I made my way to the bar section and took a seat, following the song’s lyrics, my eyes still fixed on the lively crowd in front of me. When the song finally came to its end, a round of applause followed right after as the audience was claiming for another performance from the singer, who declined as he stepped down from the stage.
"Oh come on! Don’t be this cruel!” exclaimed a male voice. "It’s not every day we get to hear you on the mic!"
"Yeah, another one!” chimed in a female voice.
“Come on, Cole! One more! One more! One more!" this time one of the waitresses claimed, rallying the crowd to join her.
"You already pulled that trick once, it’s not going to work a second time." the famous Cole responded, heading toward the bar.
Even a new born could’ve read disappointment on the audience's faces and read it in their voices, but he paid no attention. Clearly, he had a bar to manage, at least from my point of view.
"You're no fun at all." teased the previous waitress, tossing her towel at his face.
"You're fired, Rose." he retorted, doing the same.
"You wouldn’t last a day without me, darling.”
“Oh really? Wanna bet?” he stated with a challenging yet an amused tone.
“No need to bet against you, hon. You’ll lose and that’s an undeniable fact. Here, the checks for tables 04, 07 and 09”
"Well, well! Guess who’s angry!"
"You can’t even imagine how much." she replied, chewing her gum and leaning against the bar counter as she waited for him to finish. "All set? Not too dizzy?"
"I’m working, Rose. Don’t distract me." he answered sarcastically, counting out the money for each customer.
Meanwhile, another performer had taken the microphone and was leading the crowd with David Bowie’s hit Heroes.
"Always a pleasure doing businesses with you." he handed the money to Rose with a fake smile.
"Pleasure’s all mine, darling!" Rose winked as she left to return the change to the customers. He couldn’t help but nod while I, Jamie Allen, had to clear my throat to catch his lost attention.
"Oh, sorry! Excuse me. What can I do for you?" he then asked, handing me the lunch bar menu.
"No it's fine, I just got here anyway.”
I admit, I felt like I was transparent this whole time during their sarcastic exchange between colleagues. Anyway, while Cole was busy with other orders, checks and receipts, I had time to browse through the local culinary specialities of the menu but surprisingly I couldn’t seem to make up my mind. Hearing him chuckling lightly made me raise my head as I caught him glancing at me.
"This must be your first time in town, I suppose." he concluded with a smile.
"You figured that out just because I’m struggling to choose what to eat?"
"Not really. Chaston’s a very small town. Stay here a few days and you’ll recognize everyone effortlessly. That’s the first reason."
"You can’t possibly know everyone living here, can you?"
Collin just smiled in response.
"I’ll take that as confirmation."
"Smart of you." he teased.
"And what are the other reasons?" I asked curiously.
"Well, again Chaston is a small town…” he started, bringing us laughter and then he pursued “And this place is usually were acquaintances meet each other. You won’t find people from here coming to the counter, sitting here, clearing their throat to pull me out of a brief trance…"
"...and also struggling to choose the right dish?" I finished, grimacing.
"You’re confirming it yourself!" he exclaimed, raising his hands in mock surrender.
“Okay, but what if people just wanted to see and talk to you? They could just come and suit themselves here like me.”
“So you’re telling me you came here to see and talk to me?”
I stayed speechless from his words while discomfort took control of my being.
"See? The more you’re trying to explain yourself, the more I end up being right.”
I lowered my eyes and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
“May I?" he just smiled and then asked for the menu card that I handed him willingly.
He guided me through the ingredients of each specialty so I could have a better idea of each dish. It took him quite a while because of my endless questions before I finally made up my mind - my curiosity seemed more insatiable than my hunger.
"I’ll go for this yellow rice along with your coconut fish and this famous achards." using the original accent on achards.
"Yummy! Consider it done! What can I get you to drink?"
"Oh just a bottle of water. Chilled if possible, please. Thanks."
Collin handed me the bottle of water and a glass before moving toward the kitchen door just a few steps away to place my order.
"Hey, chef!”
“Yes, sir?”
“One yellow rice with our coconut fish and our famous achards, please!" he called, keeping his eyes on me.
"Roger that! Ready in a few minutes!"
"Awesome! You’re the best!" he then got back to the counter.
Was it me or did he deliberately repeated exactly my words, with pure intention to tease me? Chaston was definitely gonna be one hell adventure and I was sure I wasn’t yet at the end of my surprises.
YOU ARE READING
See You Again
ChickLitIt's an excerpt from Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables". He says: "The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have loo...
