“I’m Jim and I will be your waiter,” the tall lanky teenager smiles down at us in a familiar way.
I smile back, exchanging a look with my best friend Mona as he flashes that winning smile her way. She waits for his attention to waver back to me before offering me a shrug. He continues to smile at us.
“Okay, ladies, do you know what you want? The hamburgers here aren’t as good as they are at the Looney Lounge.” He references another local restaurant that we frequent.
My eyes widen. I look across the table to see that my best friend just had the same realization I did. She nods at him, drawing my attention to the fact that he has turned his attention to me again.
“What do you recommend, Jim?” I pause “…if not the burger.”
“I think you’d enjoy the buffalo chicken salad,” he points to it on the menu.
“That does look good.”
“Me next.” Mona says holding out her menu.
He gives her face a quick scan before pointing to her menu, “You would probably enjoy the tuna salad croissant.”
“Sounds good. Let’s give it a try.” She says.
“Very good, ladies. I’ll be back with your waters in a second.”
He turns away and Mona gives me a look, biting her lip until she is sure he is out of earshot. “Did he just wink at you?”
“I think so.”
“And he used to be our waiter at the Looney Lounge?”
“I think he wanted to make sure we remembered that.”
“Why do you think that is?” She grinned and gave me a suggestive look, complete with eyebrows waggling up and down.
“I don’t think that’s it. He’s a child.”
“Well, put your rattle away, so you don’t catch his eye.” She laughed, even though I had no idea what she meant by that.
I glanced down to make sure I wasn’t having any wardrobe malfunctions. Everything important remained hidden from the world. “What are you talking about?”
“I have no idea. You have something that child likes.”
I open my mouth to issue a retort but our drinks arrive. The waiter barely glances at us, hurrying to the next table to take their order. As the restaurant fills up, he barely has time to check on us. Somehow, our drinks never run dry and he always happens to walk by right as we need anything, including the check.
“What’s this?” Mona peers down at the bottom of the receipt.
I take it from her and peruse the tiny script at the bottom of the receipt.
‘So glad I can still be your waiter, ladies. Just wanted you to know that your tips alone paid for all my books last semester, even the ones I read for fun. Keep being awesome! ~Jim’
“Well, no wonder he loves us so much.” Mona says.
“I guess it wasn’t my rattle after all,” I laugh.
“Nope. Just your jingle.”
~How many times do you have to come to a restaurant before you become the waiter’s favorite? I think it is a lot, but I can’t remember back to eating in a restaurant. It seems so far away at the time I am writing this. Hopefully, by the time this goes live we are able to enjoy each other’s company in person again. Even antisocial hobbit hermits sometimes miss being around other people.~
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