Damien watched from behind the bar as the young family walked in. The mother was demurely clad in a floral dress, the baby clutched in her arms. Her husband stood beside her in a black suit, white shirt and startlingly blue tie. He wasn’t particularly tall, but wasn’t too short either. Though his jacket largely concealed his build, Damien guessed that he spent not an insignificant time exercising. Wiping the glass with the dishcloth despite it already being dry, Damien looked a bit closer. Sandy blonde hair was cut short in an almost military style and his face was unlined, unblemished and looked to be about 23 or 24 maybe. Bright blue eyes looked out from a face that could well have been chiselled from marble. They settled at table number sixteen and Damien saw Julie, a fellow waitress go over to them. He put the glass down and picked up another dry one, still swiping it ineffectually with the cloth. The family chattered quietly amongst themselves as they looked at the menu. The man’s back was turned to Damien. As Damien walked over to the sink for a better view, he saw the man’s right hand in a dark blue cast while the other flicked through the pages of the menu with long slender fingers. He made an inaudible remark and his wife chuckled. The baby began to scream and her entire attention to fixed on the wailing infant. The man took the opportunity to look around the cafe. His gaze rested for a millisecond on Damien’s face before returning to the menu. At seventeen, Damien really didn’t carry much weight in the cafe’s pecking order…but he just HAD to get out from behind the consignment of the bar. He looked back down at his work, surprised to find his ears burning for some reason.
“Hi – a beer please,” the voice had a certain edge to it that made Damien immediately looked up and found himself face to face with a pair of very blue eyes. The man was resting his hand on the bar counter and there was a playful smile on his face. Damien spluttered and then grabbed a glass, filled it and set it on the bar, splashing more than half of it on the way.