Wait On Me
Justin Timberlake pulled his sweatshirt hood lower over his face and pushed his sunglasses nervously higher up on his nose as he strolled into the cafe on the corner. He knew he'd get some serious flack from the guys and security if he was caught walking about in some tiny place in the city. He was lucky enough to be able to go out by himself for once. There was no way he was going to blow this opportunity, but he was hungry.
He gave the room a quick perusal and his eyes landed on a group of teenagers in the corner, obviously fans, acting completely loud and in that "teenybopper scary" way. He noted a group of frat house boys acting really wild directly in the middle of the place and two tables of quiet elderly couples. He smiled at the odd groups of people and his eyes finally made their way to the two waitresses in the corner.
He knew both had seen him walk in, and from reading the sign near the door, he knew that he wasn't supposed to just seat himself. The girls were both arguing in hushed tones from what he could tell. The argument seemed to be about who would get to take him as their table, but he wasn't sure. The brunette looked like she was losing to the blonde because her expression was clearly exasperated. Finally, she gave up, grabbed a menu, slapped the other waitress with it, and made her way over to where he was standing. Justin couldn't stop the smile from appearing on his face.
The brunette walked over carefully with a tired expression on her face. She gave him a small smile before speaking in a forced cheerful voice. "Hey there! You can just pick any table that's open."
He pointed to an open one near the back and made his way over. The waitress followed and handed him his menu as he sat down. She jumped and sighed when she heard more noise from the two groups of teenagers in the restaurant. "Thank you SO MUCH for sitting so far away from them. I'll be right back with your water and everything."
He watched her walk away and gave her a once over. She was cute - tan body, nice figure, shoulder-length dark brown hair, and a playful walk. His thoughts were interrupted by the frat boys in the corner. "HEY KYLIEEEEE!!!!!! I think I need another cup of coffee!!!! Hey guys - that rhymed!!!"
The group erupted in laughter and the brunette came out from the back with a pot of coffee and a scowl on her face. She walked up to the table calmly, poured the guy's coffee, and leaned in a little toward the guy. Although she was across the room, he strained to hear what she had to say. "Listen up - don't act like you know me, when you don't; don't think I need your crappy tip, because I don't; and don't watch my ass when I walk away again or I'll pour this coffee where it'll burn for a week, got me???"
The group all "ooooohed" and "aaaaaahhhed" at her comments and all took pleasure in checking her out as she walked away. He noted her expression and he knew damn well that she knew that they were all indeed watching her walk away. The teenybopper table stopped her as she was walking back and squealed out whatever they wanted. He wasn't able to make it out. Whatever it was, she smiled fakely and looked like she'd take care of it. The other waitress made her way out from the back with an order of food just then and the brunette shot her a dirty look as she passed her. The blonde began giggling as she made her way to one of the elderly couples near his table.
The brunette did a little more running around before returning to his table with another sigh and his water and silverware. "I'm sorry. Got a little side-tracked there. Are you ready to order? Want something to drink or anything?"
He hadn't really looked yet, but he didn't want to make things any more difficult for her. "Ummmmm, you can just get me an orange juice and the three egg special listed here."
She looked bored and winced when the guys started yelling her name again. "OK. How do you want your eggs? And would you like bacon or sausage?"
He hadn't taken his sunglasses off so he was able to watch the guys from the corner of his eye. They were whistling and laughing at some joke. The teenage girl table was getting a little wild now as well. "Over easy is fine. And bacon please."
She smiled at him again when he was so polite. It must've been a rare occurence for her that morning, at least he figured anyway. She nodded at his choices. "I'll put your order right up. It'll just be a few minutes."
She walked away quickly and headed toward the back again. It wasn't too far away from where he was sitting so he could hear Kylie talking with the other girl in the back. "I can't BELIEVE I have all these wacked tables Cheri. It's not funny, nor is it FAIR. The only normal table I've had ALL MORNING is the one guy in the corner who just came in."
He heard some quiet laughter. "Oh, come on Kylie, you can take it. I find it REALLY amusing for some reason."
"Ha!! You would."
"Oh, by the way. The *NSYNC teenyboppers want their check. They said they mentioned it to you a second ago."
"Yeah, I know. I have it right here, but I'm waiting to give it to them so I can simmer down a little because I REALLY don't want to go dump coffee in that smart ass' lap over in table three."
He heard more giggling. "Oh Kylie, you really are too much. Just bring them their check, and then they'll LEAVE. Then, you only have to deal with ONE goofy table."
Kylie walked out just then and walked toward the teenyboppers. He couldn't help but smile at them. They were his fans, a little scary yes, but still worth his respect. They made him who he was. He watched her chitchat with them a while and the girls just kept on squealing and talking excitedly about something, probably their concert tonight. They quietly got up and Kylie cashed them out. They must not have left her much of a tip because she still wasn't exactly happy as she cleaned off their table.
She must have forced herself to go talk with the frat boys because she made her way over there with their check. "Here's your check guys. I'd say enjoy your day, but a comment like that would only make MY day worse."
He watched her smile evilly and admired her audacity. He hadn't met another girl that had guts like that. He heard a ring from the kitchen and Kylie went into the back again. It must've been his food. Sure enough, Kylie walked out a minute or so later with his food and his orange juice. She made her way easily over toward his table. She placed his food down in front of him while remarking, "Just let me know if you need anything else, OK?"
He didn't know what possessed him at that particular moment, but he couldn't stop the words from coming out of his mouth. "Well, actually, are you busy?"
She gave him a curious look. "Ummm, not really unless you count bruising the frat boys' egos over there."
"Well, I normally don't eat alone so do you mind joining me for a few minutes or so?"
