See You Soon

Chapter 14

  “Bye park!” Jessica said, sitting beside me in the car. We watched all the lights and shadows of rides fade as we pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the highway, headed for home. But before we got back to Caddeton, we were going to stop for supper at a local restaurant that everyone raved about. It was a family grill, all about the meat.

  James and his sister were following close behind us, everyone hungry after a long day. Unfortunately, the directions we got were terrible, and we were going around in circles before Brooklyn found it. We pulled up into the packed parking lot and got a spot in the back lot.

  A kind looking girl led us to a big table at the back. I realized I didn’t know where I would sit, and who with. But everyone made the decision for me, as Brooklyn sat next to Jessica, who sat next to Aaron on one side. Then James sat on one end of the other side, while Kristen motioned for me to sit in between the two.

  Most of us decided to get their ‘famous’ burgers, the delicious smell of the ones from our table neighbors filling the room.

  “Can I take your orders?” A bored looking waiter asked us, his hands deep in his pocket.

“Yes please,” Brooklyn told him, smiling. He started on our side, taking his time writing down our orders, not to mention looking us girls up and down.  After he took Brooklyn’s and Jessica’s order, he started collecting the menus and turned to leave.

  “You forgot someone,” Brooklyn said, meaning Aaron, who looked up at the waiter apologetically.

“Right.” It might have been just me, but the way he said that sounded awfully rude. Every time a word came out of Aaron’s mouth, the waiter seemed to cringe. I held back my tongue and ignored it, focusing on anything else. I didn’t even realize I had been bunching the table cloth in my hands, gripping it so tightly my knuckles were white, until I felt someone’s hands lightly take my hands off. I looked over and saw James give me a smile, which surprisingly made me calm down a little.

  “So what are you majoring in?” I ask Kristen, who looks at me with a smile.

“Well, I want to be a teacher. I finally get to start subbing next year and I can’t wait.” I think she would make a great teacher.

  “You should be my teacher!” Jessica says, excited. We all laugh and talk about everything until our food comes. The waiter lays down all of our plates, happy to finally eat. Except, Aaron’s place mat is empty.

  “Still cooking,” He says when he notices us staring. I find it odd that its only Aarons food that’s not ready, especially after the forgetful waiter. We all eat slowly, refraining ourselves from digging in while we wait for his food. He keeps the conversation going and makes jokes, but his heart isn’t all the way in it. I notice Brooklyn looking around the restaurant for the waiter, but he doesn’t return until ten minutes after.

  He was walking over towards Aaron, plate in hand, when suddenly the plate is wobbling and he’s falling and the food is jumping up and down, up and down... then most of its no longer on the plate. It’s on Aaron.

  The whole restaurant seems to stop for a minute and look over at our table, murmurs rising up in level. He sits there shocked, covered in fries and lettuce. I’m fine until I see the look on the waiter’s face, which should have been apologetic, or shocked, or anything, except smug. As it was when I look up.

  “Excuse me?” I say, loud enough for the waiter to turn and look at me questioningly.

“What? Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt the f-a-g.”  He spelled the last, disgustingly used word out and smirked at us.