"Love you, too." Imelda replied to herself in her mother's absence as she held on to the coffee cup, inhaled the fresh smell of it and sipped it slowly.
About an hour and a half since Eugenia had gone to work, Imelda was already out of the bathroom, she picked an outfit, a Billie Eilish themed short sleeve t-shirt and matched it with black biker shorts and stepped out of the house with her airpods in her ears, and she was headed to nowhere in particular.
After gallivanting and a couple wrong turns and missed junctions, Rogers' was finally in front of her. She had an outburst of delight upon her success to finding this place which held great sentimental value to her.
Rogers' was a diner, and for most of her teenage years, here in LA, it was her home away from home. Growing up with Eugenia wasn't always easy for Imelda. Since her mum was divorced and she was a working nurse who took on a whole lot of long hours, she didn't see her mum much except during the weekends.
Rogers' was very accommodating of Imelda, and she remembered the many nights she'd sleep off at a table in the diner, and then when they were about to close for the day, Rogers himself, who was quite the old man, would wake her up and drive her home.
While Imelda neared the entrance of Rogers' diner, she wondered if he was still alive, or if he'd even remember her. She entered anyway, and to her pleasant dismay, this place was pretty, far more evolved in state-of-the-art designs than she'd left it.
After a while of looking around like she was in wonderland, she felt as though she was being looked at weirdly by those surrounding her, so she quickly called herself to order and headed to the counter to place her order.
For Imelda, it was an habit to place her order without paying much attention to the person behind the counter for some reasons only she knew, so she bent her head towards the table at the counter while she spoke.
"I'll be having a doughnut and one choco-vanilla milkshake, please" Imelda said in her tiny, cute voice to which no one replied.
That was strange. She was certain that she met someone at the other side of the counter who was to take her order. "Why wasn't he saying anything?"
"mmmmm…" Imelda buzzed to herself, hoping to get a response or anything, but this attempt failed yet again, so she lifted up her head slowly and she was freaked out by what she saw. Whoever the person at the counter was, he sure wanted her to have an hypertension and die as he leaned with his elbow on the edge of the counter, with his chin on his palms and wearing no particular expression she could easily decipher.
"AAHHHHH!!" Imelda screamed without caution or concern about the dozen people seated as she let that sound in this freaked –out episode while she stepped away from the counter quickly.
She was panting so fast like she'd really been visited by some metaphysical figure or something and every other person in the diner could only just watch whatever drama she was dishing out for free with little shock or fear on their faces.
"Wait. Imelda?" A slightly deep and attractive masculine voice said from her front, right beside the horror show at the counter.
"Stop freaking people out, Chris, will ya?" The guy said as he walked away from the other person at the counter.
Imelda looked up towards his face; handsome, well-carved jaws, perfectly coloured stubbles, evenly shaped hair and a perfectly fitting dimple at the edge of his beaming smile, and all these were more than enough reasons for her to smile back at a stranger who knew her.
"Hey, I'm sorry he startled you. That's just Chris." The guy said to her face, being just a foot and a few inches away from her.
"I'm sorry. I feel I should know you, but I don't." Imelda said with all courtesy and a slender smile.
"Oh, really, that stings. Has it been that long? I'm Jaden, Rogers' grandson." Jaden said slowly, and awkwardly.
"Jaden? No, you're joking. What??" Imelda said as she let out a ridiculous laugh that once again garnered attention from the people seated.
In order to save her from these constant episodes of embarrassment and weird glares, Jaden nodded his head and led her outside, towards the side of the building where no one was at.
Imelda couldn't hide her surprise as she looked at his face a little too many times and hugged him tightly.
"My God. Look at you. You're so manly and handsome, and thick now, man." She said as she took her hands off him.
"I can say the same for you, and not manly, but you're so pretty and your smile is bewitching. I'm really glad we meet again, you know?"
"Yeah, I am, too. What brings you back to LA? You left for Massachusetts, right?" Imelda asked with all curiousity and an open ear.
"Yeah, I finished my degree and I decided to come back home for a while, and I don't know, I just feel at home and so happy here, so I've been here ever since." Jaden replied.
"Whoa. That's really good, Jaden. It really is. I'm here for some sort of much needed break from everything." Imelda replied with an expression that turned a little sour, despite how hard she tried to hide it.
"You know what? You're definitely gonna have that break, and it's gonna be awesome. Get your play and fun pants ready. I'll be your guy for all of it." Jaden said with an innocent smile that was irresistible to not reciprocate.
"Let me have your phone, so I can punch in my number" Jaden added.