A Southern Summer

6. Lunch

Aunt Fern and I finished cleaning up from breakfast, then she left for work around 9 and I immediately began scrambling to decide what to wear. I finally decided on a striped t-shirt under some corduroy Doc Martin overall shorts. After that, I spent my time nervously waiting for Blaire to show up, even rehearsing smooth salutations in the mirror, all of which sounded ridiculous since I was saying them to my own reflection.

By the time 10 rolled around I had only made myself more nervous, so when she pulled up to my driveway on her bike I could feel my heart practically leap in my chest. I was so over-excited that I didn't even wait for her to knock, I just opened the door to meet her outside, barely restraining myself from skipping. Once I was finally close enough to actually see her features, the butterflies in my stomach began to flutter even faster. Her beautiful honeysuckle waves gently brushed her face, where her bright blue eyes met mine, just above her freckles that dotted down and around her perfect smile. I was so busy taking all of this beauty in that I almost didn't process that she had said something to me.

All I heard was "Does that sound good?" I didn't want to seem like I was ignoring her so I nodded vigorously as soon as I realized that she had asked me a question. Then we hopped on our bikes and I followed her. We rode past the multiple lakes that I had seen on my first day, past the tennis courts where I met her brother, and took a right into the heart of town that I had yet to explore.

Riding on main street, I heard Blaire say "We're coming up on the post office, then the elementary school will be next to it on the right, and across from that is the museum." It was only then that I had realized she had earlier asked if I wanted to take a bike tour, at least that's what I was gathering now. I was trying to think of a reply to her information about the layout of main street when she took a fast turn into a parking lot on the right. I thought our tour would continue down the road so I wasn't ready to turn and I nearly rode into her. I stopped so quickly that I ended up losing my balance and falling.

"Where were you going?" Blaire asked, laughing and extending a hand to help me up.

"Oh, uh, I guess I don't know." I said sheepishly looking down the road where I was headed, my face begining to blush.

"I asked if you wanted to go to the coffee shop and you nodded so fast I figured you might know where it was, or that at least the giant 'COFFEE SHOP' sign would tip you off." She continued chuckling at my miscalculation and I swear I thought I saw her wink at me as she turned to go inside. I followed her in and we sat at a table by the front window. I looked at my menu, and instantly knew what I sounded good, but I wanted to start a conversation so I pretended that I didn't.

"What's good her--"

"I like their grilled chick--"

"Ope, you can go first..." I said, laughing through the awkward moment.

"Yeah, I was just gonna say that I like their grilled chicken wraps. Also, did you just say 'ope'?" She said, grinning wildly at me. It seemed that the reasons to poke fun at me just wouldn't stop today, but the way she did it was something different. Almost like she was admiring me at the same time. Surely that was in my head though.

"Oh, haha yeah. That's what us midwesterners do." I said, laughing at the realization myself.

"Midwest, huh?" It seemed like Blaire was about to expand on that when a waitress came to take our order.

"What can I get you ladies this fine morning?" She asked, her pep the potential effect of some caffeine. Blaire shot me a questioning look as if to ask if I was ready, to which I responded with a swift and confident head nod.

"I'll take the grilled chicken wrap please!" She stated sweetly, in a way that made my heart leap more than it probably should. Causing me to hesitate a moment before realizing the waitress was now anticipating my order.

"Just an order of the biscuits and gravy for me please." I said, handing in my menu.

"Excellent, I'll have those right out for y'all!" She said, and briskly walked towards the kitchen, where I caught a brief glimpse of Aunt Fern expertly flipping burgers mid-air. For a seasonal job, she seemed to be quite good at it. My thoughts were disrupted by a beautiful voice from the gorgeous girl in front of me. That was okay to think, right? I mean as friends? If we were even friends yet, which I definitely wanted to be. I wanted to be her best friend. It was like something magnetic was pulling me towards her, I could only hope that she felt it too.

"Wow, you ordered those biscuits and gravy pretty fast. You must really like them, huh?" She said, a cheesy smile plastered on her face. I don't know why such a simple notion made her smile like that, but I was glad I got to see it.

"Yeah, it's part of a family tradition we have. My dad makes them every Saturday morning, or made them..." I trailed off, realizing what I was talking about, which made Blaire's face fall in an instant.

"Oh, wow. I'm so sorry..." She said, her tone shifting greatly. I quickly realized what she thought I was getting at.

"Oh, no, it's not like that. He's still alive, he's just not...here." I said, to which she gave a sigh of relief. Although, that description was not much better as far as specifics went. That didn't matter for long though, because before I knew it our steaming plates were being sat in front of us. I hadn't even realized how hungry I was until I smelled that fresh gravy, eliciting an excited growl from my stomach.

Although I was hungry, the first instinct of my nerves was to recite the little prayer that Aunt Fern had been apparently rubbing off on me. So I bowed my head and quietly prayed the rhyme before digging in.

"Well that was cute." Blaire said to my surprise. Which of course drove the butterflies in my stomach completely crazy.

"Oh yeah, I guess living with my aunt has rubbed off on me a little." I chuckled, looking down to hide my blush as she smiled at me. Then we continued to eat the delicious meal before us. When we got done she offered to pay for my breakfast as well as hers.

"Absolutely not." I stated, pulling out some cash from my overall's pocket.

"Oh come on, I'm the one who asked you to come. That means it's my treat." I would've continued to argue that I had agreed to come, but I think we both realized that I wasn't entirely aware when I was doing so. She also put her money down first when the check came, so she really left me no choice. I had never known someone to actually want to pay for someone else that they just met. Unless of course it's a date. Was it?