Love at First Fight

Chapter 25

"You're not going to tell me where you're taking me, are you?" I asked Cole as he drove. 

He smiled widely, "Nope!" he said brightly.

I just smiled slightly to myself and stayed quiet for the rest of the ride. He pulled into a parking lot outside of a building that looked like a warehouse. There was a decent amount of cars in the parking lot, but no signs indicating what might be awaiting you inside. 

Cole stopped the car and stepped out, running over to my side to open the door dramatically for me to get out. We walked around to the front of the building and we walked inside. 

I didn't know what I had been expecting to see when I walked in, but what I was met with certainly wasn't what I had been expecting. 

I looked around in awe at all of the different booths and things that were happening , "Cole what is this place?" I asked. 

"This is called the Melting Pot." He said with a smile.

I gave him a confused look, inviting him to explain further, "It's kind of like a fair combined with a farmer's market, except it's indoors and it's open all year. We have booths with food, thrifting, entertainment, some animals, anything you can think of is here. My mom used to work a booth where she made jewelry here years ago before she saved up enough to start her own business and open her own jewelry store. So I kind of grew up here." he said.

I smiled widely, "Come on. We start with lunch." He said, grabbing my hand and whisking me away to the first booth. As we walked I quickly realized that the place was packed. We kept weaving in and out of people who were doing several different things. We passed pens that had animals, small stages with people dancing, singing, comedy, anything, and tons of different foods, drinks, and things to buy.

"So this is why you asked all of those questions the other day?" I asked.

He just smiled in response before stopping at a food stall. I looked around and saw foods that I had never seen before. There was a woman behind the counter who had kind eyes and a stern face, which lit up when she saw Cole, "Look who it is!" She exclaimed in a heavy accent. It sounded European but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Cole smiled widely at the woman, "Hi Lena, how are you?" he asked her. 

"Oh so good! Who this pretty girl? Your girlfriend?" she asked gesturing to me. 

I smiled, "I'm Ariel." I answered.

"Very beautiful. Here Cole. What you want? Pick anything." She said warmly. 

Cole smiled, "You know I need to give her your famous Pierogies Lena." He said. 

She smiled and placed some into a dish and handed them to us, "You come back soon. We miss you." she said to Cole.

"Of course. You know I can't stay away." He said. 

"It was nice to meet you!" I said to Lena, who smiled brightly to me.

"You too! You be good to him. He nice boy." She said, pointing at Cole as we walked away. 

He led me to a small table nearby where we sat down, "She's very sweet." I said with a smile.

"Yeah she's been here for forever. She moved here from Poland a while ago. My mom had a booth next to her for a while and she would always make me lunch or dinner when I was here," he said, reminiscing, "but, you need to try these. They are the best pierogies you'll ever have I promise." He said, stabbing one with a fork and holding it out to me. 

I took a bite and my eyes widened, "Holy shit. Those are amazing." I said and he smiled.

We finished the pierogies and started walking around, "So what was it like growing up here? It seems so cool." I said, gesturing around here.