The Matchmaker Meets Her Match

FIVE

I was working kitchen duty washing the dishes one day when Anabel rushed in and told me the news I had been anticipating for a month and a half. He was there; Sosha had returned to the diner. Mary and Anabel did not tend to him and left the job to me. To the surprise of their mother, Rachel, I took off my gloves and apron hurriedly and tossed them aside without another word. I grabbed a menu and rushed out of the door before coming back to my senses.

I didn't want to seem desperate, as Mary had warned me against being too eager. I stopped by the door and inhaled deeply three times while Mary watched me from the other side doing what she had told me to. A smile appeared on her face and she wished me luck. Anabel took over the job of washing the dishes and couldn't witness me in action, to her disappointment.

Sosha was seated by a window, looking out and watching the people passing down the alleyway. He patiently waited but glanced down at his watch after every minute. On that day, he was clad in a business suit, making me believe that he must have had limited time for lunch and that I shouldn't keep him waiting for too long. I slowly made my way over to his table. The walk between the door and his table was too short for my liking.

I was already shaking at the knees and my heart was beating so fast that it was a bit too painful. I was frightened and scared, even more so when he turned to look at me when I stopped beside him.

"W-What... what will you be having today?" I had stuttered and felt my beating heart sink to my stomach. I had made another mistake Mary warned me against during my first attempt at speaking to him. But he didn't seem to mind. He reached over to the menu I was firmly holding onto and I felt so stupid at having forgotten to give it to him.

"You must be new here," he stated, his voice so manly and rough that I instantly felt vulnerable before him. My knees grew weak and my heart started pounding even faster. It was getting annoying but I loved it at the same time. I wasn't new at the diner, obviously, as I had been there for over a month. I was so nervous and had forgotten to give him the menu, typical 'new-waiter' mistakes. He opened the menu and scanned the pages.

He had not seen me the last time he had appeared and while I couldn't blame him for that, I was disappointed. The entire time I was obsessing over him, he didn't have an inkling that I existed. One month was a really long time when it came to waiting for the one you loved and I felt sad at the idea I was in love with someone who had not seen my face even once. I became aware of my obsessive behavior when I remembered that I had his face from the newspaper folded neatly in my pocket.

Yes, I was standing next to him, waiting for him to order, his picture in my pocket. I was so nervous and felt ashamed as though I would soon be frisked and someone would discover the picture and show it to him.

"I'll have the broccoli and anchovy orecchiette..." he paused when he saw me frantically search in my pockets for something I had forgotten in the heat of the moment. He raised an eyebrow, curious to what was wrong and I felt embarrassed in front of him.

"I forgot my notepad," I said, looking over to the door to the kitchen. I was about to hurry over to retrieve it but I stopped as he spoke.

"Don't worry, that's all I'll be having," he said, his voice stiff. My face felt hotter. He was evidently not impressed by my incompetence. I nodded shyly because I didn't want to be in his presence anymore due to how much I had embarrassed myself already. I passed the order on to Rachel who asked what the drink of choice would be. I froze in place. I had forgotten about that and didn't want to go back to him unless I had to, which was to hand him his dish and the bill later on.

Rachel saw how unnerved I was. Anabel had told him that the man I had been waiting for had finally appeared after a long time and she didn't force me to head back outside. He would've mentioned if he wanted a drink. It took about ten minutes for Rachel to prepare the dish. I was doing the dishes again and Anabel attended to the other customers. We switched again when it was my turn to head back to main area and I took the tray with the dish with me.

I laid down the tray carefully on the table, showing him that I was capable of that much.

"Enjoy your meal," I simply said, hurrying back to continue with the dishes. Anabel was baffled by all the switches but did not complain. I hid myself in the kitchen until Sosha was ready to leave. I took the bill and went back outside, handed it to him, then waited almost impatiently as he paid. He stood up when he was done and without another word, he got up and left.

I heaved a heavy sigh and Mary rushed over to my side.

"Are you okay? You look more nervous than you had been when you applied for this job," she asked out of concern. I was so relieved that he had left and that I wouldn't see him until a month later and it showed on my face.

