Heat wave
Over the few following days, the local radio called for a weather alert statement: a heat wave was expected to bring the temperature up to 40 degrees all across Ontario for approximately two weeks, scattered with some episodes of your usual stormy weather that ensues and hot rainfalls here and there. I know how it can get brutally hot here in the kitchen when that happens. You still sweat profusely, making you wonder if you're not dripping down in the food you're serving.
Over summer in general, our lousy portable air conditioning unit in the kitchen barely made a difference. It spins so much, it smells like burning rubber. So during severe heat, all it did was stink and make a racket.
And because my grill didn't have any ventilated hood range, most windows had to be opened, especially the one at the order counter.
During that kind of weather, you make friends with the walk-in freezer, when you need a quick way to cool off. Even when I don't need to go in there, I cheat and let the biting cold soothe me. 5 seconds were usually all I needed. And you can't stay in for too long, and not too often. It'd be the perfect recipe to catch another cold.
So I had to prepare to beat not only the heat, but the onslaught of customers, ordering ice cream cones and milkshakes by the ton! The grill gets a little less busy, so maybe I'd even have to jump in and help at the front of the house.
Come Monday morning, I got out of bed and felt the air already thick with humidity. I slept naked, out of the covers, because even my apartment had no A/C. Incapacitated by the heat, to the point of being unable to remember what day it is, this one thought still managed to cross my mind: why did it seem like air conditioning was such a luxury that not everyone can afford? As an extreme measure, I opted to wear shorts instead of the usual chef pants, and nothing under my apron, as a way to try and keep as cool as possible. My grill, and its fireworks of burning grease, was a constant reminder that I was not allowed to even consider such fashion escapades.
Now... Emery, on the other hand, sure wasted no time to take advantage of that freedom. With that kind of heat, I didn't doubt for a second that she'd come into work in the morning, wearing light, airy, and most likely quite revealing clothes. Besides, the work conditions in this dump weren't going to make anyone in their right mind go and tell her to cover up, not with this heat. I sure wasn't going to.
Turned out she went for all sorts of beach attire. One day it was some sort of weaved off-shoulder beach shirt and denim shorts, with what seemed like a black bikini top underneath; some other time, she only had tiny cargo shorts with what I assumed was more of a bodysuit that looked like a one-piece swimsuit. Again, no bra there.
The one that blew my mind the most was that time she wore a red and pink sundress. She was pretty like a sunset. The top of her dress was very adjusted, which I guess allowed her to not bother with a hot bra for the day. The bottom part was rather loose, and flowing, and the fabric was see-through, enough that when she walked, I could see her firm, sexy calves perched on a pair of mid-heeled sandals. Her hair was done in one long single braid that day, with no hat on her head. She looked very refined and classy.
Yup. It seemed like Emery was now on a mission to knock the wind out of me. I had to act casual, as if this was all just a proverbial walk in the park, but where the scenery, that she let me enjoy as much as I wanted, was so breathtaking that it'd be so hard not to make a fucking point about it. It made things really exciting, and rather tense, but in a good way. I could work with that. That was how we somehow agreed to do things, now.
As it went, the heat would get heavier and heavier, making my nights very hard to sleep through. It was on days like this that made me wish that I lived in a basement. That whole restlessness made me drag an intense lethargy back to work, making the heat even more unbearable. And, well, on top of that, my colleague's distracting outfits sure gave me the impression I was daydreaming!
At least, she was there to cheer me up with her little bubbly self. I wasn't too sure of the conditions she lived in, but she sure looked like she was getting her beauty sleep.
The diner was bouncing today. It was a good thing I didn't have to cook too much, since I was mostly busy helping Emery with the cold bar. She kept sending me outside to the walk-in freezer to fetch fruits, and ice cream all the time. I was afraid to catch a damn cold again: I kept going from hot and sweaty, to cold and shivering.
Later, I wondered if the real reason why Emery would send me to the freezer was because she didn't want to get cold. She wasn't wearing much: just a tiny pair of denims with a black Sepultura crop top, that looked like she cut it herself. It was so short, it was threatening to lift at every moment, and show some underboob. Though, the cute red suspenders she had today really did the trick to hold everything in place.
Later that day, I had to go fetch some fries in the freezer. As I was tossing bags around on the floor, counting how much I had left, the door opened behind me.
'Oh, there you are.' Emery said. 'I thought you were on break... Um, can you get me some strawberry jam, please? The other bucket is empty, I need to get another one to thaw ASAP.'
'Um, yeah, sure.' I replied absently, stepping over the fries and reaching the very top shelf for the jam.
I could already hear Emery's teeth chattering, shuddering under the biting cold. I tried to make it quick: not only was she already freezing, but there was no one else in the kitchen right now.
'Good thing you're taller than me.' she said, trembling. 'I thought I was gonna have to get all the way up there to get it.'
I was still very much out of reach, on the tip of my toes. After the effort, I finally turned her way to hand her the jam. I looked down at her and realized she was dripping wet with red sticky stuff, all over her hair, her shirt and on her bare belly.
'Um... woah, Emery what happened? What's that all over you?'
