Escaping Reality

Chapter 16: Casual Cafe Conversations

The milk had me curious, when Harley returned I decided to inquire further, "how did you guys come up with flavored milk?" I asked. As soon as I asked her eyes lit up, she must have gotten this question a lot.

"Well, when my husband and I opened this place five years ago we realized that if we were going to survive and thrive we had to be different, not only in our decor but our food as well. We realized that people always get their drink before their food." She explained. "We figured if we could make a good impression with our building, with the people working here - we only hire energetic and excited people - and with the first thing we serve - your drink order - than the rest of the experience would be a breeze. My husband loves eating cereal in the morning and was always left with cereal flavored milk after finishing off the cereal. He loved that last little bit of milk and we decided to make it an integral part of our restaurant and of that initial experience."

I would have never guessed she was part owner of this place, she wasn't barking any orders and had been working alongside the other waiters and waitresses with no sense of superiority. Wow, it was probably refreshing to work at a place like this where your boss worked alongside you and respected you. In a matter of a couple of minutes, I had built up an intense admiration for Harley and her restaurant.

We chatted for a little while longer and I was quite impressed with her passion for the food industry. She and her husband had started the restaurant with the last of their funds and turned it into a successful business with three current locations.

I finally got around to ordering.

"Can I please get the upside-down cinnamon pineapple pancakes. Er and um can I get the loaded hash browns as my side."

"Sure thing!"

"Can I get the fried chicken and waffles?" Lola asked "and can I swap the regular butter for your cinnamon butter"

"Sure can!"

After Harley left my mind began to race. "Don't screw this up, don't screw this up" I kept repeating as I stared at Lola. I had just had a perfectly acceptable and normal conversation with the middle-aged waitress. Why could I not talk to this girl who was my age and probably shared more common interests and similarities?

"Are you going to talk to me or just stare at me all day?" She asked me sarcastically.

I cracked under the pressure blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"Fun fact, I was born in a utility closet. The hospital was so busy the night my mother's water broke that they had to place her in the utility closet and that's where she gave birth to me."Lola couldn't help but laugh, "Oh for real? That's crazy, I was born in a utility closet too!"

"No way are you for real" I countered in disbelief.

"No haha I was born in a regular hospital bed," she said, amused with herself and my failure to pick up on the sarcasm.

"Yeah. I guess I've always been a little different." I said with a confidently cringy wink." Alright, now it's your turn, spill a fun fact!"

"Well, my Dad is in the Air Force so I've moved around a lot. It's been cool to see the world and experience different cultures but it's come at the expense of a steady friend group and normal high school experience."

Ah, suddenly things started making more sense. Why would she attach herself to her classmates and open up if she was just going to leave them mid-school year or after one year. I guess that's how she got her mysterious reputation I concluded. I couldn't help but wonder why she had taken a liking to me, maybe she felt sympathetic for my made-up situation or maybe she just figured I'd be gone soon enough too that it wouldn't hurt as much as usual.

"Normal is overrated" I assured her, "anywhere you haven't traveled that you'd like to go?"

"I've always wanted to go to Chile. I've always wanted to see South America and the culture and geography in Chile is so diverse it would be like traveling to multiple countries when in reality you're in one place the entire time. Where would you go?" volleying the question back to me.

I had fielded this question many times and promptly answered "Dubai, I've always had a fascination with modern architecture and Dubai has some of the most modern and technologically advanced structures in the world. Their underwater hotels, skyscraper tennis courts, and indoor ski resorts are things that people used to dream about. I think it would be cool to be able to live what people once considered a dream and fantasy."

Suddenly the conversation took off, we had each slowly let our barriers down and it was refreshing. I hadn't had this easy of conversation with someone my age in a while.