Nova
By Delia Delaney
Copyright © 2012 by Delia Delaney
The characters and events portrayed in this work are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Do what you love, and if you haven’t found what you love, follow your heart until you do…
Chapter One
Clover’s Café was definitely the underdog of the restaurant world, surrounded by larger chain restaurants that resided in the area to accommodate the tourists of California. Clover’s was situated just south of Valencia in Newhall, but across the freeway was evidence of a nearby major attraction: hotels, motels, and chain restaurants. But even though the Burger King next door saw more customers in a day than Clover’s did in a week, it couldn’t compete with the charm of a small time café—at least in my opinion.
My aunt owned Clover’s. She and her husband opened the small establishment in 1994, mainly as a bakery and coffee shop. At the time it was named Meryl’s Bakery, after my aunt. Three years ago it gradually converted to a café, and when my mother died, Meryl changed the name to Clover’s Café in memory of my mom. It hadn’t been in my plans to be twenty-two and waitress at a restaurant, but I learned long ago that I didn’t have much control over the things that happened in my life.
“Nova, honey, fetch me a fresh pot please,” Robin said, setting the empty one on the counter.
I reached back and grabbed a fresh pot of coffee almost at the same time, and she was headed for table four.
No, we didn’t have large quantities of people come in and out of our café, but what we did have we worked hard to please.
An elderly man and woman inched up to the counter and set their bill in front of me with what appeared to be exact change.
“Was everything okay?” I asked them as I entered the numbers into the register.
“Huh? Oh, yes, yes,” the man nodded. “It’s a beautiful March day.” He peered at my nametag, eyes squinting. “Thank you, Nora.”
“Oh, it’s, uh, Nova.”
“Huh?”
“Nova? With a ‘V’ in the middle.”
He looked pretty confused as he blinked at me. “Nova?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “I know; it’s pretty unusual for a person’s name.”
“Nora is such a pretty name,” the woman smiled, not at all catching on to the clarification. “That was my mother’s name.”
“Oh, yes that’s a very nice name,” I told her. “Thank you for coming in today. I hope you visit again.”
“What?” the woman asked loudly.
“Thank you; come again,” I said just as loud. A few other diners looked our way, but what was I supposed to do?
The elderly couple shuffled away from the counter, but since there wasn’t anything else requiring my attention at that moment, I went to the door to hold it open for them.
They both smiled big and thanked me for being such a dear. “Bye Nora,” the woman waved.
“Bye,” I replied. I watched for a moment as they headed for a car, and I tried picturing either one of them driving. It was kind of a scary thought.
I was just about to re-enter the café, but a group of four guys were walking along the sidewalk from the neighboring parking lot. They slowed as they came closer to me, I guess because I was just standing there with the door held open, but I could tell they hadn’t planned on stopping in at Clover’s. They were most likely headed for pizza two doors down.
“Can I interest you guys in some free sodas?” I decided to ask.
They all stopped right in front of me and kind of glanced at each other. One of them even looked ahead at the pizza parlor, and then took a look at our sign.
“What do you guys have?” he asked.
“Great food,” I smiled. “Why don’t you come in and look at a menu? I’ll get you some drinks while you decide whether or not you want to stay.”
They glanced at each other again, but thankfully shrugged their agreement. I led them inside and sat them at my favorite booth in the corner.
“What would you guys like to drink?” I asked, handing them each a menu. “I can take care of that for you, and then I’ll send Robin over to take your order.”
“Why Robin?” one of them asked.
“Excuse me?”
He smiled and looked at my nametag. “Nova? Is that seriously your name?”
“Maybe,” I smiled mischievously. “Soda? What would you like?”
There was a few seconds of silence, and then they finally gave me their drink orders.
Robin came to the counter just as I set the last Pepsi on the tray, and she gracefully but swiftly made her way to table ten. I almost forgot all about that table of guys as I rang up another customer, until Robin stopped in front of the counter with her “What’s the deal?” face.
“What?” I asked.
She nodded to table ten. “They said to tell you they would stay, but only if you’re their waitress.”
I glanced at the table of guys and they were all staring at me with smiles on their faces. I was instantly embarrassed, but tried to shrug it off.
“I suppose I have to,” I replied. “I kind of lured them in here.”
She raised her eyebrows at me with a curious smile. “Lured?”
I quietly laughed and said, “I’ll tell you later. You wanna switch for a bit?”
“Fine with me,” she shrugged.
When I approached table ten they were still smiling at me.
“So what would you like to try?” I asked, ready to take their orders.
“Can we get, like, a buy one get one free deal or something?” the one guy asked. He was the same big mouth that seemed to do all the talking once they’d entered the café.
“I’m kind enough to offer you free drinks and you still want to squeeze me for more? Are you really that cheap?”
The other guys laughed, making exclamations that their buddy just got burned.
“No, I’m not cheap,” the guy said with a play-it-cool smile. “I just thought you were a little sweeter than that.”
Two of the guys chuckled and waited for my reply.
