Book Nerds {IronStrange} |ON HOLD|

4

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       "Sorry if you're not in the mood for breakfast food." I stated, reaching for two small laminated menus that were nestled behind the condiment rack. Tony hummed in response as he slowly took one of the menus from my hands, obviously looking at the scars. I sighed and began looking through the short and familiar list, reminding myself of prices and options of the greasy spoon.I felt anxious. I had been here time again and again but for some reason I felt off. Was it my guest? Was Tony being the burden? Was I being disrespectful by not telling him the answer to the question that constantly burned bright in his head? I don't owe anything to him though, no breakfast, no sentiment. I might as well enjoy this though.

       "Ooh! I am really craving a monte cristo. You ever had one of those?" Tony finger underlined the words on the menu, like a toddler. He held the menu by its bottom left corner, which must've had some mess on it, because after he touched the gooey mess he attempted to wipe it off on his pants. "Eww." Tony whined like a child. "I didn't even realize it was on the menu. Not like I could eat it anyways." I stated, looking around the small menu for anything at all. Tony shot a confused look my way. "I'm vegetarian." I muttered. "Oh I could never do that, I love shawarmas way too much."  I smiled to myself, "Yeah, sometimes I find myself craving meat, but then I remember: meat makes me really sick, so..." Tony held a large grin on his face, he seemed to be enjoying himself.

       "Hey, how y'all doing?" The waiter asked as he stood behind the breakfast bar. "Can I start you off with something?" He flipped open a little notepad with yellow paper, despite its size, it was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of orders. I cleared my throat and glanced at Tony, he was still trying to wipe that gooey mess off the menu. "He'll have a coffee, and a water. And for food he'll get a monte cristo and I'll get a cup of tea and the double double." The double double was two eggs and two pieces of toast, but for some reason this confused Tony to a remarkable amount. "Eggs?" Tony asked as soon as the waiter left the bar. "What about it?" "Vegetarians can't eat eggs, right?" I had to laugh, the immaturity in his voice masked the genuine concern. "That's vegans, Tony." He joined me in my chuckling. The awkward tone of the conversation easily slipped away after that.

"So, not to pry, but are you ever gonna tell me why you dropped out of medical school?" Tony asked, leaning on the bar. Tony not-so nonchalantly looked at my hands, seeming to study the scars. I scratched at my stubble, hesitating, trying to find a way to put it softly. "Car accident." I blurted out. It was a plain and simple explanation, I would've delved further but all of the extra tension being added to the conversation essentially drove me off of a cliff. Oh, that was a terrible joke, Tony would probably like it though. "Oh! Im sorry about that, it must have been a traumatic,, experience, for you." Tony stumbled, finding the right words with the right tone.

"Do you wanna know everything in more detail?" I queried. "Yes! That was very insensitive of me, sorry." Tony fiddled with his jacket. "Don't worry about it, Tony." Stephen took a sip of his coffee and began to explain. "Well, I was being dumb, and I was trying to study for an exam as I was driving. It was pouring rain and the visibility was extremely low. I was also on a really curvy road so that didn't really help. Anyways, I hydroplaned and almost hit another car going the opposite direction and broke through the safety rail." I watched Tony's jaw drop exaggeratedly. "No." His eyes filled with wonder and amazement as he took a large bite out of his sandwich. "Yeah," I said chuckling, twirling my fork around through my fingers. "I went off this cliff and- and my hands went through the dash. Paramedics had a hard time finding me, and the nerve damage was irreversible." Tony took a large sip of his coffee before returning his attention back to me.

"What happened next?" Tony practically jumped out of his seat with excitement. I told him about the pins through my fingers and how I became really depressed and wrecked that I couldn't do what I love, how I kept on paying for more procedures even when I couldn't afford it. "Well, I didn't have the money to pay for medical school anymore. And besides, even if I did, I'd never be able to preform any surgeries." I took a large sip of my tea, both of us had just about finished our meals at this point. "Damn. That must've sucked ass..." Tony trailed off for a second, looking at his own hands, and comparing them to mine. "Well, if it's any consolation, I'm glad that you stuck through it all. Pain-wise and depression-wise." Tony spoke sincerely with a wan smile creeping onto his face.

After paying our waiter, and giving a large tip, we exited the greasy spoon back into the rain. "This was,, nice. Thank you for joining me, Tony." I smiled widely at him, holding my umbrella above us as we stood to the building-side of the walkway. "We should do this again sometime." I propositioned. "Yeah, next time, I can tell you all about my daddy issues." Tony jested, clearly enjoying himself. "Oh, I will need to text you to set it up though, phone please?" Tony was fluent in grand gestures and going too fast, and also being engulfed by excitement and letting the excitement handle his every move. As far as I could tell, I think he may have been flirting with me.

I reached into my pocket, grabbed my phone and shakily handed it to Tony. My hands usually shake, but, I couldn't help but feel this shake was out of nervousness. Tony copied my number into his phone and did the same for mine. His small warm hands placed the phone back into mine. "I'll see you around, book nerd." Tony called as he quickly began to walk away. "Bye!" I shouted as I waved largely at him. I rested both of my hands on the stem of my umbrella and sighed happily. Hopefully, this would be the start of something good.

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