She was suspisious and hesitated for a second, but slowly sat down across from him. "OK. I don't mind. Umm, so what are you in the city for? I ask only because I've been working here for a long time and it's usually the same people except on a day like today."
That comment confused him. "What do you mean 'a day like today?'"
She gestured over toward the teenybopper table. "There's an *NSYNC concert in the city tonight so we get all these psychotic preteen girls in the restaurant. This is MY third table of them. My partner in crime, Cheri, has only had one group of them, lucky girl. All concerts bring in all sorts of people I guess."
That made him curious, and he couldn't resist asking. "What? Don't you like *NSYNC?"
She gave him an odd look, but considered his question. "Well, yeah. I guess anyway. I listen to all kinds of music though. I'll admit that I have them somewhere in my CD case. Probably after my hip hop and rock faves though."
He gave her a small smile. "Oh, I see. What about the loudmouths in the middle of the restaurant? What's their story?"
"Oh, them? There's a college football game tonight so that easily explains the out-of-state, obnoxious jocks acting like they're all big and bad over there. It doesn't matter though. Our team's gonna win."
"Ahhhh. I'm guessing you attend the local college then?"
"Yeah. I'm only a freshman though. A couple more weeks til I can finally call myself a sophomore."
"That's not so bad."
"Nope. I don't think so either."
Just then, the frat boys strted getting rowdy again. She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm sorry. While I'm enjoying our 'more normal conversation,' it looks like I have to go regulate."
He smiled and looked directly into her blue eyes. "That's fine. Thanks for talking with me."
She met his stare through his sunglasses and nodded with a genuine smile. "No problem at all. My pleasure."
"KYYYYLLLLLIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!"
"Oh, Kylie, my lovvvvvvvvvvvvellllllllyyyyy!!!!"
She scowled at their antics. He was the first to comment. "Go kick their ass Kylie."
That made her laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry - I didn't catch your name."
"Oh, uh, it's Jay."
"OK. Well, enjoy your meal Jay."
"Thanks, I will."
He watched her walk away toward the annoying guys. They wanted more coffee from what he could tell. He watched her walk away, annoyed, toward the back. She came out fairly quick and began pouring them their coffee. The rude guy, who had asked for coffee before, leaned back while she was pouring his coffee, almost daring her to dump it on him. He watched her eyebrow raise. "Don't offer an invite unless you want me to act on it sweetheart."
She threw a couple creamers she had been holding into his chest and made her way to the back area again. This time she went all the way into the kitchen. It looked as if she needed to let off some steam. He had finally finished his breakfast and glanced at his watch. He couldn't believe it. He had let almost an hour go by and he needed to make it back to the hotel before 9AM rolled around. That left him like a matter of minutes. He looked around, but both girls were in the back. He quickly pulled out his wallet. He opened it up and saw something that he had forgotten about. He was supposed to give two tickets to Trace and his girlfriend for this concert, but they weren't coming anymore. Sure enough, the two tickets were still sitting in his wallet. He thought about it for only a second before leaving both tickets and a twenty on the table. He wrote her a quick note on a napkin before heading out.
Kylie and Cheri came out a few minutes later and Kylie was surprised to see him gone. She walked over to his table and was shocked to see a twenty sitting there on top of a note. She picked up the twenty and read the note. It said:
"Kylie-
Sorry I had to rush off. I think the time ran away from me. I just have to thank you for the best service I've had in a restaurant in a long time. Trust me, I've been to a lot of them. I hope you use the tickets - I actually just realized I had them. I'll write your name on our list and you can come backstage if you want. I'm all for 'more normal conversation' so you have to come at least say hi, OK? Thanks again.
Justin T."
Kylie looked confused. She couldn't believe he left her like a 200% tip and apparently some sort of tickets. "Tickets? Justin T.? I thought his name was Jay. What? I don't get it."
When she picked up the note, everything started to click. There were two *NSYNC tickets lying underneath. "Wait a minute. Justin T.? OHHHHHH- Justin Timberlake."
She looked around the restaurant and couldn't believe that she had just served him of all people, and she couldn't believe his generosity. She was gonna go to that concert, for sure, even if it was only to thank him. Not to mention that her day just seemed to get 100% better.
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Justin was performing like he hadn't in a long time. It was an amazing start for the concert. He hadn't been able to get to the area of the stage to look for Kylie yet, but for some reason he knew she was there. It was time to slow things down a little with "I Drive Myself Crazy" and now he could finally look for her and be assured of her presence.
The group made their way back out onto the stage after their quick change. They did their little intro and began the song. During his solo, he made his way over toward the front area where she would be, and he smiled when he indeed spotted her. She smiled back and gave a slight wave. He couldn't wave back so he just smiled some more before looking around. He knew the concert would be a hit now because he would try and do the best that he could, not only to impress her, but also everyone else there.
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Justin was completely drained, but was on a high like no other. The concert had been an immense success. He couldn't wait to have a quick chat with Kylie before they hopped the buses and headed to the next city. He made his way back to his dressing room to get his stuff, but was stopped by his bodyguard, Mike. "Hey Jay - some girl left this for you. She was cleared to pass so I kept the note."
Justin looked at him curiously and took the note. It read:
"Justin-
Thank you so much for the tickets. I loved the concert. You guys are all amazing. I wish I could've stayed longer, but I was dragged out of here by my friend who has a huge test tomorrow morning. I'm leaving my cell number so you can drop me a line the next time you're in town or are just in need of that 'more normal conversation' as we so eloquently call it. I'll hopefully talk with you later.
Kylie Walsh
(321) 476-2894"
Justin smiled at her words before pulling out his cell phone and giving her a call. She answered after about three rings. "Hey, Kylie? Hi....it's Justin."
