Seeking Hope

Seeking Hope: Chapter 10

“Are you done with that?” Mom said leaning on the small table for two I was sitting at, at her restaurant. I was kind of dazing off considering I had just about half of this spaghetti dish a cook of hers made for me. My left elbow was resting against the table as my head was resting on my hand… my other hand was rolling spaghetti over and over on the fork being uplifted in the air. I drifted back into reality as mum gave me a ‘well?’ look. “Um. Yeah, I’m done.” She smiled and gave it to the waitress that was walking by down the isle we were at. Mom sat down. “So, what do you think?” Referring to the restaurant of hers.

“It’s nice… Mom you really pulled it off. It looks great.” I encouraged, grabbing her hand to show how proud of a son I am. A warm, victorious smiled occurred on her face. “Well thank you as always dear. I wish your father was here to see this.” The restaurant looked really great. There were lots of customers who looked and sounded pleased with the fine work. I mean, who wouldn’t be? The carpet was rugged with a dark blue pattern with golden spots or squares separated on the floor, the chairs were quite comfortable with the wooden touch, the walls were decorated with paintings of matching colors, filled with hundreds of portraits and over all, the people were great – especially at cooking. It’s just like an ordinary restaurant, but better. 

“Me too…” As silence crawled beneath us for a little while, a few of the employers came surrounding around us, introducing them selves to me… and also complimenting me? That was different.  I felt like a lost boy surrounded by animals from the circus. They were saying things I would of never thought anyone would say. ‘Oh Nancy! He’s such a nice boy!’ ‘Nancy, you certainly have a wonderful son here!’ ‘You two don’t look anything alike!’ ‘Your son is to die for! Can my daughter date him?’ ‘Nancy he’s an angel! We should replace each other’s kids, aye?’ Still looking friendly on the outside, I just couldn’t help but give a few strange looks to some of the people. I’m not much of a person who handles a lot of compliments – well, at least I thought they were – by many, so I made an excuse to get out of there. “You’re all so nice. But, it’s getting late.” I started, getting up from the table and putting my bag over my shoulder. “Thanks mom, I’ll see you when you get home.” Mom had a concerned look on her face, just as I turned she spoken up. “Mike, don’t be ridiculous! It’s 7:30. Just wait till my shift ends and I’ll drive you home…” she insisted. With a smirk on my face I walked off. “It’s not too far away. I’ll see you when I get home!” I called out.

Dragging my feet against the concrete with light cracks throughout the darkness was kind of peaceful. In New York, it is way crowded and quite loud just to go for a walk around somewhere. But here, it’s different. It’s pretty cool really. With my hands in pocket and the touch of the wind picking up in the evening, I couldn’t help but shiver, and then I heard a bell noise. Looking up from across the street was a café’… The one Claire worked at. It seemed like she closed it down for the night. Walking down the step she goes, I called out her name and she stumbled, looking a bit confused as we both started walking towards each other. Standing in the middle of the road… with the light green. Luckily there weren’t any cars that were near us. We were alone featuring the silence and fogs coming out of our mouths each time we talked… but over all alone.

