Chris POV
I turned the corner when Royalty's favorite song came on. It was Classic Man. I started to sing along. I looked in the mirror to see if Royalty was dancing along. She was. I smiled. Then I looked at Rita. She looked at me. "What you don't know this song either?"
"No I don't." She said.
"How come you don't know any black people songs?"
"I'm not black."
I looked at the road. "You look black to me." I turned another corner and then I pulled up to the restaurant. I saw a valet come out the door. I pulled into the little walk thing or whatever it's called. I got out the car and grabbed Royalty out the backseat. Rita was still sitting in the car. I got around the car and opened the door for her.
"Thank you." she said.
"Your welcome." We walked in. Actually, Royalty ran in. So did I chasing after her. I got to her and picked her up. Rita walked in behind us and we went to hostess.
"Reservation?" she asked.
"Yes. Brown."
"Alright." she looked down at the computer in front of her. I saw paparazzi coming out of nowhere snapping pictures. "Right this way. "she said smiling. She showed us to our table and then put down a booster seat for my Little Girl Ro. I sat her in her seat and looked at the menu. They had chicken tenders. So I was going to get that for her. I started to look for stuff for me when Rita tapped me. I looked at her.
"What can I get?"
"Whatever you want."
"So I can order the most expensive thing?"
"Now you being picky. Pick what you eat. If you order lobster tails, which they don't have, and you don't eat it all, I will lick the f*ck outta your face."
"That's nasty." she said laughing.
I looked at the menu and decided that I was going to get the same thing as Royalty. Then the waitress came to our table. She took our orders and walked away. I looked at Royalty. She smiled. I smiled.
"Aww y'all look just alike." Rita said. We both looked at her. The waitress came over and put our drinks on the table. I thanked her. Then looked at Rita.
"Thank you." I said.
"Really, y'all looked at me like I was doing something wrong."
"We don't need y'all peoples telling us that we look alike. Us Browns are all beautiful. And we all look alike."
"OK? I didn't care though."
"You care." I said.
"Ok."
"Ok."
"Is that right?"
"We fresher than a muhf*cker." I said. She laughed. So did Royalty. I looked at Royalty and smiled.
"Daaa!" she said. People looked at us. I shushed her. She smiled.
"So, why did you want to take me out for?" Rita asked.
"Uh cuz I wanted to. You helped me get my girl back." I said smiling. "Thank you by the way."
"Your welcome."
"No I really mean it. You really made me happy. You gave me my whole life back by giving me my Ro Light Ro Bright."
"Why do you call her these absurd names?" she asked.
"Why must you say these horrible large words? You know Skip to my Ro don't know all of things big o'l words." She laughed. "WTF does absurd even mean?"
"Unreasonable."
"It also mean inappropriate." I said. I looked it up on my phone when she was laughing. "My names for her isn't inappropriate. It's nursery rhymes. It's cute." Like you. I thought in my head. She flipped her hair to her other shoulder. The waitress came over and gave us our food. I broke up the chicken for Royalty. She took a piece of chicken off the plate and ate it. I smiled. I looked at what Rita ordered. She had got the most expensive things. She got steak. Whaaaat?
"What?" she asked cutting into her steak. She had it rare.
"That's nasty." I said biting into my chicken.
"What?"
"Why rare?" I asked.
"You don't like rare?"
"Nope my sh!t gotta be burnt." I said. She laughed.
After we ate, I paid and we left. Royalty was sleep. I put her in her car seat and buckled her up. I got in the driver's seat and drove to Rita's apartment.
"I had fun." she said.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Thank you."
"No problem."
"Did you have fun?"
I looked in the mirror at Royalty. "Yeah. I had lots of fun."
"Chris, is there another reason why you took me out tonight?"
"Yeah."
"What is it?"
"I like you." I said. I felt her hand on my leg. I looked at her.
"I like you too Chris."
