Tomorrow Will Be Better

The Performance

    Lilli was completely out of her element. It was so early in the morning but the other patrons seemed to be dressed in their most extravagant attire. The sultry sounds of a piano melody filled the restaurant, and the air was heavily perfumed to the point where Lilli felt her head beginning to swirl.

She knew that she was a bit out of place here, but wearing her new shoes and sitting across from Gilbert filled her with a sense of delight.

"Off the bat, what do you feel like?"

"Oh... I'm alright." Lilli gave a half-smile.

"I meant to eat, Lilli," Gilbert snickered and waved the waiter over to their table. Lilli's face flushed a bit but she laughed along with him. To be fully transparent, she couldn't quite make heads or tails of the complex menu.

Everything had an elaborate description of what each dish contained and how long it would take to prepare. She kept searching for familiar words like "egg" and "porridge" but couldn't find anything she knew. She had a worry that if she got experimental and chose at random, she would wind up with something unpleasant and waste Gilbert's money because she couldn't finish it.

He already placed his menu to the edge of the table and had the waiter ready to take his order.

"Hey there, I'd like an Apfel-Eierkuchen for the awesome and talented me!" The waiter raised an eyebrow. "Please," Gilbert pursed his lips together like a bird beak and coughed awkwardly.

The waiter scribbled something down and looked toward Lilli for her order. She balked and looked around desperately for a brief moment before requesting the same as Gilbert's. She sighed when the waiter left their table, wondering if she made the right choice.

Oh don't be picky. You know you'll eat whatever arrives in front of you. She rationalized this to herself.

Oh, if only her one stress in this world was not knowing what she should eat for breakfast— that would be a happy life indeed.

She and Gilbert made small talk while they waited for their orders. He was so much fun to just chat with, Lilli believed he could make the business page in the newspaper seem interesting. Somewhere along the way, Gilbert mentioned the dates he would be performing on.

"Alright, so today's the 18th which means getting a train headed for Austria next week'll be pretty tough..."

While Gilbert punched imaginary numbers in the air, Lilli turned over his words in her mind. In only a few days, even ones she hadn't been conscious for, she'd gone from an expendable and lowly boarder girl to someone a stranger made room in his life for.

The pace at which this change had been made also reminded her that it could be lost just as quickly. She balled her hands into a fist under the table.

Come on! Just quit worrying, you're going to do fine.

"Hey! Here comes the food!"

Two plates were placed in front of the pair. A sliced piece of pancake laden with apple and walnuts presented itself to them and Gilbert's eyes sparkled like a child's at the sight. He grinned even wider when the waiter heaped a generous portion of strawberries and cream on both of their plates. Lilli thanked the waiter graciously but he had already moved on to the next table.

Oh, this could be a chance for Lilli to show off her table manners to a nobleman like Gilbert, (At least that's what she assumed he was) so she tore her eyes away from the beautiful sight of the pastry and carefully draped her napkin across her knees and selected a fork and knife to slice the food with.