Sandra can't stand by idly while her crush struggles through an awful date on Valentine's Day. What's a self-proclaimed wimpy waitress to do, except solve all problems with a slice of chocolate cake?

This story was contributed by Eden Young 

"Wow, it's like that dude doesn't even need to breathe between words."

Oliver shamelessly stared at the couple sitting near the window until I grabbed his arm and dragged him along to the bar.

"Stop staring at them and make two cappuccinos for table five," I scolded him before slipping behind the bar to prepare a fresh mint tea, which was also part of the same order.

With a sigh, Oliver trudged over to the coffee machine. "Don't be Sandra Spoilsport. It's bad enough we have to work on Valentine's day and don't even pretend you haven't been staring. Oh, poor Margo."

Poor Margo, indeed. From the moment she and her date had stepped inside our little café 'Take the Cake!' she'd hardly been able to get a word in. Oliver and I had raised our eyebrows at each other when Margo's date loudly proclaimed he was so happy she was as pretty as in her pictures. He actually repeated it several times before moving on to stories about how horribly 'busted' his other dates had been and that he had to ditch them.

Now, he's doing what could only be described as a monologue about his collection of cameras. Oliver cringed exaggeratedly whenever he mentioned techniques for wildlife photography, probably because the dudebro was completely wrong.

"Why aren't you over there helping that poor woman." Oliver elbowed me. "She's always nice to us, right? And no one deserves a disaster date like this on Valentine's. Go be her knight in shining armor."

I looked down at myself. "More like her wimpy waitress in an dirty apron."

"Same difference."

Absolutely not same difference. There was a reason why I always seemed to be reduced to a puddle of mush whose most intelligent question was 'hey how have you been' whenever Margo was around.

I wished I could get to know her, but I was far too chickenshit to ask. So far, I'd only found out she studied at the same uni I did because I'd seen the logo on her notebook. I knew she made cute little drawings when she was bored, chewed her pen when she was thinking, and that I was hopelessly in love with her black curls and the freckles on her nose.

Without fail, Margo came in during exam weeks to study in the cafe all day. Oliver always rolled his eyes and said she would obviously keep coming back every time. He would too if some waitress kept giving him a free slice of cake because it was exam week.

"Sandra!" Oliver hissed. "She's going to the bathroom. Here's your shot. Go! Go check on her!"

"Huh. I'm amazed she managed to interrupt the camera-monologue and slip away," I replied, carefully dodging around Oliver's suggestion to follow her. But he would have none of it.

"Sandra Chong, you're going into that bathroom and ask that girl if she's okay. Or I swear to God I will go and tell her you have a massive crush on her."

"Shhh!" I felt blood rush to my cheeks. "Okay, okay! No need to full-name me. I'm going."

I placed the fresh mint tea I'd made on Oliver's tray and glared at him in passing for blackmailing me. But the truth was I wanted to talk to Margo. I really, really did. And now that I had a clear reason to do it, to help her, maybe I'd finally not be tongue-tied.

The bathroom door squeaked as I pulled it open, making Margo look up at me. She'd been on her phone, probably texting a friend to lament or laugh about her awful date. Maybe both.

I smiled at Margo. She returned my smile and I marvelled at the way her brown skin still looked flawless, even in this terribly unflattering bathroom light. My heart pounded and I cleared my throat.

"Uh, are you doing alright out there?" I asked, jutting a thumb over my shoulder. "Oliver and I had the feeling you're not enjoying your date very much."

Margo's smile fell. Her brown eyes went wide and she pressed a hand to her face. "Oh God, you noticed? I shouldn't have planned a blind date at a place I frequent. I'm so embarrassed."

"No, no, don't be!" I hastily replied, literally waving her concerns away. "I was just wondering if I could help you. You can leave and Oliver and I will get rid of him."

Margo shook her head. "Thanks, but I should handle it myself. I can grit my teeth and sit through thirty minutes or so more. Then, I'll go home and drown my sorrows by bingeing chocolate cake or something."

Margo was sweet, not ditching that dude on the spot. If it were me, I would be trying to climb outside through the bathroom window by now. She didn't want to be helped, but I still felt the uncontrollable urge to offer her something.

"Or you could binge on chocolate cupcakes here. It'll be on the house for Valentine's," I blurted. "And why wait for him to finish his drink? You don't owe him your time."

Margo stared quietly at me after my outburst. I immediately worried I'd overstepped some boundaries.

"Uh, I mean... because the Valentine's day cupcakes are really good, and I'd like for people to try them," I tried to backtrack and mostly to lead attention away from basically telling her to dump him on the spot.

"Free cake does sound great." Margo blinked and slowly, a smile spread on her face again. "And you're probably right. I shouldn't waste my time sitting through this date."

