It's been a few days since I started working at the cafe. I'm out of training now and taking tables on my own, which is so refreshing.
I feel like another weight has been taken off of my shoulders- I feel more free.
Harry has been really supportive, and less overbearing. I still call him often at work, but not every hour.
I met a few more awesome people that work here. They're all super kind and helpful, and I can already tell that this place is going to feel like a second home to me.
Harry hasn't lost the insane amount of affection he has been showing me lately, and now that I'm not with him 24/7, it actually feels good.
It feels nice to know that he wants to be around me and that he wants to show affection.
He actually insisted that we go out on a date every week, just to get out of the house. I was surprised by the gesture, but I'm actually really excited because we're going out tonight.
I'm trying not to dress super fancy tonight, but I still want to look good.
I pick out a pair of black high waisted jeans along with a form-fitting ribbed black crop top. I straighten my hair and put on a bit of makeup before I decide that I'm ready.
I meet Harry downstairs, and he's wearing a black shirt with black jeans and a black trench coat draped over it all.
"God, we look like we're in a cult." I laugh, and he looks at me as I'm taking the last step off of the stairs.
"Are we not?" He jokes and steps towards me before putting his hand out to interlock with mine, "You look lovely, by the way. But you always do."
"I know." I wink at him, making him laugh as we walk out the door and into the car.
He opens my door for me, closing it behind me before getting in the driver's seat.
We drive into town, making small talk as Harry pulls up to a restaurant called The Candlelight.
"Harry, I'm not dressed fancy enough for this." I argue, seeing how beautiful the restaurant is, along with everyone who is walking inside.
"Who cares?" He says as he parks the car and takes off his seatbelt.
"I care! I look like I'm about to go to a strip club, not a 5-star restaurant!" I argue, and stay seated as he gets out of the car. He walks around and opens my door, reaching over me to unbuckle my seatbelt.
"We could go to a strip club instead, if that's what you want." He shrugs, stepping back and reaching out for my hand.
"Ha-ha." I say with a straight face as I take his hand.
He leads me towards the entrance and I only feel more insecure as I see how the servers are dressed.
"I look insane."
"We look insane." He corrects me and opens the door for me, following in after me.
"No, you look like a god because you always look like you're getting ready to meet John fucking Lennon." I roll my eyes and take his hand in mine while we wait to be seated.
"John Lennon is dead." He laughs quietly.
"I know." I look at him sideways.
I smile as the host comes back to the podium, grabbing menus for us and telling us to follow her to the table.
"Your server will be right with you." She smiles.
"Okay, thank you." Harry says as she walks away.
We open the menus and begin searching for something that sounds appealing.
"The human eye can see a candlelight from a mile away," Harry reads the print at the top of the menu, "no way is that true."
I look up from the menu and pull my eyebrows together, "It's definitely true, Harry." I correct him and look back down at the menu.
"But that's so far away. I don't see it being true at all. You're crazy."
"It's far away?" I ask.
"Yeah. Name one thing you've seen that's that far away." He tests me.
"So um- stars?" I say, feeling like it should be obvious.
Harry's face drops as he starts to think about what I just said, "Oh." He says quietly and I burst out laughing.
"Are you sure you're not a natural blonde, babe?" I say through the laughter coming out of me.
He pulls his eyebrows together and pushes out his bottom lip in a pout, "Don't make fun of me."
"But it's so funny." I say with my laughs finally dying down. I wipe the tears from under my eyes that escaped during my hysteria, and look back down at the menu to decide.
The server comes up to us, a young, pretty girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She greets both of us politely, but keeps her focus on Harry.
"What's good here?" Harry asks her.
"What isn't good here?" She giggles and Harry smiles back at her, but I keep a straight face, "We actually have really good steak here. Ribeye, T-bone, whatever really." She suggests.
We order our drinks first and she leaves to get them while we decide on what we want.
Harry decides to go with her suggestion of a steak, but I decide on one of the many pastas they have here.
"I'll have that out as soon as possible." She smiles at Harry, touching his arm as she walks away.
I glare at the back of her head as I watch her walk towards the back to put in the order.
"Damn, if looks could kill." Harry laughs, and I shift my eyes to him.
"If only." I mumble, feeling slightly embarrassed that he saw me, as well as the fact that I'm actually jealous.
I have no reason to be, but for some reason, she makes my blood boil when she talks to Harry.
I know she's doing her job, but it's the fact that she's not paying attention to me, and the fucking arm touch.
But I'm calm. I'm cool. I'm collected.
