Lillian
We pulled into the Hill Country Cafe’s car lot.
It’s been a while since I've been here, but my family used to come often.
I get off Adonis’s bike and take the helmet off, I turn to fix my hair and as I turn back around, he is there just watching me, I look into his eyes suddenly becoming aware of how exposed I feel under his gaze.
“Can I help you?”
I smirk and he inhales sharply like I had just interrupted something very important.
He smiled down at me, his eyes closing slightly as his smile was as big as the Cheshier cat would be.
“You could help me, but don’t wanna scare you off just yet Lillypad.”
He winks at me. I groaned.
“Ugh, why do you keep calling me that Adonis?” He looked down at me while reaching for my arm, he pursed his lips as if contemplating what to say or even do,
“When the time comes, I will tell you, just not yet,”
He said as he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, I suddenly realized how dangerously close he was to me, I could smell him, he smelt of apples and mahogany wood, it was a delicate smell and yet it was so comforting.
I look up at him and I see his smile has faded and his eyes have turned dark, he's looking at me like I could be his last meal.
His hand touches my face lightly, I look back at him as his eyes slowly roam over my face to look me in the eyes. They travel like he is trying to remember every curve and angle of my face. He stops at my lips and his mouth parts slightly as I lick and bite my bottom lip.
His eyes become molten as if I flipped a switch within him. He started to lower his hand, and I gasped at the loss of contact, breaking the trance he was in and making him pull away, leaving me cold.
“Lillypad you will be the death of me,”
he said, smirking at me. He extends his arm to me.
“Shall we”
I loop my arm in his and we go into the diner. We sit down and look over the menu. I can’t do this, I can't eat in front of him, he’s going to think I’m a pig. I exhale loudly as the waitress comes over to us.
“What can I get y'all?”
She said cheerily, Adonis was looking at the menu and spoke.
“We will get two cokes, and to start some fried pickles and loaded tots.”
The waitress took the order down.
“You got it pretty eyes.”
She winked at him, and he didn't even flinch, didn't even smile, just gave her the coldest blank stare as she walked away.
“She seems nice,”
I say as we put the menus down. He looked at me.
“She may seem nice but she's not you ghostie.”
He said it in a smooth matter-of-fact way. Why did my heart skip a beat? Why am I blushing? I think to myself as I try to hide my face. As if he knew, Adonis reached across the table to hold my hand.
“Hey, what's on your mind?”
How could he tell? Was I being too obvious?
“Nothing’s wrong”
I smile my award-winning smile, but it is as if he is looking right through me, he sighs,
“Ok I won’t push. So, tell me about yourself.”
he asked me.
“What exactly do you want to know? Kind of cheesy to ask me such a basic question.”
I chuckle and he laughs.
“Oh, come on, humor me.”
I shake my head and tell him,
“Well, if we are going to be cheesy than, I am 24 I am an Aquarius, my favorite color is Forest green and-”
“Not that kind of stuff, something memorable, something impacting.”
He says cutting me off.
“Are you saying my favorite color isn’t impactful?” I say with a sarcastic gasp.
“Ha of course it is, but I mean what's something you love?”
he asks me with a meaningful look in his eyes. I sigh and looking into his eyes I feel a moment of vulnerability.
“Well, I love Irises, they give me a certain calming feeling. Whenever I get anxious, or I felt like the world was crashing in around me my dad would bring me Irises from our garden. The garden died after he passed, so it's been a while since I’ve seen them.”
I say remembering the moments my dad would bring them to me telling me I was his beautiful daughter and worth being loved.
I look up to see Adonis has a look in his eyes, it's a need, but a need for what? Before I could ask what, he was thinking about, the waitress came back and put the appetizers in front of us.
“Alrighty y'all ready to order?”
She looked over to Adonis.
“Ladies first”
He said and the waitress pouted a bit and looked at me.
“Um I’m not that hungry; I’ll just get the House Sal-”
Suddenly Adonis cut me off.
“Actually, we both will take the Bison Bacon Cheese double Patty burger with two fries and a large chocolate shake to split.”
The waitress wrote everything down and scurried away.
“What the hell was that.”
I said, and I could feel my blood start to boil.
“Come on Lills, you know you didn't want sala-”
I didn’t hear him say the rest of his sentence because all I could hear was Maxwell in my head,
“Honestly, a burger? How about a salad hmm? I could hardly put my arm around you without your stomach getting in the way.”
With that thought, I snap.
“Why would you order so much food for me? I may be 300 pounds, but I don’t eat like a fucking sumo wrestler.”
He looked at me stunned.
“You just thought hmm she doesn't want the salad so let me get her the unhealthiest thing and she will love it?! You don’t know what it's like to have people stare at you, see your size, and suddenly judge what you're eating. You're this Greek god and I’m Mrs. Piggy.”
I stand up.
“I knew this was a mistake.”
I say and storm out not even waiting for a reply.
I get outside and let the frigid air whisk around me.
That's when I feel them, tears start to well up in my eyes, I start to walk and before I know it, I’m far from the restaurant.
I sigh, get my phone out and call an Uber.
What a joke I thought to myself, suddenly I felt the tears betray me and start to come down, how dare he think I want a burger, how dare he order for me like I am a fat cow.
I look at my phone waiting for my Uber, it pulls up to me and I start to get in.
I thought about texting him, but I decided not to, did I overreact? Probably, but why was he trying so hard? What's his endgame? I am not in his league.
I start to sob harder in the car and I feel so stupid.
Letting myself think he would be different, ha please he’s probably just like all the others, why did he have to choose me?
I hardly know this man and yet when I am near him it's like he is pulling me in with a magnetic pull, I want to stay away from him every ounce of my body is telling me to stay away from him and run, but I don’t want to listen to it, I want to feel the rush of being with someone who makes me come alive.
I wipe my tears away and look out the window and that's when I see it,
“Adonis?”