All in One - Milady

Ch. 2: Can We Eat

Natalie and Stella waited outside. They sat around the pool of water by the entrance and talked, waiting. If they knew Nneka, she would be at the gift shop, finding something. So when their 5 minute wait became 10 minutes, they called her.

Nneka on the other hand had missed that chance by a mile. The gift shop was so close, she could touch it, but the rest of her body laid on the ground, in pain.

The fall was the easy part, the embarrassing part, that hurt the most both physically and mentally.

Nneka tried to stand up, but a sharp pain kept pushing her body towards the ground.

It hurt.

The impact of her elbow sent waves of pain throughout her body, almost like a burning sensation. She kneeled, trying to correct her breathing through the pain. "Did I bump into a wall or a person?" She asked herself.

"A person." the man answered.

Nneka's head shot up. Her eyes widened, afraid to turn around. "A person?" she squealed. Slowly she looked up at the man's face. And when they matched eyes, she quickly looked away.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

From the glance that she saw, he was tall, dark skin like hers and had a nice smile. The first thing her eyes gravitated to was always the lips, how beautiful their smiles were.

"You should leave me here?" she sighed.

"Why?"

"Because I just made a fool of myself in front of a very attractive man."

He laughed.

"Yeah, I figured."

"No, I'm not laughing at your fall or anything, I'm laughing at your response. It's bold. I like bold."

She looked up at him. "Huh?"

"Here," the man held his hands out for her to grab. She took it as he slowly pulled her up. "Now, this is better. We can talk to each other on the same level."

She nodded, taking her hand back. Inside, crumbled up in her hand was a small business card. "What's this?"

"It's my restaurant, if you're still here by dinner time, stop by. It's on me."

"Free food?" She questioned with a tilted smile. Anything with the word free always excited her and the girl. Honestly, the word free excited a lot of people, she was just one of the prime ones.

"Yes, free food," he scoffed.

Nneka paused for a moment, thinking. "How did you know I was leaving?"

"I know a Chicago-ish accent when I hear it."

"Ha, Chicago-ish accent, okay. I'll accept it." She pulls her phone out and takes a picture of the card. "Just in case I lose it."

He laughed, coughing a bit.

"Today is a really good day," she said.

"Yeah, I think so too." he looked her up and down, eyes brightly smiling down at her. And his smile, wow his smile. It was sharp, uneven, and very very attractive. Nneka could stare at his lips, as he licked them slowly, biting them too.

"Eli. My name is Eli."

Her eyes shot up, smiling. "Nneka."

"Ah, there is. It makes sense now."

"What does, the Chicago-ish accent."

"Bingo."

They stood there for a moment, smiling as the weird encounter that they just had didn't take place.