a moment, aside from the chatter they could hear from the break room from the others. It was far too far to pick anything out of it, so the opposite was likely true as well. Their talk was still private inspite of it. “Think they could be related?”
“Eh, they’re more friends of friends to each other. I doubt it.”
“Maybe.” Dom nodded slowly. “I’m going join the others.”
“Alright, I’ll join you in a sec, I’ve been holding a leak for the past half hour.”
“Yeah, well that’s your own fault,” The dirty blonde mocked, gradually beginning to depart, “I wasn’t the genius who decided to drink all the orange juice.”
“I was thirsty! And Cole and I were competing, I was just better.”
“Ya know what,” Dom scoffed, fully turning around as he dismissed him, “Have fun pissing a pound.”
“Maybe I will!” They shared one final chuckle before the tank rounded the corner for the break room and Mitch paced into the lobby. Hands in his pockets, his eyes slowly drifted towards the architecture that defined the building. It was true that the kitchen was slick and silver, but he could never get over the five scattered support beams designed to look like trees in the dining area. Even though they were made of plastic, they looked real, even up close. The roof was about thirty feet up, but just over halfway branches spread from the ‘trunk’, absolutely coated in lush green leaves, which were actually countless poms, the same things used to cover floats. Mitch chuckled lightly as he tred across the jade carpet. Between the Trees Diner never would’ve existed if it’s owner wasn’t a trust fund baby.
Shaking his head at the thought, as he slipped his hands into his pocket, but a sudden splat cut him off, a cool, thick liquid oozing down his neck and under his shirt sending him a wave of discomfort not even a shiver could cure. Slapping the point of impact, Mitch jerked the egg off his skin before shaking his hand to rid it of the strands clinging to his fingers. Face still contorted in disgust, a wicked smile grew as he eyed the egg he still held in his free hand. His wizz was just going to have to wait, he thought to himself as he tried to wipe the white and yolk on his back with his shirt. More less, it spread the problem and more of him ended being cold than how he started.
“Forget it, it’s on.” In a swift pivot, Mitch jerked the damaged egg back ready to fling as he whirled a one-eighty, but his brow lifted in confusion upon seeing no one there. Head turning slowly, he scanned for any sign of movement before his feet actually began moving. Dom wasn’t one for surprise attacks, he had more of an in your face type of style to competition. Even in contact tag he wouldn’t hide, he’d charge like a train and make you leave the ground with the tackle. “So Jack sleeps, Roy calls in sick and you hide? Did I miss the apocalypse?”
There wasn’t even a breath of a reply.
“So… yes?” Cautiously, Mitch made his way back into the kitchen, which, true to theme, was deserted as well. Glancing around the table and spaces between grills and fryers, he finally gave up, heading towards the crew room. Voices could be heard through the door, growing clearer and clearer the closer he got. Specific discussions were impossible to pinpoint, but laughter felt like enough proof to him to grab the doorknob. Mentally counting to three, he breathed in deep before shouldering the door open suddenly as his wrist twisted.
Of the seven people sitting inside, five jumped to their feet with the sound and Mitch launched the egg, eyes immediately finding Dom as one of the two still sitting at the far end of the room. His confusion flipped to alarm just as quickly as Mitch’s open hand shut to the middle finger, but the massive man just couldn’t quite bring his arms up fast enough.
The top half of the weak shell smashed against his firm, muscular arm, creating a gunkey explosion before the rest impacted his face bursting like a water balloon. Opening his mouth to moan, the raw contents dripped inside his oral cavity, oozing on his tongue. He almost threw it up, but somehow managed to keep it down to violent hacking as he spit out of his body.
“Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it!”
Wiping his disgusted face on his sleeve, Dom was surrounded by a mixture of laughter and shock, but when his clamped eyes opened suddenly, they pierced Mitch like an arrow. Actually, no, wait, they pierced him like hollow point .50 caliber round fired point blank out of a Barrett straight into his skull.
“Uh oh.”
Mitch got the hell out of there, but the tank after him practically toppled his chair charging along with a couple more of the guys with the addition of Beth.
With his head start quickly dwindling, Mitch knew he was going to have to be on his A-Game so he made a B-Line to the rest of the eggs Chef took out for the morning. Seeing a couple cartons on the table by the grill, he snatched both before veering into the lobby suddenly. Hot on his tail however, Dom picked up all the fruit he could as the others just grabbed whatever was lying around.
“Oh, and Beth,” The tank called from over his shoulder, barreling into the lobby, having just missed where Mitch ducked into, “Don’t think I won’t throw anything at you if you test me.”
