Pulling up to the restaurant, Lisa’s takes her compact out of her purse and touches up her face, then applies a layer of light pink gloss to her lips. Placing it back in her purse, she steps out of the cab and pays the driver. Making her way towards the entrance, the host opens the door for her. “How many?”
“I see whom I’m meeting.” She smiles at the host.
Alex looks up as she approaches the table. He’s wearing a hunter green polo with denim jeans. Silver shines from his square belt buckle as he stands up. “You look beautiful.” He kisses Lisa on her cheek as his right arm wraps around her waist, laying his hand on the small of her back.
Closing her eyes, she kisses his cheek and then smiles. “Thank-you.” She breathes him in, allowing his scent to fill her senses. “You look handsome.”
She takes a seat and a waitress, who seems taken aback by Alex’s looks, approaches. She’s a short, slender young girl with bright red hair pulled up into a messy bun, a pencil shoved through it; her eye makeup is too thick, giving her the appearance of raccoon eyes; her lipstick is bright pink, which contrasts painfully with her bright red hair; her eyes are dark brown, but look darker because of the raccoon eyes; her white V-neck t-shirt, a size too small, wraps around her thin frame in an attempt to over-emphasize her breasts; her black skinny jeans make her appear shorter than she actually is.
Lisa purses her lips in an effort not to laugh as she notices Alex is oblivious to the waitress’ staring. “I’ll just have some water with lemon, please.” She continues to stare at him.
“I’ll have hot tea.” Looking up at the waitress, it’s as if she’s jolted out of her trance. She scribbles on her pad and glances at Lisa. Her brows rise as if asking what she wants.
“Water? Lemon?” The waitress nods and turns to leave. She turns back to look at Alex again, then walks into the kitchen. Lisa turns to face him and laughs softly.
Alex tilts his head, the expression on his face looks as if he missed the punch line. “What’s funny?”
Lisa grins. “Oh, nothing outside of you having an admirer.”
Alex furrows his brows. “Who?” He looks around, oblivious.
Lisa is humbled by his innocence. “Our waitress. She was gawking at you. It was funny.”
Alex eyes Lisa for a moment, then raises his brow. “Are you jealous?” he asks, teasing.
“Absolutely not, but I can pretend to be if you want a good laugh.”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “No, please don’t. Besides, I wasn’t paying attention anyway. I’m here with you, no one else.”
She smiles and blushes slightly. As she looks down at her menu, Alex reaches over and begins to play with her fingers. His fingers brush lightly against hers, rubs across her palm a few times, then he runs the back of his fingers across hers. Lisa looks down and watches his fingers, then raises her gaze to him. “Thank-you for last night, for carrying me to bed.” She smiles. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”
Alex nods and squeezes her hand. “You’re welcome. You’re quite beautiful when you sleep. Well, except when you drool.” He purses his lips to keep from laughing.
“What? Oh, my god, no I didn’t!” Feeling mortified, the blood suddenly rushes to her face and she covers it with her hands.
Alex laughs and shakes his head. “Lisa…” Leaning forward, he pulls her hands from her face. “I’m teasing. You weren’t drooling.” He chuckles again and she glares at him playfully.
“Very funny. I’ll get you for that.” Lisa glances towards their waitress, who was returning. She balances Lisa’s water and Alex’s hot tea on a tray. Lisa notices that she has managed to pull her V-neck down to expose what little cleavage she has available. The overwhelming smell of vanilla fills the air around their table. Lisa brings her fingers to her nose to block the smell, while raising her brows at Alex. He looks over at Lisa, holding in a chuckle.
“I’ll have the eggplant parmesan,” Alex tells her.
“Make that two, please.” Lisa hands her menu back to the waitress. She thanks her, then bends over the table in an attempt to let Alex look at her cleavage as she takes the menu. Standing back up, she tries to give him a seductive look, causing Lisa to snort. The vanilla infused waitress tries to give Alex the best view of her ass as she walks away.
“Well, that was…interesting.” Alex shakes his head, fanning the air in front of him.
“Hang on! I might have some perfume I can spray!” Lisa retorts, then rolls her eyes.
“Oh no, please don’t.”
“I was teasing. It’ll pass soon.”
Their conversation carried on through their lunch. The waitress brought out their food and laid the plates down in front of them. The smell of vanilla lingered in the air a bit as they allowed their food to cool. During the course of the meal, Lisa’s phone rang. Pulling it out, she looked to Alex. “I’m sorry. It’s work. I’ll be just a moment.”