Treasured Tributes

The clinks and clanks of dishes pulled the irritation I so desperately tried to hide to the forefront of my mind. Tonight was extremely busy in the diner, and it seemed to be taking a toll on all the employees. Everyone was in a grumpy mood, and top that off with an even angrier manager, it was a mess.

“Krys! Table five, please!” I turned towards the voice, temporarily stopping from mopping the kitchen floor. Amina wasn’t looking at me, but the frantic movement of her hands stirring the pasta sauce, and rolling the dough showed her chagrin. I almost opened my mouth to protest that I was too busy to attend tables right now. But so was she, and I did not want to add to her stress. Instead I grumbled to myself about shortage of staff and cleared out the mop and bucket.

My vexation almost elicited a scream when I realised the employee restroom didn’t have any hand soap. I threw my hands up in frustration. I refused to attend tables without washing my hands first, it was just so unhygienic and unprofessional after spending the better part of the evening mopping floors and wiping tables. I stalked my way past the kitchen, and out into the seating area of the diner.

O’Packer’s Diner was merely an old age home renovated into a diner. The walls were still a sickly pale yellow, the windows not quite large enough to look uniform with each other, and the floor was an ugly mahogany wood. To be honest, it was quite hideous. But it also felt quite homely, and old. Very, very old. I don’t think any one minded too much, it has been like this for twenty two years now. Although I did occasionally petition to Mark to consider a renovation.

I hated the diner. I didn’t mind working here, I needed the money, and often it wasn’t quite so bad like tonight. But I hated staring at the onion-skinned yellow plaster walls. I hated waiting tables that were too close together to walk by, without knocking over one. I hated mopping the red wood floors when somebody’s cheeky child spilled their vanilla milkshake. And I hated how discoloured the floors looked after I had to use various cleaning agents when a young man with food poisoning had vomited. But most of all, I hated the layout of the diner. I hated that the store room required you to squish past the cramped tables and booths to get to the other end of the room. I hated it because it annoyed me. Storerooms were supposed to be out back, not at the side of the diner. It wasn’t that we didn’t have a storeroom at the back, because we did. But it was too small for anything except a few cleaning products, tableware, and cooking supplies.

“Excuse me, we’ve been waiting for awhile now!” I heard a masculine voice call me. I turned to look back at the voice, a middle-aged couple sat at table seven, looking extremely agitated. I threw them a smile that I hoped looked apologetic.

“I’m really sorry! I’ll be right with you.” I called, scrambling towards the storeroom before he could call me again. Often when I worked, my only job was to clean, and help out in the kitchen. I was entirely new to waiting tables.

I kept my head down, feeling it was best that I didn’t make eye contact with any of the customers before I was ready to wait. I mentally reminded myself to ask Mark about hiring more staff. Then I remembered that I had yet to ask him to order me a new pair of work shorts. I was so engrossed with reciting what issues I planned on bringing up to Mark that I didn’t notice myself walking into something before I already had. Or someone.

I yapped loudly, throwing my hand up to my forehead, “Christ, I am sorry.” I squeaked out, feeling embarrassed. I felt a chill run down my back as I looked up into the eyes of the person I’d run into. “I-“ I creaked, trying to apologise again. He left me speechless, and I could feel heat rushing to my cheeks. God, he was stunning. My face scrunched up in confusion, I had never seen him here before.

His pea green eyes watched me absently, his brow furrowed in boredom. “Don’t worry about it.” He muttered, shooting me a small smile as he brushed past me.

Letting out a loud breath I hadn’t realised I was holding, I willed my heart to stop thumping. I shook my head, trying to rid my thoughts of him. I couldn’t afford to be distracted tonight. Back to work.

I hurried to the storeroom, using the bunch of keys around my neck to thrust open the jammed locks. I quickly found the hand soap bottle I was looking for, and bolted from the room, almost forgetting to lock the doors on my way out. I glanced up at table seven, feeling relieved that Sophia was attending. As I walked by briskly, I saw the young man shoot me an annoyed look. I grimaced, tonight was going south.

Throwing on my apron and picking up a small notepad and pen, I glanced around the diner looking for tables that needed to be waited. My droopy eyes flickered to table five. Right, I thought, that’s the table Amina sent me into waitress duty for tonight.

Table five was a big group of rowdy teenage boys. All of whom I knew of from school. The popular clique. I walked towards them, nervousness creeping onto me when I saw the same boy I had collided into a few minutes earlier. He didn’t look up as I stood before them, feeling on edge. I didn’t want to look at him either, I would lose my already fragile composure.

“What can I get you all?” I fiddled with the pen in my hands, anxiously tapping it against the notepad. All heads shot up to look at me, their conversation suddenly fizzled to a small murmur. I briefly paused my skittish tapping, throwing them a timid smile.

“We’ve been waiting for so long, I forgot what I wanted earlier.” I glanced up, watching one of them shake their head slowly. I think his name was Jack, or Jake. I wasn’t sure, but I knew he was on the football team. I think the entire table was on the football team, but I couldn’t be certain, since I never paid any attention.

