The scents of fried foods filled the air as they neared the pier at the edge of the beach. A small café with a broken neon sign filled the spot. She saw only a couple of people were inside.
Drake opened the door and she smiled at him. They found a small booth near the window.
“This is nice,” she said.
It wasn’t overly fancy, which part of her was afraid of. Drake’s need for money kind of made her nervous most of the time.
“You can order whatever you want.”
“Are you after my heart?” she asked, jokingly.
He didn’t respond and she looked up to see him staring at her.
“You’ve got to stop taking things so … personally. It was just a joke.”
“I know. Can’t a guy just like looking at you?” He winked at her.
“You do?”
“Of course. You’ve got beautiful eyes and a nice pair of tits. What’s not to like?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, you’re a guy. You’d go toward the guy things.”
“Hey, I’m keeping it real.”
She laughed, loving this banter between them. It was moments like these that made their arguing so … frustrating. Neither of them should be arguing about anything and yet, they always found themselves back to that.
No! She wasn’t going to allow herself to do that.
Today was her birthday. She would enjoy it with Drake. Not thinking about their problems or what they had to face. That would all come very soon.
“What are you looking at?” he asked, nodding toward the menu.
“I’m thinking waffles. I haven’t had them in a long time. At least ones I didn’t make myself.”
“Get them. Lots of waffles and coffee sounds good to me.”
The waitress came over and Drake ordered them a lot of waffles with syrup.
“You think I can eat all that?” she asked, smiling.
“They’re not all for you. A man is starving here.” He patted his stomach.
“You see, I didn’t think you ate.”
“Please, you’ve seen me eat lots.”
She smiled. She had. They just rarely got to eat together like this. “This is fun.”
“It is.” He took her hands once again and ran his thumb across the back of her knuckles. “I want today to be really special for you.”
“Drake, it is. I’m with you.” She held his hands a little tighter.
Neither of them spoke for several moments. Neither of them wanted to ruin the peace they had found together. She licked her suddenly dry lips and wished they were alone. At least she could kiss him. While they were kissing, she couldn’t think about all the things they couldn’t have together.
“So, how are you doing at school?” she asked, breaking the silence. Even though they spent as much time as possible together, she never really got to ask how he was doing in classes. They shared a couple and the teachers rarely asked him to answer any questions as most of the time they would get a joke or a witty comeback. It was his thing, and she didn’t mind. At the end of the day, it was his life and he could do with it what he wanted.
She let go of his hands to push some of her hair off her shoulder.
“You want to talk about school?”
“It’s a safe topic. Besides, I don’t recall you doing any homework. You watch me do mine and I’m a little worried I’m turning into some kind of bad thing for you.”
He stroked her cheek. “One, you’d never be bad for me. Two, I do my homework. Don’t worry.”
She tilted her head to the side, trying to think about it. “When?”
“When I get home. I’m not much of a sleeper. Never have been. So when you’re asleep and I’ve got to sneak out, or just head home, I do all my homework then, and I don’t carry it around with me. I simply email it to the teacher. Easy.”
“So all this time, you’ve been a good guy?”
“I wouldn’t call it being a good guy.”
“Then what would you call it?”
“Doing what I had to do.”
She giggled. “Look at you, being the good guy.”
“I’m not.”
“Come on, you email the teacher homework, but you’re too afraid it’ll damage your rep. Oh my, I can’t even … this is really good.”
“Really good?”
“Hell yeah.”
“Who are you going to tell about it?” he asked, brow raised. “I don’t see anyone paying much attention to you.”
“Damn, you’re right. I’m going to have to catch you in the act. I didn’t ever think of you conforming to anything, and now look at you. Conforming. Being the good guy.”
“How do you think I kept up in grades?” he asked. “I never flunked a class.”
She winced. “Can I be honest with you?”
“I don’t see why not. I know this is going to hurt my feelings, though. Isn’t it?”
“Little bit. I thought your parents paid for your grades.”
Drake put a hand over his heart. “Now you really do hurt me. You’re not wrong, though.”