Sweat dripped from Gio's forehead as she wiped down the last table- the restaurant was thirty minutes away from closing and no one usually ventured out to eat at half-past-nine so she had hoped to take a quick break before hopping on her car and driving home. She was desperate to quit her tiresome summer job as a waitress, but she also needed the income to fund her college tuition and books. If only I'd been born rich, she thought.
Similar thoughts went through Cami's head as she vigorously scrubbed the women's restroom's toilet with a decaying brush, trying hard not to breathe or else, she felt, she could puke. Guacamole Thursdays were her least favorite day of the week. Like Gio, she wished she could quit her job and instead pour her time into writing and editing her novel, but unlike Gio, she was essentially stuck working dead-end minimum wage jobs. It had been a full eight months since she became a literal "beauty school drop out" and though at the time it had pained her, she had started to come to terms with her decision.
"Can you close tonight? I'm exhausted," Gio asked Cami, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.
"I have a date," Cami said.
"No you don't." Gio told her, "bitch, I know you: you don't do anything that involves acting nice and men."
"Honestly, someone just give this woman a PhD already," Cami replied, sarcastically.
"Hi, excuse me," a voice came from behind them.
They both stared at each other, in dread, afraid to turn back to look at the source of the voice. Oh no, a customer, they thought synchronously.
Cami approached the counter first, trying on her very best smile- which, given the circumstances, looked more like a face of disgust. Looking up at her customer, she said "yes?"
"Hey, how do you do?" the man said. He was tall and a little odd- looking, in Cami's opinion, especially since he sported an oversized bright orange track suit. Little early for Halloween, she figured.
"I'm good, what can I help you with?" she answered, but to everyone else's confusion, his next reaction was quite unusual. He paused for a second, pursed his lips and dared to utter:
"It's "well," well is an adverb, good is an adjective."
"Why goodie, we've got an intellectual in the house to-" Cami began saying, but Gio stopped her, to prevent the fight that was just about to unfold.
"Are you dining in? How many of you?"
"We're three," he said, just as two other guys approached the restaurant from outside.
"I'll get you seated right away, and I'll be your server for the night," Gio said, glaring at Cami, "my name is Gio," she added as she turned to reach for three menus below the counter. When she stood back up, the other two had joined the party, and in a fraction of a second, the course of her entire night was changed.
She locked eyes with the boy standing on the left and call it destiny, call it gravitation, or whatever force of attraction it be, but she felt completely drawn to him. Her energy levels were restored, she no longer felt drained, after looking into the eyes of what she had decided was the most beautiful man in the world.
And then he smiled. She had to excuse herself as she ran to the kitchen to share the juicy gossip with the chef, because as always, Cami was less than enthusiastic about these things.
"Ho-ly crap, Nany, you have to come outside," she announced as she barged in, "the three most handsome guys ever just walked in- okay, but the one of them, he's absolutely per-fect! I can't," she wiped off the small tears that were beginning to form in her eyes.
Nany, Gio's older cousin, who also saw herself forced to work during the summer for tuition money, hardly understood any of what Gio tried to say. The former thought she was being crystal clear, when in reality, all the excitement and nervous jumping around made her speech sound like unintelligible gargles. Before Nany could enquire again, Gio ran out to attend her customers because she didn't want to run the risk of Cami bashing the first one's head on a bowl of semi- fresh guacamole.
The guys ordered and Nany prepared their food quickly, hoping to go home soon to feed her cats- poor Kitty had been feeling ill for the past few days and Nany could hardly concentrate on her work knowing that her furry baby was in pain.
Gio stared at all of them from behind the counter, but especially at the one with dark brown hair that had captivated her attention initially. He noticed, eventually.
"This food is good," he said, looking at Gio, as Cami, elbows deep in a dire case aftermath of Guac Tues, shouted from the men's room, "well!"
"I-I-I'm glad you like it," Gio replied. Stupid, you killed the conversation, she told herself.
"I'm Taehyung," he introduced himself.
"Gio," she said, "you guys aren't from around here, right?"
"Because we're Asian?" The first guy who came in asked.
"No!" Gio said almost instantly, "that is NOT what I meant! Manatí is a small town, and everyone pretty much knows each other. I'm only asking because I've never seen you around."
"We're only visiting, it's our first night here. Our band is shooting a music video at the beach," the one with reddish-brown hair, the one who had not spoken yet, answered.
"Nice, then I'm glad you decided to visit our restaurant and I hope you get to explore around a little."
"We were hoping you'd give us some recommendations."
"Oh, actually, Cami and I are headed out for the night after we close, if you want to join us," Gio blurted out without thinking. Although she later regretted involving Cami in plans that required socialization and putting herself out there so brazenly, soon after, she was pleasantly rewarded.
"Sounds good. Namjoon,"Taehuyng said pointing at the first guy who walked in, "and I can go. Hoseok here was feeling tired."
"I need to go to bed so I can wake up early and teach the sun how to shine!" Hoseok added. Gio was slightly confused.
"I can text you the address and we can meet there, if that's cool with you," Gio suggested.
Taehyung pulled out his phone before Namjoon, and Gio felt everything at once, like a ray of light hit her. Oh my god, I'm getting his phone number. He unlocked it and handed it to her, so she could add herself to his contacts. Afterwards, Gio went to the kitchen to tell Nany all about the wonderful Taehyung, but again, all Nany heard was incoherent speech, yet nonetheless she pretended to listen and understand, cheering her cousin on.
The guys finished their food, paid and left, leaving behind a generous tip for Gio. She figured she could buy Cami apology drinks with the money, to bribe her into coming along. She felt euphoric, beyond elated but when Cami came out of the men's room after clearing the disaster zone, her face expressed nothing short of pure, plain "I'm going to kill you."
But Gio could die happily: she had scored a double date with the most beautiful man on the planet.
