Match

33: Two-Faced Tanner

No, not even today, can his professionalism drive him away from that dream. That clear image of him staring into Jonah's tawny eyes. He shakes himself awake as he grabs an order and takes it to a table.

"Thank you," says the man he's serving.

"Enjoy," he says.

He passes by a waitress who just got hired. To his surprise, a lot more students have been hired temporary work at the restaurant than usual. One of them is here this morning, which Cole has been assigned to train. Her name is Jenna, standing at about five foot eight, with green eyes and a silver pixie cut. He remembers the amount of times he's had to be habitually repetitive to newcomers, yet Jenna has been learning fast. Cole hands her a cloth and a bottle full of cleaner fluid.

"Clean table five," he says, "table five is near the centre, in between the ones at the back."

"Oh, okay," Jenna strolls to the table and begins wiping it down.

Rush hour in the morning has passed, as time creeps closer to noon. He glances at another waitress writing down orders for a table, while another waiter takes some plates back to the kitchen. He feels oddly out of place, so he decides to organize the menus to pass the time. All of a sudden, he feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns to see Jenna, holding a dirty cloth and the bottle.

"These go back in the cabinet in the kitchen, right?" She asks.

"Yeah," he points. "There's a laundry basket beside the cabinet. That's where all the dirty cloths go."

She nods and makes her way into the kitchen. Cole resumes his attention back to the menus. One of them is stained with orange juice. Thank fuck these are laminated, he thinks. He grabs a spare damp cloth to wipe it down. As he does, he hears the bell ring. When he turns to see who's entered, he feels his blood sink.

Tanner?

He rubs his eyes, thinking that his mind is playing tricks with him. But no, there he is in plain sight. Talking to a host at the front desk. It's him and another guy accompanying him, possibly his friend. As the host leads them to a vacant table, his eyes follow. Tanner seems happy and relaxed, bearing a smile.

"Oh hey," Jenna peeks from behind. "Is that my friend?"

Cole raises an eyebrow at her. "Tanner?"

She gives him a puzzled look. "Yeah, you know him?"

He feels like a hoard of eyes are watching him. He's aching to just say, "yeah, he kicked me in the face at soccer", but he doesn't want to stir up drama.

"Yeah, from soccer."

Jenna's expression softens to a smile. "I'll go serve him."

Just like that, she makes her way to Tanner, giving a friendly wave as soon as he recognizes her. Cole can't believe what he's witnessing. Tanner seems so at ease, compared to his hot temper on the field that got him disqualified. Is everyone two-faced when it comes to soccer? He wonders if he was in his vicinity right now, if he served him instead, how he'd react. On purpose, he decides to be crafty by retrieving orders and passing by him every chance he gets.

But to Tanner, Cole is just a forgotten piece of paper blowing in the wind. Either that, or he's great at acting.

———————————

"Nate and Cole, you're on cone duty again!" Coach Ryan hollers.

As Nathan grabs the cones, he tosses half of them to Cole's open arms. He follows Nathan to a long white line, and starts placing the cones down. Cole looks up at Nathan, who's already far ahead.