Slave to Broken Hearts and Sex Appeal

Mikey is sitting with me in the diner. We both know Frank will show up for his morning shift soon. Ian isn't anywhere to be seen. That's good. I need to forget about him.

"Hi, guys." Frank says, rushing to the back room to get his things ready for work. "I'll be there in a second to take your order."

The diner is unusually crowded today. Maybe because it's a Sunday. All the middle-class families are getting their morning meal before they have to sit in church for an hour and a half. An elderly man glares at Frank and mumbles something to, who I assume is his wife, about "one of those tattooed punk faggots that are on their way to Hell." I want to say something, but I keep quiet. I don't want his ignorance to cause a scene.

"Okay. What can I get you?" Frank asks.

I order orange juice instead of coffee, just to surprise him. Mikey does the same.

By the time Frank arrives with our juice, several families have already left.

"You guys seem busy today." I comment.

Frank looks around.

"Yeah. I'm the only waiter here and we only have about three cooks working in the back. I guess everyone was too hungover to show up."

"Excuse me. Waiter!" A man snaps.

It's the old man from before. Frank hurries over to see what the man wants.

"My eggs are cold." The man complains.

Frank apologizes and tells him that he will take the food back and bring warmer eggs. This doesn't satisfy the customer. He gets up, knocking his cup of tea on the floor and storms out, yelling that he wasn't going to pay for his food.

I feel terrible. Frank grabs napkins off of a nearby table and tries to clean up the mess. He looks upset and stressed. I want to hug him right there in the middle of the diner. I start to get up to help him. Mikey follows my lead, dumping the spilled ice cubes back into the cup.

"Thanks." Frank says. "I think I'm gonna try to call Ian to see if he can come in early today. I need extra help."

That's my cue to leave. I need to get over my little crush on Ian. Seeing him isn't going to help much.

"Alright." I say, not really knowing what else to tell him. "Mikey and I are going to leave. If you want, you can come by my house when you get off work. I'll be there."

Frank smiles.

"Of course you'll be there. I told you that you were a hermit."

Mikey laughs.

"He called you a hermit?"

"Yeah."

So what if I am? There's nothing wrong with that.

When Mikey and I get into my car to leave, Mikey asks me why I was in such a hurry to leave.

"Because I want to go home." I lie, making it sound like the obvious answer.

"Do you not like this Ian guy or something?"

No. That's definitely not it.

"Just forget it."

Mikey drops the subject.