Playing with Fire

Chapter 7

Lucas
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Sitting at Empire again this week was making me a little more excited than I have been before. Seeing Sara and the mystery girl working definitely made my heart give a little jump. I still wasn't sure what that was. We made our way into Empire and were seated in Sara's section like always. It didn't take long for mystery girl to walk over to our table.

"Welcome to Empire Brewing Company, can I grab you something to drink?"

She looked up to our table to get our answers and she made eye contact with me. I could see her stop a little and take a moment before she looked like she was really ready.

"Yes we will all take a bottle of bud light and a glass of water."

"Will I need to ID sir?" She gave off a little attitude with this and I was a little bit amused by it.

"You tell me miss; Do I look like I am under the age of 21?"

"I will be right back with those for you gentlemen." She never answered my question she just turned around and went towards the computer to put the information in. After a few minutes she walked back over to our table and set the waters down in front of us. It took a few more minutes before she walked over with our beers.

After a little bit of time Sara walked over to our table and started chatting with us a little. She had more of her attention more on Chris and he was soaking up every minute of it. Once things seemed to calm down in the restaurant Lily was walking through the section. Sara caught sight of her and gave her a call.

"Hey Lily. I want to introduce you to my best customers." Sara gave a little smile to the girl I now knew as Lily. She then turned her attention to the rest of us at the table. I knew this would be the moment that she would know my name making the mystery disappear a little.

"This goof ball here is Chris." She gave a little smirk when she said his name.

"This is Andy and Jacob and this trouble maker is Lucas." She gave me a little look when it got to my name. I just kept looking at her waiting to see what she would do.

"It's nice to meet all of you. Sorry for holding Sara back so much last time and today. Still getting use to this."

"Hey we have all been there. Do you know how hard it was to train Mitchell?" The guys started laughing and I gave a little shake of my head.

"I wasn't as bad as Reid. You're just mad that I'm just better than you." I gave a little smirk and Chris just shook his head at me.

"I will grab the guys order if you want to go check on the other tables to make sure they don't need anything."

"Yeah no problem. It was nice meeting all of you. I am sure I will see you around." I watched her give us a smile and turn to go to the other tables that were located through out the area. Sara grabbed our usually order and then made her way to put the order into the system.

Sara brought our food over and with it being a slow night she was able to sit down at the table and chat with us a little. She did get up after a few minutes and walk away. I was sure if was to check on Lily. After some time she came back to hang out with us at the table. I watched Lily start to walk over to our table after she finished cleaning around the area a little. It seemed like she was trying to hold back on coming over here.

"Hey I have cleaned up our section. Not sure if you want me to do anything else?"

"No. Tonight's really slow but why don't you stay over here. The boss won't mind because of how frequent these guys come in." Before she could object and take off to the back of the restaurant I pulled out a chair for her to sit down and moved it to our table.

"Sit down. No one else is here." She gave a small smile and sat down next to me.

"Tell me what brings you to Syracuse?" I wanted to know more about her and wanted to see if she would be willing to tell me anything.

"I'm actually a graduate student at Syracuse. Working on getting my MBA."

"Wow that's awesome. You are going to be busy with school and work."

"Yea but my apartment won't pay the rent for itself. I will want a little spending money when I do find time to relax."

"Well that's awesome that you are working so hard to get what you want."

"Yea it will be an adjustment moving here but so far this city has been interesting. Of course I haven't seen much of it yet. I got here a few days ago and started working the next day."

"If you ever want a tour of the city I will be happy to show you around." She paused and gave me a look. It was like she was trying to figure out if I was using a line on her. I wasn't I was genuinely offering to show her around with nothing attached which was nothing like me at all.

"I might take you up on that offer."

"Well it was nice getting to know you but I need to go check to see if we got anyone new." Before I had the chance to get her to stay she was out of the chair and moving back out toward the kitchen. I didn't know if I did something but I didn't want her to leave.

Sara got up soon after Lily left the table and we didn't see much of Lily the rest of the night. Sara was the main server for our table and she even was the one that checked us out when we were all set to go.  Chris grabbed Sara and pulled her to the side before we left. While he was doing that I grabbed another piece of paper and threw a $50 in there and hoped Lily would be clearing the table off again. I wrote her a little note and left her my number to see if she would take me up on my offer.

It was great getting to know you a little Lily. I hope you take me up on my offer. 315-555-5500

When Chris got back to us he had a giant smile on his face. I gave him a little shove before we made it out on the street.

"So what's that dumb ass smirk on your face?"

"Sara agreed to meet us at Benjamin's with a few other of her coworkers."

"That's good for you but I think I am going to head home. I still have things to get done around the house tomorrow morning." I wasn't much of into flirting with a random girl tonight.

"Man you have to go. She is bring three other girls to hang out with us. I believe one of them will be Lily." I paused when he said that. It would mean hanging out with her a little more tonight.

"Fine I'll go." I didn't want to sound excited. I wanted to keep my cool.

We walked around downtown and went to a few other bars before Chris got the text from Sara that they were at the bar. We made our way over to Benjamin's and when we walked in we saw Sara standing at the bar ordering beers for everyone.

"Hey glad to see you guys. We are in the back booth." We helped grab the beers on the counter for her and then followed her back to where they were sitting. That is when I saw Lily and she made eye contact with me and I couldn't help but give her a little smirk. I was hoping to either get this girl out of my system or find out why she was able to get under my skin.