"I got in!!"
Elena announced her joyful news to the moderately crowded diner. All eyes were on her including the angry eyes of her manager, Ms. Stevens.
"Sorry, Ms. Stevens," She said as she walked in.
Ms. Stevens huffed up and walked away from the front counter of the restaurant. Behind her was her friend, Kelsi, creative and colorful with her tiger striped glasses and purple and black hair in a bun.
"Well where did you get in?" She asked.
"Harvard Med," Elena answered proudly as she exchanged her grey coat for a blue apron. She pulled her black hair into a ponytail and rubbed hand sanitizer on her hands as she spoke to her friend and roommate.
"Congratulations, " Kelsi said hugging her friend.
"This calls for a celebration. I just got into New England Law,"
"Oh," Elena said.
"Congratulations to you too,"
"We're going out tonight. No questions asked." Kelsi said interjecting.
"But we have school tomorrow,"
"So it's only the first week of the semester. What could we miss?"
"Well..."
"You need to relax anyway. Yes New England Law isn't as big as HARVARD but it's big to me and I'm going to celebrate and so should you. Now come on that guy over there is your first customer of the day. He needs a coffee refill and his order taken,"
Elena then grabbed the coffee pitcher and came from behind the counter and began her shift.
She walked over to the corner booth where the customer Kelsi told her about was sitting. He was a regular. Always sat in the same corner, got the same order, from the same waitress.
"Are you ready to order sir?" She asked as she refilled his cup.
He put down the paper to show himself to her.
"Yes, I am," He replied.
Elena looked at him and her stomach dropped as did her wrist from the coffee pot.
"Oh, jeez,"
The coffee overflowed from his cup and onto the table. Elena quickly stopped pouring and pulled out a rag from her apron to wipe up the mess.
"I'm so sorry sir. Really, really, really I am super sorry," She said.
"It's ok," He said kindly to her.
She looked at his face and felt a rush come over her. His eyes were a forest green color and he had a warm smile on his face that went well with his waves of grey hair. She had never looked at him before but there was something about him that made her feel off balance.
"I promise I'm not normally this much of a klutz. Excuse me,"
Elena grabbed the rag and coffee pot and rushed back over to the counter.
"What happened?" Kelsi asked.
"That guy," Elena started to say.
"That guy, what? Where did he? Is he? He's real right?"
"Umm, yes," Kelsi said looking over at the guy.
"Green eyes, silver hair,"
"No wedding ring,"
"Kelsi,"
"What I'm just saying?"
"He's too old,"
"And you just poured coffee on his table,"
"You set me up,"
"I didn't set you up. He's your customer,"
"But you knew, you knew,"
"I didn't know what was going to happen."
"Ugghhhh,"
Elena turned around faced the restaurant and the booth that her coffee guy was sitting in.
"Just take his order and it will be fine," Kelsi whispered in Elena's ear.
Elena took a deep breath. "Ok," She said.
She confident walked over to him in her black slip resistant Mary Jane's and stood at his side.
"Are you here to pour more coffee on me?" He asked her.
"No, no, no sir. I'm really sorry about that. I'm just here to take your order. I'll take off 20% of whatever you order,"
"Ok, I will take the trip short stack with maple syrup," He said as he handed her the menu.
"Ok, those will be right out for you,"