It had been a very long day and Atlas, or Étienne, as he had come to be known, was honestly ready to leave. He was cleaning the counter for the fifth time that night. Not because it needed to be cleaned but because there wasn’t much else for him to do. It was almost time for them to close but there was one customer still in the café. A young woman, who looked to be around his age, looking out the window as she drank a cup of hot chocolate.
He put the towel down and washed his hands before making himself a vanilla latte. His boss allowed him and his co-workers one free drink per shift and Atlas always saved his for the end so that he wouldn’t be too tired on his way home. He leaned against the counter as he drank, occasionally taking quick glances at the girl and wondering why she was here alone at this time of night.
“Étienne,” His co-worker, Henri, emerged from the back area and began making himself a drink. “Qu’est-ce que tu regardes?”
“Cette fille là-bas,” He started, gesturing towards her with a subtle nod of his head. “, elle est toute seule.” Henri looked in the girl’s direction, making a sound of agreement before returning to the back. After his friend left, the girl said something to him in broken French with an awful accent but he could understand what she meant to say. He took another sip of his coffee to keep himself from laughing at her because that was mean but he did smile back at her when he saw her giggle and blush.
“Yeah, it usually gets pretty slow at this time of night.” He responded in English with a distinctive Australian accent. He assumed by the accent she had while attempting to speak French that she was either American or Canadian. Either way, he wanted her to know that he spoke English in a way that wouldn’t be too embarrassing for her. “Mind if I keep you company? My shift ends in a few minutes.” He asked her, feeling bad that she was sitting there all alone.
@raviola - Persie
Translations
Qu’est-ce que tu regardes - what are you looking at?
Cette fille là-bas, elle est toute seule - that girl over there, she’s all alone