I opened my mouth to apologise for the slow service tonight, but someone interrupted before I could get a word out. “We’ll just have a round of shakes and fries then.” I almost sighed dreamily, looking into his eyes. His lips curved into a polite smile, and something constricted in my chest. I smiled back softly, wondering what he was doing at the diner tonight. Although I had only started working last month, I never saw Aubrey here. Maybe he dropped by when I wasn’t working, or when I was on kitchen and cleaning duty. Most of the other boys I had seen quite often, but never Aubrey.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I didn’t bother writing down their order as I marched away. My heart beat erratically and I couldn’t wipe the giddy smile off my face. I don’t think Aubrey even knew my name, but he smiled at me a total of two times tonight. That’s a lot more attention I got from him in the last two years.

“Excuse me!” I stopped, “We’d like our bill!” I nodded towards the once irritated couple on table seven. I led them towards the counter, ringing up their bill.

I smiled sweetly as they left, “Thank you.” I turned towards the milkshake machine, filling it up for Aubrey’s table. “Amina!” I shouted, poking my head around the machines to look into the kitchen. “Round of fries for nine!” She didn’t bother looking up at me, but the visible straining of her shoulders let me know that she heard.

I began to fill up the tall foam cups with the milkshake when someone rang the counter bell. I whirled around startled, a bit too fast, spilling milkshake over my shirt and apron. “Fuck.” I breathed, staring down at myself. I put the cup on the counter and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my palm, my short-lived smile gone. “This is bad,” I groaned, more to myself than to the customer who chuckled.

My hands instantly fell by my sides, and my eyes opened to stare straight into a pair of bright greens. But they weren’t Aubrey’s.

My lip parted in mild surprise, my breath came in a hitch. The boy didn’t look a day over seventeen. His cocoa-coloured hair fell in his face, as he brushed it away with a flick of his hand. It was long, but not disproportionately long. His emerald eyes were gleaming brightly, like the full moon on a starless night. His pale pink lips were turned upwards into a friendly smile, and his jawline seemed to be never ending. I indistinctively felt myself wondering how firm his jaws would feel under my fingertips. As if he just heard what I was thinking, his full lips turned wider into a knowing smirk, jolting me out of my thoughts. I was staring.

I must have looked alarmed, for he laughed again. If I hadn’t seen him laugh, I would have mistaken that sound for an xylophone. It was quite elegant and euphonic. I tried to look around the diner, avoiding his strong gaze. “I’m sorry,” I started, meeting his eyes for a split second, a feeling of familiarity washing over me, “We don’t have any empty tables right now.”

He ignored my comment, “You should probably clean that up,” he leaned over the counter, almost bumping his head into my chest as he pointed down at the floor.

I gave him a strange look as he leaned back. “Right.” I muttered, nodding. I pulled out a bunch of tissues from the shelves in the counter and wiped the bottom half of my white shirt and apron. It wouldn’t stain, though it smelled sugary and it left a wet patch on my stomach. But I didn’t have time to change. And I would mop the floor later, I had tables to attend to right now.

“I’ll try to find a table for you.” I called to the boy as I finished filling up the cups and placed them on a plastic plate. I pulled out another plate and placed all nine french fries Amina had pushed forward. I peeked up at him and saw him watching me quizzically. I shifted my foot awkwardly, feeling conscious.

“Do you need help with that order?” He pointed to the two plates I was struggling to hold.

I opened my mouth to speak when our eyes met again. My mouth suddenly clamped shut. I felt flustered watching him, and I could feel my eyes widen a little when I finally blurted without thinking. “Have we met before?” I regretted it the second his questioning gaze turned into an almost smirk. Something inside my stomach tingled queasily.

He laughed lightly, “That’s just about the corniest line I’ve heard all week.” I felt my cheeks burn up in embarrassment. I don’t know why I asked. Of course we have never met before. I would have remembered those eyes, and that hair, and those lips, and that smile. But for a moment there, I truly felt that we’ve met before. There was an eerily familiar feeling about him, I was sure of it. And it was stupid.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” I muttered, looking to the floor as I moved around the counter to head towards Aubrey’s table.

I saw his hands reach out to take a hold of the two plates I was fighting to keep from falling. “I’m new here.” I heard him speak, and I looked up as he easily held the two plates full of milkshakes and fries. “And you need to clean the floor before it becomes a safety hazard.”

I merely stared at him in surprise. He tilted his head slightly, a tiny smile playing at his lips, “Which table?”

“Uh—five.” I mumbled as he nodded and stalked away, his head turning in every direction looking for the table number holders.

I stood there for a minute, wondering what exactly had just happened. “Krys!” I almost jumped hearing the shout.

“Yes, sorry Amina!” I apologised, walking back behind the counter where she stood, looking irritated. I didn’t blame her.

“Don’t just stand there.” I nodded as she scowled at me. “Go wait tables, then clean this,” she gestured to the spilled milkshake.

