Bobby’s Girl

“Hey, Bobby, I got an order.” Spike used her hip to push open the door to the kitchen of The End Zone, otherwise known as Bobby’s kingdom.
The kitchen may belong to Bobby, but bar belonged to her. She just hadn’t told Bobby yet.
Bobby looked up from the onions he was hacking up. “Whatcha got?”
She tore her gaze away from Bobby’s world class arms. The man had more muscles than Jason Momoa. Her mouth went suddenly, and predictably, dry. It sucked having a crush on your boss.
“Just some nachos. Dave and Mike are here.”
Bobby looked at her funny. He always did when she mentioned Dave’s name, which was odd, since Dave was one of Bobby’s best customers. “That all?”
“Dave wants extra jalapeños on them.”
“Jalapeños. Right.” Bobby studied the edge of his knife. “You changed your hair.”
Spike shrugged and jabbed her fingers through her ‘do. “I bleached it. I didn’t want to clash with the color of the bridesmaid’s dress for Gina’s wedding.”
He smiled at her and her insides went all gooey. “I liked the pink.”
She felt her face go as pink as her hair used to be. “That’s the good thing about hair. I can always dye it pink again.” She really didn’t want to leave, so she tried to come up with an excuse to stay in the kitchen. “Have you found a replacement for Gina yet?”
That made Bobby frown. “No, and time’s running out. She told me yesterday that she already registered for classes at the university.”
“Hmmm. I don’t envy you the job. She’s going to be hard to replace.”
He snorted. “You ain’t kidding. It’s not easy being me.”
She laughed. Bobby had a great sense of humor. He always cracked her up.
She stopped laughing when she realized he was staring at her. “Uh, I guess I should get back out there. The dining room is getting busy.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Don’t forget the extra jalapeños on Dave and Mike’s nachos.”
“Like I could. Say,” Bobby cleared his throat. “Is Andi meeting Mike?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Now it was Spike’s turn to frown. Bobby always gave Andi special treatment.
That really burned Spike but good. As far as she was concerned, Andi was too fussy by half. The woman was weird. She couldn’t eat anything if the different foods touched each other on the plate. Bobby was always making up new ways to plate food so Andi would eat it without rearranging it.
“I know you don’t like Andi very much, but you should give her a break.” He began whacking at onions again. “Especially now that she’s married to Mike.”
Time to retreat. And from the sounds of things, the dining room was getting busy. So she said the first thing that came into her head. “Let me know when my nachos are up.”

Sure ‘nuff, when she got back out to the bar, Andi was perched on a stool next to Mike. “Hey, Spike.” Mike made c’m’ere motions with his fingers. “Andi’s here. I need her to eat.”
Spike took her place behind the bar and grabbed a cloth out of the sink full of hot, soapy water she always kept going. “I think Bobby’s already working on it.”
Dave tossed a peanut up into the air and caught it on the way down. “He found someone to replace Gina yet?”
“Nope. We’re still going to be short once she goes to college.” Spike knew Gina was real happy about that. She’d always wanted to go to college.
Not Spike. She loved being a bartender. Someday she’d have her own place, a kind of punk-goth club where she could give young, cutting-edge bands a place to play. She liked sports as well as the next person, but the cause of struggling musicians was nearest and dearest to her. Her club would be a place where kids could come and be safe and listen to live music.
That was her dream. Her reality was Bobby coming out of the kitchen with Mike and Dave’s nachos and Andi’s whatever.
He put them down on the bar while Spike gathered up a couple of plates and some services. “Hey, Mike.” Bobby made a big deal of putting Andi’s plate down in front of her. “I hope this is to your satisfaction.”
Andi took one look and cracked up. “Bobby, my mother couldn’t have done better, even if she’d thought of it.” She slipped off her barstool, rounded the bar, and gave Bobby a hug. “I love it.”
Mike looked at the plate and was shaking his head. “I don’t know. Do I have something to worry about here?”
Bobby’s face turned fire-engine red.. Spike wouldn’t have believed it, big, tough as nails, nose broken several times Bobby blushing over a food presentation. Curiosity off the chart, she peeked at the plate.
Tonight Bobby had made a cheese, fruit, and cracker plate for Andi. Some cheese cubes for eyes, a butterflied strawberry for a nose, an upturned bow of crackers for a mouth. The pièce de résistance was some fresh pineapple wedges placed around the edge of the plate, like so many tufts of blonde hair.
Dave chuckled. “The hair could be yours, Spike.”
And just like that, Bobby disappeared into the kitchen. He was shy. It looked cute on such a big guy like Bobby. He probably had a crush on Andi and Dave had made him feel self-conscious.
Swamped by longing, she wished with all her heart that Bobby would see that she, Spike, was so in love with him, she was crazy with it. He didn’t have to be alone and in love with another man’s wife.

Hours later, the restaurant was dark and Spike and Bobby were closing up alone. The quiet after so much noise surrounded her was a welcome change.
Bobby’d finished up in the kitchen and came out to grab a beer. “Crazy night. We did pretty good.”
Spike chuckled. “If the tightness of my Doc Martens is any indication, you’re a millionaire.”
Bobby sipped the foam off his draft. “You had a lot to do with it.” He toasted her with his beer before taking another pull. “Thank you.”
“Shucks, pa, t’weren’t nothin’.” Because the topic had been nagging at her all night, she said, “I know about Andi.”
His eyebrows jammed themselves together. “What about Andi?”
“I know you’re in love with her.”
“I am?”
“Don’t be embarrassed. I’m a bartender. I notice things.”
“You do, do you?”
“Well, yes. Reading people is a skill we bartenders have to have.”
“Oh really?”
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” She faked nonchalance, though she felt anything but nonchalant. “She’s a beautiful woman.”
“You figured that out, how?” Bobby drained his beer.
“You’re always doing special stuff for her, like that fruit and cheese plate tonight.”
“You think I’m crushing on Andi because of a cheese plate?”
“You put a lot of thought and work on a busy night to make it look like her.” Spike shrugged. “Like I said. “I’m a bartender. I can read people.”
He got off the barstool and came around the bar. “Read this.”
He pulled her into his arms and that’s when Bobby kissed Spike.