Stay still, my beating heart! Why has thou decided to trouble me thus? I placed a hand over my heart, ordering it to maintain it's calm in a Shakespeare kind of language. But that particular area of my body chose to defy my order as its beating sped up erratically. I tried so hard to keep my cool as I walked up to him. He hung up as I reached him and smiled again, making my insides feel like jelly. Why did he affect me this way?
"I hope you had a great day?" was his question as he touched my elbow—sending an electric and foreign kind of sensation down my spine—to lead me to the passenger side of his ride. I studied the car, hoping I could recognize it but failed to do so, before entering and fastening my seatbelt while waiting for him to walk over to his side of the car. Through the windshield, I reviewed his appearance, noting that he had heeded my advice and dressed casually. His jean jacket matched mine in that anyone who saw us would think we were a couple displaying affection by wearing matching clothes. He ultimately got into the car, fastened his seatbelt and looked at me. I felt my cheeks go hot just by his mere gaze.
"So..." He said, still staring at me.
"So...?" I repeated, mine in form of a question, having no idea what he was going to say.
"I'm waiting for you to give me the direction of where we're to dine tonight. It's your treat, remember?" I mentally threw myself out the window. Of course he didn't know where we were going, that was why he didn't start the car. But silly me thought otherwise.
"Oh, sorry! It's not far from here. Just go straight ahead until I tell you where to turn." I answered as he turned on the ignition and the car roared to life. This car was truly luxury in it's priciest form. It was a convertible and the interior part was more like a living room than a car. Everything from the dashboard to the buttons, brakes, steering wheel to the backseats screamed lots of money. I clasped my purse in fear that if I touched anything, it would break and I would owe him a debt I'd spend the rest of my life trying to pay.
"Are you okay this way or do you want the car roofless?" he was asking if I wanted the roof folded out. That sounded more appealing but would be rather enjoyable in the daytime, preferably noon when the sun was out and one wanted the afternoon air blowing one's hair and the music from the car adding more effect that would give this different definition of inner peace and joy.
"This is fine. Probably next time." he turned to face me after hearing my comment and I looked away and groaned, understanding what I had said. 'Probably next time'? That insinuated I wanted us to hang out again. Could this be counted as being flirty? Sheesh!
We rode silently, only making conversation when he wanted to know where to turn to in the busy streets of the city. I directed him as coolly as I could until we got to our destination then I asked him to park the car so we could alight. He seemed puzzled as the area was pretty loud and full of people especially roadside sellers. There! You see? I knew he had never experienced something like this so bringing him here was a good idea, wasn't it?
We unlighted the car and I asked him to join me in crossing the road so we could head to our dinner spot. Judging from the look of things, I was right. He had never been to this part of the City before. He kept looking around like a tourist in a foreign land.
"You've never been here before, have you?" I asked out of the blue. He shook his head, still feeding his eyes with the environment.
"It's a great place. Come on, you're gonna love it." Instinctively, I grabbed his hand and pulled him—doing well to ignore the little butterflies in my tummy—across the street to join a queue of people waiting to order their favorite Hunchos. Hunchos, a popular dish in this part of town was a thickly rolled dough which was baked and customers decided what toppings to add to it. Be it; sauce and sliced grilled chicken, sauce and mashed fried plantain, sauce and baked potatoes with grilled fish, sauce or mayonnaise and vegetables for vegans. Basically, you could have it with anything. It reminded me of pizza but the difference was these toppings weren't baked with the dough. Only the dough was baked!
It was one of my favorite meals for dinner. The owner, José Hunchos, was my friend before he passed away two years ago and his first son, Miguel, took over the business. We still maintained close relationship though not as profound as that which I had with his father. However, I was always discounted whenever I came or during home deliveries. We waited until it was our turn to order. I got my special sauce with sliced grilled chicken toppings and waited for Chiké to make his order. He still had no idea what to do so I ordered the same thing for him. Later, we went to find a suitable place to sit out under the night sky that sufficed as an amazing canopy filled with stars as light while we waited to be served. Twenty feet away, a Spanish live band blessed us with some amazing songs in Spanish, French and English. Settling down, I sighed, finding comfort in where I was.
I observed my partner for the evening, wondering what he was thinking as he looked around yet again like a foreigner.
"Do you like being here? If you don't, we could go somewhere else?" I inquired, even though I didn't know where else I could get cheap but good food around. The other restaurants sold hamburgers, hot dogs and other greasy food I considered unhealthy at this time of the day.
"Well, I was hoping we would be dining somewhere more quiet but I like it here. We don't have to leave." I heaved a sigh of relief. Just then the waiter came with our food and I almost drooled at the sight of fluffy hot Hunchos. I had to stop myself from reaching out and shoving them all into my mouth. Instead, I waited for it to be placed on our table, said a little prayer and cut out a tiny bite, relishing in it's familiar taste.
