They look like people

01

Those three minutes felt like ages.

It was 10:57pm and all I could think of was running away from this goddamn restaurant.

Being a waitress in the popular restaurant 13 coins was a pure nightmare and at the same time my biggest chance to take a step closer to fulfill my dream. I would gladly become crazy if-

"Nea, Come on! You can go in three little minutes, but until then move your goddamn ass! " the strident voice of Marco, our chef, made me clench my teeth and quietly grab two more plates from the kitchen.

"Come on, quicker!" Marco's wrinkled forehead was glowing with sweat. " We have two royal salads for the table 37 and three American dreams for the 51. Now. "

With the five plates propped on my forearms, I slalomed between multiple tables of my working place. Tonight was one of those nights where all the tables of the 13 coins were booked without exception and where having to serve meals was equal to run a little marathon.

My fast steps, my regular breathing and even the obligatory smile on my face were all things I had spend three years perfecting, so that now I completely blended into the familiar but hectic atmosphere of the restaurant.

"Hello, I have two royal salads for you, am I right?"

The young couple holding hands on the table 37 looked up from each other's eyes and gave me a curt nod. "Yes, thank you."

And even before I started putting the salad plates down on the white tablecloth, both smiled to something only the two of them seemed to understand and the young man traced little circles on the women's hand.

Leaving the couple alone, I allowed myself to let my smile slip for a second while searching for the table 51. The quiet love I just had witnessed wasn't something I saw every day and it made myself feel... jealous, in way.

Not jealous of the couple, of course. Jealous of the fact that I had never been loved so deeply, so much that a person would look upon me without a word and just smile. Just because I was.

Stop the self pity, Nea. Focus on your job.

Drowning the little voice in my head in the chattering of the people, the laughter and the rattling of cutlery, I cleared my mind out of every thought and took a long inhale. The words Marco had forced me to learn by heart when I started to work for 13 coins started to unfold in front my eyes and I prepared myself to approach the customers sitting at the table 51.

"Hello, I have three American dream for you, am I right?"

The customers of the table 51 were three men in their early thirties looking at me with confident eyes. The one sitting in the center of the trio leaned himself on his elbows and gave me an arrogant smile.

"Yes honey, you're perfectly right." he purred. While he leaned a bit more into my direction, I could see his eyes checking my body out. Bloody hell, was there really no other way to make it more obvious?

It wasn't the first time that men would make suggestives moves or words to catch my attention. For the night, at least. I knew I was not ugly, really. But even if I knew that I would probably never find such a real, bone deep love like it was always depicted in the books or films, I wanted at least to be liked for my personality and not some physical traits that would vanish anyway with the age.

Was I asking for too much? I knew that my biggest problem was my quiet personality. I was a thinker, a silence lover. How could I ever meet new people if just the idea of having a discussion with a stranger made my stomach churn?