Author's note: This was another rewritten chapter since the old got deleted.

Back to the story*

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Adrian was at work at the pizzeria, and the restaurant was pretty quiet tonight. With less staff in today, Adrian got excited about the prospect of closing up early and getting to hang out with his friends.

"So that's table for Axel, at 7:30pm tomorrow?" Adrian wrote down the reservation in the notebook as he booked it in. "Okay well we'll see you tomorrow, take care."

Adrian hung up the phone and turned towards the bar, pouring a drink for the only couple at the restaurant at the moment.

It really did seem like Adrian would be able to close up early tonight. That was until the door chimed and a group of people were heard walking in.

Adrian let out a tired breath, knowing that he would no longer be leaving early. He turned around to greet the customers, and his head dropped at seeing Caden with his Eagles teammates.

Caden was obnoxious as ever, as he began antagonising Adrian. "Can we get a table already? We've been waiting ages for some customer service."

It had been barely 5 second since they walked through the door and Adrian was already annoyed. Being the professional, Adrian swallowed the thought down and led them to one of the many empty booths.

After serving the other couple their drinks, Adrian took a note of the newest table's order and began filling the glasses from behind the bar.

He was on his own when Caden joined him by the bar, leaning against the counter as he patiently waited. "So, is it just you here tonight?"

"We were going to close early tonight since it was just me and one chef here, now it looks like we won't." Adrian explained with passive aggression as he filled a pitcher with ice cold water.

Caden looked around them and coughed slightly when no one was around. "Look, be careful when you walk home tonight. It can get, dangerous."

Adrian dropped what he was holding and turned to face Caden with a harsh glare. "Are you threatening me again you neanderthal?"

The pair were soon interrupted by another person at the door. Their faces turned to gloom when Sam approached them with a beaming smile on his face.

"Hey guys." Sam then looked around the restaurant and saw it was empty, "Quiet night?"

Only Sam was pretending to be friendly, as Adrian remained silent while Caden had decided to just leave the restaurant when he saw Sam. Adrian was confused to hear that Caden wasn't coming back, but he didn't care since it was one less annoying person to fuss over.

Sam didn't say anything else to Adrian as he cheekily smiled at him, before walking towards his friends in the booth. Out stretching his arms on the back of the chair, Sam made himself feel at home.

'This night just got worse.' Adrian thought to himself.

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The group were loud and frustrating to deal with for the whole night, the team still hated Adrian as he felt like his ears were constantly burning. Adrian grew tired when he had to continuously clean up after their intentional mess they were making.

When it was time to pay up, Adrian was very unhappy to see that no tip was left after working his bones off to serve them all.

Adrian was outraged when he read the comment left by one of the Eagles. 'Server was rude, couldn't enjoy our meal.'

Adrian angrily stashed the comment card into the other stack, annoyed that their lying could make him get shouted at by his boss.

Carrying a tray with him, Adrian began loading it with dirty dishes as the Eagles began to leave. When he was heading towards the kitchen, he did a double take when realised that Sam was sitting at the bar.

"We're closed now, go away." Adrian said, officially off the clock now and letting his frustration show.

Sam laughed to himself as he leaned onto the bar with his elbows. "I'm not leaving till I get served."

Adrian lost the battle as Sam was still waiting for him by the time he put the dishes in the dishwater. Giving in, he went behind the bar and asked Sam what he wanted.

Pouring him a whiskey, Sam quickly drank it down before sliding it back to Adrian, ordering a double.

Adrian gritted his teeth when he poured the guy his drink, watching him swallow it down before he pushed the glass back to Adrian.

"Same again."

Complying with the customer's orders, Adrian did it again as Sam continued pushing Adrian's buttons, overstaying his welcome as his next drink took even longer to consume.

"I will pay for your drinks if you leave, right, now." Adrian growled.

Sam laughed hard at that. He slid the empty glass to Adrian so fast that he barely had the reaction speed to stop it from falling off the counter. "Does it look like I need fucking money? My family could buy this stupid pizza shop if we wanted too. I could have anything I ever wanted with a quickly written cheque."

Adrian rolled his eyes as he listened to Sam. "Clearly not Brody."

Adrian then refused to pour Sam another drink when he asked and Sam eyes turned dark, even more black after the Brody comment.

"Leave." Adrian emphasised. "Quite frankly your behaviour is pathetic, no wonder Brody will never come back to you."

Frustration and anger seemed to suddenly boil up as Sam grabbed the empty glass and dashed it right at Adrian.

Adrian barely had enough time to instinctively turn away from the glass being thrown at him, and he watched the glass shatter against the wall.

When Adrian looked back at Sam in horror, Sam was already leaving as he tossed cash bills from over his shoulder, making it rain with money as he left without looking back.

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Adrian was now tipping the shards of glass in the bin when he heard his phone ring. He was happy again as he smiled when he saw that it was Brody calling him.

"Hey Brody."

"Hey Adrian, where are you? I thought you were closing up early?" Brody asked.

Adrian held the phone to his ear using his shoulder as he emptied the dishwasher. "We were going to, and then your teammates seemed to roll in and make my life hell."

Brody felt a sense of guilt for not being able to control the way his teammates behaved towards Adrian. "I'm sorry." Was all Brody could say, not knowing what else he could do at the moment.

"It's not your fault that your teammates are an asshole to me, especially Sam and Caden. They were even meaner and weirder than usual."

"What do you mean?" Brody wanted to know more about what they did tonight.

Adrian then went on to explain their encounter today. "Well Sam was refusing to leave when it was just us, he even threw a glass at me which barely missed. And I think Caden threatened me about walking home tonight, he didn't say it but he was being very cryptic."

Panic, worry and fear built up inside of Brody as he heard Adrian describe everything. Not wanting to risk anything, Brody told him that he, Ashley and Adam were on their way to walk with Adrian home.

Normally Adrian would say that was overkill, but tonight felt different. So he accepted the offer and was going to wait for them inside. "Okay well I'm almost done cleaning so I'll see you soon."

"See you soon Adrian."

~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian had finished cleaning up in the restaurant. He had let the other chef go home since they had to help their father again. As the last one inside, Adrian went to take the trash out and dump it by the bins near the back.

As he dropped the trash, Adrian felt something sharp pressed against his back. He froze on the spot when the silver blade shined in the night light.

His panic intensified when he looked over his shoulder and saw Sam holding a knife to him.

"Let's go for a walk."

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