“I’m not, so what would you like to eat?”
I patiently waited for a response—I was expecting another request, or maybe an insult—but the quietest guy in the far corner said, “I’ll have the avocado burger, please.”
“Sure,” I replied, jotting it down.
“Uh, bacon burger with extra bacon,” another guy said.
“Beef and cheese melt.”
I looked at the last guy, “Big Mouth,” and he glanced at the menu and pointed. “The jalapeño burger. And I want your hottest sauce on it.”
I wrote the order down as I said, “Our fire sauce is pretty hot. You want it on the side?”
“No, I want it on the burger,” he smirked arrogantly. “Double.”
“Sure thing,” I smiled. I was smiling to be polite of course, but I was also picturing this guy’s face once he bit into Clover’s double-sauced jalapeño burger.
When I set his order in front of him fifteen minutes later, I also set two extra glasses of water next to his plate. “If you find that two isn’t enough, just wave me down and I’ll bring you another.”
He scoffed. “Seriously? For a jalapeño burger?”
“No, for the extra hot sauce.”
“It can’t be that hot,” he replied.
“It’s really hot.” I set the other plates on the table and asked, “Can I get you guys anything else? More Pepsi?”
Two of them agreed, so I took their glasses for a refill. That’s where Robin murmured, “How’s college corner going for you?”
“Well, the guy on the end in the blue shirt is probably going to be su
ing me any moment now.”
She laughed. “Nova, you getting feisty with the customers?”
“A little, but he wanted double the fire sauce.”
“Double?” she gaped. “Roger put it on the side, right?”
“No, the little twit insisted it go on the burger—”
“Ahh-ahh…” we both heard from table ten.
Robin and I followed the sound of panic, and we watched a hand reach for the glass of water. The other guys were laughing their butts off, which was okay because they were all friends, but Robin and I had to turn away to stifle our snickering. But I straightened my face as I grabbed a glass of milk.
I set the soda refills in front of two of them as I was trying not to get involved in what was going on at the table. They were watching their buddy with intrigue, and glancing at me at the same time. Mr. Nothing-Is-Too-Hot-For-Me was trying to toughen up to save face, but he ultimately had to reach for the water again.
“This’ll work better,” I said, setting the glass of milk in front of him.
He immediately took it, and half a glass later let out a loud breath of air. “Yeah, that works much better.”
The rest of the table was still snickering, but I was truthfully worried that the guy was going to throw a fit about the incident.
“Holy shit, that was hot!” he exclaimed. “What the hell do you put in that stuff?”
“Ah, that’s top secret,” I replied. “But would you like another burger? —Without the hot sauce?”
“What for?”
“In case you’d rather taste it without the fire in your mouth.”
“Oh no, that was awesome,” he laughed. “I think I’ve finally found a fire sauce that’s actually fire.”
I was surprised by his reply, and thankful at the same time. “Well I’ve never tried it, but I hear it gets easier to handle after each bite.”
“How come you’ve never tried it?”
“I’m not that dumb,” I joked.
The group laughed, and the same guy said, “You should try it,” and held the burger up.
“Nah, that’s okay. I’m not really the hot sauce-loving kind of person. I like to taste my food.”
“Brock puts hot sauce on everything,” one of them said. “Eggs, sandwiches, spaghetti…”
I grimaced because just the thought of it sounded really gross. We did have customers that liked to put Tabasco sauce on their food, just not Clover’s fire sauce.
“Well if you’re a big boy and eat all of your food, maybe I’ll bring you a souvenir,” I told Brock, and then I left them alone.
Had I realized they were going to stay for two hours, I might not have coerced them into the café. No, that’s not actually true, but my shift was over at two o’clock, and that’s when they wanted to order dessert. It was great—we liked customers to stay and eat—but normally I would be able to leave once my shift was up. When Phoebe arrived I had to explain why I couldn’t leave just yet, and she thought it was pretty funny.
“Is there anything else I can get for you?” I asked the table of guys (hopefully) for the last time.
“Your phone number?” Brock replied.
“Hmm, can’t seem to remember it,” I said, clearing the dessert plates.
The other guys laughed.
“Does that go for all of us or just him?” another guy asked.
I didn’t respond to that, and I refrained from making eye contact as I laid their bill on the table. I pulled a small bottle of hot sauce from my apron and set it down, too. “There’s for your eggs, sandwiches, spaghetti and…whatever else you’re crazy enough to put that stuff on.”
Brock laughed. “Really? Wow, thanks.”
“Sure. Have a great weekend guys.”
And with that I took my tray to the back and unloaded the dirty dishes for Mario to take care of.
“See you Monday, Nova,” he said to me.
“Okay. Have fun at your brother’s wedding tomorrow. Don’t get too crazy.”
He laughed and said, “Okay, and you don’t get too crazy studying books all weekend.”
I rolled my eyes but waved with a smile. I stuck my head into the tiny office to see my aunt sitting behind the computer, squinting.
“Get glasses or a bigger screen,” I told her.
