Everything about this place screamed down to earth from the rounded tables to the wooden chairs and the decorations laid out. Even the people were dressed casually in jeans and hoodies and here Nathan and I were still in our work clothes. We stood out like sore thumbs.
Our food arrived within fifteen minutes and as I took a bite of the burger, I realized that Nathan was not lying. Their burgers are really good.
“This is really good.”
“I know.”
“Just take the compliment,” I said and he shrugged.
We went back to our silence and one thing I noticed as he ate was that he did not chew loudly. That was one of my biggest issues with Joseph, he chewed like a cow and that sound is one of my huge pet peeves but Nathan chews rather quietly.
“Have you ever been told that staring is rude?” he asked in a dry tone.
“Have you ever been told that you’re rude?”
“Not by anyone who mattered.”
I rolled my eyes at his response but effectively kept my eyes off him for the rest of the night.
When we finished, I wanted to pay but I realized I left my bag in the car. Before I could even blink, Nathan took out his card and paid for the meal. The waited handed him a plastic cup that I assume is filled with coffee. He thanked the guy and then gestured for me to leave with him.
“I could have paid; you didn’t have to.”
“A normal person would say thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome; that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
He got into the driver’s side and that was when it hit me. Nathan is with my car, I didn’t see his car in the parking lot of the office so that means he has no way of going home.
“How are you getting home?” I blurted out and he froze with the key in the ignition, “You don’t have your car. I don’t know where you live but I assume you don’t want to walk there.”
“I’ll call an Uber; this isn’t the Stone Age where people have to walk everywhere.”
“You could just get an Uber from here; I can drive myself.”
“Just shut up and close the door.”
I wasn’t expecting that response so I sat staring at him in shock. He didn’t want to ask again because he leaned over, shut the door for me and buckled my seat belt before starting the car.
“If I knew that telling you to shut up would work then I would have done it sooner.”
That snapped me out of whatever trance I was in, “You are so insufferable.”
“You’re welcome.”
This time, I kept my eyes on the road; partly because I needed to instruct him on how to get to my house and partly because I wanted to remember the way to this restaurant if I wanted to visit again.
I didn’t want to drive in silence so I turned on the radio and Taylor Swift started playing. Nathan looked at me with a raised brow and I dared him with my eyes to say something misogynistic about her or her music. He got the hint because he just shrugged and let the songs play.
The ride was over sooner than I thought and he parked the car in my driveway. Instead of getting out and calling his uber, he moved to the backseat and helped me grab my things.
“If you wanted a reason to come into my house; all you had to do was ask.” I teased.
“This is why I don’t do nice things for people.”
“Don’t worry; I won’t tell anyone that you’re secretly a nice guy.” He shook his head and I directed him to lay the things on my couch.
