I really need to keep this up more often.

My trip is less than two months away- and I'm in debt. Now that I'm eighteen, and my parents have found out about me joining the military, they don't pay for jack shit. Health insurance, car insurance, car note, car repairs (and there are a lot of those), cell phone bill, gas- I pay all of my own stuff now. I'm lucky that they don't make me pay rent. It doesn't help that I got so pissed at my IHOP boss a few weeks ago that I told her to her face that she could shove her pancakes up her ass, and that I quit. I ripped my apron off, shoved it at her, and walked right out the door. I don't think SEX has ever felt that good.

*mumble* Not that I would know..... *sigh* Virginity sucks.

Anyway- with one less job, I decided to take the easy way out and just pull double shifts at cane's. You get paid out the ass for overtime at cane's, and it's not like I wasn't accustomed to the work. HOWEVER, the monotony of being at one workplace, seeing the same damn dumb people every day and doing the same menial tasks over and over.... It really wears on a person. I would close one night, clean everyting in that place and get out of there around three in the morning- then have to be back there less than six hours later to re-open everything and start another day. Nowadays, with work and general insomnia, I'm lucky to get five hours of sleep a week.

What really wears on me are the people I work with. I work with a much tighter group than at the theater; at any given time, there were no less than thirty to thirty five people working at my movie theater. At cane's, there might only be you, the manager, and three other workers tops. Therefore, you get to know your coworkers a lot better- and a lot quicker than you normally would. There's a guy there, one that I really like, who's kind and thoughtful, and helps me lift heavy boxes even if I don't ask him to. He's the All-Around Nice Guy, guys that you don't come across everyday. He likes me, too, and he's even started ksising me Hello and Goodbye on the cheek when we happen to work together. However, we've both decided that it's not wise to date eachother when we both work for the same place; it could cause all kinds of complications that neither of us need.

Then, there's this other guy. He's rude, self-centered, narcissistic, sarcastic, and a total jackass. He's just nice enough to everyone enough so that they don't resent him. Instead, he's viewed as a sort of Top Dog of the place, and everyone listens to him. Except me. I summed him up as a jerk right after we met. I had just started there, and it was the first time I had even seen him. Being naive, my first thought was of how cute he was- then I saw him stealing food. He had a handful of fries in one hand, and his back turned to the security camera. I told him. "You're going to get into trouble."
His answer? "No I'm not. You might, though."
However, when I was about to ask him what he meant, we both heard the manager's footsteps getting closer. Instantly, he grabbed my chin and gripped it realy hard, so that my teeth cut into the inside of my cheeks and said, "Open your mouth."
My thoughts instantly shifted from, "He's kinda cute," to "This mothafucka's NUTS!"
I made the mistake of opening my mouth to ask him what the fuck he was thinking- and before I could even take a breath, he popped the rest of those french fries into my mouth and hurried away.
Right then, the manager rounded the corner, and looked right at me. "Having a good shift so far, Pandora?" he asked innocently.
I nodded and smiled, hoping that would be sufficient, but then the manager narrowed his eyes and said, "Do you have anything in your mouth...?"

Have you ever had to swallow four Idaho french fries whole to avoid being fired your third day on the job?
I did.

After that, I decided that that guy was NOT someone I wanted to be friendly to. I'll call him Brewsky. He likes to boast about how much he drinks and how much pot he does, when he's really just a spoiled brat who has his mommy pay for everything.

The guy I like, I'll call him Apollo. He's so incredibly polite and smart, and he jokes around with me without being crude like other guys. Every time I've asked him to do something for me, no matter how big or small, he does it for me without question. He's a totally All-American Good Guy and I enjoy every minute I spend with him. Unfortunately, Bresky found out about us. I guess in such close quarters, it really wasn't too hard to guess, but as shift manager, I had taken great pains to make sure that the two of them were never scheduled to work at the same time- or if they were, I was off that day. I kept that up for several weeks, until one of the other managers granted Brewsky permission to take on some extra shifts- shifts that I had painstakingly arranged so that Apollo and I could work alone in the kitchen. Instead, it would wind up being me, Apollo, and the jackass of the year- alone in the kitchen, working within feet of eachother.

Barely a week ago, such a night transpired, and it happened to be the night Brewsky found out about Apollo and I. Now, bear in mind that I'm sure the rest of the crew knew about how he and I felt about each other- they just had the decency not to mention it. However, Brewsky lacks that subtlety. As soon as I walked in the door, Apollo helped me out of my coat, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I had barely smiled when Brewsky popped from around the corner, looked between Apollo and I and gave an INSANELY LOUD wolf-whistle and said, "Stop that you two- we have cameras watching. Unless you two are secret voyers? Tsk tsk..." Everyone else in the kitchen giggled and I was MORTIFIED.

