He's Insane (Dave Franco AU)

Nola

this chapter has been revised

It was a Monday night, and I was working my shift at Nola, which was a bar and grill restaurant. It was a hot spot in Palo Alto, but was usually only busy on the weekends. Since it was a week day, it was a pretty easy going night overall.

Unfortunately, I wasn't old enough to bartend, which is what I want to eventually do. Bartenders make a lot more money than the servers do, which what I was stuck doing for now. I hated it. When it comes to people and their food, they become arrogant assholes and treat you like scum, even though you have no control on how or when the food comes out.

At least with being a bartender, you're in control with making the drinks and dealing with the customers yourself. I also had some sort of "practice" making drinks, since I was usually the one to do so at house parties and such.

While I wiping down a table, I noticed that James had walked in, obviously coming to distract me. I waved him down to sit him at the table I had just cleaned.

"Table for one, please." He smiled.

I chuckled. "You can sit right here, I just finished wiping it off."

I got my pad out, and pretended like I was taking his order, when really I was just going to have small talk with him. "So how'd things go with Dave when we all left?" I asked.

"He was still an ass, no surprise there." He sighed. "He expects at least a gram from all of us."

I sighed. "Well, I guess that's fair." A gram was really never over ten dollars anyway.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get him some more. But all night, he was arguing on the phone  with his girlfriend. It kept me up for hours. It was so harsh that I could hear every word through the walls."

"Jeez. What about?" I asked, sitting down across from him. Like I mentioned before, I was a nosy person. I had to know everything.

"Well, I couldn't literally hear every word." He laughed. His smile then faded. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he hits her..."

"James," I widened my eyes. "What the hell?"

He shrugged. "I'm just saying, but I don't know for sure. When it was all over, I could hear his motorcycle start up and drive off to God knows where."

"And you don't know where he went?" I crossed my arms, leaning back into the booth. I don't know why, but I was so invested into the conversation.

James shook his head. "He's always pulling shit like this, it's nothing new. Plus, he's twenty-one years old. He really doesn't have to tell us where he's going every time he leaves now."

I nodded. "Well, that's true. I'll be right back, I'mma get you a drink real quick." I said, standing up from my seat.

I walked over to the soda dispenser and decided to just give James a glass of coke. Since he was by himself, I didn't want to risk giving him any alcohol because he'd be driving home alone.

"Brooke," My co-worker Crystal said, walking up to me. "You've gotta tell your friends to stop coming here or Edson will get pissed." She laughed.

I grabbed a straw for James' drink and rolled my eyes. "Edson can kiss my ass." I said, shit-talking our manager as usual. "He has to remember that they're not only my friends, but they're paying customers, too."

"Touché." She smirked. She put her hand on her hip leaning against the bar, and looked at James. "So...is he single?"

I looked at her, and lifted my eyebrows up. "Who? James?" I look at him over my shoulder, as he sat at the table messing around on his phone.

She bit her lip and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is. Do you want me to introduce you tonight?" I winked at her.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "God no, not tonight. I'm in my work uniform for crying out loud." She laughed, walking away.

I smiled and walked back towards James to hand him his drink. I didn't blame her for finding James attractive, he really was a good looking guy. The Franco's surely had great genes, and both James and Dave were blessed with them.

I set the drink down, and James smirked. "What was that all about?"

"Oh, nothing. Someone's got their eye out for you though." I smirked, as I sat back down across from him.

"Oh." James said, clearly uninterested. I'm sure he got attention from women all day, everyday.

He took a sip of his coke and frowned in disappointment. "You could've at least poured a little bit of rum in here."

"Mmm, no. I don't I could've." I folded my arms.

"So, when do you get out of here?" James asked.

I glanced at the watch on my wrist. "In about twenty minutes. Why?"

"Eh, I don't know. I'd figure you'd want to go out tonight or something." He stirred his straw around in his glass of coke.

"It's one in the morning, and I've been working since five." I groaned. "I don't feel like going out after this."

"Oh come on, don't be so lame." He teased.

His phone that was sitting on the table began to light up and vibrate, indicating that he was getting a call.

He picked it up and viewed the caller ID. He frowned. "I don't recognize this number. Hello?" He answered.

When I got up to leave the booth, I suddenly noticed shock in James's eyes. He looked up at me in distraught. I stopped in my tracks to wait until he got off the phone.

"Okay, thank you. I'll be there in less than ten minutes." He said, then ended the call.

"That was the hospital. Dave wrecked his bike." He says.

"What!? Is he okay?"

James quickly stood up from the booth. "Please, come with me."

I hesitated. "I don't think I can, I still have to close-

He grabbed my arm. "Please." He begged. From the way look in his eyes, I could tell he really didn't want to be alone.

"Okay, let's go." I say.