Chapter 4: Encounter

They're having a 'date'. What will happen? :))

I woke up. I looked at the clock and it was 5:00 in the morning. I took a bath and dressed myself. I wore a blue blouse and jeans, just like what I wore in an ordinary day. I don’t dress up that stylish. I just dress up normally, what I want to wear. I tied my hair up with a blue pony-tail so it matches the color of my blouse.

I like matching things up.

I went down and my mom stared at me, her eyes bulged.

“Mom, what’s the matter? Is there something wrong?” I asked her.

“Nothing’s wrong. You’re get-up is slightly different today” my mom said, with a wide grin.

“What’s the difference?”

“I don’t know but it’s different. Well, just slight” my mom said. “You have a date today?”

“No. I don’t date remember” I protested.

“Okay, okay, you don’t have to be too defensive” my mom said, laughing.

I went to school and my friends also noticed the difference. I don’t know what’s the difference from the way I dress before and from now. I don’t understand them.

“Fatima your blooming.” Abby said.

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not. Hey, can you guys come with me?”

“when?

“At lunch.”

“Sorry, I have a project to make Fatima, sorry.” Abby said.

“Jane?”

“Can’t. I have a meeting in our club.”

“Could you skip it? For once. Please?”

“Why? What’s with lunch?” Jane asked.

“Well, Martin asked me for lunch.            “

“I knew it!” Abby shouted.

“Sshhh.”

“I’ll just make my project later.” Abby sounded really excited.

“Jane, could you come?”

“Uh…..”

“Please?” I and Abby begged.

“Okay.”

“Yes!”

The bell rang at 12 noon. Lunch time.

“Let’s go!” Abby was pulling our hands.

“Geez, chill.” Jane made a face.

We went out. He was not there. Why didn’t I think that he’s only joking with me?

I was standing outside with Abby and Jane.

“Why’s your prince charming late? Maybe you’ll be killed before he comes to rescue you.” Abby said, with an eyebrow raised.

“Maybe he just did something, you know, private matters.”

“I don’t like late guys.” Jane said.

“Well, me too.” Abby agreed.

“Well…” There was silence when I spoke. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

They were looking straight at my back. When I turned around, it was…..he.

I was dumbfounded when I saw him. I was just staring at him until he was in front of us.

“Hi” he said, looking at me. I wasn’t able to answer immediately. “Are you okay?” he asked me. I was still staring at him.

I nodded, we we’re still staring at him.

“You looked like you saw a ghost or something.”

“No, ohm, you just surprised me.”

“I like to surprise people.” He smiled. Cute.

“These are your friends?” he asked again. He gave us a warm smile, some sort of like a friendly smile. We can see his dimples on his cheeks; he looks so cute with those two dimples.

“Yeah, she is Abby and she is Jane. Kevin is inside and I don’t want to disturb him” I said. He shook hands with Abby and Jane and me of course.

“Let’s go?” he offered.

“Sure” I said, smiling.

We went to the cafeteria and many girls were looking at us. They were looking at all our actions and what we were doing together. It’s like they’re going to eat us alive. We entered to some door where I wasn’t familiar of. When we entered the some sort of room, there were many people - particularly boys. When Martin came in, the boys approached him; I think they’re his friends. The other boy was looking at me.

“Bro, is she it?” he asked Martin.

“Just shut up your mouth man” Martin said. They were laughing when Martin said that.

“What’s wrong with that? I only asked if she is the one” they are still laughing. This boy really has a big sense of humor.

The boy walked near me. Martin was staring at him when he talked to me.

“Hi, I’m Steven, Steven Moore. What’s your name miss beautiful?” he asked me. He was smiling at me broadly.

“I’m Fatima, nice to meet you Steven” I smiled back at him.

“Okay, enough with the talking. Come on, let’s have a seat. I reserved one for us” Martin blurted out.

“Hey man, take it easy, I’m not going to steal her from you” Steven said to Martin, laughing.

Martin took us to the table were he said he had reserved. Abby and Jane were seated beside me and Martin was in front of us. The waiter gave us the menu.

“What do you ladies want? Pick anything you want, besides, it’s my treat” he asked us, he was looking at the menu. I looked at the price. We were shocked in the prices of the food they serve there.

“But these foods are so expensive. Is there anything cheaper so that you will not spend so much money for us?” I asked him.

“All of the prices are the same” he said to me. He took down the menu, and talked to the waiter.

“What’s your specialty for today?” he asked the waiter.

“Steak with mushroom sauce sir, it all ready has the drinks but you can change the drinks if you want sir” said the waiter.

“Give me four orders of that. What do you want for your drinks ladies?” he asked us.

“Just iced tea for us please” I said. Our favorite drink is iced tea so whenever we eat we always buy iced tea for our drinks.

“Three iced tea and one bottle of water” said Martin to the waiter. Then the waiter went to the kitchen.

“I’ll be just in the restroom, excuse me for a moment” he said to us.

When Martin was gone, Abby finally spoke.

“I’ve never been to this place before; I don’t even know that there is a place like this here!” Abby said, totally amazed.

“Of course we wouldn’t see it. This place is only known by the rich people here. Just look at the prices of their foods. Can we buy that? That’s so expensive and our allowance for maybe 1 week is just the half of the price” Jane defended.

“You’re right about that. We can’t afford that kind of food with our allowance. This restaurant is only meant for rich people” I said to them.

“Let’s go. I feel uncomfortable in her. I’m not used to this” I continued.

We stood up and was about to leave when Martin came out of the restroom. He ran toward us and blocked our way.

“Hey, where are you going? The food is not there yet and you’re leaving all ready” he said to us.

“The foods here are so expensive, we can’t afford them” I said.

