The Faculty Club

            by Jonathan Guerra

 

 “Hey are you the new guy?”

“Yea… I’m new.” I said shifting my eyes, realizing that my response was extremely awkward.

“No shit,” she said sarcastically, “my name is Lauren. You go to Cal?”

“Yeah.”

“Freshman right?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you ever say anything else?”

“Not really”

“Good, you’ll go far.”

It’s my first day on the job; it is at this nice little restaurant-hotel, set up for the faculty on campus. The Faculty Club is in a really nice location. It’s pretty much dead center in the middle of Cal campus a little hidden. You would never be able to find it unless someone told you where to go. I was lucky to get this job because one of the people they had just hired had just stopped coming to work, so a highly coveted job as a waiter was open. My roommate Chris was the one who told me about the job. He works there so I had already been familiar

            “You still there?” Lauren said, snapping me back to reality.

            “Yea sorry, I was just looking at the view.”

            Just off to the side of the dining area, there is a nice field with trees lining the pathway around it. Off of the path there is the river that runs under all of Berkeley.

            “Yea it’s a nice area, a little scary at night though.”

            Lauren seems nice, she is tall, blond, and had deep blue eyes that you can easily get lost in. She’s wearing a beige sweater and jeans. The sweater reminds me of something my grandma would wear, but it looks cute on her.

            She shows me around the club and tells me the rules - what I can and can’t get away with.

“You see, at lunch you just tell the cooks what you want and they’ll hook you up. Definitely the best part of the job. Well, minus the fee alcohol after parties.”

“Does that happen a lot?” I ask.

“Almost every weekend, just don’t tell the boss.” She winks, “It’s the waiters’ little secret.”

 

My first day goes great, I don’t really do that much, just sit around and watch while people tell me what to do. The pay is great, and they tell me that the real money comes in through tips. During a dinner for a bunch of people in suits and fancy dresses, one of the waiters brings one of the customers the wrong dish. The customer explodes at the waiter. The waiter apologizes and replaces the order. He walks into the kitchen and puts the plate on the counter.

“We got a wrong order!” he shouts at the cook, “God, what an asshole.”

“We’ll I’d be mad too if my wife looked like that,” another waiter chimes in.

“Yea, did you see the nose on that beast?”

“Yea, I thought bestiality was a sin.”

The whole kitchen erupts into laughter at the comments made, and the waiter brings the man his order.

It has been a month since I started. I’m cleaning up after a guest in the morning and Lauren comes up to me. “Hey, some of the employees are having a party late tonight, do you want to come?”

“Yea sure, where’s it at?”

“Its here, Chris got one of the cleaning ladies to give him a key to the rooms, so were gonna have some fun. Plus today there is a girls 23^rd birthday party or some shit so there will be plenty of alcohol left over. It’s gonna be fun you should come.”

 

After work I head home and get ready. I hop into my car and drive off. I find a nice parking area a little ways from the club. The parking lot where I usually park is closed at night, and I don’t feel like getting my car towed. I walk across campus and my phone rings. I pick it up.

“Hello?”

“Hey what’s up its Chris?”

“Hey Chris, what’s up?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m heading to the party. Ill be there in like ten minutes.”

“Oh, never mind, I was wondering what you were doing tonight but I guess you have plans.”

“Wait, I thought you got the keys from the cleaning ladies. Aren’t you throwing the party?”

“Not that I can remember, well have fun anyways. Tell me how it goes. Peace”

Chris hangs up. I walk on the path towards the club. The phone call makes me a little confused. But I figure it isn’t really important. A lot of my coworkers will be there. And I’m about to get smashed anyways, so who cares. I get to the party and it is crowded. I look around for Lauren, but I can’t find her. I talk to some of the other employee’s and take a few shots that are going around. By the time I see Lauren I can feel the alcohol. She comes up to me.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“What happened with Chris, I thought he was throwing the party?” I ask.

“Oh I just talked with him, he wasn’t feeling that great so he stayed home.”

“But he said he hadn’t heard anything about it.”

At this point I am yelling because I don’t really know what’s going on. “You’re drunk you need to sit down” Lauren says to me

“I don’t need to sit anywhere! I need Chris here! Why is he not throwing the party? I just talked to him.”

I feel really angry, and then it all comes out. The word vomit. Or is it real vomit. It comes from deep down inside of me. I curse at the smell and the situation. I don’t like it, but I feel better. I don’t know how I got to the bathroom, but here I am, hugging the toilet. I notice the door open and I lock it. I go back to the bowl. I didn’t have that much, but I have never been so sick.

The door is pounding. It’s the cleaning lady. I’ve been here all night. I get up and walk out. I don’t look at the lady and I leave the room. I’m not working today so I get in my car. I smell terrible. I try to remember what happened last night. It’s all fuzzy. I can remember seeing Lauren and talking to her. I can’t really remember the conversation all that well. I remember taking those shots. What was in those I wonder? I get home and take a shower. I get out of the shower and put on some clean clothes. I call Chris.

“What’s up?” I say slurred. My head aches.

“Hey how was the party?”

“I don’t really remember.”

“Got hella smashed?” he asks

“Not even. I don’t know what happened. I only had enough to get me buzzed, but then I was puking my guts out.”

“You probably don’t remember what you had.”

“No, I know exactly how much I had. It probably had something in it,” I say.

“You think there were drugs in it?”

“Yea. Now that I think about it, I didn’t see anyone taking any shots.”

“So no one else was drinking? That’s dumb.”

“No, people were drinking but I don’t think anyone touched the shot glasses.”