"I'll be fine... I think my feelings left with him," I said, noticing how easily I had calmed down now that he was gone. Mary was concerned but she was secretly happy that my feelings for him were disappearing. She told me to handle the bill and left to get the meals for another customer. I looked down at the bill and saw something sticking out from underneath it. It looked familiar; too familiar.

My heart, which had already calmed down, skipped a painful beat once again as I shoved my hand into my pocket. My body froze again. The newspaper cutout was missing. I even opened the pocket wide enough for me to look into it and didn't see anything. It must have fallen out when I was searching for my notepad. I could not believe I had made such a mistake. It was no wonder he didn't say anything to me as he left.

I was once again embarrassed and filled with shame. It brought tears to my eyes that I held back because I was in public and didn't want to cause a scene. I picked up the bill with the cash on it in one hand and the picture in the other. I was about to stuff it into pocket, then I would throw it away in the bin in the kitchen, when I noticed some scribbling on his face that hadn't been there before.

I looked closely at the scribbling and saw a few numbers on there. It was his telephone number. He had written down his number on the picture before he left. I would've been happy had it happened some other time but I was confused with conflicted feelings. What was it about me being nervous before him and being incompetent that made him want to give me his number?

I wasn't extremely attractive; only pretty, as the men Mary set me up with said and Anabel, who was also my age, was far prettier than I was. In fact, the men wanted to be set up with her instead of me but Mary would never do that to her little sister. Yet he saw the three of us and decided to give me his number.

I had a feeling that he expected someone else to handle the bill, that I wouldn't dare to show my face before him again and Anabel, who I had been switching with constantly, would be the one to get the number. But it made no sense. I was the one who dropped the picture and he could've snuck it into his pocket as I waited for him to pay the bill.

The number was intended for me to get it. Mary, who was only a few feet away from me, had managed to see some writing on the photo. She had her suspicions, that were accurate and turned out to be true, that it was his number written on there. There wasn't much she could do now that the situation had escalated to that point. She could only wish the best for me and that I had made the right decision.

I didn't sleep until late that night. I had the picture with Sosha's number in my hand the entire time. I went deep into thought and constantly looked down at it. It was at that time that I turned the picture around and noticed there was more writing from him. I sat up immediately, arousing the attention of the girl across my bed who was lightly sleeping. She woke up fully and saw me seated on the bed, watching the piece of paper.

"What's wrong? You still can't stop thinking about him?" Hannah asked, yawning afterwards to express how sleepy she was. I was dumbfounded and handed her the paper. The distance between us was just enough for her to reach my outstretched hand.

"Do you know where that is?" I asked. She read the address and her eyes widened. She sat up in the bed as well, waking up the girl above her who immediately went back to sleep.

"This is the address to a hotel... there's a date, too... That's tomorrow night, Bea," she said in what could be described as surprise, shock and concern. Of course, I wouldn't recognize the address as I had never been to a hotel before for any reason whatsoever. The other girls had been to hotels for obvious reasons, along with Hannah.

"Did you get this from him?" She asked next, now fully awake. I nodded, too naive to understand what she was trying to get me to understand.

"There's only one thing that happens in a hotel when a man invites you there... and I don't think you're ready for it. You don't know him at all, Bea," she voiced her concern. I wasn't that naive to know what she meant but I did not think that that was his intention when he gave me the address. In fact, I didn't think anything about it at all. I was too focused on his number to notice the other writing.

"I understand... but," I began, unable to voice my thoughts to her. My feelings for Sosha had already returned and I was willing to do anything for him. I was stupid, I knew I was, but I couldn't drive my feelings away now that I knew he wanted me, too. He was my first love and no one was going to get in between me and him. Not Mary, not Hannah, and not anyone else who wanted to change my mind. I would go to that hotel at the time he wrote down for me and I would let whatever would happen happen.

I smiled at Hannah and told her that I wouldn't go to the hotel and that I would take things slowly with him. That was enough to convince her to give me back the picture and to return to sleep without any worries. I slipped the picture under my pillow and rested my head on it. I did not feel the slightest bit of guilt at having lied but I did it so Hannah wouldn't worry about me. I went to sleep imagining what the next night with him would be like. At the time, I had no idea that I was slowly becoming my father.