She placed down her napkin on the table and shook her head. "What is wrong with you?" She asked him, shaking her head. A frown had destroyed her gorgeous face. "You literally cannot stop making everything be about you Lance? Oh my god, I thought you changed!"
"Elena, I want you to be honest with me." He mumbled. "Are you even in love with me?"
Elena couldn't find the words to put across after hearing his jaw-dropping question. From the way that he looked, any girl would have fallen for him so easily. He was the pride of Seattle back home and many eyes envied him, and many eyes envied Elena's position. This handsome guy from college was all about her, yet she was taking it as something lightly. Girls would have easily done anything to get laid by Lance. He was handsome and charming, noble and highborn all the same, fun and wild, rich in his pockets and sharp in the brains, and had a good public image. He seemed to have already figured out everything that he wanted in life and what girl wouldn't want a man with all that he comprised of?
She shook her head. "I'm not." She answered.
"I knew it!" Lance bit his lips and snuffed. "I knew it!"
She rolled her eyes in return, feeling fed up with his uncanny gesture. "Lance it's been a week since we started dating." She told him. "A week! We've only hung around for a weekend now you're acting like my... I even dunno what you're trying to act like. I know you have my best interests at heart but this attention is just too much." She sounded hurt. "Lance I come from a place you have never been and will never be. I just told you to give me some time..."
"Patience? You want me to be patient with you?"
"Yes! Is it too much to ask?" She snarled back at him, her voice now rising. She stopped and looked at the restaurant. Lucky enough, she hadn't caught the attention of anyone. She turned back to him, took his hand, and cupped it with both of hers. "Ethan waited for me for all these years. He had never kissed me, not even once, till the day he raped me! Can't you just try to copy him, if not doing anything at all?"
"Elena, I'm not Ethan. I don't know how to wait." Lance told her, shaking his head. "Elena we dated back in high school. I don't see why you can't just let us all slide back to where we were before he came and drew us apart? Is that so hard? I wasn't a stranger then, and I am not a stranger now. So why the wait?"
"Because Lance, it's me..." She raised her eyebrows slowly calming him down. "I'm not the other normal girls you've dated since we broke up. I'm not even sure we were practically dating! I'm not Rachel, I'm not Rispah, I'm not Chanel, Lucy, Shallon, Nypha, or that other time you concluded that girls were the problem so you decided to be gay and dated Mark for a day..."
"Okay, okay, okay... I get your endless list." Lance cut her short feeling embarrassed.
"I'm none of those of girls!" Elena told him sincerely. "I'm Elena Stenfield. And if you want me, you'll have to be patient with me." She swayed her hair back her head. "You told me that we would make this work. With or without Washington. With or without Ethan. And I'm up for that. Because Lance, this? Whatever we have between us, however little it is... I know it's real... I'm just telling you to be patient with me. That's all."
"Really?" Lance asked her, his voice so low, as he contemplated what Elena had just told him. Elena sighed, rose from her seat, and darted towards him on the other side of the table. She got herself on top of him, spreading her legs across as he was still seated. She cupped his chin and smiled widely at him, raising her eyebrows all the while. She gave him a long deep kiss that was filled with compassion if not remorse. She grabbed everyone's attention at the restaurant. Some mother covered the eyes of her young son as she watched on.
As she left his lips, he could hear how his heart was throbbing against his chest begging for some more action. She swayed her hair seductively as she looked at him, her dark eyes dancing around as she scoured at his face. He had brushed his hair sideways today, and she hadn't noticed that till she was that close to him.
"I'm not in love with you... yet." She told him. "But I'm willing to." She smiled at him. He sighed out aloud.
"You better get off me, people are watching," Lance told her, as he pushed back some loose strands of her hair. She could render the happiness in his warm voice. Lance helped her get off him immediately and she stood and finessed her dress. It seemed to be intact with no amounting creases whatsoever.
"I have to go now..." Elena told him. They were both standing. Lance heaved a big breath of cold air.
"So, may I accompany you to your taxi at least?" Lance asked her.
"No, I'm sorry." She told him. "You, my companion scout, need to relax. Take this day off and enjoy yourself. I'm coming back in the evening and I hope that you'd have had prepared my surprise by then."
"Go knock yourself out, Elena. Tell her I said 'hi.'"
"Her?"
"Yeah, your friend!"
"Oh yeah... I will." She answered nodding concurrently. Lance stepped closer to her. He scoured his eyes at her wild and lovely face and the eyes that were looking back at her. His eyes drifted to the lips that had just kissed him moments ago. He drew into her and embraced her in a hug, rather than a kiss from what Elena was expecting.
"Oh," Elena mumbled as she realized what had just happened.
"Goodbye, take care of yourself," Lance told her.
"I will." She answered as she released herself from his embrace. She started to walk away before Lance called her again.
"Elena..." She turned around and looked at him. His charming warm smile was all over his face. "Happy Birthday." She nodded in response and waved him goodbye.
She turned back and headed towards the exit of the restaurant. It didn't take time before she found a taxi just a few meters from it. She got in the rear seat and took out her handkerchief from her purse. Something small and bright was shimmering inside the purse and she closed it immediately avoiding its eye contact. She felt the tears that had started to come out again, and she found herself wiping them away instantly with her handkerchief.
"Um... Miss, is everything okay back there?" The driver asked.
"Oh, yeah... yeah. Sorry." She answered.
"Okay, so where would you like to go?" She took her phone and opened the Google maps and showed the location where she was intending to head. "Okay..." Were the only words the driver told her in return.