Arsonist's Lullaby

Chapter 4 - Jesse

I watched Sam as she was looking at what to order off the menu. We were at ihop and I had already ordered my usual so I just sat back and sipped my coffee, quietly observing Sam more closely. Her light brown hair was still a curly mess but it was clean now and braided into two sections making her look slightly child-like.

She was frowning as if deciding what to eat was the hardest thing she had ever done when the waitress came back and asked if she was ready.

"I'll have the buttermilk pancakes and glass of milk please." She mumbled. I noticed she did that a lot. Was it because she was shy? The woman walked off with her order and Sam started looking around until she noticed me staring at her.

"What?" She asked with a slight frown. I quickly shook my head and her frown grew deeper. She frowned a lot too. I wondered if it was because of the stress of being an amnesiac or if she was just normally uptight.

"Do you dance?" I asked her.Her eyes widen with surprise before she made a face as if trying to remember. "I mean, I feel like I used to do ballet but it seems too foggy to be sure." She shrugged.

"You point your feet a lot and you have great posture." I explained. She arched an eyebrow and gave an impressed smile.

"I'm guessing you dance?" She asked and I shook my head no.

"I used to play ice hockey in high school and our coach forced us to take basic ballet lessons to help with our balance." I explained. "I know, very masculine." I laughed noticing how she was trying not to smile.

Her order came and she asked the waitress for an extra plate before placing all of her pancakes except one on the other plate. She carefully poured a perfect swirl of syrup before cutting it down to bite sized squares.

"So tell me about yourself." She asked tucking away a stray curl. It popped right back out from behind her ear but she either didn't notice or didn't care.

"I breath, walk, eat, sleep. I do what an average human does." I smiled sarcastically.

"You know what I mean." She playfully scowled.

"I box."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"You box? Like that sting like a butterfly, fly like a bee guy?" She asked sipping her milk.

I gawked, not believing what she had just said before I noticed the confused look on her face. She was actually being serious. Then I started to laugh.

"It's float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. You know, Muhammad Ali?" I tried to explain. She shrugged her shoulders still confused. I scratched my head, and gave her a basic run down on my favorite boxer and she nodded her head politely.

"Is that the guy on your poster?" She asked placing another pancake on her plate before doing the same process again. I shuddered at the sticky syrup dripping down into perfect circles, distracted by the nauseating sight of all that sugar before answering her question.

"Yeah, that's him." I nodded. "Wait till Mark hears about this."

"Whose Mark?" She asked, her voice was a bit muffled from behind her glass of milk.

"My uncle."

She nodded and our table fell silent as we began to eat.

"Do you go to college? I mean you look pretty young so..." She had stopped eatting and was moving her food around.

"Not anymore. I sorta lost my scholarship." I said motioning for our waitress and asking for a refill. I looked back at Sam and noticed she was waiting for me to explain.