Margo squared her shoulders, and jutted her chin up. "Okay," she repeated before marching out of the bathroom. I was too shocked to move for a moment, but then followed.

I found Oliver walking past and grabbed his arm. "She's gonna ditch him!" I hissed.

"What?!" Oliver mouthed back. He acted shocked but I saw the enthusiastic sparkle in his eye. He loved himself some drama.

I usually agreed, but not now. Not when it was about Margo. Still, I joined Oliver at our eavesdrop spot behind a tall "wall" of leafy green plants. Perfect for listening in on customer's conversations without being obvious about it. We were just in time, because Margo did as she said and hadn't wasted a second more.

"This isn't going to work out. We should get the check and leave," Margo told the guy, who sputtered incredulously in response.

"Are you for real?"

"Yes, this date is over."

A chair scraped loudly across the floor. Oliver was on edge, ready to step in and stop the guy if he tried to go for Margo. But he didn't. He only plucked his coat off the chair, glaring intensely at Margo.

"Whatever, bitch. Pay for the fucking meal yourself then."

Mr. Monologue stormed out.

Like Margo I didn't waste any time either and hurried to her table.

"What a jerk!" I said. "Are you okay?"

Margo looked up at me. For a moment her face stayed blank, but then she started laughing. "Actually, yes. I feel a lot better now. Even if I'm left with the check."

"No. Are you kidding?" I frowned. "We're not making you pay that."

Margo seemed caught off guard. She shyly tucked a curl behind her ear, which immediately sprung back to its former position. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah! Of course," I assured her. "Don't even worry about it. Enjoy the rest of your monologue free evening."

Margo laughed again. "I will, thanks. And thanks for your pep talk about wasting time. I wouldn't have done this without you."

"Well..." I hesitated. "I was actually hoping you would waste just a bit more of your time here, just not on that guy. There's still a slice of cake with your name on it."

A smile lingered on Margo's lips. "I'm not saying no to that."

"Great, coming right up."

High on finally being able to talk to Margo, I floated to the bar and grabbed one of our chocolate cupcakes. The one she ordered most often during exam weeks, too.

When I returned to her table, her eyes lit up like a summer day.

"My favourite!" she called out, right before realising she was being a bit loud and silently apologising with a small smile at the people around her. It was adorable.

I couldn't help but smile, too. "Yes, I noticed it's your favourite."

"You did? I'm usually here to study all huddled up in the corner. I figured I pretty much blended into the wall to you all," Margo joked.

You could never blend into the wall, I wanted to reply.

"I notice the regulars," I said instead. "You're Margo, right?"

Margo blinked, surprised. "Yes."

"I'm Sandra," I quickly introduced myself, before she'd ask me how I knew her name and I ended up as a stammering mess.

"Yes, I know. It's on your name tag," Margo pointed out with a teasing grin.

"Oh, haha, right." I glanced down and laughed embarrassed. The plan had backfired. I was an even worse stammering mess now.

What happened next didn't improve things any.

"Anyway, you really made my evening a lot better Sandra," Margo said, right in time for Oliver to hear as he walked by.

"You always make hers a lot better with your presence, too, Margo," he remarked with a wink before moving on.

All my blood rushed to my cheeks. I was nailed to the ground speechless.

Margo looked at me, and I could tell she'd definitely noticed my weird reaction. She was no longer smiling, and when I tried to make eye-contact she cast her eyes down to the table.

"So, I'll let you enjoy your cupcake in peace," I hastily brought out.

"No, actually," Margo replied while bending down to grab something out of her bag, "I'll have it to go. My friend's visiting and she's waiting for me."

"Oh."

I'd ruined it. I'd made it weird.

Margo was never coming back to the cafe and I was going to kill Oliver. Mentally, I was already drowning in my sorrows and planning a pathetic evening of bingeing on leftover cupcakes after closing time.

On the outside I made myself smile, pretending nothing was going on as Margo scribbled something in her notebook, then slipped her coat on and stood, avoiding eye-contact with me. She kept her gaze trained on the floor shyly.

"Alright, have fun with your friend and we hope to see you again." I said, pressing out the polite kind of greeting I gave every customer when they left.

"See you," Margo called over her shoulder before speeding to the exit almost as fast as her date had.

Right after that, my eye fell on the folded piece of paper left on the table. The one Margo had been scribbling on. I almost called after her, but then I noticed what she'd written on the front.

To Sandra.

With a wildly thumping heart and clammy palms I picked up the piece of paper and folded it open.

"Hi! I'm sorry I'm not saying this face to face but I'm shy okay! one brave action is really enough excitement. I'll be back tomorrow, same time, for another shot at Valentine's Day. Hopefully with some shared dessert this time? You had me at chocolate cake :)" - Margo


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Eden Young likes writing Hallmark stories about LGBT+ characters, with guaranteed happy endings. Read more from Eden here.