King Cobra

Phantom Menace

Cigarette smoke floated around the curly haired man, a familiar sillohuete that I wasn't quite sure where I'd seen before. His back was against the brick wall that was adjacent to the back door of my new work. one of his feet was propped against the wall, the arm that didn't hold the cigarette crossed over his chest.

He turned towards me as I walked closer to him, and I realized where I'd seen him before. He was the man Scott had been giving pills to at the party, but there was no sign that he recognized me.

"You the new girl?" His voice was smooth, and a kind smile grew on his face.

"Yeah, can I bum a cig?" He held out a pack of Kools to me, and I plucked one out, taking the lighter from his hand.

"I keep tellin' myself I'm gonna quit, but truth is I'll never change, I'm the same," he chuckled as I joined him in leaning against the wall.

His arms were covered in tattoos, only a few spots bare. My eyes settled on the razor blade on his inner wrist, then to the car on the back of his hand.

"You got any?" His voice shocked me out of my trance, and I nodded.

"Only this one, I got it on my eighteenth birthday," I pulled down the waistband of my leggings a bit to show him the rose that decorated my hipbone. It had hurt, a lot, the artist said it was because there wasn't a lot of fat covering it so it was directly on top of the bone.

"It's cute, kinda basic," he shrugged and I rolled my eyes and laughed, each of us taking a few more drags off of our cigarettes before stomping out the bright red cherries on the dirty pavement of the alley.

"Ma, the new girl's here," he yelled out as we walked through the back door into the small hallway. "What's your name anyways?"

"Izzy," I answered, following him down the black and white checkered hallway.

"I'm Aristos, you can call me Ari or whatever you feel like," the hallway branched off into the kitchen, where a bigger man stood, washing dishes, his hair in braids, his hands covered in tattoos. He smiled and nodded towards me. "That's Andrew, we call him Shake. Ionno where the fuck Ma is or I'd introduce you."

"Ma?"

"Laura, she's the big boss here. We just call her Ma cuz that's basically how she acts," he smiled at me, "she's a mom to erryone who comes in that door, you jus' gotta accept it."

I nodded, following him as he led me through the kitchen. I had barely been around any sort of mother figure, other than myself. I wasn't a mom, but had spent most of my life raising myself and my two younger sisters as my mother was out dealing and prostituting, and my father's only love was the bottle. I couldn't imagine a woman acting like a mother to people she wasn't related to, but I guess she did it.

We ended up in a small office, a slot full of time cards hung up on the pale yellow wall besides the door.

"Since Ma ain't in here I'll show ya how to fill out this shit," Ari started, grabbing a blank time card from the slot and a pen. "Just write your name on it, and the date for today, what time you started. Then when the days over you just fill it out."

I nodded and started writing, every job prior I had clocked in on a computer, but I could get used to it.

Ari showed me the ropes, even though he was a cook he knew how to work the front, so he walked me through using the register, making drinks and salads, and the usual cleaning routine.

We went out for a smoke break after a while passed with no customers, Ari had said that Thursday's were one of the slowest days, so to not be surprised. Shake, Ari, and I all lit up, and I apologized for having to bum a smoke yet again.