Erik was swamped. He had an endless screen of orders that every time one was done, two more took its place. He didn't know what was with the number of people eating here tonight, but it was like someone opened the floodgates and everyone rushed here for their dinner. He was manning the grill because, of all the guys on his shift, he was the most proficient. He could cook an entire grill and have it full again in no time. He was juggling the grill and the fryers, with no end in sight, and he was more than tired. He didn't know where all his energy had gone, but about halfway through his shift he had felt so exhausted. If he could, he would fall asleep on his feet.
Finally, the orders seemed to be slowing down and then there were no more waiting on his screen for what needed to be cooked. He was desperate for a small reprieve when Georgie came back into the kitchen with good news. His shift was over. But that wasn't all. Since they had all worked through their breaks, they were getting an overtime bonus from the boss because the new hire hadn't shown today. It was good news indeed for Erik, who had done a little asking about what typical suppressants cost and found that they were pretty expensive, even for most of the generic kind that you could buy over the counter. At least to him, they were expensive sounding.
"Hey, Erik. Your girl showed up earlier today. She was dressed to the nines! She wanted to see you, but we were so busy that I couldn't spare you from your task. Sorry about that. I told her that I would inform you that she stopped by, but she didn't specify why she wanted to see you. She left pretty quickly, and I'm only assuming that she had some kind of event to go to wearing a dress like she had on. It looked like it was custom-made for her!" Georgie exclaimed.
Erik perked up as he was getting his bag from his employee locker. Liona had stopped by. He hadn't thought that she wanted to see him anymore after not being able to get a hold of her over the last few days since her party. Every time he tried to call her or message her since he was turned away at her home, he got an incompatible device error showing up on his phone. He didn't know what that meant. He had no problem contacting his mom or his sister, if need be, so he didn't think it was his phone that wasn't working. But since she was well off, he also didn't think her phone was broken either.
"She was dressed up. What was she wearing that got your attention? I mean, last I knew about you; you couldn't care less about fashion." Erik attempted to tease Georgie since he actually was an avid fashion fan.
"Are you kidding me? Goddess! That dress was beautiful! It had to be custom-made! It not only fit her like a glove, but it didn't look like anything out of any fashion ad I've ever seen! Here, let me just show you, it's easier than me trying to describe it to you since you don't understand the cut and style of clothing." Georgie laughed and motioned him to follow him to the office.
Erik followed Georgie to the office, where he was shown the security footage from the registers. There stood Liona, looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her. With her hair twisted into a fancy kind of knot and the long turquoise dress that clung to her bosom, hiding most of her cleavage, even though it looked like it would normally have shown it off nicely. The dress shimmered in the light of the restaurant, creating a halo-like effect around her every time she moved. But what caught his eye, more than how breathtaking she was, was the small bag she had in her hands as she stood there. It wasn't an evening bag she had in her hands.
He recognized that small bag. It contained one of the small lunch boxes she called a bento. That was probably why she had wanted to see him, but as he watched the footage, he could see her face collapse from the tentative smile she had to one of misery as she turned away. In her haste, she seemed to have forgotten the bento on the counter.
"Hey Georgie, it looks like Liona left something on the counter. Did you or Will pick it up after she left?" Erik asked as Georgie paused the footage when Liona left the view from the register cameras.
"I don't recall picking anything up from the counter, I was too focused on that massive line of people. Let me check the footage to see if Will picked it up, since he's already hightailed it out of here to meet up with his girl."
Erik watched as Georgie fast forwarded the footage until they saw what had happened to the lunch box. It looked like Will had indeed picked it up, and Georgie switched cameras to follow him to see what he did with it. After a few moments, it looked like Will had taken it in the walk-in. When he came out, it was no longer in his hands.
"Looks like he left it in the walk-in." Georgie commented as he started to organize the paperwork on the desk to take care of this shift's documentation. "Go ahead and see if it's still there, I've got to get this last shift's paperwork done before I hand things over to the next shift's manager."
Erik left the office and Georgie to his task and headed straight to the walk-in. It had all the usual papers stuck to the outside and the clipboard with the checklist of supplies used. It was something that baffled him. This restaurant still used paper documentation when digital was the norm everywhere else he worked. Opening the walk-in, there was a small section that all the employees used for their personal lunch items that was sectioned off from the rest of everything else.
There, sitting on a shelf, was the bento with a note on top: 'Erik, saw your girl leave this. You're welcome!'
Erik smiled at Will's thoughtfulness and took the lunch. His stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten anything at all today as he left the fridge. Without Liona bringing him lunch over the last few days, he had reverted to not eating anything unless his workplace offered a lunch option. Today he hadn't had time to take a proper lunch break, so he was starving. After getting used to Liona's lunches, he realized just how much being hungry actually hurt. His stomach felt like it was being stabbed over and over again as the gnawing feeling ate at his stomach.
He looked at the bento and tried to resist the urge to open it. Liona hadn't expressly given it to him, so he was unsure if he could eat it. But on the other hand, if he didn't eat it, it might just spoil before he could return it to Liona. With another painful rumble of his stomach, Erik looked at the clock on the wall. He didn't have to be at his grocery store shift for another little while, so he had time. He decided he could apologize to Liona if he saw her again, but he desired the lunch she had made, even if it wasn't intended for him.
Heading out to the dining area, Erik grabbed a table in the now empty restaurant. It was blissfully quiet after the worst rush he had ever experienced. Carefully slipping the bento box out of the carrying bag, he noted that this particular bento box was one of the larger ones he was usually given when he was instructed to share with his sisters. Lifting the lid to the lunch box, Erik sat dumbfounded at what he was seeing. There before him spelled out in the topmost layer of the lunch box were the words, 'I'm sorry', written out in layers of food carefully arranged. When he finally had his fill of looking at the top layer and trying to puzzle out what this meant, he opened the next layer of the box. There, in another type of food that had been arranged carefully, was his name spelled out. If he was interpreting the message correctly, Liona was apologizing to him for something, but he didn't know what she had to apologize for.
The last time he had seen her in person was at her birthday party. It had been a few days, but his memory of the party was as clear as day. He just didn't understand why this apology was directed at him. He carefully ate around the words first, leaving a little at the bottom, before he began to pick at the food making up the letters.