Devotion

Chapter 11

LEOMI

Ares and I decided to go to one of his favorite restaurants in town, called "La Grande Notte," since we had just been at my favorite mall.

When we arrive, he opens the door for me, and I am completely captivated by the beauty of the place. The brown and beige aesthetic, paired with a stunning view of the ocean, is simply to die for.

There's a line of people waiting to be seated, and I wonder how long it's going to take. However, Ares ignores the line and continues walking inside until we reach a group of waiters, who seem shocked to see him. They all look nervous, and a male waiter snaps his fingers at a blonde waitress, whispering something to her before she quickly walks off to the kitchen.

"This place is amazing," I tell Ares. He nods in agreement, but as soon as he looks away, I notice his smile fades, replaced by a glare directed at the waiters who are gawking at us.

"Mr. Archer, I wasn't aware you'd be dining here today," the male waiter from earlier says, bowing and avoiding Ares' eyes.

I quickly realize this is the kind of restaurant you have to book months in advance, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for Ares because they're already preparing his table.

"That's alright," Ares responds, following the waiter as he gestures for us to do so. We walk to what I assume is his favorite spot, which offers the most beautiful view.

He pulls out my seat, and once I've sat down, he takes the chair opposite me.

The male waiter welcomes us. I smile at him, and he smiles back, but as soon as he glances at Ares, who is staring at him with such anger in his eyes, he clears his throat and offers us the menus.

"What was that?" I ask Ares as soon as the waiter has left.

"What was what, Rose?" he asks, looking up at me with a cute smile. He then glances at the menu for barely a second before closing it, as if he's already made up his mind.

"You scared the poor guy off." His eyes are now soft and gentle, completely different than they were less than a minute ago as he looks into mine.

"I did no such thing," he tells me, glancing at the menu in front of me that I have yet to open. "Order your food," he says, his voice soft yet firm.

I sigh, knowing he's not going to explain any further. "What do you recommend?" I ask, realizing the names of the dishes on the menu are in Italian.

"The risotto. It's my favorite," he responds, his eyes never leaving mine.

The temperature in the room starts to warm up, even though there's an air conditioner, making me realize it's just me. "Okay, I'll try it," I agree.

When the waiter's back, we tell him what we want. He takes our menus and says our food will be ready soon before running away.

Ares starts to relax, and the mild scowl that appears on his face every time the waiter is near us begins to disappear again. Eventually, I begin to act like a clown, the way I do when I'm close with someone.

We start a voice competition to see who can completely change theirs as we wait for our food.

"Okay! My turn," I say after he tries another voice, making his even deeper than usual.

Knowing that I'm not good at that, I go for the opposite—a sweeter, gentler voice that makes me sound much younger, goofy, and sassy. "You could be a voice actor," Ares says, noticing how much I can change my voice when I want to. I shrug.

"Maybe one day." We both end up laughing at the random voices we made earlier, and then our waiter brings us our food, causing us to pause for a moment.