AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I, uhm…”
Pulling out a sleek black credit card, Rico puts it down on the table in front of the waiter. His gaze hardens as he repeats, “One. Of. Each.”
“Y-yes, of course. Sir.” His gaze darts to me. “Ma’am. One of each. Coming right up.”
Once he has scrambled away, Rico leans back against the padded backrest and gives me a smile that knocks the breath right out of my lungs. After sliding his hands casually into his pockets, he shrugs.
“Since you don’t know what you like, I figured it’s best to just try everything.” He smiles again. That real, genuine smile that makes his eyes glitter like golden sparkles. “Until you find your favorites.”
I almost burst into tears.
I have never thought about what I like or dislike before. Everything I have ever done has been in the service of a mission someone else has decided for me. I don’t know what kind of food I like, because what I personally prefer to put in my mouth has always been irrelevant. I don’t have a favorite style of clothes, because I wear whatever the mission requires me to wear. Hell, I don’t even have a favorite color.
Because it doesn’t matter.
I’m a ghost.
A collection of fake people who don’t exist.
No one has ever bothered to ask me what I like or dislike. Because I’m not a real person.
And yet, here is Rico, a ruthless mafia prince and the man who should hate me more than anything, ordering everything off the menu just so that I can try it all and figure out what kind of toppings I like on my waffles.
No one has ever done something like that for me before.
“Thank you,” I press out. It comes out sounding thick and choked.
Rico looks startled by that. Sliding his hands out of his pockets again, he sits forward and opens his mouth, and I can feel him getting ready to ask me questions that I don’t want to answer. But then he pauses, as if changing his mind.
Leaning back against the backrest once more, he instead gives me an easy smile and replies, “Anytime. After all, knowing your preferred waffle toppings is crucial to surviving three years at Blackwater. I know you won’t believe me, but Professor Lawson always puts that as the hundred-point question on her final exams.”
A relieved laugh rips from my throat. The tension eases out of my shoulders as I slouch back in my seat as well and flash him a smirk. “Well then, I will make sure to repay you, with interest, when I ace her test.”
“You’d better. I don’t share my waffles secrets with just anyone.”
I laugh again, though I can’t help but feel like there was some truth to that last part.
However, I don’t acknowledge it. And neither does he. Right now, we seem to be in this strange place where we don’t outright lie to each other anymore. But we don’t tell the whole truth either. And because of who we are, I suppose that is as good as we will ever get.
When the waiter, or ratherwaiters, arrive with our food, they end up having to drag over another table in order to fit all of my toppings on it.
I try it all. Every single flavor of ice cream and every type of topping. I try it all in different combinations. And it’s so damn good.
When I combine some strawberries and chocolate along with a bit of pear-flavored ice cream, it tastes so good that I just close my eyes and moan. It feels as if my soul floated away from my body for a moment.
Then I mix another few toppings and try that too.
Rico watches me from across the table while he eats his own, much more organized, waffles. A smile plays over his mouth the whole time, but he says nothing. I don’t either. Except to tell him what I think about different topping combinations.
We can’t be honest with each other anyway. And neither of us seems to want to spoil the wonderful mood by spouting meaningless lies just for the sake of talking.
So we sit there and eat our waffles.
And during the entire meal, I feel like my whole soul is thrumming with energy.
I thought having sex with Rico, just because I wanted to and not because it was required of me, made me feel alive. And it does.
But this, right here, just sitting here and eating waffles with him, might be the most real I have ever felt.
