The Boy With BlAIDS

The Bliss

"Welcome to Hartley's! How many in your party?" I recited with a rehearsed cheerful tone, looking up at the family in front of me with a smile.

"Just the three of us," the mother of the group answered, offering a polite smile back at me. "And one kids menu, please."

With a curt nod towards the family, I quickly gathered three menus, a kids menu, and a package of crayons (okay, so I grabbed three packages of crayons for the kid even though I'm technically only supposed to give them one. The kid was adorable, I'm sorry).

"Follow me," I called over my shoulder, walking over to a booth in the back corner of the café. The family slid into the booth accordingly, and I handed the menus to each of them. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes to take your drink orders," I reassured before walking back to front of the café. With a sigh, I glanced over at the clock on the side of the wall, next to several posters advertising musical concerts around town. Most of them were outdated by months, some were even promoting piano recitals that occurred years ago.

6:30, the clock read. There was still thirty minutes before my shift ended, and already I was exhausted. Not to mention, I still had to go home and finish the enormous amount of homework my teachers had assigned in all of my classes today (the perks of taking multiple AP and honors classes). After school I'd had to rush over to the café to start my shift, as it started just fifteen minutes after school ended. I'd barely even had enough time to quickly kiss Kristian, my boyfriend, assuring him I'd see him later before rushing off.

My lips quirked up into a small smile at the thought of Kristian, before opening up my calculus textbook and resuming working on trying to figure out how the area of a pizza when some idiot had cut out a dodecahedron into the middle of it. Seriously, the "real life problems" in calculus are ridiculous, none of them are actual real life things that ever actually happen.

After about a few minutes I was able to solve the problem, briefly scanning over my work with a smirk. Calculus 0, Demetrius 1. That is, until the worksheet starts asking about sine waves.

"Demetrius!" a waiter exclaimed, rushing up to me. "Were you going to get that family in the back booth? I thought you were, but if not—"

"Oh no, I am so sorry," I apologized, quickly closing my textbook and rushing over to the table.

"Sorry about the wait," I apologized breathlessly. "What can I get you to drink?"

"Oh, it's no problem," the dad assured me. "Just bring us three waters, if you could?"

"Of course," I reassured, relief seeping through my body when I realized that they weren't upset and about to file a complaint on me. If I lost this job, I'm not sure what I would do. My mom only works part-time, and it isn't nearly enough to pay all of the bills and food each month.

Within minutes, I was back at their table, passing out the three waters to each of them. "Can I take your guys' order, or do you need a few more minutes?"

"No, we're ready," the mother told me. "I'll take the classic burger, with a side of sweet potato fries." I nodded, jotting down the order on a notepad.

"I'll have the chicken alfredo," the dad told me. "And what about you, Landon?" he asked, nudging his son, who was staring at me with wide eyes.

"What do you want?" I asked softly, smiling at him. His wide blue eyes stared at me in confusion.

"Mister, why is your skin all dirty?" he questioned in a small voice. I froze, my eyes wide as I stared at him.

"Landon, you can't just say stuff like that!" his mother scolded, before turning back to me with an apologetic stare. "I'm so sorry, you know kids, they just blurt out whatever they're thinking with absolutely no filter—"