Sitting in a diner. It's late. What time is it? I lost my watch a while back and I purposely left my phone back at my apartment because I am tired of the goddamed phone. So I don't know what time it is, but I reckon that it is around 2:30 am. When I left my place it was 2:00, so I'm guessing 2:30. For some reason, there is no clock on the wall at this diner, and I am glad that I don't really know the time.
Enough about the time.
What does it matter, anyway?
I order a beer from a salty waitress who I have known for years but who always acts like I am a stranger. I tell her that I am going to drink this one real fast and since she won't bring me two beers at a time like I have asked her to before a million times, I tell her that she can bring me another right away. I am chasing a buzz because I can't sleep without it and I need to get just right, and this I know about myself.
The second beer arrives and I down that too as she stands there and she frowns and takes my glass to refill it.
I look around the diner. Pretty much empty. At the opposite end of the aisle sit a man and a woman. The man is , I am guessing, around forty and the woman is in her mid twenties. The woman is almost sitting on top of him. She has her head on his shoulder and her leg over top of his. They are in love, it is obvious to me and anybody else who may be looking.
All around them is nothing. Empty booths, menus, a grumpy waitress and a cook working the grill. They are oblivious to it all.
He is drinking a beer and she is drinking some type of pink cocktail and in front of them sits a plate of fries and gravy, untouched.
She couldn't get any closer to him if she tried. And they look happy.
They both, at once, look up and notice me staring at them.
I nod my head, and raise my glass to them. The girl smiles and the man smiles, too. The man pauses for a moment and we both look at each other. It feels like forever, but it was probably only a few seconds.
Then he nods his head at me, and raises his glass, also.