“Am I going to bring you here if I’m not going to pay for it? I said that it’s my treat right?” he said. He’s facial expression became sad. He’s head was down and facing the floor.

“But, even though it is your treat this restaurant are for rich people only. We are not rich like you” I said. I feel sorry for him.

“You don’t have to pay for anything. Don’t mind them, you’re my visitors and I came to you, you didn’t come to me. They don’t have the right to treat you like you are not welcome here and you should not be here” he said to us.

I faced Abby and Jane. He was staring at us.

“What now? Are we going to leave or no?” I asked them.

“It’s your decision; you’re the one who was asked by him for this lunch, and you just asked us to come with you” Jane said.

“Okay, I feel sorry for him. Let’s stay. He was the one who asked for and I will just walk away like that” I said.

I turned back to him and I looked at him. He was so tall I realized. He was staring at me and waiting for what will I say.

“We’ll stay” I finally said.

“Really? That’s great! Really great” he finally smiled while saying those words.

“Are you sure we’re welcome here?” I asked him.

“Of course, all my visitors are welcome here besides, I’ll fire them if they will not treat you well here” he said smiling at us.

“What do you mean you will fire them? You own this restaurant?” I said. I was confused about what he said.

“Ohm, kind of, my parents own this restaurant and while they are gone they asked me to look after it” he said. He was blushing. He looks cute when he’s blushing. I can’t resist not thinking about that.

“You mean, you’re the one managing this restaurant?” I was shocked by what he said.

“Yeah” he said shyly.

“How do you manage this if you have studies to take care of? And you also have practices for basketball” I said to him.

I looked at Jane and Abby and I can also see the look of their faces that they are also surprised by what he had said. That his family owns this restaurant and he’s the one who is managing it.

”The people here work for our family ever since I was kid. So my family really trust these people. When I am at my class Mrs. Mitchell looks after the workers especially the new ones. I go here when my class is finished and I do my assignments here. There is a room here where I can do my assignments because it’s quiet there. About my practices, my parents all ready talked to our coach about that. I only go to practices every Tuesday and Thursday and after practice I go straight here. This is all ready my second home. I sometimes sleep here when we have so many assignments and when I am so tired during practices. That’s why people only see me often when I am not very busy with things.” he said to us smiling. His dimples show.

I can’t believe what I’ve heard. He’s very rich and I have proved it. The food came and it smelled very delicious.

We ate and I was very full.

I looked at my watch and it was all ready 5 minutes before one!

“Hey, it’s 5 minutes before 1! We’ll be late for our class” I stood up and grabbed Abby and Jane’s hand.

“Chill, its okay for you guys to be late today” he smiled at us.

“Huh? What do you mean its okay? Our professor will be mad” I demanded.

“He-he, I all ready talked to your professor that you will be late today because you are with me.”

“You told her that?”

“Of course, she’s my godmother you know. So I asked her that you’ll be with me” he said to us.

“She’s your godmother?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I tell her my secrets. She was the only one who I can talk to with now because my parents are not here; my brothers are with them abroad, even when it comes to girl things I also asked her about that. She even knows that I was the one who was putting the roses above your arm chair so she said its okay for you to be late. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, please stay for a little more. Please” he begged like a little boy. I thought it’s kind of funny but he was serious. He really wants us to stay there.

“Okay, okay, but only for 30 minutes okay?”

“Okay.”

We chatted and I didn’t realize the time passed by. We had a great time with Martin. The bell rang.

“It’s all ready you’re dismissal. We didn’t realize the time” he said to us.

“Our dismissal? What do you mean?” I asked him.

“Yeah, your dismissal, I have half day classes every Tuesday.”

“But you said that you have basketball practice at Tuesdays.”

“Ah, about that, I all ready said to our coach that I will not be on our practice today.”

“You said that?”

“Yeah, why shouldn’t I?” he said with a wide grin.

“But, but -”

“Don’t worry about that. I got it all under control.”

“Say, I can give you guys a ride home” he said to us with a very sweet smile on his face.

“That’s very nice of you but I have a bike. You can give Abby and Jane a ride home besides they ride a bus to go to their houses.”

“Hey, we will not ride in his car if you are not with us” Jane exclaimed.

“Yeah, you should be there before we ride in his car” Abby second motioned.

“You can put our bike at the compartment. Your bike fits in it. That compartment is big. Even you can fit in it” he said. He has a bit sense of humor.

“Okay.”

“Wait I’ll just tell Mrs. Mitchell that I’m going to give you a ride home. Just wait there at the door. I’ll be right back.”

He ran in the kitchen and we walked to the door.

“Pink.” I said.

“He is a great guy right” Abby said to me.

“Yeah, he’s very kind and sweet” Jane continued.

“Hey, I was about to say that” Abby demanded.

“Well, I said it first” Jane answered back.

“You always do that to me” Abby said.

“Do what?” Jane asked her.

“You always say what I am about to say” Abby answered.

“I didn’t know that you were about to say that” Jane said to her.

“You two really are best friends” I said to them.

“How do you say so?” they both asked. At the same time.

“You know each others thoughts that strike me very funny” I said with a silent chuckle.

“What’s so funny about that?” Jane asked me.

“Nothing” I said laughing all by myself.

Martin came out of the door running.

“Did you guys wait too long?” Martin asked us.

“No, we were just talking about something” I said to Martin and I was looking at Abby and Jane. They were staring at me.

“Come on, let’s go. We maybe we can catch the sunset while were at the road” he said to us and started to walk.

“We can see the sunset while we are at our way home?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I know a spot where we can see the sunset clearly” he said.

“You know? Where?” I asked him again.

“You’ll see later” he said.