Spectra

Chapter 34

Emily

I had no idea where Lucas had in mind to take us but he seemed to have a plan. The radio was faintly on, but I liked the song so I turned it up. I began singing along and I noticed Lucas smiling next to me. I sang louder, leaning towards him.

"This is how car accidents happen, you know." He teased, keeping his eyes on the road. I huffed, sitting back in my seat.

"So are you going to tell me where we are going, or what?" I questioned, my impatience growing. He smiled, shaking his head. Dramatically, I groaned to show my annoyance. "Please. Pleeeease?" Lucas shook his head firmly. Again I groaned.

"I thought I was the immature one." He joked. I stuck my tongue out at him, helping his claim.

"But Luuucas, I'm hungryyy." I whined, crossing my arms. He rolled his eyes, turning up the radio to drown me out. Eventually we pulled into a diner. Confused I looked at him.

"We drove all this way for a diner?" I questioned. There was quite a few cars in the parking lot so I assumed it was good. Lucas scoffed as if I should know what this place was.

"Just wait." He instructed, climbing out of the car. The sign said Nonna's, or Grandma in Italian. Lucas grinned at me as he opened the door for me. We stepped inside. Smells of pancakes and sausage invaded my nose. Noises of people eating and laughing were interrupted by yells from the cooks and waitresses. Three women came running over to us and hugged Lucas. They bombarded him with questions but they all spoke at once so I didn't understand. Then they turned to me. I was engulfed in a hug.

"Lukey's brought a girl!" One younger woman yelled, her arms out wide in front of her. His face turned red as all the workers turned to look at us. The woman turned to me. She was probably in her late 30's. "I'm Luke's aunt Lia." Lia reached out to shake my hand. She had darker hair like Lucas, so I wasn't sure what side of the family she was on. "This is my sister Rosa and that big guy over there is our brother Matt." She pointed to people and they waved. That's when I realized this was a family restaurant.

She walked us over to a table and handed us menus. As she left, she winked at Lucas. I gave him a strange look.

"Welcome to Nonna's" He grinned with his arms spread out wide. "This was my Mom's grandma's restaurant when she moved here from Italy. Now my Grandma owns it." Lucas explained. He began pointing to cooks and naming them. "That's Uncle Gio, Ed my mom's cousin, his wife Marlize." He continued naming off at least ten people that I knew I'd forget.

Even though I was still a little discombobulated from all the yelling, I enjoyed watching Lucas so excited. But all that thinking was making me hungry. I stopped him after telling me some super long story before he could start another.

"We should probably order." I suggested. As if he just remembered where we were, he agreed and opened his menu.

"We have to get meatballs." He declared, pointing to them on the menu. I looked at him funny.

"Meatballs? For breakfast?" Meatballs just didn't seem like your typical breakfast food. He scoffed, as if I had offended him.

"Yeah, in between two English muffins. Perfect." He sighed as if talking about meatballs turned him on. "It's a Romano family tradition." I assumed Romano was his mom's maiden name. Reluctantly I gave in and he ordered us meatballs as an appetizer. For my main dish I ordered pancakes and bacon which Lucas had recommended. He ordered a frittata which he mentioned was his favorite thing on the menu.