Beer, Burgers & Boyfriends

“Hi, you may remember me from last time, but in case you don't, my name is Simon and I will be your waiter today!” My friends looked a tad displeased when it turned out that Simon would be our waiter; they had obviously hoped to be served by one of the waitresses at the establishment instead. I could understand their disappointment, but at the same time, I could not fully empathise with them because I was incredibly thrilled that I would get to spend more time with Simon today. There had been plenty of moments in the past where I had given up on personal plans in favour of benefitting the team or my teammates, so I had deserved it to act selfishly for once.

Simon was nervously toying with the curled-up corner of his notepad and was purposefully avoiding my gaze. “H-have you been able to make a decision on what you want to order?”

“Yes, I would love a hotdog with onion and hot sauce, curly fries and a strawberry-banana milkshake, please,” I responded with a smile. “Unless you have something better to recommend of course.”

“No, no, it’s sweet and spicy like yourself, it’ll be perfect for you,” Simon answered absentmindedly while jotting my choices down on his notepad. When the realisation of what he had just said set in, he immediately started blushing like crazy. “I-I mean that sweet and spicy is a good combination in general -for anyone- not just for you in particular.”

My friends waited patiently for our awkward interactions to end, but Simon had clearly been thrown off-balance by his own accidental comment, which made the whole routine of ordering our food take way longer than it should have. Simon kept making mistakes and we had to confirm the order multiple times before he felt confident enough to take our list back to the kitchen. When we were finally done, he startled himself by almost bumping into one of his colleagues when he turned around.

“Wow, Simon is really head over heels for you, ey Joey?” Caleb noticed. “I’m impressed, mate, but you should really ask for his number before we go; I won’t tolerate being dragged back to this fast food restaurant just because you want to talk to your crush again!"

Nick shrugged arrogantly. “Should’ve used my pickup line to order his phone number, pal! I know that trick doesn’t work more than half of the time, but you would have had a high chance of succeeding.”

“I don't need your dumb pickup lines, Nick... Don’t worry, I’ll ask him for his phone number before we leave,” I promised my friends agitated. “Then we can go to Nando’s or whatever other fast food place you guys want to go to next week after practice.” Hakim flinched at the mention of the restaurant where his ex-girlfriend (but actually not even quite his ex-girlfriend) worked.

The waiting time was shorter than it had been when we had last visited and it did not take long for Simon to return from the kitchen with a tray full of our ordered dishes. He was shaking nervously and did everything in his power to keep his arm steady so our food would not make an unfortunate dive towards the clean, checkered floor. “O-okay, I’m sorry, but I forgot: who ordered the cheeseburger again?”

Nick raised his hand without a word and Simon had to awkwardly bend over the table to put the plate in front of him. It annoyed me to no end how the edgy punk did not offer to help Simon in any way and when Nick received his precious burger, he immediately sank his teeth into the delicious bun without regard for his patiently waiting friends. Nick had always been arrogant like that and I regretted never reprimanding him for it because that had only made his behaviour worse over the years.

However, my attention was soon drawn away from my rude teammate by a bare piece of Simon's smooth skin, which was exposed when his shirt crept up as he stretched out to reach over the table. It was even more disgraceful that I could not keep myself from admiring how incredibly tight Simon’s ass looked in those long, well-fitting, white pants. I secretly wished I could sink my teeth into those two delectable buns in a similar way to how Nick was currently devouring his burger.

I snapped out of my lewd daydream when Simon shakily sighed: “Alright, who ordered the strawberry banana milkshake?”

“Oh, that was me!” A small blush appeared on my cheeks when I failed to repress my embarrassment and in an effort to show that not everyone on our team was a huge jerk like Nick, I reached over to take the milkshake out of Simon's hands. “Let me he-”

Simon, who had wanted to quickly place the milkshake in front of me and then move on to the next item on his tray, looked horrified when I clumsily knocked the milkshake out of his hands. Our eyes met in the split second before impact and even if this was certainly not a life or death situation, I could have sworn that I saw Simon’s life flash before his eyes. I, on the other hand, looked terribly ashamed. I had achieved the complete opposite of what I had intended and although this accident had no ill-intend behind it, I felt bad that I had just given Simon even more work.

The artificially coloured light pink drink spilt all over the white tee that I wore underneath my zip-up hoodie and a small curse rolled over my lips. I picked up the empty cup and slowly stood up, trying not to spread the mess any further.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” Simon panicked and placed the tray on the table. He rushed to the counter of the fast-food restaurant and soon returned with a handful of paper napkins, most of which he proceeded to dump on the small puddle of strawberry-banana milkshake on the floor. He used the other napkins to rub some of the sticky mess off my shirt, but it had the opposite effect of what Simon had intended and, unfortunately, the light-pink stain only grew.

“It’s okay, it was partially my fault too…” I tried to remain calm and reasonable, but that resolution became harder and harder with Simon -who was still feverishly trying to clean up the mess on my shirt- so close to me.

Simon ignored my reply and frustratedly pulled a hand through his messy hair. “Ahhh, it’s no use trying to clean it up with just paper napkins! Can you come with me, please? We have hot tap water in the employee’s restroom. I hope that’ll get rid of the stain…”

Before I could protest, Simon grabbed my wrist and was dragging me in the direction of the kitchen. I shot one last, desperate look at my friends; Jacob was grinning widely and gave me a big thumbs up, while Nick was looking dreadfully unimpressed as always. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and looked up at Simon, who was too focused on finding a solution to get rid of the stain to pay attention to me. Maybe being alone with him would not be so bad. I could spend a few minutes with Simon without making a fool of myself, right? Right?! I could do this.