“She’s nervous,” Arisaid.“This is her nervous silence.”
“I am not,”I fibbed.
“She’snervous,”she repeated happily.“It’ll be fun.Don’t worry.”
“Yeah, it’ll be fun.”Sean appeared at the bar’s entrance and swung the short door open, then motioned for me to join him.
“Are you sure your boss wasn’t joking when he hired me?”
“I’m sure.”Sean smiled and pulled me through the swingingdoor.
“Emy?”Nate looked up in surprise.“Oh, that’s right. It’s your first day.”
“I guess so,” I said, following Sean through the employee door. It was exactly as I remembered from the last time he brought me and Ari back here.
“Emy,”the owner walked out of an office to greet us,“ready for your paperwork? Once that’s done, you’ll get your license and then Sean will teach you everything you need to know.”
“Okay.”I made my voice sound confident and not anxious as hell. I barely remembered this man’s face. I couldn’t remember his name at all. It felt like I was dying. What if I fucked everything up and got fired in the first five minutes? What if I burned the place down?
“Good.Goto a booth and fill these out. Then Sean will get you set up on the site.”Heplaced a laptop in my hands, followed by a stack of papers.“Bring them back when you’re finished. Take your time. It’s a lot.”
I nodded before following Sean out front. “What’s your boss’ name again?” I whispered.
“Richard. He’s the owner.”
“Got it.” At least now I could pretend to remember him. We went to a far booth whereDennisandAriwere waiting. I slid in across from her.“What is all this? I didn’t bring a pen,”I said, eyeing the stack of papers.
“Here you go.” Arifished one from her purse.“It’s a good thing one of us came prepared.”
“Thanks. I don’t know what this is.”I squinted at the top form, trying to make sense of its words. My brain wasn’t working.I felt so stupid right now.
“Tax infofor your W-2,”Ari said, leaning over to help.“Put your date of birth there, today’s date, and our address. Right there.”She pointed to all the right spots.
“Thank you,”I murmured. These lines were the basics. Of course I knew my own address, but at the moment I couldn’t think straight.Ifilled in a few more lines until I reached another confusing one.I squinted and touched my head, trying to sort through the murky thoughts. “What’s this mean?”I asked, sliding the paper to Sean this time.
“More tax stuff.”He chuckled when I made a face.“You’ve really never done this before?”
“No.The strip club I worked at didn’t do all these formalities. It probably should’ve, but it didn’t. We just got cash and went home.”
He examined the papers and placed a finger on aline.“Initial there.”I did as I was told and his finger slid down a line.“And there.”He moved it again.“And these two. Do you know if you’re independent or not?”
I shook my head, then glanced up as a guy emerged from the employee section. I had never seen him before.“I don’t understand any of this.”I sighed and went back to thetax form, trying to make sense of it all. My head was starting to hurt and I was fighting back tears of frustration. New-meds brain was ruining everything.
“This one is how many people are in your household. It’s you, Ari, and her dad. So that’s three, right? I swear it’s easy once you get the hang of it.”
The bartender I’d never met was walking past. He stopped near our booth to be nosy.
“Is this our new coworker?” he asked. Sean nodded as I gave a meek wave.“Wow,”hesaid,looking me over,“people like you make me glad to be myself.”
“Johnny.Don’t.”Sean gave him a look.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”I asked.
“Yeah, Johnny, why don’t you tell us what the fuck that means?”Dennis’ words were more of a threat.
“It means she’s gonna have to catch on a lot quicker than that. Hear that, new girl?”Johnny turned to me with no trace of humor.“You need to pick it up because I don’t like working with slow people.”
“So shut the fuck up and leave,”Sean said.“It’s her first day. I don’t remember you catching on that fast, either.”