"Can I get you anything to drink?" asked the waiter and I nodded, to Chiké, I asked "Would you like a Smirnoff? It's the perfect combo."
"No, no alcohol." He answered at the same breath at which I asked the question. I was a bit shocked by how fast he rejected alcohol.
"All right. What about a soft drink, is there any you fancy?" I asked. Maybe he was a soda kind of guy.
"Water is fine. Just water." He replied. I scrutinized him, wondering why he wanted just water but then, water was the healthiest drink so I decided to order that as well.
"Two bottled water please." I told the waiter who nodded and left.
"You didn't have to choose what I got. You could have taken the liquor you wanted." Chiké said, seconds after the waiter left.
I shrugged and said "I'm not a fan of alcohol. I only take it when making toasts in parties that's all. I just knew about Smirnoff because it's what majority of people order with their hunchos." I gestured around us and in deed, there were cans of Smirnoff on almost all tables. "I don't know about you, but I am famished. Let's eat, shall we?"
Despite my hunger, I waited for him to have a taste so I could gauge his reaction. He chewed on it and had this faraway look that one had when trying to detect the taste of one's food. When he swallowed, he commented on how different and great the taste was and took another bite. Soon, he was munching his food like he was starving. I smiled and dug into mine. We ate in comfortable silence, sometimes nodding our heads to the fantabulous music from the live band.
This was one reason I loved José Hunchos' Restaurant. It was always lively yet serene. The night sky and lightbulbs which ornamented the place made it more magical. Our water came with our bottled water and two glass cups. We helped ourselves and guzzled it to keep the peppery taste of the sauce at bay. The food was often served on a small, medium and large scale. I had ordered the medium size which was more than enough to satisfy two people while Chiké got the small size. Rich people and eating in small portions, Meh!
"This is the tastiest meal I've eaten all week." Chiké bragged about his food while licking his fingers after clearing his plate. He took a sip of his water and gurgled it down, I was sure he did that to quell the effect of hot spices. I grabbed a table napkin and wiped my hands with it, satisfied and content with my entire dinner tonight.
"For real? That's amazing. Maybe you can actually become a regular here now?" I just hoped I wasn't sounding like I wanted to see him again badly—though I wanted to—but that I was glad I introduced him to this excellent restaurant.
"Sure. I'd like to try the toppings. Nevertheless, I heard how much one enjoys a particular meal is courtesy of who one eats with. I enjoyed the meal thanks to you so If you don't mind, could you accompany me here next time?" Wow, I never expected him to agree to us seeing again. I found myself nodding like an agama.
"I would love that." I finally replied with a grin. We stayed still, smiling and staring at each other. Maybe it was just my imagination speaking but there were sparks all over the place and between us. I cleared my throat to get a grip while waiting for him to speak up.
"Now that we're done eating, could we talk?" the tone of his voice reflected his need for us to have a tête-à-tête. I was well aware that we couldn't have a conversation here where the music had gone slightly louder than before. Therefore, I stood up and motioned for him to follow suit. At his perplexity, I answered his unspoken question.
"Let's take a stroll while we talk, okay?" I explained and he agreed. I went over to the payment booth to sort out bills, leaving a ten dollar tip while he left to his car. When I got to him, I found him right about hanging up his call. Twice now, he had received phone calls, even during dinner, I saw him silencing his phone when it rang incessantly. No doubt, he was a busy man.
"I just called my driver, he'll be here to take care of the car and come pick me up when we're both done talking." He explained after walking towards me and coming to a stop beside me.
"Grand idea!" I exclaimed, addressing him with a thumbs up, earning a wry smile from him. We strolled alongside each other into the night. The night had become chilly and I was grateful for my denim jacket which I hugged around me.
"You know you didn't have to pay for dinner tonight." he commented. I guessed that was his way of saying thank you for dinner. Men and their egos!
"It was my treat, remember?" I stated, boastfully reminding him.
"Yeah, yeah. You know, you've earned yourself a lifetime of free meals anytime we both hangout. Paying for tonight was your ticket." I chuckled at his somewhat joke yet true decision. I didn't mind, as long as I got to spend more time with him.
Oops! I hoped I didn't say that out loud? I peered at him in relief in realization that I hadn't confessed my latter thought. In order to keep the conversation going, I asked,
"So why don't you take alcohol? Is there a specific reason?" and waited for him to answer me. But when two minutes had gone and he hadn't said anything, I grew petrified that I had asked a terrible question. I just hoped that at least I didn't ruin the chance of us hanging out again.
Samira, don't you dare start liking this man before you get hurt, he is way out of your league! Right then, I chose to listen to my subconscious.