Respect.

Things always got slower the further into the night we got. There were fewer people, and those that did stay tended to nurse the same drink for 30 minutes to an hour.

With barely an hour left in our shift, I was wiping the counter from some water that splashed onto it with my mind going someplace else. That place was Japan, of course.

Diana had just been offered to go study abroad for a couple of weeks, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t the slightest bit conflicting. Sure, two weeks apart isn’t much, and I was happy she’d get to do something that meant so much to her, but her going to a whole different country alone… It worried me a fair bit.

“Worried about your girl?” Dylan asked, his tone playful yet respectful. He leaned on the counter, next to me, and took the opportunity to do so when Diana had to go to the restroom.

I sighed. “A bit, yeah,” I admitted.

“I’d be worried, too,” Dylan said, groaning softly and rubbing the back of his neck. “My girlfriend going alone to study with her idol for two weeks… I don’t think I’d be able to stay quiet.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Wait, you think she’s going to cheat on me?”

Dylan blinked. “Um… Isn’t that what you’re worried about?”

“No,” I told him. “I’m worried about her being alone in a place where she won’t understand the language and that has such a different culture.”

“Oh.” Dylan nodded, then shook his head hard. “Wait, why AREN’T you worried about her cheating on you?”

I grimaced. “Does that happen to you often?” I asked him.

“Ugh, touché…” He admitted. “But… Do you know this Sir Excellence guy? He’s a 40-something prodigy who’s won like eight international contests in a row. Not bad looking, either.”

“Look, if I worried about cheating all the time, I already would’ve died from an anxiety attack.”

“Right, you’re dating like six girls, aren’t you?”

I sighed. “Seven,” I corrected.

He whistled, impressed. “Are they all hot?”

“Ugly as sin,” I told him.

“Oh, so even hotter than I thought. Gotcha.”

“...Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be bi, would you?” I asked him.

He raised an eyebrow. “You coming onto me?”

“Asking for a friend, believe it or not.”

“I’ll believe it. But no, straight as an arrow, sorry.”

“I don’t think arrows are fully straight, but yeah, okay.” I nodded. “Better this way. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable setting you up with anyone I know.”

“Hey, what the hell’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, a little offended.

“I don’t know, Mr. Flirts-With-Customers.”

“Come on, I’m just playing…”

I didn’t want things to escalate to an argument, so I just shrugged. I’m not close enough with Dylan to mess with him like I would with Thomas.

“You get more attention than I do, anyway,” Dylan continued. “And you’re not even trying. What’s your secret?”

“Maybe that I don’t try?”

“Funny guy.”

You know, I think the relationship I have with Dylan goes the same both ways. It seems he doesn’t like me very much, but tries just enough to get along well enough at work. I can respect that.

I sighed. “Some women seem to like the… innocent and earnest kind of vibe,” I told him.

He smiled and chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t think I can pull that off.”

The backdoor opened, and that was Dylan’s cue to run away and return to his side of the counter. Diana watched him move away as she stood next to me.

“So you’re aware of it…” she whispered.

I blinked. “Aware of what?”

“That you give off that innocent and earnest vibe that women like.”

“It’s what I’ve been told.”

Diana chuckled. She looked around the bar. We had two couples sitting at the tables and no one else. It was 1:32 am, after all. We were about to close.

“Hey… about that trip to Japan…”

I nodded. “You’re going, right?”

“I want to, but… Are you sure you’re okay with it?”

“You don’t need to ask me, right?”

Diana shook her head. “Wrong. If we’re going to be serious about our relationship, it’s never wrong to ask the other’s opinion, don’t you think so?”

That’s fair, I suppose. “I’m… worried about how you’ll do there, but other than that, I think you should do it.”

“I’m tempted to ask Luke if you can tag along…” she said.

“I wouldn’t learn anything. You’re going to study high-level stuff while I’m only just getting the hang of stirring. Besides, I still have classes.”

“What? you don’t want to go on a two-week trip abroad with me?” she teased.

“On vacation, sure, some day.”

Diana sighed. “With eight of us, I wonder if we’ll ever be able to travel abroad as a group.”

“We just got a raise, didn’t we? We’re getting there.”

Diana chuckled. “I still can’t believe Luke came up with that change in my shifts. Did you ask him to do it?”

I shook my head. “I was as surprised as you.”

“And here I had just made up my mind… It almost feels too convenient.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“I’m taking the opportunity, though,” she said. “It’s just what we wanted.”

“See, when this kind of stuff happens to me I question the entire universe, but when it happens to you you just roll with it?”

“Of course. Like my dad always said, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

Well… Yeah. Better that mentality than mine. Besides, it’s not like it’s anything as crazy as landing a house just because you met the right person. And Luke wasn’t even doing this for us, it was for his own business, so…

Yep. We’ll take it.

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