"Uh, too bad," I replied, not looking over at their table. "That's your section and your tips."
"It's okay," Emily said. "I don't mind. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?" She laughed again.
I grimaced. "He's just trying to be funny, Em," I insisted. "I don't really feel like joking around today."
"Oh, come on," Emily said, widening her eyes. "He's so cute. Every girl in here is drooling over him. And he can't stop staring at you."
"Emily," I whined, knowing I was regressing into childish behavior but not being able to curb it. "I don't want to."
Emily laughed even harder. "C'mon kiddo, it's not going to kill you to live a little." She then walked away, clearly not intending to wait on them.
I just barely suppressed the urge to stomp over like a kid having a temper tantrum and tried to regain a little self-control. They were just trying to be funny, that's all. I convinced myself of this as I walked over to them, dropping the extra napkins on the customer's table who had requested them on the way there. By the time I approached Grant and Simon's table I was able to smile, if a little tightly.
"You guys sure are pushy," I joked. I pulled out my pad and poised my pen over it, ready to write down their order. "Do you guys know what you want?"
"I'll have a coffee and blueberry pancakes with a side of bacon," Grant said. "And you already know how I like my bacon."
"Burnt to a crisp," I said, quirking my mouth. "Those carcinogens will kill ya."
Grant clutched his hand to his heart. "But what a way to go."
"What about you, Simon?' I asked, keeping my eyes on my pad, not wanting to see him up close this early in the morning. I didn't think my constitution could take looking into his beautiful blue eyes until at least noon.
"I guess I'll have to try the famous blueberry pancakes. And I'll take a coffee, too," I heard his deep voice rumble. "What's this?" he asked.
I automatically looked up at him at his question. "What?" I asked, confused.
"Ah, I was afraid you were already tired of looking at my ugly mug," Simon joked with a smile, his blue eyes penetrating me.
"Whatever. You're so lame," I said rolling my eyes but with a smile, unable to resist his charm. "I'll be right back with your coffees."
When I came back with their two cups of coffee, I heard the end of Grant's sentence "...it's a lost cause."
Grant started and looked up at me guiltily when I set the cups on their table, along with a small pitcher of milk. He seemed to be surprised by my presence, although he smiled up at me. "You sure can creep up on someone. You startled me."
"What?" I said indignantly. "I wasn't creeping, you just weren't paying attention." It was probably the volume of the restaurant, more than anything, that had masked the sound of my return. Colette's was a boisterous place, especially when it was busy.
"How was the rest of last night?" I asked, scanning my tables to make sure no one needed anything. "I didn't even hear Sarah come home." I didn't add that I had been relieved that I had slept through the night without any visions. I had been terrified that seeing Simon would trigger a vision, which often happened after I saw the person in real life. I had laid in bed, physically exhausted but my fear had kept my eyes open, until eventually the last thing I remember was looking at my clock and seeing it was past two o'clock in the morning. Fortunately, the next thing I saw was my alarm clock going off at seven o'clock.
"It was good," Grant said enthusiastically. "We have our practices scheduled at the East End for tomorrow and next week. We're going kill it next Saturday!"
I laughed at his enthusiasm. "I'm glad to see the Henchmen are living on."
"We're practicing tomorrow at noon if you want to stop by," Simon offered, forcing me to turn my attention to him.
"I can't," I lied. Simon didn't need to know that I only had one thing scheduled for Sunday - laundry. "I've got a ton of homework to get through. Just my Economics homework alone is going to take hours. I seem to be missing the Economics gene."
"I've taken Economics," Simon said, grinning. "I can help you." He leaned back in his chair, looking satisfied with himself. "Would it be immodest to say I'm an Economics whiz?"
"Yes, it would," I replied lightly, with a smile. "Anyways, you have rehearsal, remember? Far be it from me to prevent the throngs of fans from missing out on a spectacular well-practiced debut."
"I can help you after-" Simon started but I cut him off.
"Your food is probably up," I said. "I'll be back."
I escaped behind the counter, clearly seeing that their order wasn't ready since Devi, the cook, hadn't rang the bell and slid the plates onto the pick-up window. Instead, I busied myself by refilling cups of coffee for the customers sitting at the counter and making small talk.
I finally heard the bell to pick up an order as Devi yelled out "Order up. Table eight." I turned around, grabbing the two plates of pancakes, the side of bacon and a pitcher of syrup. I made my way over to Grant and Simon's table.