Hero

Chapter Eight

“You’re so cute together,” Nova gushed the next morning as we pulled up to the diner the next morning.  We hadn’t gotten to have our traditional Saturday breakfast yesterday, so we had postponed it to this morning.  She shut and locked the Lamborghini, slid her sunglasses off her face slowly, and winked at the boys who were loitering across the street at the 7-11 and were eyeing both her and the car greedily.

I followed her line of sight and rolled my eyes once I spied what she was looking at.  “Are you serious, Nova?  Come on,” I groaned.  “They’re practically babies.  Can’t be more than sixteen, and they’re not even that cute.  How desperate are you?”  We walked up to the podium in the diner and waited for someone to help us.  “What happened to that guy you were chatting with last night?”

She shrugged, pushing her glasses onto the top of her head to hold her messily growing bangs away from her face.  The movement exposed the dark roots of her hair, which meant that she was only a few days away from another touch up at the salon.  While Simon often let his brown hair show in between his colorings, Nova tried her best to make everyone think she was a natural blond.  “His name is Timothy.  I have a date set with him on Thursday, but does that really mean much?  I mean, come on, Mina.  Live a little.”  She thought for a second and then grinned.  “Oh, that’s right.  You’re not allowed.”

One of the newer waitresses walked up to the podium, looking slightly surprised to see us there, but she lead us over to our favorite table and walked away quickly to get our drinks.  We were regulars at the diner and even though Anne was our usual waitress, all of the others knew Nova and I well.

“What do you mean, allowed?” I asked, resuming our conversation from before we had been seated.  “I’m allowed to do whatever I want.  I’m an adult.  I’m eighteen.  And I don’t live under my mother’s repressive thumb anymore.  Or did you manage to forget that I’ve been kicked out?”

“Right, sorry,” she apologized.  She studied the menu before her, even though I knew for a fact that she had memorized the entire thing; I was also pretty positive that she’d be getting her usual meal of apple slices, bacon, and eggs.  Finally, she looked back up at me.  “I just meant to ask if you and Ezra were…an official thing now.”

“You know, I don’t know,” I said as I idly flipped through the menu.  I knew what I wanted already, but it was still comforting to look at the pictures of food that would never look like real life.  “I mean, you were there.  We kissed and then we kissed again and…”  I sucked my breath in through my teeth and shrugged.  “I just…I don’t know.”

“Well, how was the first date?” she asked and I raised an eyebrow.  “I mean besides the awkwardness.  How was it besides that?”

“It was okay,” I said tentatively as the waitress slid hot chocolate in front of Nova and coffee in front of me.  “He’s really nice.  And he loves his family, so that’s a…big bonus.”  I ducked my head so Nova couldn’t see me rolling my eyes, but she must have suspected something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, narrowing her eyes and pulling the menu away from me.  “Tell me.”

“Hey, you two.  Back again so soon?”  Thank God for Anne.  She worked most weekend mornings, so I should we would have her again.  “Same as yesterday or we going for a bit of variety?”  She was using a British accent today, probably practicing for the upcoming auditions next week.

“I’ll…actually a bagel and lox, please,” said Nova, handing Anne our menus and grinning happily.

“And for you, Mina?” Anne prompted me, her fake accent twisting her words.  “The usual?”  Her cinnamon eyes were cheery, but tired and distracted.  The poor girl probably pulled an all-nighter again.  She brushed her red hair out of her face as she added, “Coffee and French toast?”