Easier Said Than Done

My face flushed as I walked through the front door of Breadstix next to my sister. She actually had a dress on, while I…was still wearing my jeans and floral shirt from school. I realized that I was ridiculously underdressed, but it wasn’t enough motivation for me to put on a dress. Plus, Sam wouldn’t care whether I wore a dress or not.

“Table for three, please,” Aileen said at the hostess stand, scanning the restaurant. Sam definitely wouldn’t be there, since we were seven minutes early.

“Right this way,” the hostess smiled, leading us toward a table near the back. “Your server will be right with you.”

“Thank you.” Aileen picked up the menu and started going through it, while I watched the door, waiting for Sam to walk through.

The longer I waited, the more I thought about this whole dinner thing. It was kind of really uncomfortable. “So what made you want to do this dinner again?” I asked, though it came out kind of like a whine.

Aileen sat up a little straighter. “Because that’s a very mom-like thing, I think, to want to creep on your relationship. Organizing a dinner like this is mom-like, right?”

“I wouldn’t know,” I laughed. “We had kind of a crappy mother.”

“I’ll toast to that.” Aileen rose her water, and we clanked glasses.

“So the only reason you did this was to be like a mother-figure?”

“Pretty much.” She directed her attention over my head for a second. “Oh, Sam just walked in. You should probably stand up to get his attention.”

“Really?” I pouted.

“Really.”

Groaning, I stood up and waved my arms a couple times. Sam caught sight of me and snickered, walking over to our table.

“Hi,” he greeted, taking the seat next to me.

“Hey. Aileen made me make a fool of myself.” I pointed a finger at her, and she chuckled.

“What? You think that I’d do that? Hell no.” She took another sip of her water. “So, Sam, how are you doing?”

“Fine, thank you. How are you?”

“Well.”

There was an awkward silence, but it thankfully didn’t last long before a waiter came over to take our orders.

After he left, I turned to Sam. “Did you finish your chemistry homework?”

“Yes. It took me, like, an hour, though.”

“Same! And I left the last three blank because I had no idea what they were. I looked through the entire chapter, and the answers were not there.”

Sam shook his head. “I’m pretty sure we’re all going to fail Chem. What did you get on that test last week?”

I coughed, taking a breadstick into my hand and twirling it around a little bit. “A ninety-five.”

Sam choked on his Coke that had just arrived. “Are you kidding?!”

“No. I dunno. I’m a good guesser.” Smiling sheepishly, I snapped the breadstick in my mouth. “Ew. This is nasty.”

“That’s why I’m not eating them.” He stuck his tongue out at me.

Aileen had been pretty quiet, so I looked over at her for a second. She just had her chin resting on her hands, watching the two of us. Totally not creepy or anything.

“Can we help you?” I asked her, laughing lightly with a raised eyebrow.

“You guys are so adorable.”

“Oh, thanks,” I responded, rolling my eyes. Then, over her head, I saw something. Puck was walking to a table. His back was to me, so he hadn’t seen me, but I would recognize his gait anywhere, the confidence that he carried with him. What made my stomach positively turn was the fact that he was with Zizes.

Out. On a date. With Zizes. Ugh. I actually thought I was going to be sick as I took a mini-sip of my water.

“You alright?” Sam questioned, putting his hand over mine.

“Fine,” I replied, but my voice was weak and a little wobbly. “I’m totally fine.”

Aileen looked at me like I had just lied about having ten heads. “Oh, really?” She turned around, but thankfully, didn’t recognize the back of Puck’s head. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“I wish I just saw a ghost. Maybe it would have been Patrick Swayze.”

They both groaned loudly at my sad excuse for a joke. I was just kind of proud that Sam got it.

A minute later, our food came, and I ate a little of it. I couldn’t help but keep sneaking glances at Puck and Zizes. They looked so comfy with one another, and I couldn’t help but feel kind of angry.

Was I being hypocritical? Absolutely. But I couldn’t help it. Whether it was because he was on a date with someone or I was having flashbacks of him embarrassing me, I didn’t know.

“Hello? Earth to Ellie?” Sam waved a hand in front of my face before making a series of beeps that I think was supposed to be him speaking an alien language.

“Sorry. I’m being a space cadet,” I looked back at my food, noticing how much food was left in it and how little was left on Aileen’s and Sam’s plates.

Kicking it into high-gear without looking like a pig who was stuffing its face, I tried to eat enough of my plate so the ‘I’m full’ excuse would fly.

After I finished, I threw my fork down and did a little groan. “Okay, I’m stuffed.”

“I’m going to go to the bathroom.” Aileen threw her napkin down at the table and pulled away, her chair scraping against the floor.

“So what’s really going on?” Sam questioned, leaning forward on the table so no one would overhear.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” I took a sip of my Diet Coke and was pretty proud of that lie. At least until I saw Sam looking at me like he didn’t believe me in the least.

“What? It’s that bad?”

Sighing, I nodded toward Puck and Zizes. I was pretty lucky that neither of them had noticed either of us. “Over there.”

Sam turned around immediately, in that glaringly obvious way guys always do, since they don’t know the meaning of ‘subtle’.

“Really?” I hissed, reaching out to grab his arm, making him face me again. “Could you be more conspicuous?”

“Sorry. So you’re talking about Puck and Zizes? Why do you care so much?”

It was such a simple question, but I couldn’t answer it. Maybe unresolved anger with Puck? Or something else?

Thankfully, Aileen came back. “Hi! What’d I miss?”

“Nothing,” Sam and I answered at the same time.

I could feel his eyes burning through me as I pulled out my phone to check the time. The longer I stared at the numbers, the more I pretended like they weren’t blurring with tears that I refused to let fall.