Book 5: I'll Wait, Dear (Steven Adler FanFic)

Ch. 16: Playing God

As the limo pulled up to the diner, my heart began to race. Anxiety slid its iron grip around my throat, making it increasingly harder for me to breathe.

What if I had over dressed? What if I was too early? But, if I waited in the limo a tad longer, would that be considered too late? What about the fact that I'd shown up in a limo? Surely DLR would question that. A single mother, too poor to afford a puppy for her daughter, shows up to a lunch date in a limo.

I doubted that would look good.

Just as I was about to beg the chauffeur to drop me off down the street so that I could perhaps make it look like I had walked to the diner from my house, the door beside me was opened, and the driver stood at attention, waiting for me to step out.

"Ma'am," he stated softly, coaxing me out when he saw me hesitating.

"Thanks," I grumbled, not exactly thrilled that the driver had unknowingly foiled my escape plan.

Without another word, I emerged from the limo. My eyes squinted as they adjusted to the bright, Cali sun after sitting behind tinted windows most of the afternoon.

Just as they had in my apartment complex, people were walking by, oohing and aahing at the limo I'd just arrived in. I silently cursed Steven and his generosity for calling so much attention to me. This would not go over well with David.

"Whoa! Nice wheels, beautiful."

I jumped in surprise when I felt an arm slither around my waist, pulling me away from the car and crashing my body against someone else's. I whipped my head around to face my captor, and was immediately greeted with a warm smile under a pair of dark aviators.

I soon realized that the speaker was in fact DLR. As always, he was dressed in some crazy fashion; white gloves, some sort of old fashioned jacket and tight pants. He looked like a long-haired Napoleon Bonaparte!

And here I thought I had over dressed....

"Oh!" I gasped, slightly pulling away when I saw that DLR's face was inches from mine. Still, his grip held firm, and I only managed to gain a few centimeters of space. "Hi, David."

"You didn't have to get a limo to impress me or anything. You don't have the money for something like this!" He scolded me playfully, but I sensed an undertone of suspicion in his voice.

I blushed furiously, despite the fact that I was completely innocent in the act of purchasing the limo. "No, you don't understand! It belongs to a friend of mine."

"That's some friend," he commented, looking passed me and checking out the limo.

"Yeah. He's really....interesting," I muttered, the thought of calling Steven a friend leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

"Well, I came here to buy you lunch, not check out a limo," DLR chuckled, finally releasing me from his clutches only to hold out the crook of his arm for me to take. "Shall we?"

Grateful that he was willing to not press me on the subject of the limo or my mysterious "friend", I accepted his arm and allowed him to usher me into the restaurant. There, he quickly found a booth for us to dine in, and we took seats across from one another. Within moments, our waitress arrived, handing us cups of water and some menus. Once we had ordered, the table grew awkwardly quiet.

Despite my exterior silence, my mind was buzzing with commotion. I was fretting over whether or not DLR was questioning my financial needs. Worse still, I remembered how Eddie had treated me in the recording studio, and I wondered if DLR would question my legitimacy if he knew that I was accepting favors from other rockstars. Now that I really thought about it, maybe I did look like a spoiled groupie who was only out to exploit DLR for cash.