Chapter Three

Minutes later, the car stops in front of a beautifully decorated old-fashioned burger joint. There were even neon lights streamed around the name �" Burger Mania.

“This isn’t it,” he said as we started walking up to the front doors.

“You are one silly boy,” I mumble.

“What was that?” His joking tone made me feel so warm and comfortable inside.

I walk over to hug him. “You haven’t seen me in a year, and you’re not even going to hug me?”

Without saying a word, he wraps his arms around me and holds me tight for at least five minutes.

“Is that a good enough hug?” he asks as his arms return to his sides and we enter the diner.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I just follow him.

 

“Welcome to Burger Mania. Is it just the two of you dining this afternoon?” The waitress is wearing a classic red and white checkered apron and wearing roller skates. Her hair is slightly more brown than red, and it’s incredibly curly. She has a nice body, though she is larger than most women in my family.

During the time of my examining our waitress, Anthony must have said yes because she was already leading us to our table.

The diner has a very interesting look to it, if I do say so myself. The floors match the waitress’ apron, and the tables have a shiny black marble look to them. It smells like a park barbeque, which makes my stomach growl incredibly loud.

“What would you like to drink?” the waitress interrupts the process of me examining the diner.

“I’ll have lemonade, thank you,” I reply.

“And you, sir?” She’s looking at Anthony now.

“Same,” he says and smiles.

 

Minutes pass, which allows me to finish scanning the diner. I see various pictures hanging right by every booth. The picture next to us contains dogs playing poker. How cliché, I think to myself.

“Are you okay, Brooke? You haven’t said a word.” Anthony’s voice was so calm and caring.

“Sorry. I'm kind of nervous. I haven’t seen you in over a year.” It is true, obviously. My heart was pounding more and more every time we spoke because I could feel my feelings for him growing.

“I'm nervous too,” he replies and smiles. His smile is so adorable. His lips just move up and allow his teeth the perfect amount of room to brighten up the room. “What are you smiling about,” he asks.

Did I forget to reply? I ask myself. “Nothing, I'm just glad that you moved back,” I half-lied. It was true, though I was smiling for so many other reasons as well.

“Me too.”

“So, how was Italy?” We need to find something to talk about.

“It was beautiful, but lonely. My camera broke the first month I was there, so I couldn’t take any pictures. My mom kept saying that she would buy me a new one, but that never came true.”

“I bet it was beautiful. I’ve always wanted to go to Italy.”

“I know, that’s why I wanted to take pictures for you.” The smile is glued to his face, but there is a smile glued to mine as well.

 

The waitress appears again at our table with our drinks. “Sorry it took so long, I dropped the tray right after I filled your glasses.”

A chuckle sneaks through my lips, but I try to hold it back.

“It’s okay,” Anthony says as she hands us our drinks.

“So,” the waitress began, “My name is Zoe, and I will be your waitress today. Sorry for not introducing myself before.” She blushed. “It’s my first day.”

After a pause, she continued. “Do you guys know what you would like to order?”

I forgot to look at the menu, I admit to myself.

“We’re not quite ready,” Anthony says. I swear he can read my mind sometimes.

“Okay, take your time,” Zoe says and walks away.

 

“Now you can look at your menu.” Anthony picks up the menu off of the table and hands it to me.

“Thanks,” I blush.

Looking through the menu, I have no idea what I want. It’s all so simple, yet I'm having such a hard time to decide.

“What are you going to get?” I ask Anthony after a couple of minutes of staring at my menu.

“I think I'm going to get the House Burger,” he replies. “But you can’t get that too. You have to be unique.” Is he trying to tease me again? It’s so hard to tell with him.

I return my eyes to the menu and find the House Burger. A plump burger topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon, mustard and ketchup. He must be hungry.

 

When Zoe returns for the third time and asks for our order, I decide on getting the chicken strips basket and Anthony orders the House Burger like planned.

Seconds after Zoe left our table, Anthony gets the weirdest look on his face. “It took you that long to order chicken?” he asked in a very flirtatious voice.

“Well,” I replied, “I had to look at everything on the menu to see if anything sounded better.”

“Everything on this menu sounds better than chicken.”

I am so tempted to stick out my tongue, but I don’t want to appear to be immature. Especially not with him. Especially not right now.

 

“Did you know that in South Dakota, if there is three or more Native Americans on your property, you are allowed to shoot them?”

Anthony’s voice startled me just enough to make me jump. “What did you just say?”

After repeating it, Anthony looks worried. “Are you okay? You seem really distant.”

How am I supposed to respond? “I am so sorry. I'm just nervous, like I said earlier.” I didn’t know what to tell him other than that. I couldn’t tell him that I felt sparks between us because we’re just friends. And even on the slight chance that we may be more than friends, I want him to tell me first.

I see Anthony getting up from his side of the booth, and I look confused as he walks over and sits next to me.

“You looked lonely,” he whispered.

I hope he can’t hear my heart pounding. I can barely hear because the beats are so loud.

“The food should be coming soon,” he mentioned after a couple minutes of our awkward silence.

“Good, I am starving,” I say, trying to get the energy back into my body and voice.

 

“One chicken strip basket and one house burger?” Zoe asked as she sat our food on the table in front of us. “Is there anything else you’d like?”

“I think we’re good,” Anthony and I both said at the same time. I blush and try to hold back my huge smile.

 

As we dig into our food, our elbows knock back and forth. I love feeling his skin; it’s so warm. I hope that he feels the same way about mine. Or maybe he thinks about keeping me warm.

 

“How’s your chicken?” he asked.

“Wonderful, though I'm still shocked that it took me so long to decide on getting chicken.”

“I said that earlier!” The smile on his face stretched from ear to ear.

Our silence returns as we continue eating our delicious smelling food.

“So,” I say, trying to break the silence. “How’s your burger?”

“Tastes kind of like chicken,” he answers seriously.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Of course! It tastes like a hamburger.”

 

About fifteen minutes later, both of our meals are cleared from our basket and Anthony pays for the meal.

“Now what?” I ask.

“Just another surprise for you.”

Reviews

[Andy Ruffett]

Chapter 3:

'Minutes later, the car stops in front of a beautifully decorated old-fashioned burger joint. There were even neon lights streamed around the name' Maybe Burger Mania was supposed to be in italics?

'I am so tempted to stick out my tongue, but I don’t want to appear to be immature.' "Appear too immature"

“I bet it was beautiful. I’ve always wanted to go to Italy.” Question: Have you ever been to Italy? It is quite beautiful.

My Piece:

You're really egging this relationship on. I LOVE it! Anthony's also very comical. It brings some nice comedic relief for Brooke. You always need that friend that calms you down. When I think of roller skates in a restaurant, I think of the old A&W restaurants. Though, I've never seen the woman on roller skates; just seen the pictures and paintings. Nice touch that Zoe is new there. It's also interesting that Brooke is analyzing Zoe. Guess she's never been in a place like this. This book takes place in modern day, right?

[diannesam]

I love the chemistry between these two. Great chapter! Seems like he's really trying to impress her