After Dark

Twenty

They pull into a parking spot near the corner of a street. Ian turns off the car and takes his keys out. Liam and him get out at the same time.

Ian sticks his keys in the pocket of his shorts before leading the way inside the small diner. There's a big glass window to the right with the name and a little painting of a tangerine at the end on it.

The door is wood and painted white. There's a bell that rings when they open it. The place on the inside is pretty small. They have clean, white tile flooring and light red booths set up around. There's a bar where you pay on the other side of the diner from the door. It's cute.

Ian takes a seat at the nearest booth and Liam slides in across from him. There's two menus already on the table so Liam picks one up. Ian does too.

"I've never been here before." Liam mumbles because Ian probably already knew that. "What should I get?"

"A cheeseburger. Not only because you've never had one, but also because it's the only thing that's always edible as far as I know." Ian says. "Do you want everything on it?"

Liam pauses to think. "Um. What's 'everything' include?"

"Oh, right." Ian nods once, as if just remembering that Liam wouldn't know that because he doesn't get to eat burgers. "Um tomato, pickles, usually ketchup, lettuce, and sometimes onion I think."

"Oh." Liam swallows as he thinks about it. "And you don't have to get everything on it?"

"Nope." Ian shakes his head. "I usually only get pickles and ketchup. I don't like the texture of tomatos."

"Oh, okay." Liam nods. "I think I'll just get pickles and ketchup too, that sounds good."

Ian smiles. "Okay then. Now, what flavor of milkshake do you want?"

"Um, I don't know."

"Oh, right. Of course you don't." Ian says blankly again. "Okay, I got it. What's your favorite flavor of ice cream? Assuming you've had ice cream before."

The last bit is added on jokingly. Liam chuckles a little. "Yes, I've had ice cream before."

"Thank the Lord."

"I like vanilla." Liam hasn't tried very many flavors. Vanilla is a safe choice though.

"Alright so just get a vanilla shake then." Ian grins.

Liam nods and then he sees the waitress approaching them. She's wearing a 50s style waitress dress that's orange and white. Her hair is tied up in a messy bun and she has light bags under her eyes. She looks like a tired college student.

Liam swallows his nerves and starts running his order through his mind. He's a seventeen year old boy that gets scared to order food. How pathetic.

Although, he doesn't totally blame himself for that. His mother always orders for him when they go out to eat because she likes to control what he eats. He doesn't really ever go out to eat with anyone else either so he doesn't have any other chances to order food.

The waitress stops at their table. She smiles tiredly and Liam feels it as his throat dries up. His mental preparation goes out the window.

"What can I get y'all to drink today?" She asks and Liam opens his mouth but closes it again. It's okay though because her eyes are on Ian.

"Um a water and..." He glances over at Liam but after one look keeps talking. "Two waters is fine."

"Alright." She writes it down. Then, she looks down at the folded up menus on the table. "Already know what you want to eat?"