Just Say Yes

It was a quarter past nine and Erin was ready to go home but she wasn't off for another hour and fifteen minutes. Sighing heavily she stared at herself in the mirror, smoothing out her yellow uniform that ended just above her knees before she headed back into the diner she worked at.

It was small, and old fashioned, like something you'd find in the fifties but slightly upgraded. She had started working at the diner not too long after she graduated high school, and had to watch over her younger brother.

Erin walked back into the main part of the diner, and she saw that her co-worker, Lisa's side had completely emptied out while she was in the bathroom. The diner was empty except for a table of two men, regulars, who were well known to complain. A lot. They of course, sat in her section.

Before her bathroom break, Erin had spent the last thirty minutes running back and forth for the two regulars making sure everything was perfect and how they wanted it. They seemed to be happy for now so she decided to start wiping down the bar with a warm cloth.

Just as she did, the bell on the door rung and a guy in his mid to late twenties walked in. He had black hair from what she could see peaking out from his hat which had a black bandana underneath. Was that a style she wasn't aware of? He definitely didn't look like someone from around Boulder City.

He walked over to Lisa's side of the restaurant, Erin knew Lisa was already cursing him underneath her breath, and took a booth in the corner. He began reading the menu that was sitting on his table.

Lisa looked over to Erin, with a slight pout on her face, she slowly walked over to the customer.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Brian lowered the menu from his view to see a woman, in her late twenties, she was dressed in a light yellow uniform that ended just above her knees. Her dark brown hair was tied up into a messy ponytail as she held a pen and a pad of paper in her hands.

"Got anything alcoholic?” He asked hoping for a yes, he really needed something to make him feel better.

“No.”

“Coke is fine thanks.” Lisa simply smiled and put her pad and pen in the front pocket of her uniform. Within minutes he heard a cup being placed down in front of him, he glanced up at the brown haired waitress, she had a smile on her face and her pen and paper in her hand.

"Are you ready to order, sir?" He was a bit taken a back when she called him sir, she wasn't that much older than him. She was just being polite and doing her job, but it made him feel old.

"What do you recommend?"

"Depends what you like." She said not even making eye contact with him. He was about to say something back but he was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone.

"One sec." He said and saw her nod in response. He flipped open his phone and brought it to his ear. "Hello...I'm out...what do you expect me to do...if you hate me then why are we still together?" He watched as the waitress before him shifted on her feet, looking very uncomfortable having to stand there and listen to his conversation with his girlfriend who was yelling at him. He really didn't get women and their little mind games.

"I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" He didn't even get the chance to say goodbye and hang up, she beat him to it. The only sound was the dial tone in his left ear. He closed his phone, he glanced up to see that the waitress had left and was now sitting at the counter talking to her young blonde haired co-worker. He sighed as he waited for her to return.

Erin watched as Lisa walked away from her customer, she hadn't even written anything down or taken the menu from him. Lisa looked anything but happy at the moment, her brows furrowed and her mouth was pouty, again. She plopped herself on a stool on the opposite side of the counter that Erin stood behind. Lisa's arms folded together and she lay her head on them, closing her eyes. Erin looked back at the customer Lisa had walked away from, he had taken off his jacket to reveal two full arms of tattoos.

"What happened?" She turned back to Lisa who was still in the same position. Lisa didn't move when she spoke, her eyes opened though.

"I'm tired, and I don't want to deal with another customer who doesn't know what they want." Lisa finally lifted her head and unfolded her arms, her hands rubbed her eyes. Desperately trying to rub the sleep and the heaviness from them, although she knew it wouldn't help until she was in her bed and dozing off to sleep.

"It's one guy, I'm sure he's not gonna cause you too much trouble." Erin pointed out, that guy couldn't possibly be that much trouble, at least compared to the two guys she had on her side of the diner.

They didn't seem to like anything she brought, they had a complained about everything. It was too cold, too spicy, not spicy enough, too salty and so on. The list was practically endless when it came to them. They seemed relatively satisfied now but every now and then they'd grunt or make a noise to cause her to look at them in which they motioned for her to come over to the table and fix their complaint.

"You'd be surprised at how much trouble one person can cause." Lisa's left hand was now supporting her head by having it firmly placed on her chin. She picked up a sugar packet that had isolated itself from the others a few inches away, she was ready to collapse at any moment. Erin saw that and sighed heavily. "He's fighting with his girlfriend apparently."

"He told you that?" Erin's eyebrows raised at the question.

"No, I heard him going back and forth with her on the phone. That's why I left." Lisa stated simply as her finger poked the sugar packet rhythmically.

"Well are you gonna go back? You can't just leave him sitting there. What if he complains and says how shitty the service was?" Erin watched as Lisa simply rolled her eyes. She wished she could be so nonchalant about getting in trouble with Ron, the manager of the restaurant who was passionate about his waitresses being the best in town. Even if it meant giving them a so called "pep talk" before they started their shift.

"He's a guy who's fighting with his girlfriend, he's not gonna complain about a waitress treating him shitty. He has bigger problems."

"So you admit you were being shitty?” Lisa rolled her eyes. “And real sensitive Lis."

"Whatever okay, I'm not in the mood." Lisa moaned, she put her head down on the counter. Erin sighed, heavily.

"Fine I'll take him, but you owe me one." Erin gave her a serious look, Lisa smiled sweetly.

"Yeah, yeah."

Erin shook her head as she wandered over to the table where the guy with the tattoos sat. He was looking out the window, looking deep in thought. She cleared her throat hoping it would get his attention, but it didn't, he kept staring out the window as if he were looking for someone.

"Excuse me?" Her voice came out soft so she wouldn't startle him, he slowly turned his gaze over to her. He opened his mouth but then quickly shut it, then he glanced down at his menu and began to speak.

