"The storm isn't letting up," a drowsy Caroline observed without much interest. "It hasn't rained like this in ages."
Max, who was inspecting some dirt on one of the diner's windowsills, nodded dismissively. It was three in the afternoon and had been pouring since one that morning. The rain buffeted car roofs, tore small plants to pieces, washed garbage into flooded gutters and simply caused general mayhem. No one had been seen in the streets since the previous evening. Which also meant that there had been no customers in the diner. Max groaned.
"Slow day doesn't begin to describe this," she mumbled. "Stupid rain..."
"I don't see why we're still here. It's not like anyone is gonna show up," Caroline sighed. "No one is crazy enough to go out in a storm like this." As the words left the waitress' mouth the door to the diner slammed open and a large puddle formed on the floor. The sound of crashing water filled the room. A fairly tall man stepped into the puddle and pulled the door closed hurriedly. His grey hoodie and jeans were soaked and stuck to him like a second skin. He held rectangular leather case in his right hand. Max leaned over to Caroline and grinned.
"Guess we'd better offer no one over there a table."
There was no need for this as the man had already sat down, and was now attempting to dry his drenched case with an equally wet cloth he had produced from his back pocket. Max carefully stepped over the mini-lake that had entered with the diner's first customer of the day.
"Welcome to the Williamsburg Diner. What can I get you?" She asked.
The man looked up at her and pulled back his hood, revealing his face. Shortish, curled blonde hair that was once brushed into a side parting with a quiff dripped water onto the table. He had deep blue eyes that had a gentle quality to them gazed into Max's own eyes. The man had a handsome facial structure, with a strong jawline and a medium sized chin. His cheeks were dotted with light stubble. He stared up at Max as if he was trying to read her thoughts. She looked down at her notepad, breaking eye contact. The young man kept examining her.
"Can I take your order?" Max asked, with less confidence than before.
"Do you make coffee here?" The man's voice was strong, but had a comforting element to it.
"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call it coffee but that's what the cook calls it." This comment made the man chuckle. He had a crooked smile that only appeared on the left side of his face.
"I'll just have some of that then. Anything that'll warm me up is perfect right now." Now it was Max's turn to laugh.
"Coming right up..." She stared at him in silent question.
"Kevin. And you are?"
"Max. Max Black," she turned back towards the counter, "Oleg, one coffee!" Max yelled. She sat in the empty seat facing Kevin and propped her head on her hands, balancing her elbows on the table.
"I haven't seen you around here before. Do you live here?" She asked.
"Nah, I just arrived here this afternoon. I'm from the UK."
"You don't have much of an accent. I mean, it's kinda there but not really."
"I've been travelling for a while now. The accent's disappeared a bit."
"Where've you been?"
"Well, I originally lived in South Africa, but I went to university in the UK. I started traveling two years ago. I've been to Australia, Japan, China, Germany, Wales, Russia, Italy, France and now the U.S."
"Wow. You've been around. Why-" Max was interrupted by Oleg.
"Max, this coffee is not going to deliver itself! That's your job!"
"Keep your shirt on, I'm coming!" She strutted over to the kitchen counter and collected the coffee, then returned to Kevin's table.
"Here's your coffee."
Kevin thanked her and took a sip. He cringed but it stayed down.
"Alright, maybe I was wrong when I said that anything was perfect." He stuck out his tongue.
"I warned you," Max said. "Why have you been travelling so much?" Kevin raised the case.
"My band. This is my guitar."
"You're in a band? Are you guys any good?"
"I can't answer that without any bias," Kevin smiled. "If I were to answer of course I'd say that we're good. Then you'd come to our performances and you'd buy our albums and all of that simply because I said that we were good," He sipped his coffee. "Instead, I'll tell you this: why not come see us perform and find out for yourself? Then you can have your own opinion on what we play and how we sound. What do you say?" Max thought for a moment. Then she shook her head.
"Sorry, but concerts aren't really my thing. Neither is music." Kevin nodded in understanding.
"Whatever you say. It's tomorrow in the hall down the street if you change your mind. Seven PM," Kevin put down his now empty coffee mug. "I hope you do," He added, smiling. "You might surprise yourself. Music is a magical thing. It changes people's lives, in ways big and small. Who knows..." His eyes glinted and he broke into a grin. "Anything can happen when it comes to music."
"Thanks," Max said, "but I don't think I will."
"Suit yourself. But I'll still be looking for you in the crowd." Max became annoyed.
"I won't be there. You're setting yourself up for disappointment."
"All the same, I hope to see you there. And I'll be looking for you. If you show up, I promise to do something totally crazy on stage."
Max sighed.
"Whatever. I'm not gonna be there so stop saying stuff like that. It's annoying."
Kevin smiled.
"Anything can happen when it comes to music." He repeated. Max rubbed her temples.
"Anything else I can get you?" She asked.
"The bill, please. And your telephone number if that isn't too forward of me."
"It is," Max scribbled her number on a napkin and gave it to Kevin before walking away to collect his bill. "But you're cute, so I'll give it to you anyway."
Kevin laughed and put the napkin into his guitar case. He didn't notice as a black guitar pick with a white heart on it fell onto the diner floor. With a glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was looking, he placed a twenty dollar bill into the table and slipped out, back into the rain.
"Here you-" Max scanned the diner for Kevin. "Go?" She picked up the twenty dollars and looked at the bill. The coffee had only cost two dollars fifty. She smiled and put the money into the cash register, pulling out her tip.
"That guy was stupid," Max said as she strutted over to Caroline waving her tip around. "He payed twenty bucks for a cup of coffee."
"He seemed really nice to me," her friend said. "And you seemed really friendly with him. Did you know each other?"
Max shook her head.
"Nah, he just... Interested me," She said as she stepped towards the table that Kevin had been sitting at. "That case was for his guitar. He's in a band."
"That's cool. Are they any good?"
"I asked. He told me to go to their concert tomorrow night and find out."
"We should do that! It sounds fun!"
"I told him I wasn't gonna go." Max spotted something shiny lying on the floor.
"Aw come on. It'd be fun! At least think about it."
Max bent over and picked up the guitar pick. She examined it quietly.
She looked at Caroline and sighed.
"Fine. I'll think about it. Only because you asked. And expect a no anyway." Caroline ran over and jumped into a bear-hug with a reluctant Max.
"Thank you! It's tomorrow, right? Better think quickly." Max barely noticed the hug, still scrutinising the pick.
"Yeah..." She mumbled. The rain was still pouring outside. The young women stared out into it and thought about the strange, crazy customer who had walked into their diner. She had never been struck by someone like him before. It bothered her.
"Come on," Caroline said, releasing Max. "Our shift's over. Let's go."
Max nodded and put the pick into her pocket. She would throw it away later. It didn't mean much. Just something a strange, crazy customer left in the diner. A strange, crazy, intriguing customer...