'Strawberry jam.'
We both burst out in laughter, our breath coming out in frosted clouds.
'Oooh, so that's why you need a new bucket?'
'Yeah, I forgot to take the bucket away from the mixer, I had a huge order and was kind of in a rush. The mixer shoved it right off the counter when I started it, as you can guess, sending strawberry jam-'
'-all over the floor?' I replied, finishing her sentence.
'-and the walls, and the cabinets, and... myself.'
She looked at me with her bright blue eyes. How could I get mad?
'Right. Well, I guess I'll bring the mop, then.' I smiled back, sighing. 'But... wait, what about your shirt? You're all gunky.'
'Yeah, so about that...'
There was no time to spare. It took us another moment to think of a solution before we headed back to the customers: we had to figure out what she was going to wear. Though I had a feeling she was going to come up with another one of those dirty thoughts from the back of her head, again. Deeming her shirt too dirty to work with sounded like she was secretly going to take the opportunity to drive me crazy, and make the shift a little more interesting.
Turned out that all I had to spare for her was one of my clean aprons. She accepted right off the bat, without questioning it too much, and went to change at the picnic table. When she came back in, I saw the result, and I knew it was time to get my hormone level soaring again. She had completely taken off the top; not even her white bra had been spared! She was going to have to wash it when she got home, along with her top.
As you can imagine, aprons aren't necessarily considered clothing, but more like an accessory. In that case, the front was covering so little skin, since it was all she wore up top. Despite her big jugs spilling out at the sides, allowing a whole lot of side boob showing, her chest was still held in tightly from the 2 only little ties in her back. I didn't think there was a risk of them popping out, but I definitely knew there was going to be a risk of me procrastinating for the rest of the day.
We both thought it was a little much, and she blushed a good deal when I pointed at the obviousness of the sides of her tits showing. She was laughing uncontrollably at the beginning, deeming the whole thing "a little uncomfortable", but she ended up owning it. What might have helped her was the fact that a lot of customers were kind enough to give her a needed boost of confidence by joking around about it, assuming she had to come to desperate measures because of the insane heat.
She was still blushing when she went home. As she drove off, I was picturing other people driving by her car and noticing this scantily clad hottie at the wheel. I sincerely hoped she wouldn't cause too many car wrecks.
She promised she'd bring back the apron, and I promised myself never to get it washed Ahahah!
The heat wave carried on. The following days called for a mixed bag of thick humidity, and some risks of severe thunder. The overcast that would accompany all this was sure going to be welcome, keeping the sun from hammering us on the head. But the suffocating humidity was no better. It made it hard to think and move, let alone your clothes that clung to you, wet and irritating.
Those sadistic bastards... Just for the fun of confusing everybody, the weather channel called for equal chances of heavy rain and burning sun. The good old 50% mark! How was I supposed to know how much food I had to plan for, today? The diner always gets deserted when there's too much rain. Hoping that, if it ever did rain, it wouldn't last too long. Most of our tables have parasols and, well, when it rains horizontally, people gather under the canopies, waiting it out. But who likes to stand there with plates in their hands?
Emery came in, wearing a tight plain white t-shirt, with some 3/4 red capris. Wow, she sure brought out the bling, today: silver loop earrings, a bunch of chain necklaces and studded leather bracelets. As I allowed myself a second closer look, I wondered: did she... buy a new bra? Maybe like one of those push-up ones? Fuck, she was so hot. It seemed to me that her jugs were pushed up way higher than ever. That white shirt wasn't yielding much cleavage, but it did a great job of outlining her curves in general, complimenting her equally tight capris. It showcased her glorious ass to perfection.
Just like another day at the office, the morning dragged on, with my mind being anywhere but here. I couldn't quite get as many glimpses of Emery as I would've liked. I felt a little drawn back. From my station, during regular traffic, I usually couldn't pay too much attention to the surroundings, because of the wall of ongoing, steady noises around me. And that buzzing AC unit sure didn't help. When Emery needed something, not only she had to yell sometimes but she had to make sure I could read her lips. On top of that, the sound of traffic was mostly muffled. I liked hearing the shutting of car doors, when I could. It was a good indicator of how many people parked to get here. On the side of this busy parkway, Carlos' Diner was the only place in the proximity that caused people to stop their car and get off.
One other thing I couldn't usually hear was... thunder. If there were dark, looming clouds coming our way, Emery and I had to keep an eye out, in case it got too crazy windy. We had to go pick up trays, close the parasols, and shut the windows.
It was always Emery that saw it coming, having a direct look at the sky from her station.
But today, she didn't need to tell me... I felt it.
A heavy rumble manifested itself in the walls of the bus, making the plates and the milkshake cups chiming in the shelves.
'Um... Brian?' yelled Emery. 'Looks like there's a giant wall of rain that's coming our way from across the river.'
She was not exaggerating. You couldn't even see the buildings across the river. It was dark and humid outside. My hair felt charged with static electricity and I felt this hot wind coming through the window.
'Holy, shit. I think everyone's leaving, look.' said Emery. 'Even the kids are freaking out.'
