closing TIME [nahnie]

[GRACE ADAMS]

Was Gracie closing tonight? Oh my gosh, she was. Gracie bit her lip and rechecked the schedule. They actually trusted her to close? Maybe she wasn’t so bad at this working thing after all. She wouldn’t be the only one cleaning up and locking up though. Some girl name Nahnie Strider was also going to help. Well, this should be fun. Gracie busied herself at the host stand cleaning menus and rolling silverware. An hour into the dinner rush and she sat maybe two families. It was a Monday night so Gracie wasn’t expecting much but only two? Come on.

She was bored out of her mind! Quickly Gracie scrambled to the back to see if she had and closing jobs to do that could be done now. Nothing. Hmph. After checking the empty front again, Gracie ran to her locker and got her GED books out. It was time to study! She snuck the books to the front without the manager seeing. For two more hours she studied, and only a couple more tables showed up. It was a really lazy night and everyone was being let off early. Gracie said her polite goodbyes to the waiters and waitresses until she looked up and found that the restaurant was basically empty.

“That’s creepy,” Gracie muttered, looking around. The place really gave her the willies at night. She decided to go find this girl named Nahnie and maybe help end the fear that some serial killer was going to come and take her away. She wandered to the back and found a woman taking stock. “Uh, um,” she started and realized how shy she was sounding. Shaking her head, Gracie stepped next to the girl and smiled. “Hi! I’m Gracie. You’re Nahnie right? I hope I’m saying that right. I think we’re closing together tonight... and I was wondering if you needed any help.” Gracie gave her best smile and nodded to the front. “It’s kind of empty up there so I figured I could come to the back.”