Lance enjoyed working at Apatite Diner. He loved the calmness in the evening and the buzz in the early morning. It was a fun atmosphere for sure. His boss enjoyed how he interacted with customers and made his job look so easy. So Lance never really got in too much trouble showing up a few minutes late to his shift. He decides today he would show up only ten minutes late. He had to make sure he got his favorite coffee before he shifts starts.Â
Walking into the diner, Lance realizes that maybe he should have walked in on time because the place was buzzing and overly crowded. People were actually waiting to get seated. His boss gives him an exasperated look before tossing him his apron. Lance chuckles a bit before putting it on. He places his drink register before walking behind the counter. It was the he notices a boy whom he never seen before behind the counter as well, adorning a similar apron as him.
âUh. Donât think weâve met before. Must be new huh? Iâm Lance. Pleasure meeting you, uhhhâŚâ he starts to say upon reading the name tag on the boyâs apron. âVah-rian? Interesting name, Dude. Anyways. I can definitely show you the ropes. Just watch meâ he says with a smirk before he looks over at the kitchen window at the orders.Â
 Grabbing a set of plates he steadily walks over to table of the order. âAlright who ordered the Hot Cakes & Bacon?â he asks before the female on the left of him raised her hand. He then sets the other order in front of the male. âLet me know know if he needs anything else. Nameâs Lanceâ he says before gesturing to his name tag. He then gives both of them a wink and finger guns before heading back to the counter and taking a sip of his coffee. âSee. Easy peasyâ he says with a smile at the boy. Still the orders were getting backed up and there were plenty of tables need to be bussed. It wasnât going to be that easy.
   Stress. Everything he felt was stress. He had started working at the diner near his campus and at first it was nice place to get some extra studying done when he had the graveyard shifts, but he was scheduled a lunch shift today. And his co-worker was late. The name on the schedule was âLance,â but Varian had never heard that name before and combined with the fact that he had about 10 orders already to handout and other tables to serve, Varian wasnât going to give up, but the stress...
    âWhere in the heck is that guy...â
   Suddenly, like magic, the infamous âLanceâ had shown up to his shift and started to hand out orders. The relief that filled every pore on Varian was a high he never experienced before, but that high was tainted slightly by the slight mispronunciation of his name. Oh well. German was hard for some, and the charm the guy had was pretty disarming. Lucky bastard.
    âItâs Veh-rian, actually, but close enough! And Iâm not ânew-newâ but Iâve only been working here for about a week now; I was graveyard before- yes miss we do have butter riiight here!â Varian put a couple packets of butter into the customerâs hand and nodded his head at her thanks.
    After helping a couple more customers, the line had dwindled slightly and the rest of the work he had to do was care for the customers; which was hard since charisma wasnât his best attribute.
   Leaning against one of the counters, Varian could feel his feet throb in his work shoes, âI seriously donât know how people can just volunteer to work these shifts. Iâd rather have my graveyard shifts back.â
