Free Awakening by Karice Bolton

snow conditions weren’t at their best, but it was early in the season, and days like this did happen. I went over to the couple who had been seated and asked for their drink order, thankfully pretty simple – a Bailey’s coffee and a hard cider. I trudged off to the bar to relay the drink order when I had a flashback to Friday when I first saw Arie and Cyril. The overwhelming feelings washed over me with a warmth that I never wanted to lose. Never did I dream so much could happen over the weekend with complete strangers.

    While I waited for Tim, the bartender, to make their drinks the pit of my stomach began to get an overly anxious feeling. I couldn’t figure out why. It was like the memory of these people almost made me ache because I wanted to be near them so badly. Now this I couldn’t relay to Karen because it sounded obsessive, and I certainly didn’t want that to come across. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I began to worry whether or not I was possibly becoming a little obsessive with them.

    “ Oh Lord.” I said aloud.

    “ What, Ana?” Tim asked.

    “ Nothing, sorry... I’m talking to myself.”

    I grabbed the drinks and carted them over to the table and asked if they were ready to order their meals, which they weren’t so off I went to the next table that thankfully had filled up.

    The pub continued to fill up, but regrettably I had to admit that every time the door opened I secretly hoped that Athen and everyone would trickle in, but that didn’t happen, which of course then led to me wondering if he got tired of me. I had no idea how self-conscious I became at the thought of losing him. Being around him makes me feel like I can do anything, but the moment he is not around I worry that I’m not enough. It doesn’t make sense that it is me that he would want to hang out with.

    “ Miss?” Reality came knocking, “I think something is wrong with our order.”

    I spun around and noticed they had nothing on the table. Shoot! I forgot to get their drink order. Strike one I thought to myself. Things were becoming painfully obvious that I was not on my game tonight.

    “ I’m so sorry. I will bring that right to you and this round is on me.” I said hoping to make what amends I could. In that instant, I knew I had to pull myself out of la-la land. I had to get my act together regardless of what I wanted to daydream about.

    I went up to the bar and thankfully their drinks were on the counter. I grabbed them quickly and marched them over to the table. They were a nice couple, dressed in sweaters and jeans. Her hair was dyed a perfect, pale shade of yellow, looking a little too polished for this pub. Nonetheless they very nice, and thankfully, forgiving. I’m sure they were from the states arriving for the upcoming Thanksgiving week. I apologized again as I dropped off the drinks. They seemed happy they got two free drinks for the evening.

    A new table was seated, and I quickly darted over to make sure I didn’t make any more mistakes. On my approach, I got an unpleasant feeling. I couldn’t put my finger on it. My skin began to crawl and having had experienced all kinds of senses in the universe over the weekend, I was sure that this wasn’t a good one. I noticed that the guy sitting at the table had a strange look about him. I wasn’t sure exactly what struck me peculiar about him because on the surface he seemed pretty much like anyone else sitting in the pub. He wore a blue flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a grey t-shirt under. He sat relaxed in his chair, but as I approached, I saw his eyes look me up and down in a manner that definitely did not have good intent. I saw a menu laid out in the chair across from him. I hoped whomever he was with would show up soon to distract him.

    “ Hi, I’m Ana and I’ll be your server tonight. Is there anything I can start you with?” I asked, trying to push all of my uneasy feelings aside.

    “ Yah, give me a Jack and