I was off to an early start. Real early. I was in the truck and travelling by four in the morning and now had an hour's travel behind me. Once this load was delivered I had three days off and as far as I was concerned the sooner I delivered the sooner I was free. Hence the early start.
Trouble is, with an early start like that I didn't grab any breakfast. Places that are open all night are few and far between and I didn't know of any in the next hundred miles. I'd been this way before and decent diners were pretty thin on the ground. As you can guess, I was pleasantly surprised when, after I'd just passed some little one-horse town, I found a new diner advertising they were open all day every day.
I pulled in, figuring that something was better than nothing. I was the only vehicle in the parking area. This didn't necessarily mean that the place was no good. It was more probable that I was the only idiot out driving that early.
I wandered into the diner and there was this nice looking young thing leaning on the counter, looking bored out of her skull. She perked up considerably when she saw that she had a live customer. I mentioned the word breakfast and she told me to take a seat and she'd let me have a menu.
I sat and she came around and handed me the menu. She was really quite a pretty young lass, a brunette and nicely shaped. I'd put her age at about twenty. She wore a little badge proudly stating her name was Dianne.
"You don't seem too busy right now," I observed, and she gave me a disgusted look.
"And we'll stay not busy for at least another hour," she informed me. "Nobody stops along here in the middle of the night."
"I can't help wondering why you stay open all night if there's no custom."
"It's the owner's fault. He reckons by showing that we're open and available people will remember us and plan to stop here in future, even if they don't do it right now. It makes for a boring job at times. Fortunately, I'm not on the overnight shift. I only started a few minutes ago. Janine, she's the overnight woman, said she served one person in her entire shift. I'll at least get some custom later on."
"So you'll sit back and twiddle your thumbs and hope you get lucky," I said with a grin.
"I watch TV and, hey, I've got you for a customer, haven't I? What would you like?"
I ordered a simple breakfast with coffee. She noted it down and told me it'd be about ten minutes.
"Are you the cook as well?" I asked.
"At this time of the morning I am," she answered with a nod. "We have a real cook but he doesn't start for another half hour. But don't worry, I know my way around the kitchen."
She scurried away, apparently happy to have something to do. Ten minutes later she was back and I'm quite sure she'd added a few extra items to my order, but I wasn't complaining. I invited her to sit and talk while I ate. She grabbed a cup of coffee and settled down opposite me.
I was hungry and made short work of the meal, then I sat back and relaxed a little.
"I needed that," I said, giving her a wink.
"You're welcome," she said. "Is there anything else you'd like before you go?"
"Funny you should ask," I said with a grin. "I was just thinking I'd like a little fun time with you. Are you offering?"
"What?" she said, and her voice sounded a bit squeaky. "No, I was not offering. I meant anything from the menu."
"Pity. No, I don't need anything else," I murmured. "Um, you may not have been offering, but seeing as how I'm asking. . ." I let my voice trail off.
"Still no," she said, blushing. "What do you think I am?"
"Good question. I think you're an attractive young woman who is feeling a trifle bored. I also think that you're a woman who'll be quite a handful if I can talk you out of your panties. Can you think of a better cure for boredom?"
"I'll have you know I don't do that sort of thing," she said rather tartly, giving me a female look.
"Ah, sorry. I hadn't realised that you were a virgin. I quite understand. It wouldn't be right to lose your virginity to a passing stranger, would it?"
"I didn't say I was a virgin," she said, sounding flustered. "I meant I don't have sex with strangers, that's all."
"My mistake," I said smiling cheerfully. "You're saying that you do do that sort of thing but not with me."
"You're laughing at me. You asked and I said no. That should be the end of it."
"Possibly, but I want it to be the start, not the end. Why not with me?"
"How many reasons do you want," she asked, a touch of sarcasm creeping into her voice.
"Three."
"One, I don't know you. Two, we're standing in the middle of a diner and people may arrive at any moment. Three, I don't want to."
"One, you do know me now. We've been talking for a while, and you'll know me even better afterwards. Two, you don't really expect any customers for quite a while and if you're bent over the table looking out the window you'd spot anyone who drove up anyway. Three, you do want to or you'd have stalked off in a huff, pretending you've been insulted."
"Do you seriously think I want to bend over a table in full view of anyone who drives in while you do what you want to? You are being insulting, you know."
"Why is it insulting to tell a woman that you find her attractive and want to get to know her better?"
"There are ways of getting to know a woman better and there are other ways. Your way seems to be a bit direct."
"Yes, I know. Exciting, isn't it."
