Teacher and the Thief

Chapter 14

The restaurant was small, but had a sense of comfort to it. It looked like an old fifties diner, with the red booths and the black checkered floors, neon lights and a jukebox at the far corner of the room. The servers had pale pink dresses with white aprons over them, and all around I could hear laughing and happily chatting people.

"Hi, just two." Adam told the server, and she checked her table map to decide where to put us.

"Booth or table?"

"Booth." I answered before he could, and she waved us along to follow. We sat down across from each other and she handed us menus.

"Someone will come take your order soon." She told us before leaving.

"So…" Adam folded up his menu and put it down. "How is college going for ya?"

"Oh, it's just fine." I avoided eye contact and kept to my menu, trying to find anything small that I might be able to endure. "Just swell."

"That's good."

We were both silent after. I don't think anyone really knew what to say. This was strangely awkward and uncomfortable, and I could tell that he felt the same.

"So, um…" I started, trying to find anything to say. "How's your work going?"

"Oh, great. Grading crappy essays and giving lectures is really awesome." He remarked sarcastically, and he smirked.

"Oh, sorry." I genuinely apologized. I wasn't usually one for that, either.

"It's fine." He assured me as a server came with a pad of paper and pencil. "Water, please."

"And a Coke." I added, and she wrote it down and went away. I tried to think of questions to ask him, but most were either awkward or I already knew the answer. "So, do you have any family?"

Stupid question. Of course he had family.

He only laughed though, instead of a snarky remark that I expected. "I have an older brother and sister. My parents live about twenty minutes from here. I don't think any of us have lived more than an hour away from each other."

"That's so cool." I said, resting my elbows on the tables and my head on my hands. I wished my family was like that.

"Thanks, what about you?" Now he was asking questions, and my mind spun for a second. So not ready to answer questions.

"You know of my parents and my two brothers." I started, but went beyond that. "My mother has two sisters and a brother, and I have three cousins."

"Oh right, I've met your crazy cousin before." He muttered, shuddering. "He was… protective."

"Sorry." I apologized again as the server came back with our drinks, and pulled the paper and pencil back out.

"What do you want to eat?" She asked, and she sounded like she had better places to be.

"Classic burger." Adam told her, handing her the menu.

"Chicken strips." I said, handing her my menu. She walked away without a word. "Man, where's the happy workers around here?"

"I don't know." He looked around some, and I did the same. "Everyone but the staff is happy."

"Yeah." I agreed, but as my eyes landed on another table, my heart stopped. Disguised with dark glasses and a wig, and trying to hide behind a menu, was none other than Alex.

"Fancy seeing you here." Alex said softly, but I heard it through the earpiece. I forgot to take it out.

"So, now that that's out of the way." Adam's voice brought me back, and my focus was him again. "How's work going? I remember you said you had a work emergency."