Page 41 of Perfect Chaos

“Sure thing, sweetheart. Were you ready to order as well?”

“This is my first time here. What is your favorite thing on the menu?”

“A first timer? Well, you are in good hands. You can't go wrong with nothing on the menu, but the French toast is my personal favorite.” Her excitement paints her words with a twinge of a southern accent that reminds me of my Momma.

“French toast sounds good; I will have that.”

“Good choice. Let me grab you that coffee and your food will be up in a jiffy.”

She sets a coffee mug in front of me, fills it a little over halfway and waltzes away all in a blink of an eye. I pour way too much creamer and three sugar packets into my coffee, stirring it with a plastic stirring stick. I take a sip, doing a happy dance as the caffeine enters my body. The waitress clears her throat to get my attention. She is quick. I don’t even get the chance to finish my first cup of coffee before she slides a large pile of French toast in front of me and tops off my mug. I unroll the silverware and almost laugh out loud at the choice in cutlery. It’s your basic butter knife and spoon. It’s the fork that cracks me up. Engraved into the fork is the phrase No Forks Given. I don’t think I have ever seen anything better than that. I may just have to take this baby home with me. Once I get my giggle fit under control, I turn my attention back to my giant plate of food. The portion size is huge. I am only able to finish half of the plate before I wave Margaret over for a to-go box. I make sure no one is watching me as I slip the amazing fork into my back pocket. I leave a twenty on the table as a tip and pay my bill at the counter before making my way outside.

I make it almost halfway home when anxiety begins to set in. Something feels off; I just can't name it yet. I keep walking, paying extra close attention to my surroundings when a man jumps out from a side street, startling me. With books in one hand and food in the other I will have to sacrifice one of them. Damn it. Keeping a death grip on my books, I drop my to-go box of food as I scramble to retrieve my pocket knife. My fingers curl around metal but the moment a smile cracks across his face at the weapon I brandished, I realized my mistake.

“What are you planning to do with that fork, young lady?”

Fuck a duck, I wish the ground would just swallow me now! I could scramble for my knife, or I could double down on my fuck up and have a little fun with this. Let’s do something crazy. I look at the man like I am bat shit crazy and stand my ground. “A girl could eat; you look like a decent meal. Do the math.”

He lets out a chuckle that sounds more like a mucus-filled cough. “You're a funny little thing, aren’t you?” Something about his tone makes my stomach sour.

Everything about this man is creeping me out but I am trying my best not to let it show. “It wasn’t a joke.”

He puts his hands up in mock surrender, “Alright, take it easy. Don’t get yourself hurt. I just wanted to say that a pretty young lady like yourself needs to be very careful because you never know what type of people could be around watching you.” With that, he turns around and leaves. He doesn’t turn back around or say anything else, leaving me with nothing more than the cryptic message.

I pocket the fork and run the rest of the way home. I hope I am just overreacting, but that entire encounter makes me feel on edge.

Gavin’s RS6 and both Atlas’ Supra and Alfa Romeo Giulia are all in the driveway when I arrive home, so I assume both men are here. I can’t wait to tell Gavin and Atlas about my crazy morning. It was all amazing until that man showed up. I type the code into the pin pad, swing the door open the moment the green light flashes, indicating the door is unlocked.

“Honey, I'm home! Anyone in here?” I laugh as I say the words. I am hoping my retelling of what just happened will relieve my anxiety about it just a bit. I hope telling them will lighten the mood. I kick off my shoes as I shut and lock the door.

“Kitchen!” Both Atlas and Gavin yell at the same time.

When I enter the kitchen, Atlas is cooking something on the stove and Gavin is typing away at a new laptop. I place my books on the counter and take a seat at the bar top, where I can see both of them at the same time.

“How was work, boys?”

Atlas mumbled fine and Gavin just grunted.

“How was your day, Little Tornado?”

“This morning was amazing but the weirdest thing happened to me on the way home today. You will never guess it.”

“Did you see a magical creature?”

“Good guess, Gavin but no. Atlas, any guesses?”

“I don’t know. Did you find free books on the side of the road?”

“I wish, but no.” I roll my eyes at the overdramatic guess before bouncing on my toes. “I almost stabbed a man with a fork.”

Both of them stop what they are doing and turn their attention to me.

“You did what?” Gavin says at the same time Atlas says, “We are gonna need way more details than that, Chaos.”

“Okay, so you know how I was checking out that new bookstore on Westwood Circle?”

“Yeah? What does that have to do with the fork or almost stabbing someone with it?” Atlas questions me like I am forgetting key details.

“Well, there is a cute little café next to it. I was hungry, so I grabbed some lunch while I was there. The booths were super cozy, the food was delicious, the forks were super cute. I may have pocketed the fork when I packed up my leftovers, but that's beside the point.” I wave my hand away as if dismissing what I just said. The boys are smiling at my rambling. I take a deep breath before proceeding with my word vomit. “Anyway, I am walking back to the house with my leftovers in one hand, books in the other, and this man walks out from a side road, scaring the crap out of me. The asshole made me drop my food to grab for a weapon. I wasn’t about to drop the books. The fork was in the same pocket as my knife, and I grabbed it by accident instead. Of course I doubled down like I meant to grab the fork. Pretty sure it made me seem crazier than a knife would have.”