“Your hella dumb dude, you said yourself you don’t remember last night”

“I remember it up to a point. From there it’s in patches. I gotta go dude. Peace”

I hang up the phone and sit down. I’m working in the morning so I can ask people what happened.

I get to work early and go to the main desk. “Hey I heard you had a heavy night” says the clerk.

“Not really” I replied.

“Oh, well I heard you had a lot to drink.”

“No I was fine.”

That was weird. I know he saw me, and I know he saw how much I drank. I go to the kitchen to look for Lauren. I can’t find her so I go back and ask the receptionist.

“Have you seen Lauren?”

“No she didn’t come in today.”

“Ok thanks.”

I have an uneasy feeling about the whole situation, and I’m anxious to ask Lauren if she knows anything.

I finish my shift early and call Lauren. She tells me she is at home and wants to meet with me. She sounds like it is urgent. I arrive at her house and knock on the door.

“Hi. Come in” she says. I walk into her apartment and she shuts the door behind me.

“What’s going on?” I ask her

“Sit down,” she says. “I need you to tell me what happened on Friday.”

“Well I’m not sure. I had a couple of shots and then I was talking to you, and from there I just blacked out. I think there was something in the drinks.”

“I think so too. I think its best if you leave the Faculty Club.”

“Why? What is going on?”

“You know the guy who quit before you came?”

“Yeah, that’s how I got the job,” I replied.

“Well they say he quit. But, nobody actually talked to him before he left. Every thing was going fine and then poof, gone.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, nobody has heard from him since. I'd leave before you get hurt. You should go now.”

She pushes me out the door before I could protest. The conversation leaves me with more questions than I had before. I go home and Chris is there.

“Chris, did you know the guy that stopped coming to work?”

“Yea, a little. What about him?”

“Well, do you think that something happened to him? Maybe that’s why he stopped coming?”

“I think there is something you need to know,” he said. He looked a little concerned, “To be honest I’m not sure if I should tell you this, but it looks to me like somebody thinks you already know.”

“Know what? Chris what are you not telling me?”

“Well I did know that guy. And it’s my belief that he is dead.”

“Dead? Did somebody kill him?”

“Yes. You see there are rumors going around about somebody embezzling a lot of money out of the company.”

“What’s a lot of money?”

“About forty-thousand dollars.”

“Why aren’t the police involved?”

“Because it was a gradual process, it wasn’t all at once.”

“So you think the guy found out who was taking the money and somebody killed him?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he said. I could tell he was serious.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

“I had an interesting conversation with Lauren today,” I said.

“What did she tell you?”

“She said to quit before I get hurt.”

“She threatened you?” he exclaimed.

“No, I think it was more of a warning.”

“You can’t trust her,” he said. “We’ll have to watch her from now on.”

 

It’s three weeks since I found out about the embezzlement. It’s closing time. I’m the last person out of the kitchen, so I lock up. I close the doors to the club and walk outside. I get in my car and drive away. I’m half way home when I realize that I forgot my cell phone in the locker room behind the kitchen. I walk down the hallway past the dining hall and I notice that there is a light on in the main office. I didn’t realize it at first and then it hits me, whoever has been getting the money has been coming in after. I walk towards the main office and I see a figure through the window moving around at a desk. They hear me and I see their silhouette dart back it looks like they have a gun.

            I hide behind the door to the office and wait. The person walks out the door and I grab their wrist and slam it against the wall to knock the gun out. The gun falls to the ground and I wrestle the person to the ground. I jump up and grab the gun off the floor and point it at the person standing in front of me.

Lauren looks at me and says, “What are you doing here!”

“It’s been you all the time hasn’t it? You thought I knew about the extortion so you drugged me at the party. Lucky for me, I locked myself in the bathroom. I knew Chris never threw that party.”

“You’ve got it all wrong!” she said, “Those drugs were meant for me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You weren’t even supposed to be at that party. I wasn’t even supposed to invite you.”

“Then why did you?”

“Because I thought you would have fun. Those shots on the table that you took were intended for me. You see, I think I know who has been taking all the money. I’m here to get the papers to prove it. So for God’s sake put the gun down.”

A shot rings out and Lauren falls to the ground, blood spills pout on to the floor. Lauren screams and grabs her leg. I freeze and look at my gun. It wasn’t me that fired. I turn around and Chris is standing at the door.

“It’s a little too late now, don’t you think?” Chris says. He looks at me and points his gun, “Drop that.”

I turn to face him and point my gun at him. I am in a trance, it all seems so unreal. I feel like I can’t move. He looks at me and says, “I wish you didn’t have to be here. I never thought you would get involved. It is unfortunate. But as you can see I cant leave any loose ends.”

“Why are you doing this?” were the only words that could come out of my mouth.

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s the money. Forty-g’s can go a long way, especially for a student.”

“So it was you who drugged me?” I ask.

“Like Lauren said, it wasn’t you who was meant to get drugged.”

“But you weren’t there.”

“I wasn’t?” he replied. “That’s what I told you.”

“So you’ve been lying from the start.”

“Basically,” he snorts. “Now drop that gun before somebody gets hurt.” He walks over to me with his hand out. “Give me the gun.” I am too terrified to move. His hand clasps the top of the barrel and the adrenaline surges through my veins. I squeeze the trigger, sending a bullet from the chamber to the right side of his chest. Chris flies backwards slamming into the door. I kick the gun out of his hand.

“I didn’t think you had it in you.” He says. I pick up the phone and dial 911. The operator picks up.

“911, what seems to be the emergency?”

“I’ve got two injured people with gun wounds. Send an ambulance.”