Thicker Than Blood

Chapter 4: The specimens

Normally, Chuck's dinner was only 10 minutes from school. But tonight? It felt like it was an hour getting there to finally have my first date with Rachel. I saw her park around the side; I decided it best for me to park in the front just in case people saw. Like I said, I wanted to have Rachel all to myself; at least for a little bit before I had to hear it from others.

I watched her walk in as she was fixing her skirt. I noticed that she had let her hair down, and as soon as the light caught a glimpse of her hair, it brightened up the parking lot. Of course, not literally, but it seemed that way to me. I quickly got out of the car.

"Hey!" Not the coolest of openings to say to the girl of your dreams, but which ever works.

Stifling a giggle behind her hand, "Hello," she quipped. I held out my hand this time for her to take it, and to my surprise, she took it. I almost froze in my tracks, shook it off, and walked her in. You could feel the gazes of men, and some women, turning to see who had come in, and then they turned to envy. I just smiled; Rachel didn't even notice.

"Hey Harry! You want the usual? Oh wait, who's this lovely lady?" Chuck himself always came out to greet me; he was here often at night. Rachel smiled and I thought I noticed a slight blush.

"Hey Chuck, this is Rachel. Rachel, I'd like you to meet Chuck." Chuck smiled and shook her hand, gently kissing the back of her knuckles. She then proceeded to wrap her arm around mine and rest her head on my shoulder. I could feel her hair brush the back of my arm, sending more chills down my spine. Her warmth and intoxicating scent made me dizzy, I wanted to be with her, protect her.

"Is this the first time you've been here Rachel? I wouldda remembered seeing a lady like you around here." His slight New York City accent, Brooklyn specifically, was starting to leak from his lips. I knew he was from Brooklyn because it was something he and I always talked about, he was proud to be from there, but happy where he was now. Our friendship grew more from the fact that my family came from there as well, not so much from my always eating here, and he knew my mother, small world.

"No, I just usually eat in the morning and sometimes lunch." She smiled her amazing smile and I could sense that Chuck liked her, wishing she were on his arm. Chuck was lonely, ever since his beloved wife Evie died 3 years ago. It almost destroyed him, hell, it almost destroyed me. She was like a second mother to me.

We walked to a table towards the back of the diner so that we could watch the door; well I could watch the door, and the parking lot. "Is this OK?" I wanted to make sure that she was ok with the location because I didn't want any disruptions, not tonight. I knew that no one else from work was going to be there. The rest of the party went bowling; Rob and Mariah were on a date themselves. Mitchell didn't really like Chuck's much, besides, he was scowling over Michele. I was sure he was going to go home and work on his spiel to win her over.

"Perfect!" She flashed me her million dollar smile again and gently touched my arm as I pulled out her seat for her. Yes, we were in a diner. Yes, it was the local kind of eh looking diner, but it was the best food that didn't make you feel like you had a bomb in your stomach like most other diners around here.

We sat and ate, constantly chatting as if we had been friends all our lives. She told me about her family, she had an older brother who was the CIO of a big company in the city. He hardly ever was around because of all the travelling he did, so she only saw him during Christmas every other year when he wasn't with his wife's family or travelling. He was about to have his first baby, a boy, so he was going to be taking his four-week vacation when his wife went into labor. She mentioned her older sister, who was only 14 months older, she said it was because she (meaning Rachel) came early, and who was in finance. Her parents were now living in Florida for the warmth after retiring from working at the telephone company. They would travel up during the summer, and she mentioned they'd be coming soon. They hated summer in Florida, but hated winter up here. I felt like she was holding something back, but I wasn't sure, she started to talk about something or someone else, but then stopped. So, to not have awkward silence, I told her about my younger brother and sister, who were twins and highly inseparable. They were off travelling around the world, Lucy, my sister was a professor of art and Brent, my brother, was a curator at the museum downtown. They often worked together and would always try to drag me out with them. I wasn't sure how Lucy kept up with Brent and her new family, but she had been slowing down lately since her daughter was only 2 years old.