She looked up and smiled. “See you at home, sweetie.”
“Bye.”
By the time I returned to the counter, the four guys were gone. Phoebe looked like she might have just rung them up, so I returned to table ten to finish cleaning it up. I had to do a double take when I saw the fifty-dollar bill in the middle of the table. Surely that’s what they left to pay their bill with, but I didn’t see the slip of paper.
“Phoebe, did those guys already pay their tab?”
“Yep, they just left. They also wanted to make sure you got your tip,” she said, pointing to the table.
“My tip?” I asked, holding up the fifty.
She gaped at it with total shock. “You’re kidding me! What exactly did you do for them?” I rolled my eyes, but she only laughed and said, “Take it and run, honey, before they change their mind. See ya, Nov.”
And so I left that day with my first fifty-dollar tip. I’d been left a twenty once or twice, and a ten on occasion, but never a fifty. It really made my day—my week, even—and I was very happy to stick it in an envelope to deposit at the bank with my other tips for that week.
But for some odd reason, I decided to keep it. I ended up taking it home with me and placed it in my jewelry box for safekeeping.
I showered and put on some comfortable clothes. I’d originally planned on going for a jog when I got home, but I was too tired. I decided that sitting in the family room with a book while my Uncle Scott watched baseball on TV was a much better choice.
“Whatcha studying now?” he asked.
I closed the book slightly to show him the cover.
“Canine Reproduction,” he read. “Hmm.”
“Not interested?” I teased.
“Nope,” he replied. But then he smiled and said, “If only the time you read could count toward your field hours.”
“No kidding. Or even half.”
“Did you hear back from, uh…? What was the doctor’s name in Burbank?”
“Ross. And he’s already working with a student.”
“Well…I think you’ll have enough money for Davis. It’ll be okay.”
I appreciated his optimism, but I wasn’t even in the position to apply for a veterinarian school. I still needed to finish my credits in the pre-vet program that I started at Pierce College. After that I could apply for veterinary school (another four years), and maybe be on my way to achieve my career goal.
It wasn’t exactly unattainable, especially if I could save up enough money for UC Davis when the time came. As it was now, ten credits at a time was not the quickest route to go. But three days a week was all I could give if I was also working at the diner full time to make it happen. My ideal job would be interning at an actual veterinarian clinic, or something in that field, but I still wasn’t able to get my foot in a door.
But working for my aunt had allowed me a place to live after my mom died. I didn’t really have many options, and frankly I just wasn’t in the position to even make any decisions at that point. So when Meryl insisted I move from San Fernando to Santa Clarita, I just numbly went along with it. My mom and I had only lived in an apartment, but I didn’t have the money to go to school anymore let alone pay rent on my own.
After a few months had gone by, Meryl asked if I could start helping out at the café. I didn’t want to at first, but I decided it was the least I could do to help pay for the room I was occupying in their house, and I was hoping it would take my mind off of missing my mom. It took a couple of months to get used to the diner life, but after a while I kind of liked it. I liked the people that came in and I liked the employees that I worked with.
It took another year before I even considered returning to sch
ool, but now I commuted thirty minutes south to college on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and worked at the café whenever I could. It was a pretty busy life, and I really didn’t do much besides school and waitressing, but all I could do was have my career goal in mind, and take it one day at a time.
Chapter Two
“Nova, I’m so glad you decided to join us!” Autumn smiled, giving me a hug in the process.
I knew my friend was really saying, “Wow, I’m surprised you showed up; you’re usually pretty lame,” but I just hugged her back and agreed with her.
My aunt introduced me to Autumn a few months after I moved to Santa Clarita. We really had nothing in common, but she had a really sweet spirit to her, and she always seemed sincere. These traits alone were kind of ironic because on the outside she was really obsessed with fashion and how socially involved she was. But Autumn could just as easily tell you the perfect hairstyle for your face shape as she could cry with you over a bad day. She was pretty well rounded in that aspect, and I think that’s why I liked her so much.
“So I was thinking if Levi and Dillon show up tonight, we should head to the movies afterward,” she grinned as we entered the bowling alley.
“Why don’t you just invite Levi to a movie sometime?”
She scoffed playfully. “That would totally ruin it. He’s supposed to ask me out.”
“Well I know he likes you, so why waste the time?”
“Oh, Nova,” she sighed, offering me a disappointed shake of the head. “It’s much nicer to be pursued,” she emphasized. “It gives you an advantage.”
“An advantage to what?”
“Lots of things. For one it’s kind of a confidence booster. It feels good to know a guy is interested enough to face the possibility of rejection. Also it’s—”
“Nova! Autumn! Hey!”
Nikki waved us over to Lane 11, where she and Leah were putting on their bowling shoes.
“Looks like it’s just us tonight,” Nikki said. “Conner’s at a family thing and Ian’s sick.”
“What about Levi?” Autumn asked.
Nikki and Leah smiled at each other. “I don’t know, did you invite him?” Leah teased.
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