AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rachel beamed. “A burger sounds fabulous.”
“Check please,” Zander said loudly, holding his hand up. The waiter shook his head, sighed, and then presumably walked off to get the check and get them out of the restaurant.
Rachel ate her ravioli snack while Zander woofed down whatever was on his plate.
“So, at our next restaurant, I want to hear more about you,” he said after washing down his bite of shrimp whatever with some more wine.
“Well, trust me, there’s not much to know. I don’t have any fun siblings or crazy stories.”
“You’ve got a few blocks to think about it. Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook so easy,” he responded.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she said, thinking about how it applied to so much more than just the conversation at hand.
* * *
“Now this is way morelike it. Greasy burgers, too many calories to count. Yes,” Rachel said, a mouthful of cheeseburger stuffed in her cheeks.
“To being who we really are,” Zander said, holding up his chocolate shake in a mock toast. Rachel clinked her half-empty glass against his.
“Do people really like fancy dining like that? Gosh, it’s just so boring,” Rachel added.
Zander smiled, shaking his head.
“What?” she asked, picking up a fry.
“You. You’re full of surprises. You’re just so… amazing. You’re this perfect, professional Broadway star who also happens to be quirky and fun and not afraid to speak her mind. You’ve got this iron will mixed with a big heart. I love it.”
Rachel bit her lip studying him, trying to quell the smile bursting onto her face. “Thanks. Most people just find me bossy, stubborn, and odd. It’s nice to hear those terms put in more charming ways.”
And it was. For the first time in a long time, Rachel felt like someone got her. Her passion, her drive, but also her odd sense of fun. Being with Zander was just easy and freeing. There was no false pretense to who they were together. He was the guy shooting straw papers at her through his straw, and she was the woman shrieking with laughter before stealing one of his fries. With him, she could be herself, be Rachel the girl who loved theater instead of being Rachel the serious go-getter. She could let her guard down and not worry, for once, how she was being perceived.
She could just be. And that was a freeing experience. So freeing.
Zander and Rachel spent the next hour in the Burger Shack, as it was charmingly named, eating too many calories, exchanging notes about favorite musicals, and going over dream roles. They laughed until their faces hurt, they ate until their stomachs were about to burst, and they relished in the start of something comforting if also unfamiliar.
So when they were ready to part ways, Rachel didn’t find herself feeling guilty or feeling like she’d made a mistake spending time with him. She just simply felt happy, content, and like she finally did something that was her.
And perhaps it was for all of those reasons, or perhaps it was something else entirely, that before Zander headed off to his apartment, she shouted his name as he climbed in the cab.
“Zander, do you want to get coffee tomorrow? Eight o’clock?”
He patted his hand on the top of the cab door. “I’d like that.”
“Me too,” she replied, waving like a giddy sixteen-year-old, chiding herself for being so ridiculous, and then promptly spinning around as gracefully as she could on crutches to head inside to her apartment.
