Her Fire

First date, again?

"Hell, is it eight already?" I ask aloud.

"On the way." I shout. As I reach the door, I pause to smooth out my dress, then open it. It's Axl. He's standing there. Staring. I look at him and smile.

"Hello. Are we having a good evening?" His eyes snap up to mine.

"Uh, yeah. Hello. And yes, yes I am having a good evening. You look..." he pauses, looking me up and down, seemingly trying to find the right words,

"Absolutely beautiful." I blush at his words and at how he looked at me. Alarms blaring in my head, repeating the words 'déjà vu' over and over.

"Thanks." I say,

"You look very handsome yourself."

"Thank you." he replies, looking down at his suit.

"So, are you ready to go?" he asks while holding out his arm like he did the day he walked me home. I smile and slide my arm in his and say,

"Yes, I am." We walk to his car, and he opens the door for me. I get in, he closes it, and walks around the car to get in himself. He starts the engine and we set off to our destination. After a short drive, we arrive at the restaurant.

'Déjà vu.' We walk in and get seated in a semi-private booth. We give the waiter our drink order and begin to chat.

"How was your day?" I ask, interested in his well-being.

"Eh, it was okay. Do you really want to talk about work?" he replies. I giggle a small bit,

"Honestly, I mostly wanted to ask how you were, but I didn't want to seem too invested so fast." Cheeks reddening, I look down, embarrassed to be admitting this.

'He is your soulmate.' my head speaks up.

'Yeah, but he doesn't know that.' I return. Colt reaches across the table.

"Hey," I look up at him.

"I like that you're interested." giving me that half smile that melts my heart. We get our drinks and place our food order.

'Déjà vu.'

"This is a really nice place. How did you learn about it?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"Oh. Well, one of my coworkers told me about it. And the way he described it, I knew I wanted to bring you here." he said, looking into my eyes.

"Well, it's very lovely. Thank that coworker of yours for me." I reply, placing my hand on his. We sit like this for who knows how long, in silence, until the waiter reappears with our food.

"Thank you." Axl and I say in unison as the waiter steps away. We look at each other, let out a little laugh, and I turn my attention to my plate.

"This looks so good, and it smells amazing." I tell Axl.

"Yes, it does." he affirms. We continue our small talk while we eat. We soon finish our meals as the waiter returns to ask if we would like any dessert. Axl gives me a questioning look.

"The Angel Food cake, please." I tell the waiter, who then turns to Axl,

"And for you, sir?" Axl looks at me and says,

"Same, please. Thank you." and he smiles.

'Déjà vu.'

"What was that about?" I ask him.

"What?" responding with his own question.

"The look I got ordering the Angel Food cake." I say, answering him.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just used to know someone whose favorite was Angel Food cake, and I was just surprised you'd choose that over everything else they offer." he simply stated.

'How can he remember that? Does he really remember things about our lives?' I think.

"Well, Angel Food cake also happens to be my favorite. It's delicious." I cheekily reply.

"I agree, it is delicious." he laughs. A few moments pass and the waiter returns with the cakes. He places them on the table and leaves us alone once again. I look up at Axl and snicker.

"What?" he asks, wondering about my amusement.

"Uh, you have whipped cream on your face." I tell him.

"Where?" trying to find it by feeling around. I let out another giggle.

"Stop. You keep missing. Here, I got it." I reach my hand up to his face and, with a finger, wipe off the whipped cream from the corner of his mouth. I instinctively put my finger in my mouth to clean it off. Suddenly realizing how that looked, I took my finger out of my mouth and went back to eating my cake. Alarm bells, blaring again,

'Déjà vu.'

"Uh, thanks." he said, looking a little distracted.

"No problem." I spit out before fully looking up and noticing his complete expression. I continue,

"I'm so sorry. Was that weird? Or too far? I apologize." I look back down at my cake and try to sigh quietly. Thinking of how I just ruined everything by being unintentionally inappropriate, and about what he will think of me now after that. I guess he saw the change in my demeanor and reached for my hand.

"Hey." he spoke softly, and I looked up.

"Don't apologize, you were helping me. And yeah, the finger in the mouth, my gods," I look down again, even more embarrassed.

"Makenna," my eyes snap up to his at him saying this name, especially after last night, dream or not.

"I could tell by your reaction that you didn't mean it that way. It just caught me off guard. I mean come on. You, looking like that, doing that, I wasn't expecting it. It's not a big deal. I promise. It doesn't change how I feel." he said, his own gaze drifting back down to the table.

'Déjà vu... DÉJÀ VU...'

"What do you mean, how you feel?" I question.