The Edge of Reality

Chapter 5: The Group

I liked my boss from the moment I met her. She was a middle aged woman with a kind face. I didn't learn her last name, because she told me to just call her Uma; it was a relaxed work environment. It seemed overwhelming to learn the ropes of the café, but she walked me through the training step by step until I was comfortable dealing with the customers, waiting tables and helping in the kitchen. I would be shadowing other waiters for a while, but she assured me that I would be confident enough to do it on my own after a short time.

"Now I know you might be nervous, but I can see you have great spirit for this job," she told me. "As long as you're enjoying yourself and doing your job, you'll do just fine."

Actually, I wasn't nervous. The adrenaline made me think so at first, but I realized I was just excited to have a job and spend time in such a fun environment. Everything about The Hideout was so warm and friendly, from my coworkers to the workspace and even the customers. Monohan had warned me about the "café crowd" as he drove me that morning. I had suggested I could ride the bus, but he wanted to limit my involvement with rough crowds.

"I know you can handle yourself," he'd said. "But you need to be careful. Most of these people have no interest in the path. If you can teach them about it, that's wonderful, but most of them don't want to hear about it. Even if they are nice, you need to watch out for yourself. Be a good example."

As wary as I was after his warnings, I couldn't help but be comfortable around everyone who came into the cheery joint. No two people were alike here- their clothing, the colors of their skin and the colors in their personality were all different but they all blended together in harmony. I had to keep reminding myself to stand out and be alert- it would be all too easy to blend in with them without even realizing anything was wrong.

As I started to get the hang of the cafe, Murtvika came in to visit a lot in the first week. Aside from her, I didn't get to know anyone outside of casual exchanges of formalities. It wasn't until halfway through my second week of working that someone really caught my eye. He had messy dark hair and eyes full of mischief and, from the few times I'd noticed him hanging around before, that spark never seemed to leave his expression. Today was the first time that I'd waited on him, and I don't know if it was the afternoon angle of the sun streaming in, or if he lit up as I approached.

"Welcome to The Hideout, my name is Tesha and I'll be waiting on you all today," I routinely said. I tried look at everyone at the table equally, but my eyes were drawn to his. "Do y'all know what you'd like to order?"

"I know what I'D like to order," the man said with a smirking grin. I blushed and glazed over the comment as his friends teased him and gave me their drink requests. I almost forgot to write them down. They stayed for two hours, and I didn't talk to him directly, but I could feel him looking at me the entire time. When I finally brought them the check, one of his friends- a pretty young woman with olive skin- came up to the counter to pay. She suprised me by getting a little personal.

"Hi, I'm Desdemona," she said. "My friend over there wanted to know what time you get off today." She drew her words out like she was mocking him, and I felt my face grow warm again.

"Des!" the man exclaimed in a whisper from several tables over.

"7:00," I smiled sheepishly, sending a shy glance his way. He looked as embarrassed as I was.

She laughed in his direction. "Thanks," she turned to smile at me. The group of them left, and I was anxious with the anticipation of him coming back in a couple hours. I was absentminded for the rest of my shift, mixing up an order and almost dropping a tray out of negligence- thankfully Uma didn't seem to notice. If she did, she must have passed it off as my continued learning curve; I'd made plenty of small mistakes in the last week. Evenings were always busy, so I didn't have time to check the clock every few minutes. Instead, I watched the shadows stretch across the cafe and waited for the sun to set. Autumn was quickly approaching, so the days had grow shorter- along with my patience for this man to come back. I clocked out at exactly 7:00, and stood by the checkout counter expectantly. I realized that Monohan would be there to pick me up at any moment, and I desperately hoped he would arrive late. A couple minutes went by before, lo and behold, the door opened and those mischievous eyes were directed at me. He walked over slowly, looking as though he was on the verge of running back out.