The Lemon Tart

Dark brown eyes fixated on the door in the leftmost corner of the hall. His hair was silky and straight. Thick brows and well-shaped stubble that completely outshined the freckles and dark circles under his eyes. And oh! his eyes- there was an unnatural gleam that made him attractive beyond anything my eyes had ever laid upon. There was something unusual in the way he tirelessly involved himself into the monotony of his work beyond the point of exhaustion. I had never seen anyone as attractive, as sturdy, so serene as him before.

There was another man, in the farthest corner who did nothing but stared at him. Occasionally yelled, while he quietly continued with his work. He went from table to table, serving and taking orders without once looking into the eyes of his customers. Somehow, he never came to my table; someone else was always quick enough. I hadn't even heard his voice yet. He either talks too softly or does not talk at all. The food at this place was nothing more than crappy. I accidentally landed here at a friend's treat when I first saw him a year ago. Since then, I visit this place way too often after school with an excuse of having lunch as I was too hungry to wait until I reach home. And yet, I haven't had a chance to talk to him. Poor me.

This place was called "The cafe". As if there was nothing more creative for a name. However. they liked fancying names for the items they sold, for example, their chilly chicken burgers were called explosion-in-the-mouth supreme burger, or their lemon tarts were called heaven-on-earth lemon tarts. I cannot deny as much everything was overpriced and overrated, the tarts were really good. But what made everything even better was him- Mr Nameless-dark-brown-eyes.

Every time I visited this place, I made sure to sit near the door where he always stared. I still always missed having him visit my table. All he did was take and get orders, clean tables and perpetually stare at the door. And, all I did was stare at him.

 The day had finally come. It was a raining and the school was officially closed down. A dull, sultry day- but not so dull after all. I was starving after having missed my breakfast and so I decided to visit the cafe with hopes of seeing him yet again. The cafe was just opening up and he was the first waiter to have reached on time. Hesitantly, he came off to my table and stood quietly, looking down. My heart skipped a beat at seeing him stand so close- and yet so far. He seemed to be waiting for the order, instead, I decided to strike a conversation.

"Hi! How are you?"

I surely caught him in surprise. He looked me into the eyes for the first time and gave a weak smile.

"Good." as he gently pulled out his notepad and a pen. But I wasn't done yet.
"I visit this cafe a lot. I really like the food here."
"Nice", he didn't show any signs of impatience and that was pretty impressive honestly.
"Since how long have you been working here?" as I forced a conversation.
"Two years," he replied with the same weak smile.


That's it. I had to get him to go a little further than one or two syllables.
And it happened. The words just spurred out of my mouth.

"Hey! I think you are cute and I might have a crush on you. I would love to go out with you sometime ...if you like?" I said without a pause and was immediately guilty of my actions.

But his reaction was startling.
His smile widened and it was suddenly brighter than a sunny day again.
"Oh! I think I knew you had a crush. I have it too. I do steal a lot of glances at you whenever you visit. I have seen you staring at me too!"
And it was there. I did not know whether to admire so many words coming out of him all at once and oh! in his deep and husky voice, not to forget, or die in embarrassment of the fact that he knew about my crush on him, or rejoice in the news of him having a crush on me too. And the realization struck me again. It was not the door he stared at but me. I was lost for words yet I spoke.
"That's amazing actually."
"I would love to go out with you soon."
"Same here."
I also realized how each time he never took my table. It was not coincidental but deliberate in fact.

The manager had just entered the door when he shrugged a little and pulled out his pen to write.
But, I was still on the ninth cloud and there was nothing less than heavens on earth in this golden hour. I smiled as I pushed the menu card away and spoke with my widest smile of the day.

"One heaven-on-earth lemon tart, please?"

//started on some rainy day(hopefully) in 2014 or 2015(?) and completed on 09-06-2018(rainy day)