Today’s story is about APRIL, age 20, living on her own and working like a demon to put herself through college. The above might make it seem that April has no parental support whatsoever, which is not entirely true. Oh, her mother is a disaster (the less said there the better), But she does have a father who absolutely adores her and is adored by her in turn. But April only met the well-to-do AUGUST when she was 19 after tracking him down (the aforementioned disaster had never told him he had a child nor identified him to April), and while he has offered to support her while she is in college, she doesn’t want him or anyone else thinking that she sought him out for mercenary reasons. The biggest argument the two of them have ever had was when he offered to give her a sinecure at one of the several fine dining restaurants he owns to save her from waitressing,a notion that offended her pride Eventually the two of them compromised in that she agreed to take the server job there she already had and not to fight with him when he gave her lavish tips when he himself ate there, and in turn he promised not to reveal it to the staff that he was her daddy.
Among April’s coworkers at this restaurant are MAY and JUNE, two girls about her age, both equally as cute as she is (very) and exactly as straight as she is (hardly at all). April knew May before getting this job and has had a crush on her since they became coworkers, but has never acted on it partly on the advice of her father; August advised her that getting romantically involved with a coworker is always a dicey proposition, and that if she wants even a one-night-stand with May, she should wait until one of them has a job elsewhere. But the two of them are quite close friends and Maye is unique in knowing that April is the owner’s daughter.
Despite one drunken night kiss,June is not a temptation for April. This is because of the huge clash in their work ethics: rigorous in April’s case, all-but-nonexistent in June’s. During the months they have worked together, April & May have spent many hours cleaning up after June and complaining about her fuckwit ways to one another. May believe that June uses her cuteness to manipulate the mail restaurant manager and is not shy about saying so to June or to others. April rather agrees but never says so to anyone but May. In particular, she never mentions June by name to her father, although they often talk about her work week during their frequent dinners. It is not wet April doubts that August would fire June if she requested that she do so; it is that she is very sure that he WOULD, and that she is not comfortable exerting influence in that way. The most she will ever say is that there is one of her coworkers who makes everyone else’s lives harder. Hearing her stories and confident in her probity, August could only tell April that, since she didn’t feel comfortable sharing that co-worker’s name with him, she needed to be unfailingly civil but no more with that person and to make double-sure she did her own job in an impeccable fashion. April follow this advice, sharing it with May.
In the fullness of time, two things happen to alleviate April’s girl trouble. First off, she gets another job that allows her to leave her father’s employ. Shortly before this, June also gets work not simply in another restaurant but in another city, so the last week of April’s employment at the restaurant are blessedly free of her nemesis. Those are seven very good days. On the eighth, when she and May are officially no longer coworkers, April invites her on a romantic date. Surprisingly, May demurs.
“Not going to happen, sorry”, May says with her usual bluntness. “You know I think you’re cool in most ways, and you’re definitely hot. But I can’t be with you THAT way because… I kind of hate to say this… I don’t really trust you. You’re two-faced. I know you don’t think you are, but that’s how it seems to me. You kept your relationship with August a secret from everybody but me. If you don’t want your co-workers knowing that your daddy is there boss, the solution is to work someplace the hell else. More than that: You utterly despise June — and I feel the same way, don’t misunderstand me — but are all sickly-sweet to her face. And you refused to get your daddy to fire June, even though you know better than anybody that her presence made the rest of our lives both difficult and miserable. That is what really pisses me off, sweetie, and that is why you and I can never be more than friends.”
Does may have a point? Is April two-faced?
