Only Once

Chapter 6

A man with short blonde hair walked into the restaurant, he was dressed semi-casually. Isabelle noticed him immediately. For the last few weeks, every other day the man would come for lunch. He always sat in the same booth, usually by himself.
From what she could tell, he was in his mid-twenties. They had barely spoken to one another, however whenever she saw him, his eyes were usually on her. He would say hello and goodbye to her, but he never sat in her waiting section. She wondered if he did it purposely. He was just as polite to all the other waitresses as he was to her. Especially to the woman who waited on his table. They'd talk when he sat down, usually having full conversations. However, whenever Isabelle got anywhere close to being able to hear what they were talking about, the two would stop talking. At first she had found it suspicious, but wrote it off as normal. It could just be coincidental that the two always stopped speaking when she neared. After all, the other woman had other people to tend to as well.
Today, however, she watched as the man walked past his normal seat. Slowly, almost nervously, the man made his way to another table. This one was situated perfectly in the middle of where she served.
She wondered briefly why he didn't sit in his normal seat. After all, Wendy was working today. Maybe they had had an argument? But when Isabelle caught sight of Wendy, she smiled brightly, encouragingly at the man. Surely, they were not fighting. That much was clear.
Isabelle approached the other woman. Wendy had wavy black hair that reached her bosom, which was large. A few of the buttons, Isabelle noticed, were undone, allowing the woman's large chest to breath.
"Why isn't he seated at his normal seat, did something happen?" Isabelle asked, keeping her head down.
Shaking her head, Wendy looked like she was trying to suppress a laugh.
"Change of routine," she looked at the man and shrugged. "Nothing's happened, yet."
Isabelle looked over, watching the man nervously flip through his menu. She knew well enough that he ordered only two things off the menu. He pushed a hand through his hair, sighing audibly.
"Aren't you going to ask him what he'll be having, or are you going to make him starve? Stop staring and get your butt over there."
"I was planning on letting him starve." Isabelle stuck out her tongue at the woman, before turning and walking towards the man. She paused at a few tables first, topping off glasses with a pitcher she was carrying.
The blonde man smiled when she arrived, pushing the sleeves of his sweater up his arms. "What can I get for you?" She asked, returning a smile. She noticed how his blue eyes followed her as she spoke. He had wonderful eyes, the color of the ocean when the sun was at its highest point.
After giving his order, Isabelle turned to leave but he caught at her wrist. He dropped it as she turned back towards him. His hands had been softer than she had expected them to be.
"May I be honest with you?" The man asked, peering up at her.
"Sure," she said after a moment's hesitation.
"I've been sitting over there for the last couple weeks now," he pointed to his previously normal booth, "and I've been trying to work up the courage to ask you out. My friend," he pointed to Wendy. "She's been talking me up about it for quite some time now. She told me if I didn't ask you soon she wouldn't let me back in the door. Not smart for her, I'd say. This place makes a lot of money off me from all my visits. Anyways, I've decided to finally grow a pair and came and sat in your assigned section today. So, Isabelle," he read the name tag, squinting slightly.
"Would you like to go out with me sometime, soon?"
Isabelle had to bite her lip to suppress a smile.
"On one condition," she paused, inwardly smiling. "You tell me your name."
"Michael, Michael Luther."
"Nice to meet you, Michael."

Isabelle had been doing a lot of that recently, thinking back to the beginning of their relationship. Reminiscing on how they had gotten to know one another, smiling as she remembered their first date. Laughing, when she remembered the first time they had kissed. She had let herself forget about the memories for too long, storing them in the back of her mind. Looking back, she wondered why she had locked them away so tightly.
She twirled the engagement ring around her finger, a habit she had grown since she first put it on. Seeing the ring made her both happy and nervous. Happy their lives together had led to such a commitment and nervous because she wanted it to work out. The only way things would stay the same between them, she knew, was if Michael never learned about her relations to Scott.

Scott left his office, closing the pale door behind him. It clicked closed and he made his way to the front lobby. His vision followed the grey walls, until his eyes landed on something, or rather, someone. He smiled as he approached her. Her blonde hair tossed over her shoulder as he approached.
She was pretty, yes, and nice. He wasn't drawn to her like he had been to Isabelle, but he knew, had he not met the brunette, the woman in front of him would surely be everything he was looking for.
He smiled as he approached her, leaning against the desk casually.
"Headed home for the day, Mr. Wolfe?" The younger woman asked of him.
"Hm, oh yes." He seemed dazed, distracted. He knew of only one way that was sure to get the baby blue eyes out of his mind. If it would bring him a little of fun in the process, even better.
"But that's not why I came over. I was wondering, would you like to go out with me sometime?"