Afternoon Tea Part II

“Cellphones are worse than clingy boyfriends” thought Kavita, as her cellphone kept buzzing in her pocket, trying to distract her from giving the Creed-couple, as she mentally labeled them, their check. The Creed-couple reminded her of the nerdy-but-cute guy, who had been her only respite from the Creed-couple’s painful conversations. She pulled out the whining piece of technology from her pocket, and her mind went blank for a moment. It was a message from him.

Harmeet was exhausted. He thought about the sleep deprivation studies which equated the effects of sleep deprivation to being drunk. Perhaps it was this lowered level of inhibition that had caused his feet to take him right to the door of Tea Stop. He didn’t even realize why he was there; he sat down and ordered Darjeeling Chai Tea from an unfamiliar waitress.

Kavita saw the other waitress serving nerdy-but-cute guy his regular order. She thought about their last conversation and smiled. She had called him a hipster-in-denial. She still didn’t know his name though. She hoped that she wouldn’t accidentally address him as nerdy-but-cute guy. She suddenly realized that she was a little miffed that the other waitress was serving him.

Harmeet suddenly remembered why he had come here in his sleep-deprived stupor, when he saw the familiar flourish of brown hair approaching him. “Are you cheating on me?” his regular waitress asked. “Keep it down you always make a scene when we go out” he grinned, returning her sass. “It’s ok, I’m not the jealous type” she flashed a playful smile as she continued to the next table to take an order.

Kavita was accustomed to being the playful waitress…it got her good tips, and made her life a bit more interesting. But she had surprised herself with this exchange. A few minutes later she was cleaning the table next to nerdy-but-cute guy, and found herself in an argument with him about Journey. “Separate Ways was the worst thing that happened to the 80’s.” She scoffed. “You can’t just stop believing in Journey because of *one* song.” He was quick to reply. “Hmph. Convince me.” “Well, what do you say I convince you somewhere else, when you’re off shift?”

“Are you asking me out?” the waitress stopped and looked straight at Harmeet. “Well you’re obviously off your game when you’re working, I don’t want you to claim handicap later. And yes.” Harmeet took a deep breath as her face went through a series of very puzzled
expressions.

Kavita thought about the cute guy in front of her. She then thought of the list of promises that she knew were empty that were on the cellphone in her pocket. No, he had gotten his chance. It was time for her to move on. “I don’t even know your name.” she said. “To be fair, I don’t know yours either.” he smirked. “Kavita.” “Is that a yes? I’m Harmeet.” “Well the only way I can stand an argument about Journey is if you buy me a drink.”