Discipline by Stella Rhys

pleasured hum in his throat.
    “Keep doing that,” he said, grabbing my
wrists and pulling my palms downward. At this point, Marco had come
forward to help me force Ben out of the kitchen while a busboy ran
out to get Jenn.
    But it turned out none of them were needed
as Adriana pushed through the doors with a tray of dirty plates and
water glasses. Her fiery eyes took less than a second to register
the situation. Calmly, she pulled Marco away so she could plant
herself in front of Ben, the heavy tray sitting on her open palm
and her elbow resting on her cocked hip.
    “You have till three to get the out of
here,” she said evenly.
    Ben snorted. “Or?”
    Adriana plucked an unfinished glass of soda
from her tray and casually tossed the contents onto the crotch of
Ben’s jeans. His eyes bugged instantly.
    “ Fucking bitch!”
    She pretended to cringe at herself as Marco
and a line cook propelled themselves into Ben, who thrashed forward
like an angry zoo animal.
    “Sorry I lied about having till three.”
    Frozen, I gaped at the scene, words failing
to form on my lips even as Jenn came in to break it all up,
demanding for an explanation just like Mr. Davies had. She picked
the new line cook to give her his account of the story though Ben
barely let the poor guy start.
    “Listen. Jenn, right? Listen, Jenn.” He
pressed his palms together as he stood before Jenn, suddenly calm
and mannerly in her presence. “My friend, Joe Milokavich, comes
here often and he only has great things to say about your staff and
kitchen. But I have no idea what’s going on tonight because this
one and this one,” he pointed to Marco and Adriana, “seem to
have some sort of agenda against me that I don’t understand. I know
I shouldn’t have come back to the kitchen but I had something
important to tell my girlfriend and suddenly, this guy was shoving
me and Adriana … she…” He opted not to finish his sentence,
instead angrily gesturing toward his wet crotch. Jenn looked,
biting both her lips back as she tried to properly assess the
situation.
    But suddenly, she burst out laughing.
    “I’m sorry,” she blurted, covering her
mouth. But it was too late — everyone else in the kitchen was
clutching their stomachs and wheezing at Ben’s flustered face,
which matched quite well with the seeming accident soaking his
pants. Jenn cleared her throat, though a titter of amusement
remained in her voice as she spoke to him. “I assure you that I’ll
get to the bottom of this incident and that everyone involved will
be properly disciplined. In the meantime, sir, I’m going to have to
ask you return to your table since guests aren’t technically
allowed in the kitchen.”
    Ben gaped at her for what felt like a full
minute. Finally, he jabbed a finger at Adriana. “I’m saying this
for the good of your restaurant, but this girl needs to be
terminated. Immediately.”
    Jenn nodded. “I assure you that this will be
her last shift here.”
    Running a claw-like hand through his hair,
Ben exhaled and nodded, seeming to calm at this news until Adriana
leaned over to whisper loudly at him.
    “‘Cause I’m covering for a friend tonight. I
don’t actually work here anymore, assclown.”
    Silence fell over the kitchen.
    And with assclown , suddenly, the ball
of rage and anxiety in the pit of my stomach unraveled — into a
mess of delirious, bubbling, uncontrollable giggles. I couldn’t
stop. My eyes were shut and squeezing out tears, but I could hear
Jenn among those laughing with me. Oh my God, we’ve all lost our
minds . For a second, Ben was in my ear, snarling about how
Adriana was turning me. But soon enough he was gone, thanks to our
busboy who had gone and fetched the bouncer from the bar next door.
We didn’t have our own security staff, so he often lent us a
hand.
    “Was that the crazy ex?” Jenn asked me ten
minutes later, or what felt like ten minutes later, though I wasn’t
sure how long it had really been. I nodded, coming