“Don’t think
I-”
“Don’t bait him,” A look of calm was handed to the little girl when Cole looked down at her. Short, curly black hair and deep brown eyes, he smiled gently, “I know you two have your issues, but don’t turn a game into a fight. This might be the onl-” A white ball zoomed just past his head, breaking him into chuckles, eyes locking on the tree it was behind as it burst on the glass behind him. “Oh so that’s how it is!”
“That’s for making me stay late last week!”
Cole scoffed as me motioned for the three others to fan out around the tree, each readying their food of choice. Popping the ketchup bottle, he cradled it against his waist while he rose his other fist high above it, prepared to fire a squirt. “Too late to go peacefully!”
“Well to be fair, I wasn’t expecting a four on one!” Shooting out of his cover, Mitch flung another egg which Cole easily sidestepped, but a crumpled bun caught coated in mayo splat on his back. Spinning around, he pounded on his bottle, a string of ketchup squirting in an arch catching both of his allies and the traitor, but the distraction let the thin man lean out of his cover, unloading a barrage of eggs at all four of the approaching people, having not gotten Kyle’s memo. Yolk shattered and splattered against their clothing, but it was the old mushy tomato from Dom that soaked Mitch’s face, sending him stumbling out of cover.
Picking the wrong direction, he staggered into Cole’s sights, who hammered on the ketchup bottle, firing it like a machine gun. During the first three splats, Mitch tried defending himself, but as the onslaught continued he just gave up and went along with it, twitching his body with the shots until he let himself hit the ground in a ketchupy mess.
Twirling the bottle, Cole sarcastically blew on the cap before turning just in time to see a cup full of soda launched at him, paired with Beth’s cruel grin. He couldn’t do much more than swear, so swear he did. “Damn.”
All the contents of the thirty ounce cup splashed against his face, his curly hair flattening and clinging to his head as he shielded himself too late as the Coke sloshed down, soaking his shirt and showing off his toned body. Beth would’ve whistled had it not been for the tomato that struck her spine. Grunting, she spun around, but Kyle was already on it. Dough and fruit were airborne like there was no tomorrow and the duo exchanged blows like they were in a heated boxing match and the food was an extension of their fists. Laughter erupted out of their lungs as they both ran out, and thinking the exact same thing, they tore off to Mitch’s egg supply.
Shattering shell marked Dom’s arrival, having been beaten to the punch by Beth, throwing them two, three at a time at him and Kyle as well. Chuckling on his back, Mitch grinned at the trio, but suddenly took an egg of his own while he was still playing possum. Rolling away, he reunited with the retreating men behind a different tree.
“Scared of a little girl, huh Dommy-Wommy?”
“First of all, I’m not the only one back here.” Kyle and Mitch both gave him a look before he grinned at the first. “This must be doing a hell of a lot for your quest to get in her pants.”
Kyle coughed heavily as the others cracked up.
“Kyle! What did he just say!?”
“Oh go ahead and deny it.” Dom smirked. “I dare you.”
“Hey Cole!” Taking the safe route, he changed the subject, poking out of cover to check Beth’s progress. Timing couldn’t be any worse, yolk exploded on his face as he caught a random throw. Sinking back down with a sickened groan, he called again. “Cole? We’re out of ammo!”
“Seriously Bro, come on man!” The manager didn’t respond to Mitch either. Standing up, he signaled for a time out, but flinched as Beth faked another throw.
“Fine,” She smirked, “I can hold off on beating the three of you at your own game.” If Dom had any food left, he would’ve chucked it at her.
“Fan out,” The command ended up coming from the tank after a brief pause, motioning to Mitch and himself before pointing a finger at each of the subtle couple. “You two, check out around here, we’re going to check around the kitchen.”
“Pft! You just want to restock.”
“Beth. If I wanted to restock I’d just do it. This is weird and you know it.”
Shrugging, Kyle glanced at his girl who frowned at him in turn. Joining her in the middle of the lobby, the started checking around the other trees as Dom and Mitch walked back. Sharing an uneasy glance, they passed between the staff room doors, both realizing exactly how quietly they could open. The look between them returned.
“I really hope he’s just planning a sneak attack.”
“Shut up Mitch.” The pair paused suddenly as they noticed the door to the manager’s office was opened a crack. The silence chilled them. So Dom broke it. But in a whisper… “But yeah…”
Mutely nodding, Mitch motioned for his friend to stay put as he crept forward, hunched heavily as he neared the frame. Knocking on it once, he quietly called Cole’s name as the faint force pushed it the rest of the way open. From Dom’s standpoint, his friend was showing clear signs of concern, but when he could finally see into the room, his eyes exploded open. Dom opened his mouth to ask wh