I quickly grabbed a spare apron we kept behind the counter, and picked up my pen and pad. I didn’t bother going towards table five since they were already taken care of, but I couldn’t find the pretty boy there when I looked around. Maybe he had left after serving them.

“I’ll take a tuna melt, and nothing else.” I nodded, jotting down what the old lady at table one requested. She didn’t seem any younger than sixty-five, and her harsh tone was wearing down on my already bleary mood. It wasn’t that I had never dealt with unhappy customers before, but I was new at this job. And I had only waited tables a total of four times in the last month. I wasn’t accustomed to unhappy customers in such large doses. I would rather stick to just cleaning than dealing with the stress of being a waitress. It was a lot harder than it looked, and I wasn’t very good at it. But working at O’Packers meant I had to be an all-rounder. So I had to learn fast, because the next time we get a night as busy as this, I might just pass out.

I stopped writing when I felt a hand on the small of my back. “Sorry, we’ve actually run out of tuna tonight.” I turned, looking up at the sheepish smile on pretty boy’s face. I gawked at him in exasperation, wondering what the hell he was doing.

He glanced down at me momentarily, but ignored my stare. “Would you like anything else, ma’am?”

I sighed warily, ready to apologise to the old lady for his interruption, but she had already made up her mind. “Grilled chicken, then.” She shot him a warm smile and I grimaced. No one had been this friendly to me when I was the one taking their order.

Before I could tell her to ignore pretty boy, he steered me away from the table. “What the fuck was that?” I whispered harshly, when we were out of ear shot from table one. He rolled his eyes, casually leaning back against the main counter.

“Amina said you were out of tuna, and to take all tuna food off the menu for the rest of the night.” He shrugged casually.

I watched him in confusion. “How do you know Amina?”

“I don’t.”

I groaned in annoyance, “Then—”

He interrupted me, suddenly smiling at my irritation. “When I came back to put the plates away, I heard her say that to another waitress.”

I nodded at him slowly, walking back around the counter to put in the old lady’s chicken order. Pretty boy followed me. “What are you doing?” I turned to look at him sceptically.

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you following me?” I sighed, rubbing my temple.

“I’m helping you wait tables.” He said with a small smile, like it was the most normal thing for someone to do.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re not getting paid. You’re a freaking customer. Just go find some table to sit at.”

“I would, if you didn’t need help.” I stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. I didn’t need help, but it will certainly make life easier if he did.

I shrugged, “Whatever.”

The rest of the night was spent with me taking orders, and pretty boy delivering them. He even mopped up the spilled milkshake for me when the diner started to clear out. When he wasn’t helping me, he was in the kitchen doing something for Amina. She seemed to really appreciate his help, and I even overheard her saying that she will pay him for tonight. I think she may have offered him a job too, but I was too busy watching him share some inside joke with two other waitresses to pay attention. He seemed to fit right in, and everybody liked him.

“Bill, please?” I snapped out of my thoughts to look up at Aubrey. Instantly I felt my cheeks heat up. I nodded meekly, handing him the receipt as he paid. He shot me a small smile as he walked out with his friends.

I sighed. If tonight hadn’t been so busy, I could have at least talked to him. I don’t know about what, but we could have had our first real conversation that didn’t involve him asking for a spare pencil in history class.

“Oh habibi, thank you for tonight. You’ve been a great help.” I turned to look at Amina gushing at pretty boy. I realised I hadn’t asked him his name yet. “Krys! Can you mop the kitchen? I’ll take care of the balancing.”

I walked back towards the storeroom and took out the mop and bucket again. Rinsing the mop, I began cleaning the kitchen. “I’m surprised you haven’t dropped dead yet.” I peered up at pretty boy again, and he shot me a charming smile. I smiled back immediately. I think I knew why everyone liked him. He was all smile. “I got you a soda,” I took the can of coke from his hands, greedily drinking. He laughed softly at my eagerness.

Unexpectedly, the door behind me shot open with a loud bang, and I tweeted out a yell, jolting the can in my hand as it fell to the floor. I cursed loudly as the cold soda soaked my neck and my chest.

“Krys! What on earth…” I moaned, frustrated at my self as I looked at Mark, shaking his head. “Just clean it up.”

He inhaled slowly, turning his attention to pretty boy. “You’re the boy who helped tonight?” Pretty boy grinned. “Right, well come on in, we’ll discuss your roster.” Mark walked back through the door towards his office.

He started after Mark when I beamed at him, “You’re working here now?” He stopped, looking down at me and nodded. He opened his mouth to speak when his gaze trailed down to my soaked chest and he smirked, seemingly impressed.

“Nice bra.” My smile was instantly wiped off my face. I looked down, and he was right. The upper part of my white shirt was soaked, and now my almost transparent black lace bra was vividly on display.

I scowled, and I knew even before I felt the heat creeping up, that my cheeks had turned an angry red. I gazed up, and his smirk stretched even further across his face as he saw how flushed I had become.

Pretty boy sauntered away then, leaving me feeling flustered and miffed.