Alan was sitting at the table patiently, idly playing with the edge of the menu that was neatly folded under his hands. Outside, passerby made their way hurriedly down the sidewalk by the small diner, and Alan watched them through the window with only a mild interest. Occasionally, someone would catch more of his attention than he would usually pay a stranger, like the man hobbling about with a cane, or the woman dressed in a full tuxedo walking down the street in broad daylight. She didn't look happy, to say the least, and Alan watched her go by until she was out of sight. As time ticked by, he started to grow bored with the busybodies outside. He checked his phone for the time, finding that it had been about fifteen minutes since he had called his friend, and he gave the device a disapproving look. Pocketing his phone again with a sigh, he rested his chin in his hand and looked back to the people outside.<br/><br/>"Are you ready to order, sir?" asked a sugar sweet voice next to him, belonging to a waitress with a smile to match it. She had her pen and pad at the ready for him. He smiled and wondered for a brief moment if she was actually this sweet outside of work, but he quickly decided that he didn't really care much about that anyways.<br/><br/>"I'm waiting on someone," Alan said, prompting the waitress to nod and put away her notepad and pen.<br/><br/>"Okay, I'll come back to check on you in a bit then!" she said cheerfully, spinning around and walking off to tend to another one of her tables. It became obvious that no, she was definitely not this cheerful outside of work. Alan watched for a moment as she talked to an old couple, seeing her laughing at something the gentleman said, before he brought his attention to the other patrons of the sandwich shop. There weren't many people there, as the typical lunch hours had already passed for the day, and Alan was grateful for it. The more crowded a place gets, the more he wants to have no part in it. The few people who were there chatted quietly among themselves as they ate, and though he couldn't hear what anyone was talking about, he could occasionally hear laughter from across the dining area.<br/><br/>Leaning back in his chair, Alan checked the time again. Twenty minutes had passed now, and he was starting to wonder where Darren actually was. The traffic outside wasn't bad, and he was pretty sure that the walk from the guy's house to the diner was faster than this. He watched intently for the signature beat up Camry that his friend drove, wondering just how much longer he was going to have to wait. Alan was half tempted to order without him, and the growl in his stomach almost convinced him to do just that. Tapping his fingers against the table now, he took a deep breath and told himself to wait another five minutes. That was all he was going to give Darren before he would order and start eating without him.