Saturday.
It seemed that the weather today was anything but friendly, from the State of Washington, to the little suburb towns of Utah. The cold was there, but not as much as it had been in the previous weeks. January was generally the coldest month of the year but summer seemed to have had its sneak peek during this season today.
Elena got out of the bathroom after taking a long-lasting 'quick' shower. She thought that she'd never be done in time to catch Lance by the restaurant outside for some early breakfast. She stylized her hair into this long wavy pattern that ended with some beautiful curls at their ends. Adding nothing but a lip gloss on her plump sexy red lips, she was done with the makeup that she had decided to wear on for that day. She wore a short falter dress that had patterns of beautiful arts of various colors around it that stretched up to her knees. Blue stilettos were all she had carried for 'serious outdoor looks' and so she wore them. And with the small dark blue purse by the bed that matched with her attire added on top, she was killing it. Thereafter, she added a designer cologne that she had purchased from Layla's company way back into the end of the previous year. No eyes and noses that she came across were going to avoid her. None of them!
She got out of the room, walked downstairs to the restaurant below. Immediately she got in, some eyes could really never look away from her. As if she was counting her steps once again, she traced her way to some raised hand in the midst of the tables and eyes that were looking back at her. Seating in one of the two chairs was none other than Lance Harper. He had a newspaper in his hand and the other one holding onto the small coffee cup by his side. A plate of done scrambled eggs was on his left and some slices of pizza on another.
"Good morning?" Lance greeted her, giving her a small peck on her cheek, almost hugging her in the process.
"Good morning soldier," Elena answered as she sat down.
"You look so beautiful, wow." He told her wallowing, eyebrows shot up.
"Thank you, Lance." Elena nodded. She noticed the plates. "You're having pizza for breakfast?" She chuckled. "Isn't that weird?"
"Who said so?" Lance chuckled in return.
"Society?" Elena shrugged.
"I don't care what the society thinks. Pizza is fun for breakfast!" He answered jokingly, though he was being serious.
"You love being weird, don't you?"
"I do... don't you?"
She shook her head. "We all love what we do, after all," Elena answered once again.
"I love being weird, normal is just overrated." He responded immediately. Some waitress stopped by and Elena placed her order. Tacos, pancakes with syrup, and mango juice to wash it all down.
"So, where are you going?" Lanced asked her.
"Somewhere north of here. I can't quite remember all these towns you know. It's been a long time." Elena answered and she put something in her mouth and drank the mango juice by her side. She couldn't help herself but get another bite off the delicacy as Lance watched on, chuckling.
"What?" Elena asked, wiping her lips with a serviette.
"Damn you're so hungry."
"I'm hungry?" She laughed. "You're the one who ordered pizza for breakfast."
"But Elena, that's not being hungry." Lance cried out. "That's being weird. Not hungry... weird."
"Okay... okay." Elena laughed along. "You have won one on me."
"Can't I come with you really?" Lance asked her. "I thought we were going to enjoy this little adventure of ours together?"
"No. Just this once, please." Elena confronted him. "After I'm done trust me, we will have all the time together."
"Are you spending the night there? At your friend's home?" Lance asked her later on. Elena had almost finished all her food in a space of five minutes, or less. She looked really hungry.
"No, no, no." She shook her head. "I'll be coming back at the end of the day. It's my birthday and you told me that you had a surprise for me." She took another bite. "There's no way I'm going to miss that." She smiled.
"Yes, yes, yes..." Lance nodded in agreement. He scoured his eyes at the restaurant and noticed some girls looking at him seductively. He rolled his eyes mentally and returned his focus back to Elena.
"I can't really imagine that your mom didn't snap at me when I came to visit you earlier this week," Lance told her, taking a sip of his coffee in the end.
"Snap?" Elena shrieked. "Why?"
"The day that Ethan, you know... when I had come to his house to try and save you..." Elena coughed. Lance noticed her distress. "Or maybe I shouldn't talk about that now..."
"No, no... it's okay." Elena told him. "Go on..." She tried to sound brave.
"Are you really okay with that? I don't want to be too disrespectful Elena."
"No, no... Come on... fill me in." Elena shrugged. "Trust me, I'm okay with that."
"If you say so then..." Lance cohered. "Okay after they had taken you to the hospital, I bumped into your mom. She was so mad at me for having landed you in that situation. Elena, she slapped me!"
She almost choked on her juice as she laughed at him. "Wow... really?" She wiped her mouth again. "I didn't know that."
"I mean yeah, she did." Lance seconded his earlier statement. "She was so mad with me, I thought that she wouldn't allow me to get into your house let alone talk to you that day."
"Maybe it was after the trial that she had some change of heart. After you had testified in my defense, you know. Who knows what? Maybe she sees you as the son she never had..."
"What?" Lance laughed out loud.
"She always preferred me to be with you, instead of Ethan," Elena answered.
"No way. You're just screwing with me. When was this? Before or after the case?"
"Both. For all, I know since she first knew you." Elena clucked her tongue. "Someone's got a secret admirer..." She stressed, teasing him.
"You're just joking," Lance told her. "Thee one and only Mrs. Stenfield. Like me if anything?"
"Hey, hey... I'm just saying."
"Nice joke." Lance shook his head. "Your mom wouldn't allow any boy except Ethan close to you. I mean even on your birthdays I was more of an extra, you know. And of your father. Let me not start on that one." He sipped his coffee again.
"That's what you get for having only girls as your children," Elena told him, smirking in the end. "You would want to protect them at all costs."
"So I'm expensive?" Lance joked. "It took some time and courage before Ethan managed to even sit in your home for dinner. Your dad was so hard on both of us. And I felt like he hated me all along. He's never really liked my presence whatsoever."
"They're parents. It's their job to be hard on boys knocking on their daughters." Elena finished the last sip of her juice. She wiped her mouth. "From the way it took a lot for Mr. Stenfield to put you far from me, yes, I can say you were expensive."
"So now that Ethan is gone, they're all looking at me as the second option..."
"No they're not." Elena shook her head.
"I know you are..." Lance sounded cold. Elena raised her brows.
"Really?" She asked in a toned voice. Her charisma disappeared immediately. Lance shrugged and took another sip of the coffee.
"Okay, what do you want me to say Elena... that you're in love with me?" Lance blurted at her.