A crow from the void

The staring game-Chapther one

                                                                        

Lilly caught herself staring at him again from across the room, she was sucked in by his magnetic attraction. She could sit like this all day if she had the chance. The Diner was always packed with people at this hour, so she could sit hiding behind a menu, sneaking a peek at him without him noticing. He was always busy reading, sometimes looking up from his book to chew his pen in deep thoughts or to just stare at the wall infront of him, as if trying to solve all the worlds problems all at once.

"Lilly!" Her best friend Jade was talking to her, but she didnt even notice. "Lilly, snap out of it!"  "Come on! It's obvious your creeping on that man over there" Lilly could'nt help to feel drawn to him and his magnetic darkness.. picturing him naked and such things..  "Seriously" Jade yelled out. "Ken will fire you if he sees that you spend your time staring insted of working" "Just STOP" Jade replied in a snappy tone " Im sorry, Jade but I just can't help it. I... I think I'm crushing on him.. hard." "Get yourself together and make yourself useful!" Lilly started clearing the empty tables two booths to his right. He never once looked up from his book.. wondering if he ever noticed her at all.. 

It was almost closing time and he was still sitting at the table not saying a word while sipping on his millionth cup of coffee..Lilly never had the guts to serve him. She always asked someone else to do it, even though he always sat in one of her booths. Her hands started shaking violently whenever she was close to him. Violent shaking and hot steaming coffee does not mix very well.. But Jade, Ken and her other coworkers had left for the day. She always worked the nightshift alone at Thursdays but she never had the privilige of his company until tonite.. she had to offer him more beverages, it was just common hospitality.. She cleared her throat and attempted to speak..

"Would you like some more coffee?" she said with a whimpy voice. He looked up from his book and their eyes met. "uhm.. no thanks I think I had my share of coffee for today" Lilly felt her body tensing up and her hands was really sweaty and holding on to the pockets of her ugly diner apron. "Anything else I can offer you before we close?" sounding a little more confident. "Nah.. I think I'm good thanks" he replied while staring at his little black book. Her heart sunk just a littlebit. She was hoping he would be a little more interested in talking to her. 

Lilly turned around and was about to do her closing routine, when he spoke: "I'm sorry
I totally forgot to ask for the bill, I tend to get lost in my books" Lilly tensed up again, and remembered that she forgot to ask  and replied without turning to face him. "sure ill bring it right over" Damn it!"  she tought.. I had to have close contact with him to get him to sign the bill and hand over money/card and such... She has never had that opportunity until now. Because she always avoided it on purpose. Now she just had no choice in the matter.. She shakingly wrote up the total amount which was a whopping 23 dollars.. 10 cups of coffee in a 3 hour sitting. He must really like his coffee..

Walking towards him with the bill, she felt like her legs was made out of jelly.. she felt so unstable and the distance from the counter to the booth felt like miles. Approaching him, he lifted his gaze from the book and met her eyes. "Here it is" then handed him the bill with a sweaty, nervous hand. He grabbed it with his strong, solid hand and scoffed of the amount of coffee he had consumed. "Jeezz... you must think Im an addict" she laughed nervously "It sure do seem like it". He handed her a crumbled hundred dollar bill..  and wrote something on the bill. "Here you go.. Keep the change"

The stranger gathered his books, his pen and cell phone and left without saying one word. Lilly thought he was so mysterious.. the kind of mysetry one wants to solve..

Lilly woke up by the sharp sound of the alarm clock dragging her unwillingly from the awesome dream she had, into the cruel, cruel reality. She tried to punch the snooze button hard, but missed it, Then grabbed the whole thing and threw it as hard as she could at the wall.

"Damn it! I hate mornings!" Lilly dragged herself out of bed and stretched. It was saturday, but she still had to get up early to work the extra shift at the diner. Saturdays payed extra, but it also was an extra pain in the ass..

She started to apply make up like she always does first thing, god forbid anyone seeing her without it. In the middle of applying her last coat of mascara, the door bell rang. It was a rusty old thing and it sounded like something dying every time it rang.. She dreaded the sound of it and pleaded with the landlord to fix it, but the lazy bastard never did. She put on the closest peace of clothing she could find. It was her ex boyfriends shirt that she still wore sometimes. It was a familyguy shirt with a picture  of Chris sayin: "Your favorite band sucks" She loved it so much she didn't want to let go of it.

She peeked into the peeping hole in the door. No one there.. she unlocked it and found an empty hallway staring back at her.. "ok... that was strange" why ring the doorbell so persistently and not have the guts to be there when it is answered.. "oh well" she said out loud and slammed the door. 

The time wasted on the invisible guest was now making her late for work. "GOD DAMMIT!" she hated being late.. She almost had an panickattack because of it, but did her 4-7-8 breathing exercise three times. She felt her nerves setteling down and started walking the short distance towards the diner. This is gonna be one hell of a day...