"Babe," Harry says, snapping me out of my thoughts, "do you really think she has anything on you?" He raises an eyebrow at me as he reaches across the table and grabs my hand.
"I'm not self conscious. I just don't want her grubby hands on you. That's a nice jacket." I shrug, trying to play it off.
"Okay." He laughs and rolls his eyes.
"What?" I ask, referring to the tone he used along with the eyeroll.
"You're cute." He smiles, showing his dimples that I absolutely adore. I feel my cheeks heat up at his comment, and I don't know why his words still have that affect on me. I've lived with him for a few months now, and he still makes me feel nervous every time I see him.
The blonde comes back with our food, placing it in front of us and we thank her. She places her hand on Harry's shoulder, "Anything else I can get for you, babe?"
I'm easy going, I'm easy going.
"Actually," I speak up.
Shit. I'm not easy going.
"Do you have any extra napkins? There seems to be something on his jacket. It's like right on his shoulder." I point to her hand.
She slowly moves her hand away, and looks at where it was placed before, "I don't see anything." She says coldly.
"Oh look at that, it's gone. No need for those napkins, I guess. Thank you, that's all." I smile at her and she sighs out an annoyed breath before turning around.
I start eating my pasta, dancing slightly in my seat because I'm happy to finally be eating. I stop with a cheek full of food when I see Harry staring at me.
"What?" I say through the alfredo sauce in my mouth.
"You're too much." He laughs lightly, shaking his head as he starts to cut his steak.
"Oh that was nothing," I say after I've swallowed the bite, "there's two knives on the table, and I didn't use either of those." Harry pauses his hands and looks up at me with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. He shakes his head once again, looking down at his food.
"So you're allowed to make killing jokes, but I'm not? The score is one to like- a lot." I say, referring to the joke Harry made about killing me when we first met.
That feels like it was ages ago.
Harry holds back a laugh, rolling his lips into his mouth to fight a smile, "Just eat your food."
We finish up with dinner and the blonde brings the check over to us, thanking us and not even looking at Harry this time.
Hell yeah, I'm scary.
Harry and I leave the restaurant and head back to the house, completely exhausted. We immediately head upstairs and change into more comfortable clothes before we crash down onto the bed. Harry pulls me close to him, wrapping his body around me as we both fall asleep.
.....
I opened at work today for the first time, and I'm slightly nervous because that means I'll be there by myself for the first few hours, not counting the cook.
Cal helped me a bit with opening up front, showing me as much as he knew from just observing. I appreciated the gesture, especially since the cooks kinda scare me.
They're just back there, all quiet and mysyerious. It's weird.
It's a Monday, so there's not many people here this morning.
Cal made some food for me to try, so we've just been sitting in the back munching on stuff.
I guess that's a downside to this job- without tables, there's no tips. So if it's slow, I make close to nothing.
At least I get free food, cause this is fucking delicious.
"How long have you worked here?" I ask while sitting on the floor of the restaurant.
I know it's dirty, but there's nowhere else to sit and I don't want to sit on the counter.
"About two years." He answers.
Cal looks like he's about 24 with brown hair and blue eyes. He's a cute guy, and I'm learning that he's actually really nice now that I've talked to him for a while.
"That's awesome! Do you like it?"
"It pays the bills." He shrugs, picking up a fry from the plate sitting on the counter.
I hear the front door open, cutting our conversation short. I stand up and straighten out my uniform, walking towards the front.
"Hi, welcome- oh, hey Dani." I smile at her and wave.
"Hi." She says nervously. She seems off, like something's wrong. She doesn't have that famous smile of hers, and it's making me worry.
"What's wrong?" I ask, hoping everything is okay.
"Do you remember when I said that you look familiar?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything-" I stop talking when she pulls a piece of paper out of her pocket, unfolding it to reveal a missing persons poster.
A poster with my face on it.
My mouth goes dry and I immediately feel sick when I see it, and I know that there's no way I can explain this.
"Listen Dani-"
"I called the number listed. They said that you're still missing, so I'm just confused. I was going to give you a chance to explain, but they said that you could be in danger. I can tell that you're a sweet girl, and I care for your well-being. That's why I did this." She explains with a shakey voice.
"Did what- what are you talking about? What's going on?" As I'm speaking, I hear the front door open once again and I look from Dani to the man walking through the door. I feel my stomach drop, and the sickening feeling I had intensifies as he walks into the restaurant.
I'm frozen by the time he stops in front of me. I don't know what to say or do, so I just state at him.
"Hi Jude." He says.
"James?" I croak out.