My Kind Of Perfection(EDITING)

55. Make a difference

I pick the dishes up off the table and notice the table beside me has a mom and daughter waiting politely. The little girl is wearing a bright pink tutu and I smile.

"Has anyone come by to take your order?" I ask as I walk by. "You're all tucked away in the corner."

"Nope. Not yet, and we actually requested this spot." The woman laughs.

"Oh. Well okay I'm just going to drop these dishes off and I'll be right back to help you." As I enter the kitchen I see Erin cleaning the stack of menus. "Hey why has nobody helped the little ballerina couple?"

She laughs. "The what?"

"The mom and girl. Over in the corner."

"Oh yeah. The little one was kinda panicking when she first got here so they needed a minute. Are you helping other tables right now? Want me to step in?"

I laugh. "Erin. It's like 3pm on a Tuesday. We only have one couple at 8 and these two at 14. The couple have their food so I think I can handle two tables." I roll my eyes and grab a new pad of paper as my old one only has a few sheets left. "Have you talked to your mom yet about the upgrade to tablets?"

"Yeah. As I told Dakota the other day, she says if we did that my grandma would be rolling over in her grave to know that we're spending money on things like that."

"That's a little dramatic." I laugh. "But this will do for now. Be right back."

"I'll bet she orders a chocolate milk and an ice tea."

"Hm. Nah I think she looks like an apple juice kinda kid." I hum.

We do this sometimes. Make bets on what we think the customers will order. Disappointingly, I'm usually wrong about it.

"Okay. I bet you a free early leave."

I make a noise. "I bet you washroom cleaning duties on a closing shift."

She stretches out her hand with a snort. "Done."

"On a Saturday night." I add. Those are the nights that everyone gets plastered. Puke cleanup happens at least 5x on the late shift.

Her hand falters a bit as she thinks it over for a second. "I'm pretty confident."

"Alright. Deal." I shake her hand and head over there.

"Hey guys. I'm Kasey and I'll be your server. How's it going today?"

"Pretty good." The mom smiles.

The little girl seems very shy, just looking down at her hands.

"Did you just come from ballet class? I'm actually also a ballerina." I lean down to talk to her.

She doesn't say anything, just begins to hum softly.

No response. Hm. I'm usually good with kids.

"I've been dancing since I was a bit younger than you. I love to dance." I smile at her, trying again.

The little girl doesn't make eye contact, but says: "I can dance."

"Good! So what can I get you two for drinks?" I change the topic.

Her mom smiles. "I'll have an iced tea and Lili here will get a chocolate milk, right?"

"I can dance." Lili repeats, beginning to rock slowly. "I CAN dance."

I nod. "Okay, I will be right back."

I return to find the little girl out of her chair and spinning around. I put down the drinks quickly as the little girl tugs on my apron. "I can dance."