Haven

Fourteen

"Miss can I get you more water," the waiter asked me dressed in a red polka-dotted white t-shirt and a black apron.

I had been sitting outside a restaurant for close to an hour, waiting, but it didn't bother me, it had been a while since I was out on my own or out at all, and Matthew had been my tail the whole time, I wondered if he ever got bored following me around.

"No, that will be all, thank you,"  I said giving him the bills I kept behind my phone.

"A different beverage maybe?"

"No, I'm fine." I checked my phone for any missed call notification but had none.

"You sure," he said and hesitated a bit. " It's on house."

Had I put my love life of such a pause that I couldn't realize he was trying to flirt with me? I looked up at him. He was cute, bronze skin like mine, his curly hair was messy and slightly shiny and his dimples suck deeper as I smiled at him.

"What kind of beverage are you offering me— Max?" I read off his name tag with a smirk.

"Well, anything you like," he flirted back.

"Care to sit down while I think?" I smirked and put my cheek against my hand.

Before he could pull a chair to sit someone tapped him and stood between him and me. " Scram buddy, she's with me."

Max looked at me then at our intruder and immediately apologized to him with a hand on his chest.

Not that I was the perfect judge of character but I could see he was quite the pushover.

"She's with me?" I repeated. "In your dreams Jeffrey."

I watched him pull a chair out and casually sit across me. He looked different, he looked a little bit taller I guessed cause the of shoes he was wearing. He's tacked in a white shirt and navy blue pants made me wonder where he was from before coming here.

"Is that any way to greet your visitor ?"

"What do you want Jeffrey?" I asked sullenly.

He smirked and reached for my water to take a sip.

"Am I not allowed to pay you a visit?"

"Forgive me if seeing you isn't necessarily my cup of tea right now."

"Understandable," he smirked and nodded. " You look different," he stared at me and tilted his head. "I see you've become better at flirting too."

"For the love of— Jeffery, what's so important you had to fly to Shadsdale to see me? And make it fast I took two buses to get here. "

"The new Graciella is more aggressive," he said sipping on a bottle of water and smirking. "Aggressive has always been my type. "

I suddenly regretted leaving Matthew behind. Truth be told I was a not uncomfortable around Jeffery, this tough girl act was simply just that, an act. This is a person who hit me the last time I saw him not to mention stalked me and called me for the past two weeks without end. I started to get up and leave when he got up too and grabbed my hand gingerly.

"Wait, don't leave." I immediately retracted my hand and pulled out my chair but he only grabbed me tighter.

"Stay, please." I looked at him curiously, and sure enough that pleading look was clear in his eyes.

"You have five minutes," I said sitting back down and he did the same.

"Look, I know this is weird, me traveling here, the phone calls and the texts, and I also know there a better way to doing this and that wouldn't give off stalker vibes—"