A face from her past...

The evening passed by like most busy Friday nights, whizzing by in a blur of needy customers, bad pickup lines, heavy trays, and tips that varied from great to insulting. As the clock ticked towards midnight and the closing of the kitchen, and the other servers got cut, Beth began the nightly ritual of the closing server: breaking down and cleaning stations and praying that no one walked in just before closing.
And then, as she was getting ready to assemble her closed checks and finish up, an apologetic looking host name Amber came around the corner, and Beth sighed.
"Table?"
"Yeah. Just one guy."
"Fuck. Why didn't he just go to the bar?"
"I don't know, he wanted a booth. He seemed a little jumpy, I don't know." Amber shrugged.
"Great, just what I need, a weirdo that'll keep me trapped here forever." She sighed. It wasn't Amber's fault. "Thanks, Amber. Bring him some water for me, I'll be right there."
When she came out of the kitchen a minute later, Amber was pouring ice water from a pitcher. "Your server will be right with you... In fact here she is right now."
"Welcome to Bucatini, sir... have you ever...." Beth's opening spiel died on her lips as her eyes fell on the man in the booth, "...Denny?"
"Holy shit. Hey, Beth." Dennis Hunt smiled, sitting up straighter. Denny. No one calls him Dennis. His blue eyes and dark hair were just as she remembered, but there was a somewhat fresh looking scar under his right eye that was new.
"Oh my god..." she was so shocked to see him that she completely dropped her server facade and voice.
"Been a long time. How long have you been working here?"
"A...about a year and a half... ho-how long.."
"Have I been out?" Denny shrugged. "I got parole three weeks ago."
Denny had been Beth's last boyfriend before Brian; the last in a long line of bad choices. He was cute, and he had had money. But he had acquired that money by selling coke, which hadn't bothered her at the time. They'd had fun together, and she'd enjoyed easy access to coke and ecstasy. It hadn't lasted very long, and in hindsight, that was no surprise. When the cops busted Denny in a sting, she had managed to clean out his apartment of every single bit of incriminating evidence before they could get to it. They had sweated her, but ultimately had nothing on her they could make stick, and so Denny went away for much less than he could have. She hadn't stayed in contact with him, though. The incident had sobered her up, and she had kicked the habit. Staring at his face now, she wondered: Is he angry? Is he grateful? Does he want the stuff I got rid of? She didn't know what to tell him if it was the last one: she had flushed everything rather than get caught with it.
"Hey, relax." Denny's voice cut through her frantic thoughts. "I never got a chance to say thanks."
Denny stood up out of the booth, and gave her a hug, which she reciprocated after a minute. Still wears the same body spray. She was a little startled at how good it felt to be hugging him, and she let him go quickly, clearing her throat.
"C...can I get you something to drink?"
They talked for a while in fits and spurts while she made sure everything in the back would be ready for her to walk out as soon as he was done. His time in prison had been unpleasant but manageable. He was certainly glad to be out, and he had plenty of money he had hidden away from before that the cops never found. He had gotten work as an Uber driver to satisfy his PO, but didn't really need it.
"Can't really go back to work, not with the parole board up my ass, and besides... my contacts are all useless now."
"I'm sorry." Beth wasn't sure what she meant by that, that his old life of dealing **** wasn't available? God....he's still cute.
"You look really good. I'm guessing you don't..." he trailed off.
"Yeah... no more blow. For about two years. I still roll once and a while, but it has honestly been a while." Lindsay loved molly, and they did occasionally roll together, though Brian always flipped out when he found out, so it had been months.
"Good for you, honestly. I didn't really have access, just kept my head down for the most part, so me too." Denny looked around. "Shit, are you guys closed?"
"Yeah. The bar's still open though."
"No, I'm keeping you here, shit! You should have said something."
Beth laughed. "It's okay."
"Well give me the bill.... and then, do you like, want to get coffee or something?"