Part II
By Hanny
She got up, furious now for being schemed. Rachel must have known. That's why she had that twinkle in her eyes, Lou thought.
She started to make her way between the tables when the Kid reached her and grabbed her arm.
"Lou," he asked, "where're you going?"
"Leave me alone, Kid." She shot at him, trying to release her arm from his tight grip.
"Lou…" he tried to calm her down. "Lou…"
"Let go of me, Kid, or I'll scream." She tried another tactic.
"You promise you won't run away and we can have a talk?"
"Kid! You're pushing your luck too far." She said as he let go of her arm. Against her better judgment she stayed in the middle of the restaurant facing him.
"Oh, come on, Lou. We're already here, and they serve great food, so what do you say? We used to enjoy each other's company…"
"Yeah, but that was before…"
"Let's pretend." He said before she finished her sentence.
"Pretend what?"
"That we're still together and that we went out on a romantic dinner."
"Is that what it is - a romantic dinner?"
"Please, Lou…" He was almost pleading now. When he saw she didn't respond, he took her hand and led her to their table.
They sat there for a few minutes, not a word spoken. Lou was checking something unseen on the tablecloth, the Kid was just watching her.
"What would you like to eat?" the waiter was a blessing.
"What would you like, Lou?" The Kid asked her.
She lifted her head and stared at his blue eyes. "Whatever you order is fine with me." She said.
The Kid ordered for the both of them. "And a bottle of Champagne" he added.
Lou watched him curiously. "Champagne?" she asked.
The Kid just smiled at her.
"Are we celebrating something?" She asked him.
"I was hoping so." He said.
"What?"
"You know…" he said rather shyly.
"What?" She demanded persistently.
"I was hoping we would get back together."
"Oh, Kid…" She said somewhat desperate with him.
"Just give it a chance, at least for dinner." He pleaded. "Just for tonight."
Lou couldn't resist his eyes. She missed them so much - the way they looked at her. I probably fell in love with him in the first place because of his eyes. "O.K. I will." She said. "But don't get your expectations up too high. I'm not promising anything, least of all getting back together."
"I won't ask you for more than a chance." He said with a smile.
The food was brought to their table and they started eating in silence.
"Thanks for not using my name." She said after a couple of minutes.
The Kid looked up at her. "Are you kidding? I know I can't use it while you're wearing this outfit." He said almost laughing.
"You like it?" She asked flirtatiously.
He smiled at her. "Very much."
She allowed herself to smile back at him. "So, anyway, how did the waiter know it's me?"
"I just told him to look for the most beautiful girl that comes through the doors."
"That probably wasn't too hard for him - me being the only girl who walked in here by herself."
"But you are the most beautiful." He said reaching for her hand that lay on the table.
She let him touch her just for a short while, then removed her hand from under his. The silence that came was uncomfortable and they each watched their hands.
"Lou." "Kid." They started simultaneously.
"Yes?" he asked.
"I just wanted to apologize for being so rude the other day." She said.
"It's O.K.," he said.
"No, really. I'm sorry."
"It's all forgotten, Lou."
She smiled at him. "What did you want to say?"
"Just that I'm sorry too."
"Kid…" she started.
"Please, let me apologize." He said. "I know I hurt you when I was with Samantha…" She tried to stop him. Hearing that name was too much for her. But he raised his hand in order to shush her. "It's just that I didn't know what to do with myself. I was stupid to think that it's either getting married or not being together at all. I was ready to lose you just in order to do the right thing, which came up to be so wrong." Tears were starting to form in Lou's eyes as she saw his getting moist. "I've never loved anyone until I met you. Not really. You were everything to me, Lou, and you still are. You're everything I ever wanted and I would die before I hurt you again." As a tear escaped her eye, Lou lowered her head. "Lou?…"
"I'm fine, Kid." She answered. "it's just that I can't be angry with you when you do all these things for me and say all these things."
The Kid smiled. It was her way to blame him for overdoing when, in-fact, she was moved by it. "Glad I can still provide you with all my faults to blame," He said.
She looked up at him and they both started to laugh.
"I love you, Lou." He said as they calmed down. His face was serious.
They finished their meal silently. Lou didn't know what to say and the Kid felt like everything he might say would be less important than the words he'd spoken a few minutes ago.
They were walking down the streets of the now sleeping town. Lou sensed the uneasiness about the Kid's manner. Since she was no longer angry with him she got closer and snuck her hand into his. He didn't look at her, afraid to do anything that might spoil the moment.
"Kid, would it be O.K. if we took a little walk before returning to the station?" Lou asked after a few minutes of silent walking.
"Sure." The Kid said, smiling broadly.
They kept walking silently, enjoying each other's company. Lou felt her heart beat fast to the touch of the Kid's hand. She gave it a little squeeze to make sure he wasn't going to disappear. She waited for this moment for too long to just let it slip. She looked at the man who walked beside her. He'd really gone to all that effort just to bring her back to him, he loved her that much. Even after all the hard time she gave him over the last couple of weeks, he wouldn't budge.
The Kid could feel the warmth of her pass over to him through her hand. She's so beautiful, he thought, how could I ever look at another woman? How could I be such a fool to let her go? And hurt her so much…
Lou cut into his thought. "What are you thinking about?"
He smiled shyly. "You."
"Good." She said. "Cause I was thinking about you." She crossed her arm with his and they kept on going closer than before.
"We got to the end of town." Kid said for no particular reason.
"Yeah." She said. "We better start toward the station. Rachel is probably still waiting for us."
"Yes." Kid agreed with her. "By the way, I thought you didn't know it was me who sent you this letter?"
"I didn't. You saw the way I reacted when you showed up."
"Oh, yeah. Right." Kid said blushing. "So how did Rachel know?"
"You haven't worked that up with her?" Lou asked honestly.
"I wanted to keep it a surprise, and I didn't want to share anyone on this - I didn't know what your reaction would be…"
"Kid, there's a limit to one's stubbornness, and your head is a lot stronger than mine." As she saw his doubtful gaze she quickly added with a laugh "about these things, Kid, about these things."
Kid looked at her and smiled. He decided to take his chances and brought his hand to caress her cheek. She closed her eyes. He leaned down, his lips searching for hers. He kissed her gently and very briefly. As he leaned back Lou opened her eyes.
"Why did you stop?" she said as her hand drew his head closer to her. She closed her eyes and kissed him, her arm pulling him closer.
"Come." The Kid said a couple of minutes later, when they broke the kiss. "We'd better hurry to Rachel, she's probably waiting to hear the news."
"What news?" Lou asked innocently.
"The news." The Kid said. "About us…" his voice faded with unsureness.
"What about us?"
"About us… getting back together…"
"Oh, that." Lou said.
"We are together… aren't we?" he asked, fear creeping in his voice.
"You bet." She said with a smile and kissed him once more.
TO BE CONTINUED Chapter II
Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author
The Way Station
Campfire Tales
