He made me absolutely and positively sick. There was just a way he talked to her, touched her, and looked at her that made me want to hop over the counter and punch him square in the face.
She was beautiful. I didn’t know her name then, but she had this lavish red hair that flowed down her back in loose ringlets, often held back with a jaw clip. And she wasn’t like most of the girls around here. The redhead was like a porcelain doll in color, with bright blue eyes that were so wide and curious to what happened to surround her. I didn’t see her smile often. However, when she did, I thought I’d go weak in my knees if one was ever directed at me.
They usually came about once a week with some of his friends. She’d trail behind, looking bored and staring at the artwork on the walls. Then, the guy would notice, pull her roughly by the arm, and would instruct her to wait with him for a seat. That was my cue to pretend I didn’t want to smack him and seat them in the largest booth in the house.
I could remember the day clearly; the day I finally learned her name. She’d come for a few months now, and I had tried several different ways to figure it out, but each time, her boyfriend would speak, silencing her. It hardly seemed fair such a beautiful, obviously strong-willed woman had to be quiet for such a piece of scum like him. There was something that just shone from her that made me think she wasn’t this quiet girl. Her eyes told a story, a story of a faraway land and the freedom that she ached for. Obviously, she didn’t enjoy having to listen to her boyfriend and his perverted friends talk about the latest happenings in New York City.
“Waiter!” the boyfriend called, waving his hand around. I found it hard to believe he was seventeen, or at least around there. He acted like he was still in diapers around his friends. “We are ready to order.”
“This place always has the shittiest food,” one of his friends remarked next to him, rolling his dark green eyes. “I don’t know why we bother to come here.” I made a mental note to spit in his food.
“I’ll have the steak with cheese fries,” the boyfriend spoke, eyes barely flickering to the redhead. “And she’ll have just a house salad. Rose needs to watch her figure. She’s been eating too much.” Rose! Her name was Rose. After it came to me, the anger flared inside of me at what he had just said. What right did he have to say that? Rose was stunning. She wasn’t a stick, but just right. And certainly, she deserved more than a salad.
“What would you like to drink, ma’am?” I asked, focusing my gaze on her.
Rose looked at me in shock, like she hadn’t expected me to speak to her and not her boyfriend. “Oh,” she said in a clear voice. “I’ll have—”
“She’ll have water,” the boyfriend snapped. “Won’t you, Baby?”
Rose glared at him, but said nothing.
I took down the rest of their orders and began to walk away. Before I was out of earshot, I heard him say, “Rose, you do not speak when we’re ordering, understand? I know what’s best for you, so don’t bother.”
She didn’t reply a word back. I wanted to turn around and put my fist into his loud mouth. But she just took it, although when I glanced back she was staring at me intently, a faint, barely noticeable smile on her doll-like features. I tried to smile back, but then her boyfriend caught on with his rat eyes and glared at me. “Asshole,” I muttered.
Hey girl you know you drive me crazy
One look puts the rhythm in my hand.
Still I'll never understand why you hang around
I see what's going down.
While they ate, I caught Rose’s gaze several times. Each time, she had a smile or a look of awe on her face as if the few words I spoke really meant something. If only she knew what I wanted to do to her boyfriend right now. When I punched him in the jaw, I wondered if she’d still be smiling.
As they got up to leave, Rose hung back for a moment, declaring in a small, polite voice, “Oh, I forgot my purse back at the table!” She looked at her boyfriend and smiled. “I’ll be right back. Meet me at the car?”
“Sure,” he mumbled, glaring at me like I planned it. It wasn’t my fault she forgot her purse, for God’s sake!
She walked in her heels toward the table she had been sitting at, looking back at me several times and giving me those small smiles. Maybe I was getting greedy, but I suddenly wanted a full-fledged smile.
Then, she came up to me, handing me a piece of paper before walking toward the door and giving me my wish. My knees nearly buckled under me as the bell jingled and she disappeared.
I’ll be back tomorrow. Hope you’ll be here.
Rose
*****
For the first time in months, I was excited as I came into work the next morning. I was overly eager to see Rose, knowing there was a good chance she was coming to the diner, without her stupid boyfriend for once, and I’d finally get the chance to really know a bit more about her than what she looked like. And I knew I hadn’t imagined all the looks she had been giving me yesterday. Especially the last smile; I could still see that one in my head perfectly.
The bell chimed around two and she swept her way into the entrance dressed in a knee-length skirt and a light green t-shirt that made her look stunning. But when my eyes followed up to her face, my heart nearly stopped. She had a black eye. It had swelled shut that beautiful blue gem in her face and she had tried to hide it with makeup, but it was still pitifully obvious. I couldn’t help but stare as she came closer, one of the tiny smiles on her face.
“Hello,” she said, reading my name tag. “Jack.”
“Rose,” I greeted. “What happened to you?”
Her face turned a light pink color and she looked at the floor in shame. “I walked into a door.”
I knew better than that and anger tore through me like a bull. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind--her boyfriend was behind this. He had hurt the beautiful girl. It wasn’t like it couldn’t happen. He controlled her every action when ordering; it didn’t seem impossible that he’d hurt her for doing something wrong.
“Ouch.” I still played along. I wasn’t about to scare her away. Stupidity wasn’t something I worked for. Besides, if she found out that I had figured it out, maybe she’d go right back to him and he’d do something else to her. “So…why did you come here? The note said—”
“I like you, Jack.”
Well, shit. “Excuse me?” It was hard to hide the grin coming into my face. Rose had just said she liked me, right?
“I like you,” she repeated with a smile. “You are the only one who ever notices I exist when I come in here with Cal. You speak to me and not my boyfriend and you have manners and…I just like you.”
“Oh,” I muttered. What could I say to that? “That’s…well, that’s—”
“Unexpected?” she proposed teasingly.
“A little,” I admitted. I never had much and here was this stunning girl telling me that she happened to like me. Hell, she didn’t even know me, but that was fine with me. The knowing part could come later. Right then, I was so in love with her beauty and humor, I didn’t need anything else.
“I like you,” she repeated. “And I was wondering if you would consider coming with me to the fair after your shift is over.” The fair! How could I have forgotten about the fair? The town fair was tonight. Rides and games, food and fun…the fair! When I was a kid, my parents brought me every year. Now, I lived alone in an apartment and hadn’t gone in years.
“The fair?”
“You know, the…um…”
“Oh, no, I know what it is. I just wasn’t…prepared for the question. I’d love to go with you, Rose. But what about your boyfriend?” He surely wasn’t going to like this…
“He’s out of town tonight,” she told me. “I’m free to do what I want.”