Neighbour

v

After I came home from work the next day, I saw Lucius walking around in his front yard. It's been about a month since we spoke. Speaking to him felt like the right thing to do since he was in my view. So I parked my car on the driveway and went to say hi to him.

"Hi Lucius." I said.

"Hi Maya." He said looking at my formal shoes.

"Do you want to go out later? Maybe for dinner?" I asked.

He looked at me with his eyebrows raised as if he were surprised by my simple question.

"Sure. Be ready by 8. I'll take you to a good place." He said and went back inside his house.

I took a nap for two hours and got ready in half an hour. I wore blue jeans, a black top and a brown jacket. I let my dark brown hair fall loosely against my shoulders, put a little perfume on and went outside to meet Lucius.

I rang his doorbell and he came outside within seconds. Without saying a word, he unlocked his black Honda Civic, sat in it and started it. I walked over and sat in the passenger seat.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"A 24hr diner nearby." He said.

We sat in silent throughout the short journey. He didn't even play any music. He parked in front of a diner named "Sam's Diner".

I liked the vibe of the diner, it seemed pretty cool. We sat in a cozy booth and ordered two grilled cheese sandwiches, which Lucius suggested. The waiter recognised him and looked a little confused to see me, but I didn't want to look into details.

"You didn't tell me about your job." I said to Lucius.

"Right. I help remove problems out of lives." He said.

"You're a social worker?" I asked.

"You can say so."

"You don't seem like one." I replied.

"What do you mean?" He asked as our order arrived.

"I mean you just don't have the personality of someone who would help people." I said, honestly.

He chuckled in response and took a bite of his sandwich.

"This goes great with beer." He said as two beers arrived.

"We didn't order beer." I said.

"I come here often. This is what I usually get, so they probably assumed the same."

"I don't feel like drinking beer." I said kindly pushing it away from me.

"More for me." He replied.

"Lucius, why is everyone staring at us?" I asked. I couldn't ignore all the funny looks every person here was giving us.

"People here are like this. You better get used to it if you want to survive."