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Mar. 5th, 2015 03:38 amWhen she first gets the call, she can't believe it. Realizing that, Lucy hates herself for it a little, too. She's been dealing with this for years now. She should know better than to be so thrown by it. For all the people she's lost, though, all the many times she's been in this position, Neil is one of the few she never thought that would be the case for. He's been a constant in her life for a long damn time now, after all, since long before this place. He's the person who's supposed to see her through this shit, not the one who's supposed to disappear. It doesn't even make sense. She's scheduled to work a shift tonight, at Neil's goddamn restaurant.
Except it's not Neil's restaurant anymore. Apparently, it's hers, and just thinking about that is enough to leave her head spinning.
There are things people are supposed to do at a time like this, she knows. Most of that, though, Lucy intends to leave to other people. There are no shortage of others in the city to whom Neil was important, and they can take care of it. She has enough on her plate. Her first order of business is getting in touch with everyone who was supposed to come in tonight, telling them they have the night off. Chances are, they were going to be short-staffed anyway — the weather's been shit today — but for all that she wants to leap into action, to throw herself into whatever she can, she doesn't think she could get a restaurant up and running in such short notice. For that matter, she isn't sure if she wants to, if she should. Someone else might be better suited for it. She's only ever been a waitress, after all, and stopped thinking she'd ever do anything more with her life. Giving herself a night to figure that out when there probably wouldn't even have been many customers can't be the worst thing in the world, and that's not something she can do on her own.
Only once she's left the apartment, already en route to McCormick's — and, God, it's going to be weird calling it that now that Neil isn't even here — does she take out her phone to call Max, asking him to meet her there. Maybe staying at her place would have been more sensible, but she needs to think, needs to actually be there if she's going to determine what to do about all of this. She has to collect the keys, anyway. Having done so, when she gets there, she turns on only the lights that are necessary, leaving the room dimly lit, the door left unlocked for her brother but a sign up marking the place as closed. The last thing she needs right now is to try to offer an explanation to someone coming in for a meal or a drink.
In spite of that, she's behind the bar, leaning against it, when Max comes in, and though she'd spoken to him only a little while ago, she still lets out a sigh of relief. No matter how long it's been, losing people like this is never going to make her less uneasy. "Hey," she says, with a small, half-hearted smile. "What can I get you? It's on the house." She's never tended bar before herself, but she's worked near them long enough to know her way around them pretty well. If she does go through with this, that's probably going to be good knowledge to have.
Except it's not Neil's restaurant anymore. Apparently, it's hers, and just thinking about that is enough to leave her head spinning.
There are things people are supposed to do at a time like this, she knows. Most of that, though, Lucy intends to leave to other people. There are no shortage of others in the city to whom Neil was important, and they can take care of it. She has enough on her plate. Her first order of business is getting in touch with everyone who was supposed to come in tonight, telling them they have the night off. Chances are, they were going to be short-staffed anyway — the weather's been shit today — but for all that she wants to leap into action, to throw herself into whatever she can, she doesn't think she could get a restaurant up and running in such short notice. For that matter, she isn't sure if she wants to, if she should. Someone else might be better suited for it. She's only ever been a waitress, after all, and stopped thinking she'd ever do anything more with her life. Giving herself a night to figure that out when there probably wouldn't even have been many customers can't be the worst thing in the world, and that's not something she can do on her own.
Only once she's left the apartment, already en route to McCormick's — and, God, it's going to be weird calling it that now that Neil isn't even here — does she take out her phone to call Max, asking him to meet her there. Maybe staying at her place would have been more sensible, but she needs to think, needs to actually be there if she's going to determine what to do about all of this. She has to collect the keys, anyway. Having done so, when she gets there, she turns on only the lights that are necessary, leaving the room dimly lit, the door left unlocked for her brother but a sign up marking the place as closed. The last thing she needs right now is to try to offer an explanation to someone coming in for a meal or a drink.
In spite of that, she's behind the bar, leaning against it, when Max comes in, and though she'd spoken to him only a little while ago, she still lets out a sigh of relief. No matter how long it's been, losing people like this is never going to make her less uneasy. "Hey," she says, with a small, half-hearted smile. "What can I get you? It's on the house." She's never tended bar before herself, but she's worked near them long enough to know her way around them pretty well. If she does go through with this, that's probably going to be good knowledge to have.
