“You’re not just anything.” His voice rose a little and he snapped his mouth shut for a minute. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the city. “You’re not just anything. Even ‘just Sam’ is something special.”
I looked at him as my heart slammed in my chest. I wanted to say something, anything, but my mouth was frozen. Fear ran through my body and my mind wrestled with my heart. I wanted Alex. I was scared of what that would mean, where it would lead.
I opened my mouth and shut it. I opened my mouth again and closed it. Neither of us said anything else, just rode in silence. I had no idea where we were going, but I didn’t ask. Alex eventually pulled into a small restaurant that wasn’t too busy.
“Let’s grab some dinner.” He got out of the car and walked around to my side. I climbed out and followed him inside. Everything was in Lilarian: the sign, the menu, the words on what I thought were ketchup packets.
The man behind the counter said something friendly to Alex and then to me. We had covered basic greetings in the car, so I tried to say, “Nice to meet you.” The man chuckled and his smile grew.
“Nice to meet you, too,” he responded in English.
Alex looked at me and shook his head. “We might need to hire a professional. You just said, ‘Nice to leave you.’”
“I’m sorry.” I grimaced.
“They’re very close words.” The man motioned toward the back of the place. “Have a seat. I’ll bring you some drinks.”
“Thank you.”
Alex picked a booth in the back and pulled his jacket off. I set mine next to me in the booth and tried to not fidget in my seat. Alex passed one of the menus to me.
“Thank goodness there are pictures.” I stared at the images in relief.
“I wouldn’t let you order something nasty.”
“Sure, sure.”
“Well, not too nasty.” He laughed and it eased some of the tension gripping my shoulders.
“So, this is the burger joint Cathy was talking about?” I let my gaze drift over the pictures and tried to pick apart some of the descriptions. “Laitu?”
“Lettuce.” He set his menu down. “And yes, this is the best burger in Lilaria. I thought maybe after this week you could do with some familiar food.”
I smiled because he was right. We ordered our food and went back to working on my Lilarian. I was seriously lacking in the language department.
“I feel like I’m trying to cram before a final.”
“Cram?” He raised an eyebrow.
“You know, pull an all-nighter studying. Cram in as much information as possible before the big test.” The waiter deposited our food and whisked off to another table.
“Ah.” He picked up some fries.
“I’m really unprepared.”
“I think we need back up.” He frowned. “If we had more time, you’d pick it up just fine, but it wouldn’t hurt to have someone with more practice helping you.”
“What about the bargain? I won!”
“I’ll still help.”
“Oh, no. You’re not getting out that easy. I want the picture.”
“You don’t even know what I was working on.” He laughed.
“Doesn’t matter. A bet’s a bet.”
“Okay.” He took a sip from his water.
“Okay?” I frowned. “Just like that?”
“You’re right. I can’t hold up my end of the bargain, so I have to do something else.” He polished off the rest of his burger while I watched him.
“All right.” I took another bite of my food and thought about it. “What is it of?”
“You’ll see.”
“You’re frustrating.”
“I warned you.”
I rolled my eyes. He had said I’d either end up hating him if I didn’t end up in his bed.
People at the restaurant had started to recognize who we were and had turned to look at us. Alex threw some money on the table and stood up. He pulled his jacket on and held his hand out to help me stand up.
“Time to get out of here.”
We took a scenic route around the city and Alex pointed out some of the places we hadn’t seen the other night. After a while we ended up back at the palace. The guard nodded us through the gate and Alex parked back by the kitchen while I tried to guess what he had been sketching.
“It’s a bird.”
“No.” He shook his head.
“A plane?”
“Not a plane and not Superman either.” He held the kitchen door open for me.
“Kyle with devil horns?”
He laughed. “Now that would have been a good idea.”
We made our way through the kitchen and to my room and I looked down the hallway. “Maybe we should go get the drawing now so you don’t try to back out.”
“Are you trying to find a way in my room?” Alex asked.
“If that’s what I was looking for, I’d just drag you into my room.” I bit my lip. His eyes focused on my mouth and I thought about asking him. Asking him to kiss me. Asking him to come into my room. Asking him to let me get lost in him.
“You’ll have to wait. I sent it out to have it framed.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize it was something you wanted to keep.” I looked away from him. “You don’t have to give it to me if it means something to you.”