"I'll have the special." He said referring to the so called "special" on their menu which wasn't all that special to begin with. It was basically a burger with the basics that came with "homemade" fries. He rubbed the back of his neck, still not looking directly at her.

"Okay, refill for your drink?" She asked as she took the menu from the table and placed it under her arm as she was prepared to write the drink name down. He was silent for a moment but then shook his head.

"Water is fine." She nodded and jotted everything down, just as she was about to turn on her heel and leave, he glanced up at her and smiled. They made eye contact and for the first time that night, she got a good look at him, he was cute that was for sure. She looked away before she made a fool of herself by staring and headed back towards the kitchen window.

Just as she gave the order to the on duty chef in the back, Dan Grier and Luke Olsen the guys who are always upset about something in their orders, yelled something at her. She walked over to them, Dan held out his glass of chocolate milk, she wasn't sure what could be wrong with it but took it anyway.

"It's cold."

"It's supposed to be, it's chocolate milk."

"I want hot chocolate."

"Okay then..." She turned on her heel and wasn't quite sure what she should do with the chocolate milk. She stood at the door to the kitchen for a few minutes then she decided that maybe if she warmed it up in the microwave it could pass for hot chocolate.

After waiting a few minutes and zapping the milk chocolate for two minutes, Erin made her way back to the table Dan and Luke were sitting at only to find it empty. There was a twenty dollar bill on the table. She went to the register and added everything they ordered together, it came to nineteen dollars and forty eight cents.

"Sixty-two cent tip." Erin murmured to herself and slipped the the two quarters, one dime and two pennies into the small pocket above her left breast along with the rest of her tips. She mentally calculated her earnings for the day, it came to about six dollars and seventy two cents. It wasn't completely horrible. She was hoping her last customer was a fairly decent tipper so she had something to put gas in her car.

The light sound of a bell snapped her out of her thoughts, she looked back at the pick up window where her last customers meal was sitting. She grabbed the steaming plate, she was about to go over to his table but then she realized that she still hadn't taken him his drink. Erin swore under her breath, she was gonna get killed for this, she knew it. She walked over to the table and put the plate in front of him.

"I'll be right back with your drink." She said quickly, and without him even getting a word in she was gone. Within seconds she was back with a large glass of dark bubbly liquid, some foam near the top and a red straw ready for him to drink out of. Brian hadn't even taken a bite of his burger, she couldn't help but blush slightly at her mistake.

"I'm so sorry about, there was an over attentive customer and..." She stopped mid sentence when she realized she was rambling and he could probably careless at what her problems were. The look on his face told her he had something to say, whether it was good or not was still to be determined.

"It's okay, really. I don't think I would die without my drink and honestly, I'd rather hear about your problems than think of my own." Erin wasn't exactly sure whether that was his way of inviting her to sit with him or to continue to talk. She just stood in the same spot stupidly with her mouth open slightly.

"Do you wanna sit down with me? I could use the company, nothing's worse than eating alone." He smiled at her and took his burger in his hands and began to eat, she slowly slipped onto the edge of the booth, ready to make a quick exit if she made a fool of herself.

"Dying alone would be worse." She blurted out without thinking. She was kicking herself inside at how stupid and morbid that sounded.

He stopped eating for a second to look at her. "I think it would be kind of relaxing actually, being alone with just your thoughts, not worrying about the people you love watching you slip away." She couldn't help but wonder why that hadn't freaked him out, any other guy would've thought she was some manic depressive or something. This was definitely going to be a strange discussion.

"Would you really wanna spend the last moments of your life without someone you love by your side? Not your parents, your siblings, your...girlfriend?"

She watched as his interest in what she had to say diminished, completely.

"I'm not sure I even have a girlfriend anymore." Brian said quietly with a slight laugh, he flicked the straw in his glass, then glanced over to her. She felt butterflies in her stomach as he stared intently at her, she broke the eye contact first.

"Are you fighting? You don't have to tell me or anything I--"

"Yeah, we're just at different places in our lives and want different things." He bit down on his bottom lip, then continued on eating.

"You should talk to her, even if she says she doesn't want to, she's probably lying. Most likely she's testing you and seeing if you truly wanna be with her and will talk to her first. But that's just my opinion,” Erin paused. “She could actually not want to talk to you." Brian laughed.

"I think it's the latter." They sat in silence for a few minutes, until he spoke up. “Being so close to Vegas, I bet you see a lot of weirdos passing through here.”

“Not as many as you may think, but we get our fair share.”

"Erin, it's ten." Lisa called over as Joey, the night chef helped her wipe down the empty tables.

"I gotta go clean up, we're closing. If you don't mind I gotta close the register..." She said, asking for the money without actually doing so.

"Oh sure." He flipped through his wallet "How much?"

"Seven-thirty five." He handed her a twenty.

"Keep the change." He insisted, her mouth hung open in shock.

"I can't," She began to protest but he shrugged it off.

"Think of it as a thank you for your advice. Knowing me, I'll probably be back for more." He ate the last bit of his burger and slid out of the booth.

"Thanks," She motioned to the money in her hand. "and goodnight."

"See ya."

She watched him leave the restaurant and get into his car parked a few feet away from the door. She stared down at the twenty dollar bill in her hand, this would definitely be helpful even if she was only getting twelve dollars out of it. Every cent counted, especially with Jonathon constantly eating everything in the cupboards at home. Erin made her way over to the register and cashed in the bill, taking her share of the bill and stuffing it into the her front pocket with her pen and pad of paper.

About ten minutes after Brian had left, Erin was cleaning the booth where he sat and caught sight of something black against the white vinyl cushions. She picked it up and realized it was his cellphone. She wasn't sure what to do with it, Lisa told her to take it with her and bring it back in tomorrow in case he came looking for it.