The Waiter

I don’t change my habits much. Or at all, to be frank. But Elias puts up with it. He’s been my friend for more years than not. He sometimes tries to force a change on me. And the café-bar we used to frequent a few years ago was one of them. But it was a nice place. More on the quiet side, but not too quiet.

Then something happened. A new waiter came. Tall, slim, beautiful, a little feminine. Leo was his name, as we found out later, and he was as enchanting as the king of the jungle.

The first time we saw him, he wasn’t even serving us. He walked past our table with a tray of glasses, and I looked up at exactly the wrong – or right – moment.

Elias noticed, of course. He always notices.

“Oh no,” he said, grinning. “We’ve lost you.”

“Shut up!”

But he was right. I kept on trying – discreetly, or so I hoped – to get as many glimpses as possible of that guy. My mind was recording his every expression, his every smile, the way he moved, the way he talked, the sound of his voice. All that, while Elias was having fun teasing me, at every chance.

After that, we started showing up more often. I became an expert in the café’s staffing rhythms. Who worked which days, which shifts, which sections. It wasn’t hard. Leo was always paired with the same girl on weekday afternoons. I was building a map not just to see him again, but to have the chance to be smiled at by him.

And indeed, a few visits later we sat in his section. My heart started racing before he even reached the table. He smiled. Softly.

“Are you ready to order?”

His voice sweeter than it sounded when he talked to others. That’s not an objective observation. I knew that, even then. It’s just how it felt, now that he was talking to me… I mean, us. Mine? It was gone.

Elias did the talking. I was just smiling, trying not to look too stupid. Leo… maybe he lingered a bit? Maybe he said a few things more than needed to? He smiled at me a second longer than polite? I don’t know.

That day, every now and then, when he passed by our table – while not in a hurry – he would say a word. “Everything okay?” “Need anything more?” Things like that. And Elias took the opportunity to ask for his name and to give him ours. He can do such things as if it’s the most natural thing to do.

*****

“You know he’s flirting, right?” Elias asked when we left.

I didn’t believe him – not really. I wanted him to be right, though. But that small, unfounded hope wouldn’t let me concentrate on anything I was supposed to do.

“He has such a beautiful smile!”

That wasn’t written in my Quantum Mechanics coursebook. Trust me! But you get the point.

I called Maria, my other beloved friend, and told her – in far too much detail – what had happened. I hoped she would bring me back to reality with a “He was just doing his job” kind of statement.

“Actually, he probably was flirting with you,” came instead.

*****

That probability became a certainty after more than just a few visits. Maria and Elias both said I should start going there alone, so he could act more freely. I followed their advice.

I started going there with my textbooks to study – as if I could – when I knew it was Leo’s shift. I was lucky enough to always find a spot in his section. Well… there weren’t that many visitors, anyway.

Every time, he seemed overjoyed – smiling more brightly than he ever had done while Elias was with me. He would talk to me much more, too. He even asked about my studies, and told me he had never been good at physics. He giggled so cutely!

Everything looked right. But I couldn’t find the courage to do more than admire him and smile at him.

And every time, he spent more and more time chatting with me, smiling at me… making me feel he liked my presence there.

And finally, I gathered the courage to say just one thing.

“You are amazing!”

I was trembling. I needed to try to keep looking up at him.

His smile disappeared. He didn’t even reply. He turned around and left.

I kept staring at him in shock.

I saw him talking to the waitress, and she glanced in my direction – though not at me.

A few minutes later she came to fill my glass with water.

“Do you need anything?” she asked politely – indirectly but clearly, telling me she had taken over the table.

I forced a smile. “No, thank you.”

I’m slow to even suspect someone’s hitting on me – unless they say it clearly – but I’m faster at noticing when they reject me. So I got it. I did. Still, I wanted to make sure – I wanted to cling to that shattered hope with all my strength.

I stayed there a while longer. I tried to look at Leo – in every chance I got – hoping he’d look back and smile. He didn’t. He averted his eyes when, once or twice, they met mine. Then he stopped looking my way – all too purposely. Even when he was attending the table next to mine, I could only see his back.

“Can I pay?” I asked while he was there. He didn’t turn. He told the girl, though, and she came.

I gathered my things and left.

If this was a movie, it would be raining outside. But no. The sky was clear. The sun too bright. It irritated my eyes. Yes… I wouldn’t cry.