The Starved

Chapter 10: It's a Date

Conner sat at the restaurants table, alone. A single glass of water sat in front of him. The ice clinking against other pieces of ice. Abby had texted him to meet her and so he had grabbed a table. However, Abby was late, so Conner was left to his own thoughts to 'entertain' him.... His thoughts were not entertaining, especially since he had brought the files that Abby had given him, so all he had to focus on were the past few days, which were filled with incredible insanity and Lewis. The boy who had witnessed his best friend get torn apart by a monster... or killed his best friend himself. While the first option still made no sense, the latter seemed to be the least likely.

Conner placed his hand on his face, his exhaustion leaking out into his body language. He closed his eyes and wished for sleep to come.

"Well, you look tired." a voice laughed brilliantly.

"That's cause I am." Conner replied, looking up to see Abby smiling at him. He suddenly felt the urge to compliment her. "You have a really nice laugh by the way."

"Thanks." Abby giggled and pulled out her seat and sat down across him. "So, how's your head?"

"Well, I can still function and thanks to that medication the throwing up has been less frequent which is greatly appreciated." Conner grabbed the glass of water and drank the ice cold liquid. It was refreshing. "And mentally, well I haven't really been focusing on it." he took another sip from the water, this time to distract himself from the memories of his past resurfacing and to avoid from Abby pushing into his mental state.

"That's one way to do it." Abby shifted in her seat. She seemed uncomfortable for a moment. Her movement brought Conner's eyes to her clothes. She was dressed up. "I'm not here to be a therapist. I'm not here to dig into your personal life. If you want to talk about your mental. Then, we can talk about it. But, that is up to you. I won't push."

"Well damn." Conner choked a bit on the water he was drinking. "You're very pointed. I've been called out."

"Of course I am," She smiled, almost mischievously. "Let's order food, shall we? We can talk about business when we have something to fill our mouths with. Agreed?"

"Very much agreed." Conner looked down at the files in front of him and gave himself something to do by looking through them quickly while Abby called a waiter over.

Abby got the waiter over and Conner and her both ordered their meals. Conner with a steak and Abby with a simple Caesar salad. The food came after a moment of silence from both parties. Surprisingly quick for a restaurant. Upon seeing the singular salad. Lone. Along with nothing else. Conner had the urge to confront Abby.

"Only a salad?" Conner raised an eyebrow.

"Not just any salad. A Caesar salad." Abby raised an eyebrow back.

"Oh wow!" Conner turned on his sarcastic switch. "A Caesar salad? Incredible. So special."

"Yes, it is special." Abby laughed.

"God," Conner bellowed a genuine laugh. "I'm trying to see if that's going to be enough for you to eat. I mean you're here. Might as well eat a meal that'll fill your stomach."

"I'm a light eater." She smiled, then continued after seeing Conner's face. "I'll be fine."

Conner nodded while lifting his hands up to wave a sign of submission. Recognizing her words. "Well, alright. Don't hesitate to ask for a piece of steak though." He stuck his fork in a piece of steak and shoved it in his mouth. "It's good stuff, man." He comically said, muffled greatly by the food in his mouth.

"I sure won't." Abby played with her salad as she spoke. "You carnivore."

Conner laughed at her slight joke then with a quick flip, his mind reared to focus on the poisonous and horrific mystery they had really come here to talk about. Only first, he had to actually see what she wanted to start off with. "Alright, alright. Where to begin?"