Waiting there in the coldness, she came to a halt. “What.” She stated, nothing near a question at all. I let out a chuckle. “What’s so funny Adams?” She asked with an attitude. I just shrugged smiling. “You. You’re just… impossible. So, how was your night?”  I asked, casually and hoping to bring a conversation along. She sighed. “Well, besides that freaking two year old who spilt his mommy’s coffee everywhere and wouldn’t stop crying and serving arrogant customers non-stop… I had a pretty good evening. What about yours?” There wasn’t really anything interesting to say about my day. “Not really. School, homework, restaurant-“ As I was listing some other things Claire interrupted. “Wait, what? You went to a restaurant?” She asked confused but yet wide eyed. “That’s what I said?” Claire was biting her lips and rolling her eyes, I guess a polite way of hers to not say anything too rude. “Of course you did, your rich.” Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “Anybody can go to a restaurant.” I argued. “Yeah, but my dad and I don’t, especially on a Wednesday.” “Well maybe you could ask him sometime?” I insisted. She turned around with her head resting on her hand. “You don’t get it. It’s complicated.” Silence, and then a deep breath Claire had took in and turned around. “Sorry about that, erm, what restaurant did you go to?” I shrugged of embarrassment… I did not know the name of the place, and I’m the son of the owner for crying out loud. “That new one that recently opened. Sorry, I don’t know the name of it yet.” Her eyes popped open. “Dude you are rich. It’s so fancy there!” Excitement was rushing through her bloods as her facial expressions lighten up with a cheerful tone. “It’s called ’Fils Béni du Mien.’ Ever since it opened up I always wanted to go in there! It’s like a French restaurant that’s so… global? But it’s really expensive is what I have been hearing around town-“ The name of mom’s restaurant kind of got me off tracked. ‘Fils Béni du Mien.’ My nationality is French so obviously I can speak some French. “- I can’t believe she write that…” Talking to myself, Claire stopped and paid attention. “What?” “Hmm?” Looking at her, I noticed she was slightly smiling but the look in her eyes could tell she was confused. “Oh sorry, the name of the place kind of got me off track.” Claire pfted and started to walk away a bit. “Name, shmame. It’s just a restaurant name in French, it doesn’t mean anything,” she implied. I got annoyed with some of the things she was saying. But hey, that’s Claire. “It might not mean anything to you, but it does to me. It means ‘Blessed Son Of Mine’ in English.” Looking at her with a serious face, she twirled around. “So, you’re taking the name seriously considering you’re a guy?” Oh My God. She obviously hadn’t caught on yet. With a small whimper that came out of my mouth as I my head fall backwards, I put myself back into reality facing her. “It means a lot to me cause I know who owns the place. Really well, actually.” Her eyebrow lifted up. “Really? And how do you know this person? Let me guess, because your rich and fancy, you just thought you could barge in, give them a thousand bucks and talk to the owner so now you have connections when ever you want. Oh ok, seems fair.” She suggested, being a smartass who was serious. Well, I was to. “No. You don’t get it. It’s my mom’s. I gave up everything for her, just so she can live her dream working here, meeting new people, starting fresh, doing what she want’s and really going for it.” I paused, not only to see her reaction – which looked a bit hurt and saddened – but also for a quick breath. “I gave up sports. I gave up music. I gave up living in New York City. I gave up my private school. I gave up seeing my friends. I gave up seeing my girlfriend and I even gave up spending some time with my dad. So, don’t assume that I’m such a ‘rich fancy boy’ who can get everything he wants in a heart beat.” Another Breath. :I thought we had a deal, anyway?”

Claire licked her lips. “No, no we did. Sorry… I didn’t really know.” A considerate smile came out of me. “It’s cool.” She bit her lip. “So… your mom really owns the place?” I nodded. “Wow. Must be cool having a mom as a chef, huh?” A laugh came out of me. “Yeah, pretty much. I think it’s every kid’s dream.” Claire laughed as well. “Tell me about it, my dad can’t cook so most of the time we have take-away. If were lucky, my aunt Jacklyn comes and saves us by cooking a fresh homemade meal.” As we flashed each other a smile one more time, I knew it was best to say goodbye for the night. “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked. She just nodded. As I turned around, Claire called out my name. “Mike, um. About that deal of ours… do you think we could start off with something small, starting tomorrow?” I turned around to face her, having a curious but yet smirk appear on my face while crossing my arms. “Sure, what is it?” She smiled. “I want you to teach me how to be a better person. Like, nice and considerate. You know, someone with… um, you know.”  It was quite funny seeing her saying those things, but there was a word I particularly wanted to hear. “Go on, say it!” I insisted. “Fine… feelings.” I clapped. “Nice. Well, we can start off small tomorrow, and then we can build up from there. If people can see that you’re a nice person, than they’ll like you. Just give it sometime, alright?” I sensed that she was pleased to hear that judging by that smile of hers. “Thanks. So, am I really that much of a bitch?” I laughed quite a bit louder than usual. “You don’t say those things in public! And know, your not.”

She was still smiling, and then she randomly punched me in the arm. “HEY!” She laughed louder too. “So, I’m still not a bitch if I do that?” I rolled my eyes and started rubbing my arm. “No, your not. You’re a mega-bitch.” She punched me again, but this time harder. “Don’t call me a bitch.”  Instead of yelling, we just laughed at each other and until we heard a man with a deep voice yelling “MOVE!” repeatedly. Looking to my left, we both saw a car honking and coming fast this way. With a loud echoing scream from Claire, we managed to get out of the way just in time. “STUPID KIDS!” The driver called out. I laughed at Claire again for screaming and she pushed me hard, she ran to the other side of the crossing. “I’ll see you later Mike!” and with that she went. I smiled and walked home, this time hoping no one would honk at me for being in the way.