U, Me & She

Chapter 20 - If Looks Could Kill

  Dana heads toward the water when stopped suddenly by Edward's grip.  "What the hell is the matter with you?" he asks as she gives resistance to his grip and tries to make her way to save the man. "Didn't you see that guy that just walked past?  I think I know him....can you let my arm go please?!?" "Dana!" Edward says shaking her arm as she continues to try to break free.  "Edward, get the fuck off of me!" She shouts unable to break free of his grasp.  "Dana, will you calm the fuck down and look?" Edward points towards the water and says "Look!"  She looks across the water to see that the same man had surfaced and was swimming towards a group of people who he was with, who just happened to be seated atop their surfboards.  Dana gives a slight chuckle as she covers her face saying "Oh my God!"  She looks over at Edward to notice the strange look he was giving her and says "I'm so sorry.  These last few days have been very stressful for me. I think I need a drink."

  Edward stands to his feet brushing the sand from his shorts saying "I can tell you have a lot on your mind.  That sounds like a great idea.  Let's do that." as he grabs her by the hand and leads her toward the nearby waterfront restaurant called the Beach front Café.

  Dana is very surprised that Edward is very supportive after what just transpired.  She felt this to be calming as she feared his reaction from this for quite some time.  She's hopeful that they can work things out over dinner.

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Upon arrival at the Beach front Café:

  Dana’s nerves began to get the best of her.  She began to feel very itchy but sustained her urge to scratch in order for Edward to not be alarmed.  He noticed her discomfort, but subsided his comments to ensure that the evening was a pleasurable one.

  “Hey, would you like to start off with Margaritas?” He asks as she tucks her hair back into her ponytail and says “Yes, please.”  He informs the waitress as Dana grabs her purse and lets Edward know that she has to go to the little girls room momentarily during the middle of the order.

  With a baffled look Edward responds with “Yeah, that’s fine.  Go ahead.” as she makes her way to the restroom.  Once inside the restroom, she takes a peek around and notices that she’s the only one present as she feels that she is in dire need for a quick fix.  Headed to the furthest stall, she pulls her baggy out of her purse and pulls it out as she leans against the stall door.  Her heart begins to race again as she begins to worry about how the rest of the evening will go before undoing the seal on the tiny ziplock baggy.  She’s can't stop thinking about Lorenzo and began to feel as if Lorenzo was haunting her and wants to get him out of her head, otherwise, this evening won't be an eventful one with Edward.

  She sniffs the pile that she places on her hand before exiting the stall and glances in the mirror to ensure that she looks to par.    She splashes a slight bit of water on her face while convincing herself “Girl, get your shit together.”  Feeling back to the way she intended, she takes a deep breath and exits the restroom to return to her seat.  Edward provides her with a smile as she returns to her seat across from him.  He grabs her by the hand and tells her “Look, I know that you have some issues, as we all do, but I want you to know that everything’s going to be alright and that I’m not going anywhere.”

  She provides the biggest smile she could as she stands to her feet and leans over to give him a kiss on the lips.  She then sits back down and constantly plays with her hair to ensure that its pulled behind her ears.  “Eddie, I never meant to hurt you and regardless of what you say, I plan on earning the money back that I wasted from pawning those rings.  It was wrong and I’m not that type of girl.” She says as the waitress returns with their Margaritas.  He remains silent until the waitress is done, then takes a small sip of his drink.

  “Wow, they made these strong.” He says as he looks at his glass with a discombobulated look.  She provides him with a subtle smile as she takes a deep long sip of the drink providing a reaction much different than his.  “It tastes pretty good to me.” She says as she continues downing her drink.  Edward watches her partake joyously in the tasty beverage as he leans back in his seat and places a small box in the middle of the table nonchalantly.  “What’s this?” she asks as he responds with “Open it.”  She hesitates as she suddenly spots from two tables away, Jamie and her male guest being seated.

  She ducks at the slight out of plain view as she pulls the box to her saying “What is it?”  Edward smiles as she puts her hand over the lid to remove it.  In this moment, she cannot completely focus as she constantly hears Jamie’s voice in the background as she places her order.  It made Dana cringe as she removes the lid to see that the exact type of ring that Edward got her originally, was in the box.  Her heart dropped as she could not believe it.  “Eddie, what are you doing?”  Eddie reaches over and pulls the rings from the box and slides them over her finger and says “Baby I understand.  Trust me, I understand.” as he covers her hand with his and provides her with a comforting smile.

  Suddenly, she hears Jamie’s voice echo across the room saying “We still have 30 seconds til happy hour is over.  Bitch you better give me my drinks at happy hour prices!”  Dana’s whole vibe is killed as she knows that she will have a difficult time focusing on having a good time while Jamie is present.  Her heart begins to race once again as she provides a half-hearted smile to Edward and says “Awww, Eddie.  You’re so sweet.  How did you know?”  She attempts to listen to his response, but cannot stop focusing on the events taking place in Jamie’s area.

  “I thought maybe you had lost the rings, so I figured I’d get you another set.  That’s the only conclusion that I could come up with as to why you were acting the way you were.”  Not necessarily hearing what Edward was saying Dana’s eyes kept glancing at the table in which Jamie sat as she realized that the person Jamie sat with fit the description of Lorenzo.  “Get the fuck outta here.” She says out loud as Eddie looks at her with a confused look.  “No, not you baby….I just thought I saw something that’s all.”

  Edward makes an attempt to look in the direction that she was looking when she suddenly she rises to her feet and leans over to give him a very seductive kiss.  Frozen in his tracks he looks at her in shock as he now is thoroughly confused.  Once she returns to her seat, he opens the menu in front of her and says “baby, why don’t you figure out what it is you would like to order while I run to the men's room.  These Maragarita’s went straight through me.”

  She smiles at him and says “Okay baby.  Don’t take too long.” as he makes his way to the restroom.    Baffled, she constantly looks over to verify that the man that sat across from Jamie was in fact Lorenzo when suddenly her and Dana’s eyes met….