Then having just come back from his break, he walked back to the front section and decided to look around at the tables to see if there was anything to clear. Amongst walking between the tables and gathering, glasses and dishes here and there, he had to make repeated walks up to the bar to place things down.
There were a few cups here, a few mugs there. People were generally sloppy when they came out at night so it wasn't uncommon to expect to be collecting things after people leave all the time.
Not long after that he noticed the face of Felix staring at him, grinning for some reason. He couldn't help but look at him and sneer back and ask, "What?"
Good old Felix was caught off guard by this. He stepped back and had a look of bewilderment upon his face.
This of course really pleased Denver, who looked up and smiled with a cheeky little grin that he couldn't hold back.
After a few moments of silence Felix spoke up again. What he said was: "I was just thinking you look good cleaning up after things". Seems like he was trying to save face. This didn't really suit him and of course Denver would not take this lying down despite Felix being a manager. Denver was not one to take a slap in the face so lightly. He said this: "I wouldn't try to save face if I were you; you already have a face that looks like a slapped arse." He said this with a very sly grin and he turned away from Felix and continued to clean up.
When he walked up to the bar and put the things down, making sure the tray made a satisfying clunk as it hit the bar, he looked at Felix and said: "Two can play that game pal." Then he turned around and walked. He continued to walk until he was just about at the door. He was looking outside, wondering: "Did I go too far or should I get a bucket?"
He thought about it for a while then decided no it would be a waste of water even for dirty mop water, it would be wasted if it got on Felix. Not so much because he would have to clean it up afterwards anyway. This bothered him to no end but he decided to leave it for now and headed back behind the bar.
While at the bar counter the atmosphere was very tense after the previous exchange.
Felix was obviously upset, but on that point his manner of dealing with it was quite interesting.
He was very fidgety, almost as though he felt he'd lost the upper hand.
He was right. Denver had clearly won this argument but mostly because he couldn't come up with any good comebacks. Even if he did it wouldn't matter, the day continued on.
It was a few minutes later, probably around 30 to 40 minutes, that someone walked in. Someone Denver recognised or at least thought he did. His mind became quite clear. It's her and he thought: Yes this is definitely her. This was the girl who said "See you soon", the lady who caused the disappointment. As she got closer he noticed something quite different. It wasn't her at all. His mind was so caught up in what was going on.
Not only was it not her, upon closer inspection he noticed she had a scar on her face just above her lip and she had dark red hair. It was cut into a short hairstyle but it was longer in front than it was at the back, which was very odd. She was also wearing a pantsuit and she had a badge on it, She had a very odd name; it was Leaf. Perhaps it was some sort of joke but he couldn't get too close to see but he was definitely sure this wasn't the one. Especially when she opened her mouth to speak and asked for a cappuccino, Felix is the one who handled this order as poor Denver was left wondering, "Oh where, oh where can you be?" The one on my mind that I wish to see.
As he thought this all he could say out loud was, "I'm so eloquent with words; perhaps I should quit my day job." With a somewhat confused expression he started laughing at himself.
He decided to walk away from the bar for a second and called out to Felix, "Oh Felix, I'll be off for a second." He walked off without waiting for a reply, knowing Felix was busy and wouldn't reply anyway. Felix was a jerk so he could deal with it himself.
Denver walked to the bathroom, headed for a basin, he turned on the tap and splashed his face with some cold, to try to wake him up and keep the darkness at bay.
After a few consecutive splashes, he raised his head that had been just above the basin, to his shock as he looked up into the mirror above the basin, someone was there, a horrible someone…
Tim, he was watching, he then asked "what's up!Too hot?".
"Suprised?".
Denver replied, "It's not your sudden appearance that startled me but the realisation that yes I have to work with you today. Ah woe is me." After saying this he looked at the reflection of both of them and saw that Tim was just bobbing his head. It looked like he was laughing to himself. That's when Tim spoke up, "jealous of my good looks" he mused and then proceeded to walk out the door, leaving Denver standing and dumbfounded again. He became a scarecrow. This was becoming a bad habit, he thought. Turning on the tap, and started splashing his face with more water, trying to clear his mind.
Denver thought for a moment. He went to grab a towel to dry his face. After thoroughly drying his face and making sure his hair was in the right place, not that he had too much on the top of his head, but his beard was of quite importance to him. He made sure he was brushed down the edges and down the sides. He didn't look too wild, man, and decided to write. He took a deep breath and headed for the door. He reached his hand out and grabbed the cold door handle on. He turned with intent, opened the door with force, and stepped outside, determined not to let these two imbeciles that he found himself near ruin his work day.
He stepped into the bar and with authority he coughed and cleared his throat to make sure everyone knew he was there. With a slight smile he asked, "How's it looking?" He continued to the front without waiting for a reply. Instead of standing at the counter he stood at the door, waiting for someone to come in and greeted them. "Good day, how about a coffee?" Before he tried something different for a change, poor old Denver, he was wondering: "Perhaps we could bring more people in. Perhaps with folks who were outside brought to me and I wouldn't have to talk to the two idiots." He thought this was a fine idea so he continued to do it for three customers until I got bored. Especially since the third customer was an old man who had a rather nasty look on his face. He had a crooked nose, grumbles, a bald head, with wisps of white everywhere. He was quite old, bent over, had a walking stick, and had a habit of grunting. There wasn't someone you'd want to invite over for Sunday dinner, for this much we are certain. You just have something quite interesting on your shoulder. For a while this is something that's not so common today being seen on shirts and it's quite interesting to see them. A man's shirt had epaulettes! "Epaulette", "How interesting" he yelled! What an odd thing to see in this day and age!
Everyone jumped. They were shocked. No one expected someone to yell "epaulettes." Of all things, yes, they're rare but still. Most would be concerned about the person. This person, being Denver, was getting looks from all directions from the old man and from Tweedledee and Tweedledum at the bar.
The old man grunted and said, "Get me my coffee, americano to go." He grumbled more than spoke to us. He walked to the edge of the table (the other edge, I should say; we were on the left). He went to the right as if to say, "I don't know these people; they're just serving me drinks." Denver thought the old fool was living in his epaulettes and could go stand there and do what he liked. Denver proceeded to prepare the coffee, with coffee in hand, he noticed an awkward atmosphere surrounding him.
He placed the coffee before the man and gave him the price. The man paid, added a shiver, and left.
For some reason I hadn't asked but I gave him a take-away cup,but then I remembered he did say "to go", which means he probably assumed that this place was quite rude but Denver didn't want him to stick around so it didn't bother him.
He wanted the idiots who didn't know what epaulettes were to look them up. It was his own act of "you should learn what these things are," he thought to himself.
Then he turned around, looked at Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and asked them, "What is wrong?" The way they reacted was quite shocking. They just went to either side of him and ignored him completely. Denver thought it was fine, well fine by me. Not a big fan of Tweedledee and Tweedledum anyway, quite happy with himself, he stood where he was and started tapping on the bar a rhythm he'd heard before but he wasn't quite sure of it.
Then out of the corner of his eye he noticed something red. His heartbeat quickened and all things seemed to slow as he looked at the door and saw a guy in a red shirt. He was oh so disappointed, so so embarrassed. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as he blushed. All he could do was put his head down on the counter with his arms over it. He was shocked and embarrassed that he had gotten so excited over a red shirt.