Awakening (2 page)

Wonderful feelings were drifting over me, wrapping every part of my body in an almost loving embrace. I didn’t want to look away. I didn’t want to lose these feelings. Their stares were too mesmerizing to look away. I had to control myself. I didn’t want them to see my reaction any longer. This was way too bizarre. It had to be because of my lack of sleep.

An eternity seemed to go by as I was drinking everything in about this couple, but, in actuality, it was only a mere second. My life stood still. After I glided the Blue Sapphire martini to the man without a drop spilt, I quickly spun around and headed back to the safety of the bar register. Glancing quickly at them, I noticed they, too, were staring directly at me, smiling as if they knew something was about to take place. I couldn’t look at them anymore. I had to come back to reality. I cursed my dull brown hair as it kept falling in my face, blocking my view of them. I shoved my hair behind my ear so I could at least get one last peek of them.

Once I came back to earth as best as possible, I noticed that I had left the tray and the third drink on the table. Rather than go back to the table I sprinted to the bathroom. Not knowing what was happening to me, I needed a moment to get myself back together. I swung open the bathroom door only to have the wooden sleigh crash against the door with a loud thud, yet another piece of décor out to get me. Everything in the Grizzly was placed with such great intention, which usually comforted me, but now it all seemed to get in my way. I needed to get to the sink and figure things out. I hoped I wasn’t getting the flu. Maybe I had caught whatever it was that made Karen go home for the night. Any sort of bug compounded with the lack of sleep that I had been getting was a recipe for a disastrous event such as this one.

As I splashed water feverishly over my face I couldn’t stop thinking about the two people I encountered. What was it about them that made me feel this way and yearn for them? It was a euphoric sense that flooded over me. As I stood and looked in the mirror I saw my reflection, wishing I hadn’t splashed all my makeup off, especially since I would be serving them for the rest of the night, the golden gods. Compared to the woman sitting at the table I looked like a disheveled rat to match my hair. My store bought brown hair looked especially lousy at a time like this. It made me wish I kept my natural auburn color.

I stared at my eyes reflecting in the mirror hoping to repair the mascara that dribbled down my cheek. Realizing there was no hope I wiped it off completely. I looked at myself again, wondering if the dark brown eyes staring back at me would ever have light in them instead of the blank stare that usually surfaced. Not remembering much of my childhood, except for the memories that were told to me, always made me feel so alone, no siblings, no parents – only newspaper clippings. That is what I always blamed my lackluster expression on. Not feeling life became my comfort. When too much interaction began, that was my cue to exit the situation or leave the people behind, that’s how I came to Whistler.

I heard laughing behind me and turned to see two bubbly ski bunnies bundled in cashmere coming through the door, obviously enjoying the evening. I tried not roll my eyes and just flashed them a smile. I grabbed the paper towel dangling for me, did one last wipe of my cheeks and left the restroom.

The pub was really hustling now. I could hear the clanking of beer mugs and the chatter an octave higher. Buckets of beer, the nightly special, were parading from one table to the next like a revolving door. The lighting went down a shade and the stone fireplace began roaring in the far corner right on time. I saw the newest group sitting in my section and quickly went over to take their drink order. As I heard the drink orders rattled off, I cautiously glanced at the couple I had left so feverishly and noticed Jen, another server on for the night, had graciously removed the tray and placed the third drink on a coaster in front of the empty chair. There was still no one sitting there. I was secretly relieved. I didn’t need another perfect human adding to the complexity of that table or the emotions running through me for that matter. I somehow knew I wasn’t coming down with the flu. There was something about these people that lured me in.

“
Miss,” I heard pointedly, “Can we add a starter of poutine to our order?”

“
Of course! I will put that right in.” My smile returning to my face, I took a deep breath, and continued on with my busy night. I was so thankful I had a full section tonight. I was certainly a creature of habit.

