Entries categorized as ‘Resto’
III. Franz
November 26, 2007 · Leave a Comment
“We have a reservation for ten people at 12:30,” I told the two girls by the door. “When they arrive, Karly and I will take care of it, and you be here by the door,Val.” Valerie nodded but Karly just stood there and for all the reaction I got I might as well have talked to the door. There was a 2.5-second awkward silence, and I bolted without saying anything. I was thinking, why do I have to be snubbed by a trainee?
And why do I care?
I was walking in the restaurant’s center aisle and was halfway through when Karly called me.
“Kap,” she said.
I quickly wheeled around at the sound of her voice like a stiff soldier. When I thought of it later, I realized I looked absolutely stupid. There she was, standing by the door, and we were looking at each other just like in a scene from a sappy movie, just before the actress would run to the actor and they would…
Quit it.
She didn’t run, though. She walked towards me, in that absurdly poised way of hers–as if she’s balancing an invisible book on her head, and I swear with my life that at the moment the Gods decided to play a trick on me when They pressed the Slow Motion button. She was five paces away, and she walked that distance in about an hour.
“Where are we going to seat them?” she said. The Gods resumed the normal pace of the world.
“Function 1,” I answered cooly, referring to the first of the long tables in our function areas. From the sound of my voice nobody would’ve guessed what I had been seeing, and had been thinking, just moments ago.
“Okay,” she said, and smacked her lips together.
“Okay, ” I mimicked, and smacked my lips as well.
I turned around as quickly as I can, before my stupid mind could linger on how she wasn’t wearing any lipstick, or how black and shiny her hair was, or how nicely her black pants were hugging her hips. I went straight to the bar and asked Jesse for a glass of water. I felt like I badly needed one.
Miraculously, he gave it to me without so much as a grin. But I know he saw everything.
Twelve-thirty came and went, and so did the family who got the reservation. Karly assisted me with serving, but mostly she just followed me around because the trainees were not yet familiar with our menu of Asian dishes. That time, I was thinking of why I always choose Karly to be my buddy, while I assign the other trainees to other servers. I kept telling myself that it’s because Val is always complaining, and that Lei is too slow, but I can’t deny the fact that I pick Karly just because. They say everything has a reason. I say that’s bullshit. Sometimes we do things no reason at all.
Or, sometimes, there are things we think we do for no reason but somewhere at the back of our minds, lies the hidden agenda we’re not even aware of.
After the party of ten left Karly and I cleared up the table. She was quiet a she was wiping one end and I felt a need to say something.
“Don’t you ever smile?” I asked. The moment I said that I wanted to break a wine glass on my head.
“Hardly,” she said. I would find out much later that that was not true.
“Well, you have to start smiling if you’ll be working here,” I said in my most professional I’m-your-trainer-and-you’re-my-trainee voice. “We deal with people. We need to look happy doing what we do.”
“I smile at them, don’t I?” she said, still not removing her gaze from the table. She seemed to be trying to get rid of a tough dirt that wasn’t there. “when they talk to me, I smile.”
“How come when it’s me, you don’t?”
What in the world….
“Do I have to?” she asked, and this time, she looked at me. Slow Motion button pressed.
“No,” I said. “But I would like it if you do.”
And with that, she smiled. It wasn’t a complete smile, really, she just moved her lips without showing her teeth but her eyes lit up. Suddenly it was me who became too interested in wiping the table. I had to get away before we could get locked in a really awkward eye contact. She resumed what she was doing and I turned away from the table. While I was walking I kept calling myself an idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot. And when I was five paces away, sure she wouldn’t see whatever stupid reaction my face might make, I let out a deep breath. I didn’t even realize I had been holding it.
As always, the Great Jesse-O was there witness everything. Standing at the bar in the middle of the restaurant, his hobby was to pretty much observe everybody’s movements. And I know he’s quite focusing on me.
I gave him a little hand gesture that I definitely wouldn’t want Karly to see.
Break time came and I got a call from Allison, my Allison, asking about how I was and about how everything else is. We talked for about ten minutes and the whole time I was thinking about her face, her laugh, totally oblivious of the fact that my girl and Karly have the same first names. Allison and I, we’re great. We have something that I could really say special. At that precise moment, Karly Conde was the furthest thing from my mind
Categories: Resto
To Be Near You
November 26, 2007 · Leave a Comment
Are you just a habit?
Or some kind of addiction?
Can’t seem to get you out of my system.
What could you have done to me?
Feels so stuck like glue.
Are you even aware of my existence?
I don’t care
I would do anything to be near you
I would go anywhere to be near you
-Viktoria, OST, Felicity
Categories: Resto
II. Karly
November 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment
Day 3 at work is going by so slowly and this restaurant is going to the dogs. I say its the name. Where in the world did “The Old Moon” come from? It’s almost lunch time, and we only have two tables occupied. Val and I were standing by the door, acting as receptionists. But since nobody has come in about an hour, we were both just gossiping madly.
“You know that other trainee, Lei?” she asked, almost whispering. “I don’t like her.” Valerie, I noticed, says pretty much anything she wants.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“She’s just, well, you know,different,” she said. “I heard they were going to pick only two among us, and I bet it’s gonna be you and me,”she finished matter-of-factly. At that very moment I decided I didn’t like Val.
“You think so?” I said with a fake hopefulness.
“I know so,” she confirmed.
I looked away and stared at the bar just across the room, where the bartender Jesse was polishing glasses. I might roll my eyes any moment and Val might see it. Just then, our trainer walked in front of the bar, coming from the management office at the left going to the rest rooms at the right. He was Kap to all of us, because he’s the captain waiter. For some absurd reason, my eyes followed him till he disappeared from view. I shook my head involuntarily, thinking what the hell am I doing?
“You know, I think he’s quite striking,” Valerie said, obviously spotting me gazing at Kap. I felt like an idiot, but I didn’t expect her to say what she said next. “He’s actually my type, you know. The height, the built. He looks so……well, manly.”
I swallowed a giant, invisible lump in my throat, not knowing how to react, and at the same time thinking why in the world do I have to be conscious of how I would react.
“Don’t you think so?” she asked me.
“W-what?” I was surprised. “Oh, well, maybe for you. But I happened to like the boyish types. And he’s a bit meaty. I have a thing for skinny guys.”
All of that was true, and at that moment I wanted to say that what I find attractive is exactly the opposite of Kap. I wanted to say I didn’t like guys who are too tall, or chubby, or chinky-eyed. But inside of me I was thinking of how fine his shirt falls on his shoulders, and how sleek his hair looked, and how much I like the way he stands. He looked absolutely, well…manly.
“I think I have a crush on him,” Val interjected in the middle of my thoughts and again I involuntarily shook my head to clear them all away. I told myself, okay, he’s quite cute, and so what? He’s probably an overbearing jerk who smokes like there’s no tomorrow and probably drinks like that too. And I don’t need to be thinking of a guy like that when I got my own who drinks moderately, stopped smoking the day I told him to, and has treated me like a princess for the past three years. Got that? Three solid years.
At that moment Kap walked out of the rest room and Val elbowed me. He started walking towards us and the last thing I remembered saying to myself was I will not like him, I will not like him, I will not like him.
I have never been so wrong.
Categories: Resto
