SEQUEL TO - ESPRESSOLY FOR YOU; a one shot.
Daisy, twenty-two and a culinary graduate was set to crack her first interview and impress the head chef but when asked to meet the restaurant manager for a final word, things took a turn into the surprise...
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I loitered in the lobby, waiting for Philip. He went to have a final check in the kitchen before we left. Walking around, I witnessed the crowd of happy eaters fade away into the oblivion. It was already ten in the night and the dark warm blanket had settled over the city. Eating was now replaced with people hanging out on the sidewalks talking and laughing.
The summer had set in properly. I watched the bustling city slowly return to sleep, pulling the blanket of the night over it. At a distance, I could hear the main part of the city coming to life. The night was its dawn. The crowd of party lovers had only arisen in West L.A.
A honeyed voice called me out. "Ready?"
I knew the answer already. I wasn't ready to meeting parents, let alone Philip's. One a scale of one to infinite in impossibility, I never assumed anything Philip related to occur, let alone the rest which ensued.
John knew well, who the manager was and what I felt for him. It wasn't a crush anymore. It was far from an infatuation either. Unable to tag the truth about it, I sought solace in calling it a teenager's craving. I had ceased to be a teenager and those festered feelings stopped being a childish longing for a man. Deep down, I knew what it was.
Philip stood looking my way as I floated in those memories and thoughts, ignoring his question. He moved closer, calculated steps in stride. "Are you ready, Daisy?"
I nodded. He continued his stare. If I had a recorder, I would have instructed myself not to keep gesturing. But for now, a mental note had to do. Clearing my dry throat, I answered. "Yes I am, let's go."
We walked outside. Philip was the one who walked ahead. His hand travelled inside his coat and pulled out his folded cane. It magically elongated like a wand. He tapped on both sides of the sidewalk with swift swishes and the light tapping on the concrete made him place his next steps.
It was all too fast. He must had done it for a long time now. Once the cane struck a rock on his right, Philip turned to what seemed to a hybrid. The one which immediately reminded me of all 'transformer' vehicles. Tracing his hand inside the coat pocket, Philip dialed and narrated his instructions. "We are here."
I looked around the well-lit street for anyone who might approach us. After a few idle minutes, a man appeared from the shadows. His face was placed opposite to the streetlights. His features were blurred but his built couldn't go unnoticed. It seemed like he was one of those fitness freaks.
Upon close observation, the bald man had thin eyebrows and droopy eyelids. His haggard face screamed fiftys' but his body resisted the gravity's pull and depicted a thirty something fitness. Steroids might have held up his used muscles while the disused ones, his face, stated his real age.
"Daisy, this is Luke.. He is my driver and assistant." Philip ran a brusque introduction.
My ears stood up at the word assistant. Philip had an assistant inside the hotel. A slender, grapevine looking woman whole legs went for miles and a face which stated she was in the wrong occupation. She could have been better, a model.
