Gay Experience at College in Vienna 2

The most striking feature I had, however, was my eyes. One was green, and the other blue. Apparently, it was a misprint in my DNA, but I never objected to its existence. It made people stare at me, and the attention was most welcome. I always loved being given attention, it's just the kind of person I grew to be. Now, I return to the story.

One day I was waiting tables and wishing it would be over soon, since the café was so full that there were strangers sitting at the same tables, just to get a spot. It was mid-November, and everyone was trying to hide from the sudden blizzard. It was falling down like heaven itself had started crying upon Earth. There was a grand total of four of us that day, and each got a room of his own. There were four rooms plus the bar in the middle. I ended up pulling the short straw and having to tend the bar as well.

Remembering all the orders was hell enough, but trying to get them all on time, to the right people, and at the same time avoiding tripping over what seemed to be millions of school bags, purses, laptop cables, and the like was nigh impossible. I was just waiting for the moment a scalding Kleiner Brauner (single shot espresso with milk) would be spilt over an innocent customer.

After a nightmarish three hours, the place started clearing out. Within the following thirty minutes, the place was reduced to the usual few-and-far-between customers of a tiring Tuesday afternoon. Upon counting up the tips I got, the torture did not seem so bad. That day alone ended up providing for about half my monthly rent, and that was not due until December. The other three rooms (we called them rooms, but they were basically just different quarters of the area surrounding the bar, since no walls separated the tables) were practically empty, and this made two of the four waiters obsolete. I asked a friend to cover for me at the bar and my quarter while I went out for a smoke, and then had to walk to the coat hanger to grab the pack and lighter. As I passed one of the taken tables, the customer called out.

"Waiter."

"I'm sorry sir, I'm going on break right now, but Patrick will take care of you," I flashed one of those charming smiles and turned around, slanting my head to the side to tell Patrick that he could handle this one.

I got out onto the cold air in the back of the café and lit the cigarette, enjoying the moment of peace and quiet. My legs ached from running around all day, and my left arm felt like one more full tray would end up permanently detaching it from the rest of my body. I was wearing nothing but the black tuxedo pants, white light cloth shirt, and black vest, but the cold felt good after the stuffiness that the many people created in the café.

I had never been much of a person to slack off, so I quickly finished the cigarette and went back in. In the span of those ten minutes, about twenty more customers had come in, but they were seated in the other guys' rooms.

I came up to Patrick and told him he could go, and he filled me in on the orders, telling me that the guy who stopped me would not order anything until I came back. I first took the two minutes to deliver the orders already pending, and then headed to the guy's booth.

"I hear you made a special request for me?" I smiled. It didn't matter who the customer was, I always tried to be at the best of my charm.

"Yes, I wanted to order from you...I'll have a plain Turkish and a croissant."

I nodded and told him I would be right back with his order. It was a simple one, so it did not take long to be done. I brought it to him, and he thanked me, and I flashed another smile, going back to the bar and sitting down finally, getting some rest.

For a while, nothing happened, and then gradually the other few guests in my room wanted to pay and filed out. Only the guy who wanted me especially was left. Every now and then, I would see him glancing over at me, and a few times even blatantly staring. I paid no mind to him and proceeded to do what I always did with free time--draw.

Time rolled buy, and the guy remained. Finally, it was time to close, and I had to come up to him and kick him out. That was never a pleasant experience to me, because it always seemed to me like I was being rude.

"Excuse me, sir? We are about ready to close down for the day, and I must ask you to pay your bill and leave..." I said, glad at least that my German was now near perfect and I could actually put in the words that made it much more sweet-sounding than it would have been two years earlier. He nodded and smiled at me, and then he looked around, pointing to one of my drawings.

"I couldn't help but notice that your name tag said the same thing as the signatures on a few of the drawings here. Is that your art, Alexander?"

"Call me Alex, please. Yes, it is. Originally, I sold a few of my drawings to the café, back before I was working here."

"I saw you working through all the mess that was here earlier today. Why do you work so hard?"

I stopped talking to him for a moment to say good-bye to the other three waiters, telling them I'll close the place up, no problem.

He repeated the question.

I shrugged.

"I don't know...I need the money, among other things, and it's just work...habit, I guess."

"Ah... Would you sit down with me, please?"

I blinked a few times, but after a moment obliged and sat down across the man, crossing my fingers and resting my head on them, elbows pressing on the table's surface.

"My name is Robert, I'm pleased to meet you, Alex," he said with a smile, extending a hand.

I accepted and shook, breaking off quickly and starting to stand up.

"I'm sorry sir, but I must go home and work on my project, and tomorrow I have class in the morning."

"Call me Robert. All right, here's the money, and I'll see you around," he said, standing up and heading for the door. I stopped him right in front of it.

"This tip is too large, sir, it's twenty euro."

"Yes, I know."

"I can't accept this."

"Please do. Consider it a last request of a satisfied customer," he said, and walked out before I could protest.

When I finally got to my room, I had no inspiration to work on the project for school, so I just stripped to my boxers and lay in bed for a while, absently sketching things on a sheet of blank notebook paper. When I looked at the drawing, I was surprised to see Robert staring back at me. I had him down to the tiniest details. There was the mop of golden blond short hair, the two large almond shaped eyes, finely trimmed eyebrows, straight nose, full lips, slender neck, and then the rest disappeared off the page. I even had the small scar, no more than a centimeter in length, which was on his right cheek. That night, I fell asleep thinking of him, trying to figure out what the whole deal at the café was about.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Robert kept coming in, and we were quickly becoming friends. At one point, he walked me home, and then told me that he used to be with that guy and that he was too expensive. That was where it ended.

Spring crept into Vienna, and my life was in a routine--get up, go to class, work at the café, work on projects, go to sleep. I liked it, and more and more was I looking forward to the conversations I had with Robert. That May, he offered to have me move in with him in his apartment, which would be a much cheaper solution than staying with the other guy. I had fallen into some pretty weird situations by carelessly accepting any offer to share living space, but Robert was probably the one person I knew longest before accepting. So, naturally, I did.

Last month's rent paid, I moved all of my things to Robert's place, which was even closer to the center and more to my liking than any other place. He had a two bedroom suite, and I got one of the bedrooms, and we shared the bathroom, living room, and kitchen.

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written by odas