Sally's Diner

For some unknown reason, Kelly wants to go to a retro diner named "Sally's Diner." I have been to it before, but not for a while. As I pull our old Camry into the small parking lot, I realize it hasn't changed much since then. Maybe since the fifties, barring maintenance and cleaning. Oh, it probably isn't ironically retro, is it? I wonder. My sober mind shrugs, uncaring, as Kelly and Colette talk to each other in the car. I pull into a worn asphalt parking spot with nearly invisible lines separating it from its neighbor and kill the engine.

"We're here!" Kelly beams, and Colette arches her eyebrow.

"Come on, really? This place? We haven't been here since..." Colette's voice meanders off, finally interrupted by a sigh. "Whatever."

She opens the door and climbs out of the Camry, and I give Kelly a questioning look. "Don't worry about it," my sister answers, and grabs my hand. Her touch is like silk on my fingers. "Come on, Dom. Let's eat." She gives me a tug and exits the car, her cheerleader skirt flying up to reveal a pair of matching shorts underneath.

By the time I climb out to join the girls, they've already made their way inside and are piling into an old booth in the corner. "Dom!" Kelly exclaims, waving as if I couldn't see her. I give her a wave back and make my way over, looking around as I walk. The diner is old, for sure, but it has been well taken care of. Every surface is immaculate, and the booths and counter are in surprisingly good shape. The building is shaped like any other diner: small, and rectangular, with some booths on each end and a counter in between. The "kitchen" runs along the counter, and I see an old man flipping burgers on top of a sizzling flat-top grill.

An older waitress in a vintage uniform waves at me from behind the counter, and I smile back.

I settle into the booth across from Kelly and Colette. "I have to agree with Colette, Kelly. Why this place?" I ask, finally looking back at my sister. Colette rolls her eyes again and looks out the nearby window. Trees and darkness stare back from outside. She pulls out her phone instead and pokes around in silence.

"What, I didn't expect to be grilled by you two about coming here? What's the big deal? I like their hamburgers."

"Hmm, okay," I murmur. "Well, how do you feel? That was your last rally, right? That means your last game will be here, soon."

Kelly's face scrunches for a moment, and she sighs. "I'm a little sad, of course. But it's alright. I'm ready for college. I feel like I'm still being handled with kiddie-gloves by the teachers at school."

"I remember the feeling. Almost nineteen years old and still had to ask for permission to the bathroom. They don't do a great job preparing you for the real world, do they?"

"Maybe if you didn't dickoff all class, you wouldn't have had to ask for permission," Colette interjects, stilling playing on her phone. Kelly elbows her, and my cousin yelps, glaring. "Kidding, of course."

"I also am ready to start studying. Preparing for life. You know?"

"What do you want to study?" I ask. I never asked her before. Almost graduating, and I have no idea what she wants to do with her life. My heart sags at the thought, but the moment is ignored by Kelly as she answers.

"Marketing. I think. I'm not sure, actually. Isn't that part of going to college? Like, finding yourself?"

"Yeah, if you're a dumbass," Colette says, still thumbing the screen on her phone. Kelly looks at her cousin with a deadpan look until the latter girl looks up from her phone, amused. "What?"

"Not everyone knows what they want to be the second pop out of their mom, you know."

Colette smiles. "I know. I'm lucky, aren't I?"

"But, AI wasn't really a thing back then?" I interject, confused.

Colette kicks me in the shin under the table and I yelp. Kelly laughs at my pain, then grows serious again.

"Really, though. I think marketing would be fun. Maybe go into sales, like Ashley."

"If you want to try it, I'm sure Ashley and I could find some tasks to involve you in. Heck, by the time you graduate, I could probably give you a full time job."

Kelly beams at my offer, nodding along. "That would be awesome! We could all work together. One big happy family. Plus Colette." Kelly wraps her arm around her cousin, who finally locks her phone and sets it down on to the cyan-colored tabletop.

"Why me?" she asks, rolling her eyes.

"Well, I'm sure Dom will need some AI thingy, right?"

"And I'm sure Meta would pay a lot more...He can't afford me," Colette scoffs.

The sound of heels on tile alerts me to the waitress approaching. "What can I get for you this evening, dears?" she asks. Her voice sounds like sandpaper and cigarettes, and she doesn't look much better either.

"Water," I say. "With lemon." For cleanliness.

"Chocolate milkshake supreme double sundae," Kelly says, smiling.

Colette leans her forehead into her palm, shaking her head. "Coke, please," she says after recovering.

The waitress walks away, and Colette turns back to Kelly. "A little much, don't you think?"

"Whatever," Kelly says, dismissing her. "You're just mad because I have a job lined up after college and you don't."

"As if."

"I'd only be so lucky to hire both of you," I say, chuckling. "I have a feeling Colette is right, though. I don't know if I can afford her."

Colette nods.

"Or pay her for the work, either."

Her eyes narrow and she kicks me under the table again. "Ow!" I yelp, and I wonder if the waitress thinks I have terrets or something. "That hurt," I murmur back to her, rubbing my shin.

"Yeah, well, fuck you," Colette says, before breaking into a grin.

"Can you two chill, please? My milkshake is coming," Kelly murmurs, elbowing Colette.

The waitress comes back carrying a tray with our order on it and places them on the table. Kelly immediately falls silent as she sucks down the sweet drink.

"Colette, seriously, if you want to work on some projects, I have plenty of things I could use help with. Maybe it would look good on your resume or college application. I don't really know. But I'll pay you."

She thinks for a moment, then nods. "Okay. I'll think about it."

"Sure. The offer stands."

"Ughhhhh," Kelly moans, and I look over to see her cup is already empty. She sags onto the table and rubs her forehead against it. "I feel sick."

"I wonder why," Colette murmurs and Kelly elbows her again.

"You two are so violent," I say, shaking my head.

"Colette was dropped on her head as a baby, that's why," Kelly murmurs.

"Fuck you," Colette says and punches her in the shoulder with a meaty thud.

"Ow!"

I think a fight was about to break out, but by the time the waitress returns to take our order, Kelly is back to her chipper self and Colette is doom-scrolling on her phone.