Are You Willing To Bet On Love?

The first time she had met him was when he was going through his cocky rebel phase. The economy rate at the time was very low, and coming from a family of six run by a middle-class worker, she along with her brothers and sisters had been forced to find jobs to keep their needs satisfied. A friend of hers had a cousin who ran an international chain of prominent restaurants; she had been recommended as a hard worker and therefore had been given the job of being a half-time waitress at Tara’s Inn.

He was new to the city and came from a well-off family who did not need to work to earn money. After finally unpacking and rearranging all his items into his new bedroom, he had decided to take a break and reward himself with a well deserved drink. Tara’s Inn was located at the end of the street so he did not have to walk far or feel the need to exercise his rusty bicycle. Bells chimed overhead as he entered the small diner. It was neither crowded nor was it scarce of human population. It was not rowdy but nor was it quiet. A soft buzz of talk filled the air, soothing his nerves of fitting in.

Everyone there was engrossed in their own work. Heads did not turn to face the newcomer, but he wasn’t ignored either. The host who was a woman in her mid-twenties smiled at him and directed him to a lone booth by the window. He sat down, taking the menu from her hands quietly and skimmed through it briefly, already knowing what he would have wanted to drink.

The atmosphere was peaceful. The walls were covered in wallpaper that was mostly covered up with all sorts of things one might find in a bedroom rather than in a diner. Gleaming trophies that winked at him as they caught his eye stood tall and proud on shelves lined with pictures of the employee of the month. What caught his eye though, was when a teenager around his age he presumed, went up to the wall behind the counter with a sharpie in his hands and wrote on it with italicized words that said:

Live freely, laugh freely & love freely.

Now that he paid attention, he could see lots of other words written in all sorts of colours and fonts written on the wall. Most were quotes, others inspirational words and some were written just for laughs.

“What would you like to order?” asked a voice, shaking him out of his reverie. He snapped his head to find a girl, no younger or older than him staring at him expectantly. She was dressed differently than her fellow colleagues. Her shoes that were flip flops were battered and weary. Her jeans had been rolled up to her knees and she wore a grey sweatshirt with the word ‘peace’ splattered all over. Unlike other girls he had seen around here, she didn’t seem to care how she dressed. Her ensemble screamed “I’m my own style” and he found himself liking it. So, he did the stupidest thing a boy his age could possibly do.

“Well, a hotter waitress would be a good start,” he smirked arrogantly.

“Sorry, out of stock. If you’d like I could introduce you to Rob over there who usually takes care of scum like you,” she said, jerking her head over to a large, beefy man about twice his size that was cleaning the counter top.

His brows reached his hairline; did the girl not understand that he was better than riff-raff like her? As if reading his mind, she answered, “Everyone in this diner is family. That includes the employees and customers alike. If you think yourself better than us then I recommend you stepping off your sanctimonious horse and realizing that this is the real world where everything does not happen upon your approval. Either you get out and dine at La Rouge or you can simply take back your words and order something we might actually have.”

Spluttering indignantly, he stood up and walked out of the diner without another word.

And since that day, not a day had gone by where he couldn’t find the time to visit Tara’s Inn.