Push

Push [chapter 4]

Arthur Campbell was a great boss. He was kind and helpful, organized, proud, and hardworking. I'm proud to say that his best traits rubbed off on me and even more on his nephew, James "Jamie" Campbell. Just three years my senior, Jamie was a great guy as well. He was pretty supportive of me when I first started and that fact that he was a lot worse at the job than I was helped boost my self-esteem. He made great food though, even better than Arthur's, making him the pub's official chef. He was also awfully clumsy and broke a lot of things but he made up for them. Jamie was like an older brother to me, born and raised in Boston, he was the one who had shown me the sites when I first started working at his uncle's pub.

I guess the two relatives had a lot in common, though you couldn't tell by their looks. Jamie was tall and lean, with perpetually mussed up light brown hair curtained around his warm brown eyes. In contrast, his uncle's hair, jet black and peppered with strands of gray, was receding with age and combed back. His black eyes were kind and thoughtful on an equally gentle face with a salt and pepper beard that, combined with his frame, muscular-ish with a potbellied, made him look like someone's favorite uncle, more specifically Jamie's.

Over the past year, I'd come to look at them as the family I had lost, and the ideal one I had imagined. And truly, they were. I spent every single holiday with them...whether I liked it or not. Arthur had the conviction that no one should spend holidays alone and I while I used to think it was intrusive, it was more than welcome. Although, I was still creeped out about how he found out my birthday.

The grandfather clock on the far side of the room chimed, indicating that it was already eight o' clock and the crowd had hardly thinned. I worked feverishly at the counter, taking and handing out orders. My apron was a bit mussed up but at least my shirt didn't get any dirtier. At half past eight, Arthur bumped me aside and pointed at the clock.

"Go on, you're gonna be late. Jamie and I can handle this," he said, seizing my plates and taking over my job.

"You sure?" I said, already getting out of my apron. Hey, it was common courtesy to ask that even though I was already positive that Arthur would definitely say yes. He nodded and growled at me to go while Jamie waved goodbye with his spatula.

Obeying, I rushed out of the pub and fought the current of incoming customers. Sometimes I wished Arthur would lower the qualities of his products a bit just to lessen the load but I was pretty sure he'd kill me if I said that. Before heading off to my destination, I stopped by my tiny apartment. Well, I wasn't going to leech of Arthur and Jamie forever, was I? Two months after I started working for Arthur, he and I had enough of Jamie constantly teasing me about my living conditions (he didn't mean anything by it, sure, but it was still getting annoying), so we decided to find me an apartment. Eventually, we settled on a modest place on the second floor of an apartment building, within walking distance from the pub. The price was cheap and affordable on my salary and already came with a few essential furnishings - a sofa, a table and some chairs, a bed, and a bookshelf. Over the past months, I managed to replace some of the more broken ones and buy some new stuff as well. I didn't spend too much money. I guess the most I had spent on were my books that made the old bookshelf creak and groan.

I changed out of my stained shirt and got my bike. Yeah, yeah, it sounds lame but there was no way I'd get a motorcycle even if I could afford it. I'd rather wait until I saved up for a car. Jamie and I were already pooling our money for one. By our estimates, we should be able to save up enough in four years time. Cheerful thought, no?

In any case, my trusty bike got me to the community college I was studying in just before class started. I know - College? Me? I agree that it's kind of a shocking thing that I'd be taking a college course after everything I've been through in the past years. But it was one of Arthur's conditions. When he found out about my lack of a college education and how I'd never finished high school, he was adamant about getting me a better education. He said he didn't want people to think that I'd learn a lot of interesting things. Jamie tried to convince his uncle that college education or not, I was way smarter than he was, but that just got him enrolled as well. He never really forgave me for pulling him down with me.