Chapter 64

The next evening, Richie was exploring Vancouver in a taxi. Not so much exploring as actually going to meet Caleb at his work to pick him up for dinner.

Once the taxi driver parked the car in the parking lot, Richie asked the driver to keep the meter running and he'd be back in 10 minutes.

He got out of the car and walked into the building, straight up to the til where he ordered three coffees.

"Would you like muffins with the coffees?" The order taker asked him.
"Sure, why not." He said as he looked over at the display of muffins to make his choice on which ones. Banana chocolate chunk seemed like the best choice out of his options.

The order taker rung him up and he paid for the three coffee combos, then moved over to the side to wait for them to be prepared and bagged. From his new spot he could look into the back and saw Caleb working. It made him feel proud, knowing his son had been able to get a job all on his own, in a different country and by the looks of it, he was doing quite a good job. He was telling somebody else what to do, making sure they were doing it correctly. Then he walked away and over to the counter, it took them a second to make eye contact. Caleb smiled when he recognized him.

"Did you order food?" Caleb asked him.
"Yeah." Richie said just as someone else called his number. He grabbed his drink tray and bag of muffins.
"I could have given you my discount, if you'd waited." Caleb said as he walked over to the til and pressed a couple on screen buttons.
"Yeah, 'cause the $7 was really breaking the bank."
Caleb shook his head. "I'm a poor college student now. Free food is good food."
To that Richie laughed. "Pretty sure you still have my credit card."
"I don't use it though." Caleb said. "I'm going to go get my stuff and change." He walked to the back again.

A few minutes later he came back, saying goodbye to everyone on his way out to meet Richie who passed him the bag of muffins as they walked out of the building.

Inside the taxi, Richie passed one of the coffee cups to the driver and after taking two muffins out, passed the bag over as well.

"So are you enjoying McWork?" Richie asked his son, he picked a chunk of muffin off and ate it.
Caleb rolled his eyes in response. "Hilarious."
"I thought it was McFunny."
"Okay."
"They have good McCoffee and McMuffins." Richie paused.
Caleb was sure he couldn't roll his eyes any further.
"It's McGood." He smiled.
"Alright." Caleb said sternly. "You're done." Making it clear that he was ready for the joke to end.
"McDone?"
"Stop it."
Richie chuckled. "Just bugging you. I'm proud of you, it's not easy working in fast food. I'm sure it's stressful and not to forget customers complaining about everything they can."
"It's a lot of fun too though. Half of everyone is in college or high school so we're all about the same age and it's just fun. We are all dealing with the same crap from customers so everyone can relate."
"You guys make fun of your McCustomers?"
Caleb just stared at him. "Especially the ones that say Mc in front of everything they order."
"What if they order a McChicken?"
Caleb shook his head again. "You know what I mean."

Not much later they pulled into another parking lot and Richie payed the driver before the two of them got out.

Caleb had picked the restaurant for dinner, having heard great reviews but not having an occasion to go there or his own money to do so.

Once inside, they were seated at a small table and a waiter came around a few moments later.

"Have you been here before?" He asked them.
"No." They said in unison.
The waiter smiled. "Alright. So we have our buffet where you can get whatever sides you like. Then our chefs are preparing Brazilian barbecued meats continuously. Whenever one piece is prepared, they wil bring it around and they will slice you a piece. That's what the cards on your table are for." He pointed them out. "As long as the green side is up, they'll offer you meat. If you're done, flip the card over to red. You can flip it back to green if you'd like to be served more again."
"Sounds good." Caleb said.
The waiter took their drink order and disappeared to help other tables.
"So which side is green?" Richie asked as he picked up his card to inspect it.
"It was up." Caleb told him as he picked his own card to read it. Then pointed out the words on Richie's. "It says 'I give up' on the red side."

Not much later they were enjoying various  freshly cooked pieces of meat, that were so juicy, it melted in their mouth.

"Can I bring a friend tomorrow?" Caleb asked.
"A friend? Or a girlfriend?"
"No. Just a friend." He clarified.
"No interesting Canadian girls around here?"
Caleb shrugged. "Not really so far. I met one that would love to come tomorrow."
"So why don't you take her?"
"'Cause she's crazy." Caleb explained. "I don't even have classes with her. On like the first day of classes she came over to me and goes 'you're Caleb Sambora' as if I'm somebody."
"Well, you are." Richie pointed out to him. He took another bite of food to chew while he listened to the rest of Caleb's story.
"Yes, but she only knew because she knows you. She keeps trying to talk to me, even now, but all she talks about is you and Bon Jovi."
Richie shrugged at that. "I am pretty great."
"I think I'm pretty great so I'd like a girl to think that of me, not of my dad."
"I'm sure many of them like you."
"It's too early to be dating anyway." Caleb said. "I'm still trying to organize my time between classes and work to fit in study periods. I don't think I can fit a girl in too."
"School's important. I'm glad you know that."
"So can I bring a friend tomorrow?"
"Sure you can. I like meeting friends."