gif; kevin kiermaier, tampa bay rays (because who could forget the pigeon?)
St. Petersburg, Florida
first day of work...
I am so grateful that I didn't have to move to a different time zone, I thought the second I heard my alarm go off. Because waking up an hour or two behind usual would be a pain in the ass.
And it felt like a normal day too. My shift started at 7:30, like in Detroit. But I had to wake up earlier than usual this morning so I could get a feel for the St. Pete way of answering emergency calls.
When I sit up, Delilah was sitting in a chair, staring at me.
I'm not kidding. Staring. At. Me.
I jumped. "HOLY SHIT. WHAT THE HELL."
"Oh, did I scare you?" Delilah bubbled. "Sorry. I was just really excited."
"Why are you excited?" I rub my eyes.
"Because I finally have a roommate. My original person bailed on me."
"Oh...okay then." I slowly get up.
"You should get dressed quickly. I'll buy some Starbucks."
"Deal." I nod.
---
"Yeah, I'll take a grande decaf caramel macchiato with a extra espresso shot?"
I roll my eyes as Delilah ordered her extreme order.
"And...Dustin, what did you want again?"
"A grande java chip frappuchino." I sighed.
"Oh, alrighty then!" Delilah piped up.
I lay my head against the window. I was so done with today and today hadn't even started.
I look at the radio, which was playing that damn song by The Chainsmokers.
"So baby hold me closer-"
I immediately switch it to a sports radio source, which seemed to bother Delilah.
"I was listening to that?" She gave me a death stare.
"So? I'm listening to this now."
"Good morning Tampa-St. Pete, and welcome to this hour of Just Baseballin'. I'm Jordan Cooper, and sitting right alongside me is the one and only Millie Knope."
"Thanks, Jordan. This morning in the MLB..."
"Have it your way..." Delilah whispered to herself, "bitch."
Well, this wasn't the way I wanted to get adjusted to St. Pete.
→
"You must be Dustin Lyons." A man, presumely my new boss, came up to me and shook my hand firmly.
"Yes, sir." I nod firmly.
"I'm Roger Gibbons, your manager. I'm going to make sure that you adjust comfortably to our system. You were transferred from Michigan, right?
"Yes." I reply.
"Now, this system is a little different, as we answer for both the Tampa metropolitan area and St. Petersburg as well. The answering machine is bigger, as we can try to answer as much calls as possible."
"Do I have a partner?" I ask. And please don't tell me I have to work with Delilah!
"Yes, ma'am. Here he is now. Friedle, this is Dustin Lyons; she is going to be your new partner."
"Friedle" gave me a cute smile and waved.
"Welcome to the call center. Have a seat."
"Thank you. To you both."
Roger saluted me, and went on his merry way.
I look over at Friedle, who was toying with a Kevin Kiermaier bobblehead.
"Is your name actually Friedle?"
My partner swiveled around in his chair and laughed.
"My last name is. Boss prefers calling us by our last names. My first name is Dalton, but Dalt is an alright nickname by me."
"Sounds good." I said. "Dustin is my name, but Dust is also acceptable."
"Dustin. Why a guy's name for a girl?" Dalton began excessively clicking on his pen.
"My mom thought I was gonna be a boy." I laugh. "Actually, she was sure of it."
"Gnarly."
"You a skater?" I remark. "Where's the Thrasher gear?"
Dalton shook his head. "What?..oh no. Cool and awesome are majorly overused. I like to bug people. I'll say lit, and my friends will get so annoyed. It's funny."
"You like to be annoying, then."
Dalton nodded. "Correct you are."
The answering machine began to ring, and Dalton rolled his eyes at me.
"Welp, time to get to answering."
→
Four hours and over 200 calls later, it was finally time for me to get lunch. Dalton had suggested a place called Hawkers Asian Street Fare, which as he described it, sounded mouthwatering.
"Plus it's cheap." He laughed as he unlocked his little green Chevy. "Unlike some of these nice seafood places."
"Yeah, working as an operator doesn't get you a whole lot of money." I shrug.
"Nope." Dalton started the car, which began to blast Rage Against The Machine.
"Whoa! Don't wanna hurt your precious ears with hard rock! How about some, say, Drake?"
"Fuck no." I shook my head. "Rage is fine."
"Yeaaahhh." Dalton cranked up the volume again. "My ex used to hate this stuff. If I had to hear More Life one more damn time, I would've hung myself from a damn palm tree."
"Whoa." I let my jaw drop. "That was a little offensive."
"I'm sorry." Dalton said quietly.
"It's okay."
But the thing was, just a little bit of me was jealous when Dalton mentioned an ex, I wasn't gonna lie. He was actually pretty cute. In fact, he reminded me of that really cute guy from 13 Reasons Why, Brandon Flynn, was it? Yeah, all I remember was Ruby really liked him and.....
Dustin. Stop. You barely know this guy!
We stayed primarily quiet (unlike my thoughts) as we left the downtown area and went to a secluded part of town. Soon enough, Hawkers was in our view, a small but flexible looking restaurant.
"St. Pete's hidden secret." Dalton smirked.
"That does not look like a hidden secret." I point at the many cars parked.
"Well, everyone forgets about it. If you're in Florida, you get seafood. Seafood, seafood, seafood. Yuck! Not to mention I HAVE A SEAFOOD ALLERGY."
"Well, that's nice to know." I commented as we walked in.
"I hate seafood, man."
---
My lunch, which had consisted of a really good (!!!) lo mein dish was devoured in over 20 minutes. Dalton, who had insisted on sesame chicken, was still eating. And he wasn't close to done.
"You eat really slow." I said, as Dalton took another microbite of his eggroll.
"Nope, you just eat too quick."
"Whatever." I remarked. "Hey, how much do you know about Delilah Bauer?"
"Not a whole lot." Dalton shook his head. "But I know that she's Bipolar. That was the first thing she told the boss. I overheard it one time. Why?"
"That's it." I snap. "This morning, she went from a nice girl to a complete bitch. No wonder."
"I mean, Bipolar isn't just the whole mood thing." Dalton mixed around his watered-down Diet Coke.
"Yes, I'm aware. I didn't go to medical school to learn nothing."
"Good." Dalton snorted. "Neither did I."
The table became relatively quiet and Dalton kept eating really slow.
"Hey, Dalt?"
"Umh-yeah, what's up?" He muffled.
"What's your ex's favorite song from More Life?"
"Portland." He checkes his phone. "SHIT. We gotta go...now!"
Indeed, it was about 1:00, the time we should be back at work.
One day in and my coworker is going to make me late already.
----
a.n.
just to let you know; this next chapter is gonna be super big!
fun fact; Hawkers Asian Street Fare is an actual place in St. Pete, as I did the research myself. (I live in Texas, don't ask if I've tried it!)
anyway! Vote and comment to the heart's desire! Let me know what you think 😘
- Rease