FIRST KISS (High School Romance - FYI - In need of redrafting/rewrites)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Round about 8am we passed through a small town that lined the road, and Bryce drew into a family type restaurant that was pretty much empty apart from a few travellers. The interior was panelled with pine wood and there were short red gingham curtains tied back at the windows.

Bryce slipped into a table by the window and slung his jacket over his chair.

"You can't give me the silent treatment all through breakfast," he said. "I didn't bring you out for you not to talk to me." He put his hands on the table and interlocked his fingers, the way Principal McIntyre did when he was giving you a telling off.

I admit I had been sulking, and I knew that it was pointless because I was wasting good Bryce-time by not speaking to him.

I sat down opposite him and pulled a menu off the little stand in the middle of the table, and began to focus on it, trying to read the options, but I couldn't really concentrate on them, because I knew he was watching me.

"Isn't this a nice place?" he asked, leaning down towards the table so that he was in my eye-line.

I glanced up. "Sure. It's cute."

"What's wrong?" He asked, and he moved his hand across the table as though he were about to reach out and touch me, but he pulled it back in and interlaced his fingers again.

"I dunno. This just feels strange."

"What does?"

"Us, doing this?"

"Good morning guys, can I get y'all a drink?"

I looked up to see a large girl smiling at me, dressed in a red and white apron that matched the curtains. She had a little badge with the name 'Natalie' pinned to her chest.

Bryce nodded to me, indicating that I should order first. I asked for a coffee and some orange juice, and Bryce asked for the same, but he called the waitress by her name and smiled and I could tell she was instantly won over. She couldn't have been much older than us, and when she walked back to the kitchen she kept looking over her shoulder at Bryce.

"You shouldn't do that," I said.

He gave me the big innocent eyes. "Do what?"

"Flirt with people you have no interest in."

He rolled his eyes. "I was not flirting. And even if I were, it's harmless, so what's the problem?"

I played with the salt and pepper on the table, moving them over the plastic tablecloth.

Then he did reach out and put his hand on mine. I let go of the condiments and looked up at him.

"What's going on Mel?" He tugged at my fingers, uncurling them and linking them with his across the table.

"Nothing. What's going on with you?"

I knew what he was doing; he wanted me to be the one to talk. He wasn't willing to let me know how he felt before I'd put myself out there. He was manipulating me; I felt sure of it. And Bryce was a master of manipulation. I guess really good looking people were used to getting what they wanted from others, and he'd had a good few years of being super hot to learn the tricks.

He shrugged. "Nothing. I'm gonna order pancakes and bacon. What do you want?" He let go of my hand and flipped through a laminated menu.

"I'll have scrambled eggs and toast."

The waitress brought our drinks and took our food orders, and I swear Bryce was making a deliberate effort to flirt even harder with her. She kept giggling and fluttering her eyelids at him, and generally making a fool of herself. I scowled at him when she finally left the table, but he barely registered it.