Chapter 2 - Three beers please

When I opened the backdoor of the small cafe called Pubtidub, I was greeted by my boss and the owner of the pub: Jonas Jones. The first time he introduced himself to me I thought he was kidding. I managed to keep my smile hidden. His name reminded me of a cartoon protagonist. I learned that some colleagues or customers call him JJ. I wasn't bold enough to call him by his abbreviation or nickname yet. Maybe I had to earn it?

"Hi Lillian, welcome back! How is your hand? Did it heal properly?" He said with a grimace. Last weekend I burned my hand when I put a dirty plate in the dishwasher, but apparently the machine had already finished its job. It was late in the evening, I was exhausted, my brain almost exploded with all the new information I head to remember. So that's why I put the dirty plate in the bloody hot dishwasher and burned my hand while I did so.

"Yes, it's fine. Just a little red mark to remind me of one of my many embarrassing moments in life," I answered him. "Well, I hope it's not gonna leave a scar," he said by raising his arm in the air and by doing so he showed me his hands and arms full of scars. It didn't take much or I would've missed the apron he threw at me. I catched it just before it would've fallen to the ground. My boss was definitely in a funny mood, hearing him say: "You've past the quick reaction test, congratulations."

The day flew by. Jonas thought it was time to teach me how to walk with a tray in one hand and also how to walk with multiple plates. He laughed his butt off. I was so wobbly, but Jonas was cool with it. Accorded to him; "nobody comes out of the womb with a tray in his hand. Everybody got to learn." Of course I knew that's true, but I couldn't help feeling like the slow kid at school while playing any kind of sports and the entire class had to wait. Yep, that was and apparantly is me.

The whole day I was trying not to break any glass or coffee cup. So far I was doing alright. Just half an hour before closing time, three men walked in. I sighed quietly not wanting Jonas to hear it. All the tables were clean!

They went sitting next to the window and started talking to eachother.

I took a little notebook, made sure the knot of my apron was still tight around my waist and walked over. Every step I took I could take a better look at those men. They looked tough. As if they liked to drive a motorcycle all day while smoking a few packs of sigarets. The one sitting alone was somewhere in his late forties. He wore a beanie and had a big moustache, which hang on both sides of his face. The man in the corner seemed somewhere near 35 and had a shaved head. A tattoo of red snake crawled in his neck, reaching to his ear. The one closest to the aisle was the youngest. He had a subtle beard and an earpiercing visible, which I was intrigued by. The fact that I did like a piercing to a guy was new to me. I always had thought a piercing will only suit a girl, but he proved me wrong.

I stood next to the table and asked in my polite voice "Can I get you..." "Three beers" the young man interrupted me. His light blue eyes were piercing in my soul and made no effort to blink any time soon. I closed my mouth, which was still hanging open due to my unfinished sentence, quickly turning away from his gaze. I regestured my posture and cleared my throat. "Ok, it's on it's way" I tried to answer as politely it lays in my capability and walked away back to the bar, didn't dare to look back.

Back at the bar Jonas asked what they wanted, so he could start preparing the drinks. "Three beers please" I answered him, "but without the please." His eyebrow went up in a questionable way.

"Here you go, three beers for your gentlemen" he said with a wink and slized the tray in my direction. I sighed, silently encouraging myself. They came here to torture me and see if I can handle the pressure, well here I come.

I made my way over to their table as confident as possible. Every inch I came closer I felt my body temperature rise and my pride (wow, look at me I'm walking by myself with a tray one-handed) vanished. It was like I walked in to a very bad aura. I heared sounds in my head you hear when the bad guys appear in a action movie... That feeling.

Silently I first put the felt pads on the table. The two oldest men didn't seem to notice and continued their conversation like I was air. While taking the first glass of the tray I felt the eyes of the youngest man fixated on me. It made me nervous like shit.

Hurriedly I put the glass down in front of the one with the beanie. He nodded in response. By the time I grabbed the second glass I started to tremble a little. I thought it was unnoticeable, but the young man said: "Don't spill any beer, honey. Don't think Mike likes it if you waste his money." His head quickly moving in the direction of Mike, alias snake-man, and turning back looking at me.

He rhymed. Like he's a poet. Un-f*cking-believable, I thought. His voice sounded familiair demanding. Not leaving any space for discussion.

I put the glass down a little trembling but it went okay. Internally I collected all my courage, took the last glass and placed it firmly in front of him. He seemed surprised for a while, but grabbed my whrist as I let go of the glass and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Good girl"