Apollo and I managed to have a semi-normal shift together, aside from Brewsy's occasional inappropriate comments. But whenever Apollo had to go to the back, Brewsky would either follow him and they would spend WAY too much time back there for my comfort, or he would stay with me- and say stuff like, "It's pathetic the way you run after him, I thought you were better than that." "You're totally not his type- an independent girl who pretends to be helpless is a total turn-off," "If I were him, I'd be laughing at you." I told him off every time, but he kept at it, until I finally said that it didn't matter WHAT he said to me, or how much he tried to get under my skin, because the fact remained that at the end of the day, when Apollo helped me ito my jacket and walked me to my car, and kissed me goodbye on the cheek- when the day was over, it was Apollo I was going to be thinking of and how wonderful he was, not Brewsky and his childish jokes. That seemed to shut him up for a while, then the unthinkable happened.

When all three of us were in the kitchen not too long after that, Apollo had just changed out the bird cart, meaning he had replaced the empty bin with a fresh bin full of raw chicken strips soaking in marinade solution. These bins are each about as large and heavy as a medium-sized television set, and they're a bitch to move and replace. Unfortunately, as soon as Apollo had replaced the empty one with a fresh one, Brewsky told one of the other crew members to clean the bird cart- meaning that Apollo had to take out the bin he had just struggled to lift and place to begin with. I glared at Brewsky- I knew he was doing that on purpose, but he just grinned. Then- as Apollo was lifting the giant bin of chicken, Brewsky yanked the table out from beneath it, making it tip forward. To try and save the chicken, Apollo kicked his knee up to hit the underside of the bin to tilt it back, but he hit it too hard, knocking himself off-balance, and the bird bin spilled all over him. He was slathered with raw strips of chicken, bits of chicken fat, and gallons of chicken juice and marinade solution.

To say that I was shocked and appalled is a complete understatement, but above all, I was disgusted that Brewsky would do something like that. While Brewsky and the rest of the crew laughed, and I knelt by Apollo to help him and clean him up, I was suprised to see that Apollo was laughing along with them, albeit a bit embarassedly. I was impressed to see that he was such a good sport about it; if I were in his place, to have someone do something like that to me, I admit that i would have either flared in anger or broken down crying. But Apollo- he just stood up, took the towel I offered him to wipe his face and laughed and said, "I guess I should be more careful next time."

I took command, and got one of the stronger crew members to replace the now empty bin while two others cleaned up the fluid and chicken pieces off the floor. Strangely, Brewsky led Apollo out back to "get him cleaned up." I was constrained as a manager, and I had to make sure everything in the kitchen was back up to the health code before I could check on Apollo, but as soon as I was sure that everything was sanitized and bleached back to standard, I put someone else in charge and ran out back. Much to my displeasure, the only one I saw out there was Brewsky, and for a moment I was dissappointed, thinking that Apollo had gone home. Then I heard running water, and saw a stream of water running from the backhouse- where the dumpsters were- to the street drain, and then I realised that Apollo was using the hose to rinse himself off. Brewsky made some snide comment about missing him, and I told him that he was needed inside. Once he went through the door, I used the headset I was wearing for drive-thru to tell a girl at the register to keep Brewsky inside. I knew she liked him- and was a huge motormouth- so with her constant chatter she'd be able to keep him preoccupied for at least twenty minutes.

This is where it gets a bit fangirl-ish, and perhaps a bit romanticized, but I SWEAR this is how I remember it happening. Maybe it's a bit skewed in my memory, since I'm a girl, and the guy in question is the guy I have a huge crush on, but I don't care.

I walked around the backhouse door- and I see Apollo bent over, back to me, totally shirtless and stripped to his shorts, running the hose over his head and back. I've seen other guys shirtless before, and I've had crushes before- but my GOD if you had seen him there like I had, you would know why I named him Apollo. He must have heard me, because he turned around and it was almost funny how he tried to cover himself while he apologized for his appearance. I laughed and told him it wasn't his fault- and that I would have to talk to Brewsky about his behavior. Apollo's response? "What are you talking about? That was an acident. I have to be more careful."

Sometimes it's cute how naive he is.

I showed him the two extra towels I had filched from the supply closet and he called me his "life-saver". I even got to take the hose and help him rinse off- and then dry him with the towels I had. I hate to be such a girly-girl, but getting the chance to rinse and dry such a toned body after a LIFETIME OF ALL GIRLS SCHOOL, I simply could have died of happiness.

Naturally, if catholic taught me anything, the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

I had barely had ten minutes alone with my dream guy and then the jackass had to make his appearance again, saying that he wasn't needed inside, and that if I wanted to spend time alone with Apollo I would have to at least take him to the back of my car like a normal over-sexed teenage girl. I told him that I wasn't that kind of girl, and Apollo got between us, saying that he was dry now, and asking Brewsky to escort me back inside, and to return to the backhouse with his clothes for him. So, Brewsky walked me back inside- and actually had the nerve to ask me, "What do you see in that guy, anyway?"

I couldn't believe that! Anyone with eyes can see what a great guy Apollo is. Right before I went inside, I tossed Apollo's clothes at Brewsky from where they were on the chair outside and I snapped at him, "Because he's everything you're not." and I went inside.

Since then, his mother made him quit to get his grades up (ha!), but from what I read on the scheduling list, he's due to start back next week. Normally, I'm not one to show open disgust for a fellow human being, but this guy really wears on my last nerve. The only thing keeping me going- and pulling 70 hour weeks at a fast food chicken place is my upcoming trip to Japan...

.......and my reunion with Fujiomi.