Lesson 20- Don't play with your food, but making faces is allowed.
Torin blinks at me. I’ve worked out that means I've thrown him somehow. What I don’t know is if he’s blinking because he thinks I’m crazy for asking him to eat with me, OR because I’m crazy for thinking that he would eat with me. He seems completely perplexed.
“You want me to have dinner with you?” Torin asks. Maybe he didn’t hear me properly?
“Yeah. Well actually first I just wanted to apologise for hitting you earlier. You kind of startled me and it was a total accident, promise. I meant to apologise earlier but you ran off and you haven’t been in the bar tonight.” There, I finally apologised. Go me.
“I thought you might have been expressing your feelings about me keeping your phone from you.” Torin comments dryly. I roll my eyes.
“I still think you’re being a little dramatic about keeping it from me. I mean how hard is it to check a text message? BUT you did save my life and that earns you a ton of brownie points, so you’re entitled to be a little bit annoying, I’ll just deduct from your total score.” I wink at him so he knows I’m joking.
“Ah, so your patience with this situation does have a limit. You’ve been very… Cooperative.” He comments. I shrug.
“Right now I’m okay with this, but you have to know it isn’t a permanent solution. Still, that isn’t a discussion for right now. I need to eat and get back to work so Laura can have a break. Are you gonna come eat or not?” I say lightly, trying to sound inviting. This guy is in serious need of a friend, and if he happens to decide to let me go well that would be a bonus.
“You don’t have to bribe me, I’m not angry.” Torin answers. Huh? How is this a bribe?
“Dude, I’m not trying to bribe you. I just thought it would be nice to have some company while I eat. If you don’t want to, I can take yours back to the kitchen.” I offer. I’m starting to think this guy isn’t scary, just really awkward. Actually, not awkward, he’s so used to everyone rejecting and avoiding him that he can’t imagine anyone actually WANTS to spend time with him. That is completely unacceptable.
“Actually, I take it back. Come hang out with me. It’s dinner time, right now.” I demand. To my absolute shock, Torin actually smiles. Well look at that, he doesn’t look scary right now at all. I beam back at him and he quickly hides the expression, like he didn’t mean to do it. I think my new goal might be to see if I can make him laugh because that smile was gorgeous.
Finally, Torin comes back inside and he takes the tray of food from me which I appreciate because I honestly don’t know how I lasted so long without dropping it. He leads the way to the only door in the hallway that I haven’t checked out yet. It leads to a small and cluttered office. The place is clean but there’s barely space to sit, much less put down the tray of food. Torin doesn’t let that stop him. He moves the tray to one hand and using his free hand he shoves papers and books to one side of the desk, not bothering that a few papers fall to the floor. I can’t help but laugh. Torin puts the tray on the cleared space and looks at me curiously.
“I just find it funny that the front of the bar and the kitchen are so tidy and organised and then back here is so chaotic.” I explain. Torin’s face is blank but I see a hint of pink on his ears. Is he embarrassed?
“Laura manages the bar, Kyle takes care of the kitchen. I take care of everything back here.” He says as a way of explanation while pulling out a chair for me. I sit and watch as he clears a bunch of papers off of the second one. He’s definitely given me the seat he usually sits in, it’s clearly the better chair. More comfortable too.
“I’ve stolen your seat.” I observe and he shrugs. He still seems kind of embarrassed.
Dinner is good and while we eat, I attempt conversation.
“So what have you been up to tonight? I haven’t seen you in the bar.” I comment.
“I put your bed together.” He answers.
“Ooh, thanks! I thought that might be what that box was. Was it difficult? Assembling furniture is usually difficult, especially by yourself.” I add, more to try to keep the conversation flowing than anything else. I get that he’s a quiet person, and that’s fine. But I’m also convinced that he avoids talking because he thinks people don’t want to listen. I want to make it clear that I WANT to talk to him, and I want to hear what he has to say. I figure I should be extra encouraging, at least until he gets used to me.
“It’s easier if you can lift all the pieces alone.” He tells me and I laugh again.
“You’re probably right.” I agree.
“Hey, if you're finished with that, are you going to come back to the bar? I might even be able to make you an actual real drink this time. I can’t promise it’ll be any good though.” I warn him. Torin pauses and considers.
“Do you mind? You’re already stuck here. It doesn’t mean you have to… I don’t know. You work for me, you live in my bar. I’m keeping you here. I don’t understand why you’re talking to me to be honest. You don’t have to talk to me or pretend to like me. It won’t change how you’re treated here.” Torin says this with a completely serious tone and expression. I can tell he really means it. This just confirms my decision to befriend him. He really isn’t as scary as he looks. Or maybe he is, but just because someone is a little scary, it doesn’t mean they’re bad.
“That, is exactly why I’m choosing to be nice.”
We don’t really talk much more after that. Torin looks thoughtful and I figure he probably needs a minute to contemplate the idea that I might legitimately want to be his friend. When we finish eating I excuse myself.
“I should get back to work, Laura is probably hungry.” I say as I get to my feet. I go to grab the dishes but Torin waves me away.
“I’ll get that. Go take care of Laura. I’ll… I’ll come for that drink in a minute.” He promises.
“Great!” I say cheerfully and I head back to the bar. I relieve Laura and get back to work right away. It’s starting to get late but the place is still busy. I guess that happens when half your customers are nocturnal. Jackson must have left already, but I guess I’ll see him again. He seems like a regular, plus he said I would find out how he knows I’m living here tomorrow.
A few minutes later, Torin wanders in and takes his place at the end of the bar. He doesn’t look all that happy to be here though. People give him nervous looks and no one speaks to him, but other than that they basically ignore him. I guess that’s his usual spot. They might be scared of him, but they keep coming here. That’s the part I don’t quite understand. Maybe it’s BECAUSE everyone is scared of him. He’s the scariest thing here so they don’t have to worry about each other because no one is going to cause any real trouble here. As long as they don’t step out of line I guess they imagine that he will leave them alone. It’s just a shame they all think they need to leave him alone too.
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