The Other Side

Chapter 4: Little Italy

Cole parked his car in the parking lot behind the restaurant, we both walked into the restaurant and sat in a booth facing each other.

     Cole stared at me, it was slightly creepy, and awkward, but he had a slight smile, which made it less creepy.

“Here’s your menus” I heard a voice say, it sounded like an older woman, possibly in her early 40’s.

     I look up at the woman, she was wearing a white short sleeve, black jeans, and a black apron.

“Thank you” Cole and I said in unison.

“Any drinks”? The waitress said.

“I’ll have a Pepsi” Cole replied to the woman.

“I’ll have the same,” I said cheerfully.

“I will be back in a few minutes, so you can decide what you would like” the woman smiled, and walked away to the back kitchen

     I took a look at the menu that was handed to me, everything on the menu looked delicious, and it all looked like high-end food.

     I scanned through a few pages, and I stopped at a page labelled as ‘Pasta’, I looked through the many options of pasta when I noticed the prices for a bowl of pasta.

“Twenty-two dollars? That’s really expensive” I said, with a shocked look on my face.

“It's a bit pricey, but that’s fine, remember I’m paying” Cole said with a grin.

“I can’t make you pay — “ Cole interrupted me and said “we’ve already decided that I’m paying” 

     My body relaxed from being tense, I looked at the menu and asked Cole “what are you getting”.

“The fettuccine Alfredo pasta” Cole said.

“Is it any good”? I asked.

“Better than good, it’s the best” Cole said, as the waitress walked back to our booth.

“Ready to order”? The waitress asked.

“We’ll both have a bowl of fettuccine Alfredo pasta, with a side of garlic bread” Cole said to the waitress.

“It should be ready in approximately ten minutes” the waitress explained.

“Great, thank you,” Cole said smiling as the waitress walked away.

“We didn’t agree on garlic bread” I muttered to Cole under my breath.

“Well, I wanted garlic bread” Cole responded, smirking.

    My face turned shocked, as I realized he heard me, I didn’t expect him to hear me.

“How did you hear that”? I asked.

“I’m not deaf,” Cole said smirking again, his cheeks turned rosy as if he was blushing.

     My stomach had a tight feeling, it felt like butterflies in my stomach, it was a feeling everyone explains when they had when they catch feelings for somebody. Then I realized my cheeks felt the slightest bit warmer, was I blushing? I fought my way out of my thoughts to look up at Cole, he was staring at me with a small smile.

“I have to use the washroom, I’ll be back”. I said getting out of my seat and rushing to the washroom.

     I walked up to the mirror in the washroom, my cheeks weren’t slightly red, they were almost bright red.

     There’s no way I feel anything for Cole, I just met him. Even if I did, I am going home soon, so I can’t be involved romantically with someone I would potentially never see again. 

      I washed my hands and walked back to the table Cole was still sitting at. The food came as I was gone.

“Are you okay?” Cole asked me, as I was sitting down.

“Yeah, I’m totally fine” I replied.

     Cole raised one eyebrow and nodded his head. I looked at the food, it looked absolutely delicious, better than the picture on the menu.

“It smells really good,” I said.

“And it tastes great, try it,” Cole said as if he was completing my sentence.

     I ate a few bites of my food. “Do you like it”? Cole asked me as I looked up from my food.

“I love it,” I said with a huge smile.

“Good” Cole said smiling back.

      Cole and I finished eating our pasta and garlic bread. Cole paid for our food after we finished, we walked back to the car and got into our seats

“Thank you for paying,” I said to Cole.

“You’re welcome, I’m more than delighted to make you happy and not starving,” Cole said grinning and putting his key into the ignition.

“Where are we going now”? I asked.

“It’s another surprise,” Cole said.

“Isn’t today full of surprises”? I asked, being sarcastic.

“Sure seems like it is,” Cole says, sarcastically, while smirking. 

     Just at that moment, Cole grabbed my hand. It was huge, warm and slightly sweaty, which was most likely due to my nervousness.

"What's that for"? I asked Cole.

"We're going up".  He said, smiling big.

"Up where?" I blurt and grip onto his hand tightly.

     All he did was sit there and smile at me. That's when I understood exactly what he meant.

"Wait...hold on...no. No! You are joking right?" I basically screamed at him. 

"Ha, hold on tight!" Cole said, laughing.

     My hand grasped onto Cole's hand and I clenched onto the seatbelt across my chest with my other hand. I focused on my breathing as I was frightened by this flying car contraption that I was in.

     Moments later, we were hundreds of feet up in the air. Our car was alongside many other cars, on each side of us. I felt trapped and anxious with being so high up in the air.

"Look down," Cole said, as he was driving the car over a few lanes to the right.

"I refuse" I respond back.

"You'll regret it," Cole said, smiling.

"I cannot see you right now, but I can tell that your smiling," I said,  smiling slightly.

     I got no response, just pure silence.

     I kept smiling, and I opened my eyes to see Cole also smiling, directly at me.

"See! I was right" I said.

     I noticed Cole's cheeks had turned a light pinkish colour. Was he blushing? Are his cheeks naturally pink? 

     Cole noticed me staring at his cheeks and he turned away to look out of the window, obviously, he was embarrassed.

"How much longer? I feel a little nauseous" I said to Cole after a moment of silence.

"Just a few more minutes" Cole replied.

"Ugh, I wanna go home" I mumbled to myself, closed my eyes and leaned my head back onto the headrest.

"I'm sorry" Cole whispered.

     I opened my eyes once again and raised my eyebrow, and looked at Cole whose head was tilted down slightly. He seemed upset for some reason.

"It's not that I didn't have a great time with you, I did, but I just have a fear of heights" I said.

"You had a great time?" Cole asked, with his eyebrow raised.

"Yes. Yes, I did" I said.

Then I smiled.