I see Rei, my door mate, behind the register, busy checking the latest orders. I walk up to her, her not noticing it.
"What coffee do we have in mind, ma'am?" she asks.
“Extra sugar and milk would be great,” I request, lowering my voice to change it a little. “Please.”
Rei looks up and stares. Both of us burst out laughing. "Thought I encountered another weird customer," she says. "Did you want to order something?"
"I'm actually not hungry... I'm here to wait for a friend."
"Oh, alright... Uh, am I that friend?" she asks, obviously forgetting something. I nod, reminding her about the new dog she's getting at the pet store. Her eyes widen, realizing it. "I totally forgot! Wait a secㅡ you should order a coffee atleast." She sets down the menu to give it to me. Her shift will end at 4 o'clock which is only 30 minutes away. I purposely made it here a little early just to have a good time drinking coffee.
I head for a table on the other end of the café. I set my menu down after telling my order to my waitress. My seat is in the corner of the shop and from here I can see everyone. The sound of people talking and taking orders, the smell of coffees and sweet cakes. I stare at the free glass of water on my table. I forgot to order a cake.. doesn't matter, might as well just enjoy the viewㅡ
My brows furrowed when I catch a glimpse of an old man, only two tables away from me, slowly reaching for the waitress' hand, up to her wrist. I couldn't stand staring at it, and for a few seconds the waitress forces to leave but the man continues to talk as he puts her hand above his shoulder. I stood up, taking large steps as I walk towards their table. He starts to sniff her handㅡ I stop in the middle and purposely spill the glass of water that I was holding, right infront of the old man's face. Frightened, he stood up, catching the other's attention after his chair fell.
We start to argue, I made him a fool infront of the people inside the shop. I defended the waitress since he was making up another storyㅡ that the waitress herself was the one who flirted first. It was a long argument but the shame was all on him. The old man leaves. But before he could, the other workers made sure he paid and said sorry.
"You were cooler than me for a while there," Rei jokes as she places my coffee. She tells me that if her co-workers didn't hold her back, she would've carried violence with her to that old man. I was kind of worried too if she rushed out their kitchen and create a violent scene. She's always like that. A punch is enough and she would use it as an argument.
"I was waiting for you to fight in my place," I joked. She made a face. "Thank you though, for the coffee." She made a sound with her tongue and gave me a good bye saluteㅡ if that's how you call it. She returns to the front counter. I take a look at my watch.. 15 minutes left.
I am busy tapping my cup, lost in thoughts when a slice of caramel cake is served right on my table. Confused, I look up to the waiter.. It's Cedric.
"Ohㅡ" I'm startled by his sudden presence. "This isn't mine."
"Yeah I know," he says. "You ordered this last time, right?"
I stare at the plate, at the busy counter, and back at him. "Should I pay up there?"
He laughs. "No. I mean, it's on the house. Don't worry about it."
"Oh." A silence between us. Say something,Vein!
"I can make you something else instead," he offers.
"No, this is fineㅡ I mean ... thank you."
"No problem," Cedric says through a smile. He slides his hands into his apron pockets. "Your name is Yvaine, right?" he points at his name tag. "I'm Cedric."
"Yeah, that's the name."
"Do you have a nickname?"
"I do. They call me Vein... How about you? Do you have one?"
"Cool. Hi Vein.." he smiles. "You can call me Sid."
"Nice to meet you, Sid.."
Some silence as he stands there. He smells faintly cinnamon. So he works here. Neither of us knows what to say. I look around. "Are you on a break?"
Sid stares back at the counter, rubbing his chin. "Well, my manager isn't in today, so I guess you could say that." He adds a smirk.
"I'm sure you deserve it."
"It would be my fifth one today, but who's counting?" We both laugh. My shoulders relax a little.
"Is it okay if I sit here?"
"Sure..." I slide my things out of the way, letting him take the chair beside me.
"I saw you there..." he says, glancing at the table where I confronted the old man from a while ago. "You were awesome, I must say."
"You think so?"
"Yeah.. you could've ignored it like what the others did but you chose not to." He studies our table. "And that amazed the ones who couldn't do it."
I smile as we sit together, talking for the first time about school, the upcoming events, and little things about ourselvesㅡ he's the only child, has only one closest cousin, plays the guitar, and likes music. From time to time, his eyes dart around the room, as if he's nervous, too. But after a few hours, we're both laughing like old friends. Outside, the sun lowers itself, turning his skin almost golden in the window light. It's hard not to notice. It isn't until Rei walks up to us, calling my name, that we both look up and realize how much time has passed.
Rei glances at Sid. "Who'sㅡ Oh.." She must have realized that he's a co-worker. "What is my friend doing with the waiter?" She eyes Sid and then back to me. She notices the caramel cake that I forgot to eat.
"We were just talking about some stuff.. Right, Vein?" He smiles. I simply nod.
"Talking about what stuff?" Rei squints her eyes. "You left the kitchen to talk about some stuff with my friend?ㅡ He gave this to you, didn't he?"
"I, uhㅡ It was nice talking to you, Sid. Thank you for this by the way.. Though I forgot to eat it," I say, a little faster than I'd say it. I somehow panicked a little since I can't bring the plate with me. But Rei already got a plastic cellophane from her bag. She puts the cake into it while asking Sid about what stuff were we talking about.
I stand up and he follows. "She's kind of annoying and talkative. I'm sorry for that."
"Annoying?!ㅡ"
"I can see that," he says, ignoring Rei while smiling. "See you soon."
"I'll have an eye on youㅡ" Rei glances at his name tag. "Cedric."
I smile at him before heading out with Rei. She keeps on talking while we head towards the streets, on the way to the pet store. She keeps asking about it but I just smile at her, shaking my head. She says that Cedric is the cute guy that every waitress at their shop is seeing. "Well except for me though. He's not my type as you can see," she says, showing off her self while taking a step a head of me. Rei prefers someone who matches her. I almost thought she likes a cassanova since that's the closest thing she could like about a guy. She was talking a lot, that I didn't hear the other words. My mind is full of my first talk with Sid. It was so sudden that I have to think about it again if it really happened. I smile. I don't know what excites me, but I hope to have another talk with him someday.