Page 14 of One Night

"It's probably a business meeting. Maybe they're just getting drinks."

"They have menus. They're getting lunch."

"The young guy's kinda cute, in a nerdy, nice-guy type of way."

"Then maybe you should wait on them. I'll switch tables with you."

"I don't like guys like that."

"Why not? You said he looked nice."

She looks at me. "And when have I ever dated a nice guy? I go for bad boys. The badder the better."

"Which is why you keep ending up getting hurt by guys like Ian. You should try a nice guy." I nod in his direction. "The guy at table eight may be your soulmate."

She laughs. "Yeah. I don't think so. Get to work." She takes off, leaving me there. I straighten up and smooth my long blond hair, which is in a sleek, low ponytail, and walk over to table eight.

"Hi, I'm Amber," I say, putting on a big smile. "Are you gentlemen here for lunch?"

"Yes," the older man snaps while perusing the menu. He's probably seventy, with white hair and bushy white eyebrows. "I'll have the Caesar salad, light on the croutons." He slams his menu shut and shoves it at me.

"Would you rather just have the croutons on the side so you can add them yourself?" I ask in a sugary sweet tone. I've found that smiling and acting overly sweet gets me better tips, especially with old people.

"Then it wouldn't be a Caesar salad, now would it?" he shoots back.

"Got it," I say, keeping the smile going. "Light on the croutons. And for you?" I ask the younger guy. Holly was right. He is cute, but not at all nerdy. I don't know why she said that, other than the fact that he's wearing a suit, but a suit doesn't make someone a nerd.

"I'll have the turkey club," he says, smiling. "No modifications needed." He glances at the old man, who's too busy with his phone to notice the young guy's comment.

"Dammit!" the old man says. "Griffin didn't get the contract right." He stands up, his eyes on his phone. "I need to deal with this." He walks off and goes outside.

"Anything else?" I ask the young guy. "Drinks?"

"He'll have a scotch," he says, pointing to the now empty chair across from him. "I'll have an iced tea."

"Sounds good. I'll be right back with your drinks." I go to the kitchen, put the order in, and return to the table with the scotch and iced tea. The old man is still outside.

"So what's your name?" the young guy asks.

"Amber."

"I'm Matt." He smiles. "Do you go to school around here?"

"Yeah. Katswick College. It's small. You probably never heard of it."

"I've heard of it. I went to a party there last year. I graduated from the University of Chicago in May. Got a job as a project manager. Allen is my mentor." He rolls his eyes.

I laugh. "The old guy?"

"Yeah. This is our first mentoring session. As you can probably tell, he's not too pleased to have to mentor someone, especially someone my age. He pretty much hates anyone under the age of fifty."

"So not the best job?"

He shrugs. "The job's not bad. Just my mentor. But I'll survive." He backs his chair up, turning to face me. "I don't usually do this, but would you ever want to get coffee sometime?"

He's asking me out? This is the first time this has happened. Most of our customers are older businessmen so I never considered that I might get asked out at work.

"Oh, um, I don't know," I say, not sure if I want to agree to it. Matt is cute but I'm not feeling any sparks. Then again, I don't usually feel sparks when I meet someone. Except for Dylan.

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