Alone Awaken

Chapter 19: Remi

I put my knife and fork down on my plate and pat my stomach.

"I can't eat another bite, ugh, I'm so full I feel gross."

Colton swallows the last bite of his chicken Parmesan. He wipes his lips with his napkin and tosses it on the table. "Delicious!" He brings his fingers to his lips and kisses them in an Italian expression.

The waitress comes with the check and Colton takes care of it.

"Can I help pay for it?"

"Nope, I got it." Colton smiles at me.

I feel weird not helping to pay for it. Yeah, that's what a typical date is like, I guess. But it just feels weird.

"Can I leave the tip?"

Colton looks up at me with a surprised look.

"If you really want to, sure?" Colton brow furrows. Is he offended that I'm trying to help pay? Ah, this is too confusing and slightly awkward. Oh well, I'm going to leave something regardless.

"Ok!" I open my bag and pull out a ten.

"Whoa, a ten?! The waitress barely did anything. A five is plenty." Colton pushes the ten back at me.

"Uh, no it's not. If you haven't noticed, we're the only ones here in the last hour. She won't be getting any tips. And she did so much, if you ask me. She refilled my water without me asking and she kept refilling the bread basket. That girl was on the ball." I push the ten back in the middle of the table.

"That's because she's suppose to do those things." Colton pushes the ten back at me. Is this a game to him?

"So she should be rewarded for doing her job. I'm leaving the ten." I move the ten, again. This is getting exhausting. I stare at Colton in warning not to touch the money. Colton's face twists into laughter. I can't help but laugh with him.

"Alright, alright, you win." Colton puts his hands up in surrender.

We head back to campus and I'm surprise the date has already ended. It's barely 8:00pm and the sun hasn't even set yet. It was nice though, just sitting and talking about nothing really. Just normal stuff. I mainly asked him about his game tomorrow. They're playing Cortland and if they win this game, they win their division. I think.

Colton parked the car in the back parking lot. Odd spot to park, seeing how there's like a million spots way closer to my dorm.

"Can I take you somewhere before the sun sets?" Colton takes my hands in his. I look up at him.

"Sure." I'd honestly go anywhere with this kid. I always feel safe.

Colton kisses my hands. "Let's go!" He seems like a giddy little school girl. He's so cute.

We get out of the car and I noticed it's getting colder out. I can see my breathe faintly.

Colton opens up the trunk of his car and I cross my arms to try to keep myself warm. It was hot as hell at the restaurant, now it's cold as fuck.

"Can I get, like, a jacket quick from my dorm. It's fucking cold." Colton closes the trunk of his car and has his arms filled with stuff.

"Gotcha covered beautiful." He gathers the stuff in one arm and struggles to pull out what looks like a jacket. I don't help, it's entertaining to witness this. I smile at him. "Ugh, there we go. Put this on." He toss' me a very heavy jacket and I awkwardly catch it. I hold it up in front of me and it's a bright blue varsity jacket with a logo on the left chest saying "fredonia soccer." The sleeves are white with an elastic cuff and embroidered on the left side is the name "Cooperson" and the number 2 right below his name. I glance up at Colton and he has the biggest grin on his dumb cute face. I give him a smirk and turn the jacket around. On the back is the Blue Devils school mascot and it's massive. You could probably read "blue devils" from a mile away. I nod and put it on. I'm swimming in it and it hits mid-thigh. I love it. I zip up the jacket and quickly put my hands in the pockets. When I look up at Colton, he's staring at me in a way I haven't seen before. He looks happy but slightly sad at the same time. I'm not sure if I like this look. "You alright?" I ask softly. Colton blinks a couple of times.