I was entering the poutine into the computer, when a wave of ice-cold, electrifying air penetrated me right through to my core. It was as if my bones would shatter with the slightest movement. I looked over at the front entrance expecting it to be open, but it wasn’t. I quickly looked around to gauge anyone else’s reaction, knowing I couldn’t trust my own with my sleep deprivation. Then, right before me, I saw the third person sitting at my favorite table. He had arrived. It was from him that I was feeling the electricity. They were looking at me again, all except the newcomer. It was as if they were evaluating me, my reaction. Silly as it seemed, that’s what they had to be doing. But for what reason?

From behind, I could tell that he was really well dressed. He was very firm, very upright, very oddly upright. He sat so still, almost like a statue. It struck me kind of funny, but in a good way. He, too, had golden brown hair. His looked a little less perfect, a little more disheveled, than his friends or relatives or whoever was with him at the table. I liked it. There was a bedraggled, rugged look about him - perfectly so. If he looked half as good as he did from the back I couldn’t wait to see him from the front. If only I could compose myself. Not that I had a shot, but at least I could admire.

Promising myself that I wouldn’t again lose my cool, I let the excitement ripple through me at the thought of getting to meet him. I knew what I was feeling was in my head. There was no way other people could make you feel this way. The lack of sleep was not doing me any favors. I spun around and quickly marched to the bar. As I waited for the next order to come up, I excitedly embraced this new feeling of energy and exhilaration that was finally beginning to creep up on me.

“
Hey Ana,” the bartender spoke interrupting my thoughts, “Order’s up.”

“
Thanks Ben.” I quickly grabbed the gravy and cheese covered fries, otherwise known as poutine, and trudged over to the table to drop it off so I could get over to the newcomer.

“
Is there anything else you need or are you all set?” I asked unable to hide my grin. They nodded their heads and were all set. Finally, I was about to arrive at the table of life. The euphoria was beginning to set in as I saw a glow radiating from the table. Prismatic colors were dancing off the walls around them. Recognizing another side effect of my sleep deprivation, hallucinations, I just moved towards them. I had to meet the newcomer. It was like a magnet was pulling me over to him. I was certain that the others at his table noticed, but I didn’t even care now. I went to the bar, grabbed some silverware as an excuse, and walked to the table of the night.

“
Is there anything else I can get right now for you guys or are you doing ok?”

When the newcomer looked up at me for the first time, my heart began racing. He had the same hypnotizing eyes as the others. Only that was merely the beginning. His skin was an exquisite shade of ivory, showing slightly that he had missed a day of shaving. His features were so striking that they almost matched his startling eyes, which were outlined with such thick lashes that it made his green eyes stand out even more than the other two at the table. He was looking at me with such kindness and had the familiarity about him that I couldn’t place. Secretly wondering if he could have been in one of my dreams, I did my best to keep the foolishness at bay that kept creeping in at such a preposterous notion. I wanted to clear the room and sit in front of him and do nothing but literally stare at the exquisite being in front of me.

I glanced at the couple to get my mind elsewhere only that didn’t work out so well. I still felt the charge. However, this time I was certain it was coming directly from him. He continued to gaze at me when suddenly I realized that he was talking. His lips were moving, but I had no idea what he was saying. His voice was the most soothing and comforting sound, like a song. I had to get control of myself.

“
I’m so sorry,” I spoke from an unknown strength from within, “I need you to repeat what you said.”

I could feel myself start to blush, and at this point went with it. I obviously couldn’t be in control of myself around these people and gave up. It’s not like I would see them again. Plus, I wasn’t known for being the most eloquent anyway.

“
Hey, no sweat. We were hoping for a pitcher of Whistler Ale and three glasses.” He smiled at me as if he were half relieved, almost as if he were in on a secret I wasn’t privy to. I did my best, with lack of sleep, to try to place him from either one of my dreams or possibly around Whistler but fell flat. I was also mostly certain that I recognized a bit of excitement in his voice, but that didn’t make any sense either. Beer wasn’t that exciting and I surely wasn’t either. It must have to do with whatever they were speaking about before I arrived at their table, just an interrupted conversation I wandered into.

