And He Was Still Shirtless

"Emma, can you get table two please? I'm swamped." My best friend Jaz yelled over her shoulder while struggling to carry two food trays.

I sighed in exhaustion. "Of course, but you know I get off in 15 minutes."

"Yeah, duh. Just do it!" She snapped.

I raised an eyebrow. Jeez, someone needs to take a chill pill. I wiped my head with my arm in order to find some way to wipe at least some of the sweat of my forehead. The kitchen is always so stuffy from all the smoke and heat from the grill, especially at this time of night.

I glanced at the clock. 6:45

I sighed and made my way over to the front desk to grab a menu. I looked over at table two and saw the back of a lone man's head. I quickly grabbed the menu and sauntered over there, smoothing out my apron as I did so.

As I got closer, I noticed that the man was undeniably attractive. He had short blonde hair, a square tight set jaw, and his biceps were bulging out of his t-shirt arm holes. I caught my breath and swallowed back.

I was used to hot men coming into the restaurant. It was no big deal, really, but since I am a 19 year old girl who is trying her best to earn enough money this year to pay for college by working six hours at Denny's every day and who is overweight; let's just say I'm not much to look at or worth bothering.

Once I made my way over to the table, the young man looked up at me. His bright, captivating blue eyes caught my attention and it dawned on me that he suddenly looked familiar. Have you ever done that before? Recognized someone who you are sure you've seen before but can't remember how you knew them. This was one of those moments.

In a split second I shrugged it off because he probably just came in the restaurant before and I recognized him because of that. It happens often. His eyebrows narrowed slightly and quickly looked me up and down.

I immediately became self conscious because usually this is the point where they lose interest. Although I'm not obese or anything, I still wasn't the best figure shaped. However, his eyes instantly returned to mine with the same pointed expression, almost as if he were confused.

I cleared my throat. "Hello sir, welcome to Denny's, is there anything I can get you to drink?"

His eyebrows released their tension but his eyes were still narrow. "Huh?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Can I get you something to drink?"

Suddenly he stood up, which it was then that I realized just how much taller he was then me. About a foot.

"Um...this is so weird. Um, have I seen you before?" He replied,his tone still confused.

"That depends, have you been here before?"

He shook his head. "Nope. This is my first day in town. I just moved here."

Huh...that's weird. I've lived here my entire life and I wouldn't know anyone who has never been in this town before. "Oh..."

He let out a chuckle. "Sorry. I must have you confused with someone else."

So I obviously looked familiar to him too. "Like who?"

"I'm not sure. I just know that you look oddly familiar."

I nodded, still looking at his blue eyes....those eyes....where have I seen those eyes...

"Yeah. You do too." I said softly. "Weird. Where did you used to live?"

He gave me a small smile. "In Colorado. I moved here to be closer to my dad."

I nodded. "Fresh out of college?"

He laughed. "No, not in college yet. I'm starting this year though."

I sighed in jealousy. I wish I had enough money to go to college, but unfortunately was born into a poor family and get to spend all my time working for jobs that only give me enough to pay my rent and food.

He cleared his throat. "That sucks."

I snapped back out of my thoughts and narrowed my eyebrows at him. "What?!"

He stifled a chuckle. "You said that out loud."

I blushed. "Oh. I'm so sorry, I'm not thinking straight today, I'm a little tired. Forgive me."

He gave me a wide grin. "Sure."

I shook my head. "What would you like to drink?"

"I'll take a water. I'm exhausted too."

I nodded and gave him a smile. "Right."

I walked away from his table and over to the soda fountain machine. How embarrassing was that? I mean jeez woman. Who is he though? That's so weird...I've never known anyone who lived in Colorado.

After filling up a clean glass full of water, I looked up at the clock. 7:03

I silently cheered in my head because now I can hang up my apron and go home. Finally.

I yelled, "BYE JAZ!!!!"

"BYE!!!"

"I'LL TEXT YOU LATER!!!"

"K!" Soon after her reply, I heard a clashing of kitchenware and a whole bunch of swearing tumbling after.

I laughed. That's my girl. I took the glass of water and walked over to none other than table two.

"Here you go sir. Someone else will be by to take your order."

He cocked his head. "You're not going to be my waitress?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm afraid not. I'm off shift."

He nodded. "Well...Emma," he said, noticing my name tag, "it was nice to meet you."

I nodded and gave him a small smile. "Yeah. I hope you enjoy your water."

I hope you enjoy your water? Wow Emma. Just wow.

He smiled. "Oh I SO will. Oh and..."

He started digging his fingers in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it up and pulled out a 10 and handed it to me.

"There you go."

I shook my head in disbelief. "What? All for a water?"

He chuckled. "Yeah. What can I say? It's a god damn good water." Then he slurped it obnoxiously.

I laughed. "Well in that case," I stuffed it in my back pocket, "enjoy and thank you very much."

He nodded. "Sure. My name's Seth by the way."

Seth...Seth???? "Emma....obviously."

I blushed again and kept repeating that name in my head. That sounds so familiar...

He nodded. That was my cue to leave. "Well...bye."

He smiled. "You suck at goodbyes."

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah, always have been."

He waved at me as I began to walk off. Seth...Seth....Seth....I've only know one Seth in my entire life and that was when I was camping when I was 14 and met him on the....

No....no...it can't be....