Page 33 of When Love Becomes A Need
I finished looking over my calendar and went to my messages. A few people were texting me about appointments.
After responding to them, I put my phone back into my pocket. Business was really booming, and it seemed like it was only getting bigger. Word of mouth was a good thing. A lot of my recent push of customers was from people recommending my shop and me.
I looked up, growing impatient. My stomach was touching my back and I was about to say fuck it and go grab something else until someone caught my eye.
Bypassing the hostess stand, I walked deeper into the restaurant.
“Eating alone?” I looked down at Fatima, who was texting a message on her phone. She looked pissed off. Her pretty little face was balled up and her fingers weremoving a mile a minute.
Looking up, she looked surprised to see me standing there. I grabbed theemptychair across from her. “You mind?”
She shook her head. “Don’t look like anyone else is going to occupy it.”
I pulled the seat out and sat down. Sitting across from her, I took a moment to look at her. It was obvious she was out on a date or was supposed to be out on one, which lowkey had me feeling some type of way.
She had her hair twisted in the front and pulled into a natural ponytail in the back. She wore minimal jewelry, silver hoop earrings in the first hole and diamond studs in her second. She wore a diamond necklace around her neck.
Fatima had on a nude color top that cut low but not in a trashy way. I looked to the side and saw she had on some black shorts. My eyes went back to her face. Her glossy lips were pouted up. I could see from her eyes she was irritated but she was staring at me curiously.
“What are you doing here?”
“I just got off and came to grab something to eat. What about you? Date?”
She rolled her eyes and placed her phone on the table. “No, not really. I was supposed to meet someone, but as you can see, that didn’t happen.” She shook her head. Her phone vibrated on the table. Both of our eyes cut to it.
“You need to get that?”
She released a heavy sigh and shook her head. “Nope.” Grabbing the phone, she turned and put it in her purse on the back of her chair. A sense of relief went through me, knowing that she had no interest in responding to whoever was hitting her up. I assumed it was whoever stood her up.
The server came over. “Oh, I see your date is here. Can I get you something to drink?” she asked me, smiling.
Fatima was about to speak, but I cut her off. “Water, and bring out your favorite wine, white though.”
“Bottle or glass?”
“Bottle.”
The waitress smiled. “Will do.” She turned and walkedoff.
“What was that for?” Fatima asked me, looking around the restaurant. It was busy right now.
“We're both hungry. It’s obvious whoever you were waiting for isn’t coming, and I don’t have any plans after this besides heading to the crib, so I figured we could eat together. That cool with you?”
She lowered her head, trying to hide her smile. “Yeah, uh, that’s fine.”
I smirked and nodded. “Good.”
I grabbed the menu and scanned it. A few times, I glanced up and saw Fatima smiling. That made me happy. A few seconds ago, she looked upset and annoyed, but now she seemed happy.
The server came back with our wine and my water.
“You two ready to order?”
“You go first, pretty girl.”
Fatima blushed.
After she gave her order, I gave mine. The server took our menus and left us alone.