“
Sounds good. I will bring those right out.” I spun around and went to the bar, excited by this new communication and secretly hoping that they would be at the restaurant all night.

I
got home later than usual, but decided I should still call Karen to make sure everything was ok with her. It was quite unusual for her to leave a shift like she did. When I got the familiar beep of her voicemail, I left a message.

“
Hey Karen, hope you are doing ok. I’m worried about you. Give me a call when you get this. Time doesn’t matter. Talk to you soon.”

I hung up and reluctantly went into my bathroom and turned on the shower. I was tempted to skip the shower and crawl into bed. I could hear the soft hum of Matilda, my English bulldog, snoring in the living room. If I had to place a bet, I was sure she was in her second favorite place right between the piano and the fireplace, also known as the chaise; her number one spot being on the bed with a freshly-fluffed goose down comforter.

I kept my portable phone near me in case Karen called while I was in the shower. The steam was rolling out of the bathroom pretty heavily as I was in my bedroom daydreaming about the family I met earlier in the evening. I was able to scrape together that the girl was the sister of the latecomer, and the other guy was her fiancé, but besides that I didn’t get any further. I hoped they would be back in the pub before they left to wherever it was they permanently lived. I took all of my perfectly placed red velvet bed pillows off my bed and piled them onto the chest.

I pulled my flannel pajamas out of the drawer and carried them into the bathroom and put them on the counter. As I grabbed a fresh red towel to hang over the shower door the phone rang, which startled me even though I was expecting a call from Karen.

“
Hey Karen.” I spoke into the phone louder than usual since I could only hear the shower running.

“
Uh, hey… This isn’t Karen.” A guy’s voice started. It was vaguely familiar to me and I couldn’t figure out why. “I, um, I apologize for calling so late. I figured I would take the chance you were still up since you barely got off work. Plus I really couldn’t wait until morning.”

As the voice continued rattling off excuses, it dawned on me that it was the same wonderful melody that haunted me all night at the pub. The excitement was building into a full-blown explosion. “I hope I didn’t assume wrong.” The tingling sensation in all of my extremities hit me again. How could a phone call do this to me too? I turned off the shower and walked back into my bedroom, completely stunned.

“
No, not at all. I was actually about to hop in the shower.” Wait a second why was I telling a complete stranger this? My heart started to beat quickly again, but now I wasn’t totally tongue-tied because I had the distance of the phone between us. I congratulated myself on this little feat as I figured out that I might be able to actually handle myself since I don’t have to look him in the eyes.

“
How did you get my number? I know I didn’t give it to you.”

“
I had to bribe one of the bus boys, and it wasn’t easy.”

“
Easy enough, I see, if you are calling me.” I gave my best shot at sounding stern.

“
Well, you can’t exactly blame him. The price offered was pretty tempting.”

I couldn’t believe he went to this much trouble to reach me. On one hand I was concerned, on the other, completely flattered.

“
Why didn’t you ask me for my number when I was serving you?” I asked trying to sound incensed but failing miserably.

“
You weren’t exactly what I would call coherent during our time together earlier if you remember. I really didn’t want to see what would happen if I did.” He laughed, his voice as soothing as I could ever hope for. “I thought the distance of the phone might work in my favor.”

It was like he was reading my mind. How very unnerved I must have appeared. A tiny bit of hope began swelling in the pit of my stomach, but it was quickly squashed knowing how out of my league he was. He truly was the most gorgeous guy I had ever laid my eyes on.

“
You noticed?” I said jokingly. “Pretty astute of you.” I flipped the nightstand light on and bounced on my bed feeling my goose down comforter engulfing me and inviting me to enter in for the night. His smile was coming through the phone - that same smile that stopped me dead in my tracks earlier.