Even after the round was set in place and he had trimmed it down so it was ready to carve, Bill had time to hang out in the hall with Bea and Henry Lee.
As always, Bea was sitting on her lettuce cases. She was sitting with her legs spread, kind of letting the air from the outside cool in between up there. Henry Lee was sitting on the milk cases where Bill usually sat so Bill, in what had become characteristic of him, walked over to Bea. First, he kissed her once on the lips, forced his tongue into her mouth and forced her tongue to play with his. While he did this, he reached into the top of her kitchen dress, inside her bra, and pinched one of her big nipples. He pinched it hard and rolled it in his fingers.
“Don’t give me none of that shit,” Bea said. “You already gave Mary what I wanted. I don’t need nothing from you.”
“Shut your face,” Bill said. As he said it, he pinched harder. He knew he was hurting Bea and a perverse sense of pleasure ran through him.
He kissed her again, forced her to kiss back by pressing on her lips so hard that her head was almost pressed against the wall behind her. When he withdrew his hand from her breast, he reached up under her dress from the bottom and slid his fingers up her legs.
Bea made no move to stop him. She didn’t even bother to try to close her legs. Her tongue started to dance with his and her hands, both of them, reached to him, slid under his apron and inside the button-fly of his kitchen pants.
“Don’t pay no attention to me,” Henry Lee said. He looked on, not particularly interested in what they were doing but certainly not turning away because of it.
“We won’t,” Bea said.
“Why don’t you go downstairs?” Henry Lee said.
“We don’t need to go downstairs,” said Bill. He was still kissing Bea. His hand up her dress had found its mark.
“Damn you boy,” Bea said. “I am so pissed at you. I promised myself I wasn’t gonna let you touch me.”
“Doesn’t feel like you’re too pissed. From what I’m feeling, feels like you’re just about ready for more.”
Bea was about to curse Bill. She was about to tell him to step away, not that he would have because he wouldn’t have. If she had managed to get the words out, he would’ve stepped in closer, taken hold of her hands inside his pants and made her continue with what she was doing. He would also have doubled-down on what he was doing under her dress.
Bea wasn’t really doing anything much, just kind of fondling him. It felt nice and was maybe paving the way for them going downstairs sometime after the lunch.
Then they heard the bell ring. It had to happen sooner or later. Like lab rats in their cage, they got up and headed into the kitchen. Bill walked directly behind Bea, reached up her dress to take one last intimate feel of her.
In the kitchen, they found a dupe on the spindle. Henry Lee retrieved the dupe, called the order to Bill and they went to work.
Before they could even get to that first order, the waitresses marched into the kitchen, one after the next and then two together. Suddenly there was a whole host of orders being turned in. The orders came quickly and incessantly.
“We’re getting slammed,” Norma said. “It’s all coming in at once.” Norma smiled at Bill and Henry Lee and then went over to get salads. “Watch out,” she said. “I think this is going to be a really tough one.”
