Dumbstruck

Chapter 3

I saunter into Belinda’s Burgers with the gorgeous Abigail at my side. We slide into a little, off white booth and she flashes a few thousand dollar grins at the paparazzi on the other side of the window before pulling down the blinds. It’s never too early for a photoshoot. She’s just about as into the paparazzi as I am. I start flipping through the simple menu that is already laid out for us, but that quickly ends when I notice a pair of piercing brown eyes staring at me from across the table.

My eyes slowly ease away from the menu to Abigail. “What? Is there something wrong? Do I have food in my teeth?”

 “Yes, there is, Ry. A problem, not food,” she says sharply. “Why are we here?”

“To have lunch. There’s a lot of food on this menu,” I reply, gesturing towards the laminated piece in my hand. “You should probably go through it. I think a waiter will be here soon.” I turn my attention back to the array of gourmet burgers in my hand, but her abrupt voice distracts me again.

“I hate burgers, remember?” she scoffs, shaking the menu. “I can’t believe you brought me here. Whatever, I’ll choose where we go if there is ever another one of these.”

“You should’ve said something when we got here. There’s a giant sign that says burgers out front,” I shrug. I’m not letting a good burger get away from me this quickly. “They have foods other than burgers. Get a sandwich, I hear the Reuben is really good here.” I catch her glare at me before she starts skimming through the menu, but I think nothing of it. She can deal with it.

A few moments later a smiling waitress in a red apron appears at the end of the booth. “Hello, are you guys ready to order?”

“Yeah, can I get the mushroom burger?” I ask before looking at Abigail. “Do you want to share garlic fries?”

 “I don’t want any fries, you can eat them all,” she shrugs, rolling her eyes at my life choices. “Can I get the grilled chicken sandwich?”

“Is that all? Any drinks?” The waitress asks, tapping her pen against the small notepad in her hand.

“Oh, can I get the peach cobbler milkshake?” I say excitedly, it’s been a while since I’ve had a good milkshake. She nods as she scribbles down my order and looks to Abigail.

“I’ll just have ice water,” she says, closing the menu.

“All right, I’ll have your food out once it’s ready,” the waitress smiles, taking the now unneeded menus off of the table.

“So, what’s been going on in your life? It’s been a while since I’ve last seen you and I think we should catch up. Anything interesting come up?” I ask, starting up a new conversation once the waitress is back behind the counter.

“I know you’re only dating me to become even more famous; you don’t have to be nice to me,” She says, her eyes glued to the screen of her smart phone. Oh, this isn’t good. “But I’m using you too so don’t feel like this is a one way thing. This is pretty much business.” Actually, this is a bit better.

“Oh, yeah,” I say with an understanding nod. We’re  equal once again. She doesn’t say anything to me for the rest of the time we spend waiting for our food. Her eyes are still on that phone of hers leaving me to mess around with the napkins and colorful packets of sweetener.

God bless, the waitress is back with food- this woman is my savior. I didn’t expect lunch with Abigail to be this, awkward and quiet. Lunch with your ex turned pseudo girlfriend shouldn’t be so awkwardly bland. Should it? We thank her for the food and dig in. I bite into my burger causing some mushrooms to fall back onto the plate while Abigail carefully nibbles at her sandwich.