Saving Mattie (nh)

Chapter 2: Timber Yard

Chapter Two

The aroma of tea and biscuits filled the air. Clattering mugs sounded, but all in all, it just made the atmosphere seem more welcoming.

I bent down and wiped down the table I had just cleared. I squirted it with some bleach and water mixture, and ran the cloth over it one more time before straightening up, huffing and making my way back to the kitchen.

I pushed open the Employees Only door leading to the kitchen, and darted my way through the many waitresses and cooks making coffee and old homemade dinner for the customers. Timberyard wasn't the most popular coffe shop in London, but it was well known by the seniors in the area. Many would come down here and have tea and breakfast in the morning, only to return for dinner at night.

I managed to get to the other side of the kitchen without tripping or slipping on spilt coffee, and I managed to hop upon the counter. Pulling my homework onto my lap, I began to recite and translate sentences from my own autobiography into both german and french for school the next day.

"Ich arbeite in einem Café im Zentrum von London genannt Holzplatz." I said quietly, writing it down on the page in german. The steam in the room from hot cofee pots made me sweat, and I wiped my brow.

"Je travaille dans un café-restaurant dans le centre de Londres appelé..." I said, writing it down in french. My pencil hovered over the page, my mind had gone blank.

"Hey Colette?" I called. Colette was a french major, and had just recently returned from France. Her dark brunette head poked up from the doorway.

"How do you say Timber yard in french?" I called. She smirked.

"Parc à bois." she called, before moving on to assist another table. I grinned and quickly scribbled it down on the page.

"Mattie, new costumers at table five!" Someone called. I huffed and set my books aside. Quickly, I slid off the counter and grabbed a notepad to write down their orders on before skipping out the door. Sure, between work, school and home, I was spreading myself pretty thin, but it wasn't like I had a choice.

I looked around, before locating table five. A few young people were sat around the table, laughing at something. I rolled my eyes. If they were obnoxious jerks I'd go crazy.

I made my way over to the table. "Hi guys, my name is Mattie and I'll be your server today. Can I start you off with drinks?" I managed to blurt out without making eye contact.

"Mattie?"

My eyes flashed up to the people seated at the table, and instantly my eyes fell on James. His hand raised in a awkward kind of wave. "Erm, hi."

"Uh, hi." I said. You could nearly slice through the awkward with a knife.

"Um, aren't you a little young to be a waitress here?" he asked, smirking.

Not wanting to share my whole life story, I quickly changed the subject. "Aren't you a little young to have a moustache?"

James grinned. "Intelligent. Mattie, these are my friends. Over here we have Mick Green."

Mick raised his large hand in greeting. "Toodle-pip." he said, his voice quite deep. He wore a knit jumper and large bowler hat, which I found quite odd.

"This here is... Edna. Say hello Edna." James voice broke when he said Edna, but I just brushed it off. Edna wore a big, floppy hat and happened to have a massive pot belly hidden beneath her floral shirt.

"Uh, yes. I'm Edna. Nice to meet you sweetheart." Edna said, her voice somewhat masculine. I furrowed my brow.

"And those two are Moe and Gerald." James finished, pointing at two odd fellows. One was wearing bright green and had long hair, and the other had on a brown tee shirt over his darker skin, with a baseball cap on his head.