It was cute and made me want to kiss her. I almost did until I heard a throat clearing and remembered her family was in the room.
Backing up, I pointed towards the door. "Come on, we have a day of getting to know each other and fun adventure ahead of us."
She nodded, her smile lighting up the room.
"You be good, now," Her sister purred.
"I want her back by ten, or it will be your head on a platter," The father chimed in, back to being the big bad wolf again.
I didn't really know what to make of the man. One moment he was a happy, doting father playing tough, the next he was a trained investigator, and then back again. Regardless, he seemed to care a great deal about his daughters.
I jogged ahead of her to open the passenger door and helped her in. Hopping into my own side and buckling up, I began the trek of the first destination: a cozy family diner in the next town over. I had been there several times in the past and thought it would be a good place to get a decent meal before I took her to the date location Percy had suggested.
"Please tell me my family didn't embarrass you.” She said a few minutes into the drive.
"Your father interrogated me like a trained professional,” I chuckled. Then I got a little curious and asked, “Was he a cop at some point?"
"No, he's been a fisherman all his life," she said.
"Well, he certainly would have made a good one.” I replied.
It took about a half hour to reach our destination. The whole way, we played twenty questions. I found out she loved mac and cheese and was afraid of spiders. So scared of them, in fact, that she refused to buy bananas from the store because she was terrified of being attacked by a banana spider. I told her about my forbidden love of all things cake, and how my mom would have to hide any sweets she bought because my father and I would eat them all. I told her about my hatred for jellybeans. She told me about how she always wished she owned a bunny rabbit, because they were adorable and their intelligence was wholly underestimated.
I kept the fact that I had a rabbit to myself, thinking it would make for a great second date. She would be so excited meeting Rocket and his cute fluffy butt.
She wasn't wrong about them being intelligent. That little dick could get out of any cage we put him in, somehow opening the latches or locks to let himself out and paying us back by leaving small poop pellets on our beds. We eventually stopped trying and now the little eight-pound white menace ruled the house. He loved to cuddle up in anyone’s lap and watch TV with them, so that made up for it.
The diner was well packed for a Saturday afternoon. Luckily, we were seated quickly. The menu was extensive, but I knew exactly what I wanted. I ordered the fried fish sandwich while she ordered fried chicken and waffles.
"You really like fish, don't you?" she asked, once the waitress walked away.
"I guess I do."
"You've had a tuna sandwich for lunch every day this week,” She pointed out.
I pouted. "Its super easy to make in the morning.”
She nodded conceding my excuse, but she still looked a tad suspicious. I left my water bottle in the car for this exact reason, making sure to chug as much of the salty liquid as I could before knocking on her door. Again, I waited too long before quenching my need to be in the ocean. My skin was beginning to crawl and dry out in spots. I really hated this need.
Our food arrived, and we ate in contented silence. She seemed to share my habit of Stuffing as much food as she could into her mouth, only coming up for air a couple of times.
Halfway through the meal, we both leaned back in the red pleather bench seats and took a breath. We broke into laughter when we realized our mirrored actions. It was nice to let go a little around her knowing that she should have gotten used to my voice by now and it shouldn't affect her anymore.
"I'm glad you're not a stick eater,” I said.
"A stick eater? What the heck is that?” She snorted.
I waved my hand. “You know, those girls who will only eat salad and then pick at their food the whole time claiming they’re full or on some sort of diet."
"I love food too much to torture myself like that,” She looked down at her stomach. “Though I do think I need to shed a few pounds."
I shot her a glare. "You look fine. I'd actually say you need to gain rather than lose."
Now that she was wearing form-fitting clothes it was a little concerning to see how skinny she was. Especially with how much I knew she ate.
My train of thought came to a screeching halt, and realization washed over me. I hadn't seen her bring lunch at all that week. I brushed it off when she kept saying that she would eat it in her study period, yet in the last few days, Hip had been bringing and sharing his lunch with her. I thought she would eat it out of kindness, but she would scarf that down like someone who was starving. She wasn't eating her lunch beforehand because she didn't have any.
God, I was such an idiot.
I vowed to myself that I would start paying attention to this girl more. But I was also burning with the curiosity of why she wasn't bringing lunch.
"Atalanta…how badly is your family struggling?” I asked trying to keep my voice low and nonthreatening.
She began to fidget with the sleeves of her shirt.
Not meeting my eyes and with a small voice she said, "We get by."
"Is there anything I can help with, maybe?”
She shook her head vigorously. "No, Jason, please no. We are fine, seriously. Money gets a little tight sometimes, but we all got paid this week so… yeah."
I was making her extremely uncomfortable with this line of questioning as her eyes were beginning to look like a deer in headlights and she nervously kept tugging at her sleeves. So, against my better judgment, I changed the subject.
"Hip mentioned you were a real athlete?"
The tension in her shoulders broke as she began to tell me about her experience on one of her school's track team. It was a surprise to see that we shared a similar love for that rush, despite our sports literally being polar opposites of land and water. That moment when you're totally in the zone, and it feels like you’re flying, the world is whizzing past you, and nothing else matters in those seconds but pushing your body to the fullest.
It seemed she liked the competition side more than me though. I had an unfair advantage that most people didn't, so there was never that drive to always win when I knew I would likely always come in first.
When we finished our lunch and I paid the check, I held out my hand for her to take. Without hesitation, she slipped her small hand into mine. It was a lot warmer than I was expecting and extremely soft.
I felt a surge of contentment holding that hand and for a few moments as we walked out of the dinner and watched as the snow slowly drift from the sky, I thought to myself that I could be happy holding this hand for a very long time. It was over all too quickly when I helped her into the car.
Ten minutes later we arrived at the lake. The parking lot was packed, and people were walking back and forth from their cars or chilling on tailgates. There was a food truck at one end of the parking lot opposite the bathrooms.
Hopping out of the car, I rushed to open her door. Getting out, she looked around curiously, taking everything in.
"Where are we?” She asked.
I smiled. “Why, only the best ice-skating park in the whole world."
"Ice skating?" She asked, her face lighting up with excitement before morphing into a confused frown. "But wait, we’re outside?”
I couldn’t help but start laughing. What kind of person only ever skated indoors?