Guardian Angel

7 Dinner

The food came quickly, just as Harley finished telling her story, the aroma flooding Harley's nose and her taste buds swarmed in hers mouth. The smell was so strong. Zak and Harley waited till each of their own plates was set down in front of them, but Aaron gorged himself as soon as the plate was in reach. Zak rolled his eyes while Harley laughed.

  "Forgive Aaron," Zak turned to Harley, "He quite likes his food," Harley continued to laugh as Aaron gave a joyful smile, his cheeks bulging like a squirrel saving food for winter, "And he doesn't know quite when to stop."

  "Mhmneverm shlop," Aaron replied, the food in his mouth muffling the words.

"Of course you can stop," Zak said, translating Aaron's words for Harley, "There's a thing called diets and exercising."

            Aaron shook his head, picking up his fork and poking it at Zak. He turned to Harley, swallowing the food in his mouth, "Don't listen to this guy, Harley. He'll lead you down all sorts of road."

    Zak laughed and began to eat his meal, "I have no idea what you are talking about," Harley watched the two men playfully fight and found it very entertaining. It made her laugh and her cheeks began to hurt and the evening had not even ended yet.

   "Oh!" Aaron scoffed, "You know exactly what I am talking about, Zak. Does peer pressure sound familiar?"

Zak almost spilled the food in his mouth out onto his plate again at Aaron's words, "Don't use those mortal terms with me," he teased and then, realizing his mistake, froze. Harley, though, did not seem to notice and simply thought the words had some humorous history to them that she did not know. She glanced between Aaron and Zak, laughter spilling from her lips still. Aaron, meanwhile, was frozen like a statue. His eyes, though, continued to move and switch between Zak and Harley, "I mean. Ummm... Don't use those mere terms with me," Zak's eyes looked back and forth to Harley and Aaron, "Ah!" Zak gave an exasperated sigh, "You know what I mean, Aaron."

Aaron gave a nervous chuckle and turned back to his food, "Anyway," he said and stuffed a piece of his food in his mouth, "Harley," Aaron turned to the small woman across from him, swallowing, "Back to your story, what happened after the loud noise?"

"Ummm," Harley thought for a moment, though she knew the answer, "I, honestly, can't remember," Zak glanced at Aaron carefully, "It's like that whole part of my memory is completely disappeared."

"Understandable," Zak replied with a light nod, "Demons," he simply said, "They can wipe a memory clean and replace it with false one's. Maybe what happened to you, according to you, is not really happened," Aaron coughed, suddenly, a smile on his lips. Harley just stared at Zak like he was a complete stranger and Zak burst out into laughter, "I'm joking, Harley. Demons can't do that," Harley smiled and gave a light chuckle; she didn't find the humor in Zak's words.

            At that moment, the waiter came back to them and took their empty plates, returning a few short minutes later with the check which Zak grabbed before Harley could take it.

            "Oh, you didn't have too," Harley replied softly.

            "I wished," Zak said and Harley found his words odd. Zak's voice sounded old, from the very moment Harley met him, but his speech was modern, save for the few times Harley heard him talk like this.

Harley nodded and allowed the waiter to take the check back, "So, Zak," Harley said a couple moments later, "How long have you been paranormal investigators for?"

  "Ummm," Zak turned to Aaron, his eyes begging for an answer, "How long has it been, Aaron?"

"Ummm, 'bout a couple months," Aaron replied.

"Yea!" Zak yelled, turning to Harley with an odd smile, "We're still kind of new to it. Do you know anything about hunting ghosts?"

  Several of the tables around them, Harley noted, glanced at them with an odd expression, "Not much outside the exorcist," she said, "I do know that you need camera's and voice recorders to capture evidence, otherwise, people will think you're nuts," she replied.

Zak smiled and looked at Aaron, who smiled and nodded, "Well, you certainly know more than we do," then the waiter came back and handed the check back to Zak.

            "Thank you for dining with VooDoo Steakhouse this evening," Erik, Harley remembered his name, said, "I hope you have a great rest of the evening."

"Thank you," Harley replied.

"Thanks, man," Aaron answered giving his own goofy tone, while Zak simply nodded and signed the sheet of paper hidden inside.

Harley sighed and stood up from her seat, "Well, this has been nice."

Zak stood up quickly, his eyes seeking out Harley's, and with a quick kick to his companion's knee, Aaron stood up with a groan, "It has been nice, but Aaron and I were wondering if maybe," Zak asked bashfully,  "Well, would you like to join our group?"

Harley froze for a moment, "What?"

"You, me, Aaron, group," Zak replied with a teasing smile, "Hunting ghosts."

"I-I-I-I don't know what to say," Harley shook, lowering her head and scratching at her hair line.

"Oh, please, Harley," Aaron begged and Harley looked up at him, "We need you. Zak, maybe more," Aaron laughed and Zak rolled his eyes.

Harley followed Aaron, "Alright."

"Yes? Really?" Zak looked back to Harley.

Their eyes connected; blue meeting blue, like the ocean crashing onto the rocky beach, dangerous and beautiful.

"Yes."

  Aaron held out his hand, breaking their eye contact, "Awesome, man! See you tomorrow, then!" and Harly shook the man's large hand, losing himself in laughter. Aaron, to Harley, did remind her of a huge teddy bear. She turned to Zak, "Well, Zak, I'll see you down by the car," and Aaron left, disappearing into the flood of tables and youths.

With a nervous chuckle, Zak turned to Harley, "Thank you, Harley."

            "For what?"

            "Saying yes."

  "'Course," she smiled, "The paranormal had always interested me and you guys seem great; true people. I haven't met people like you in a very long time."

  "Hopefully, that is a compliment."

   "Nothing less."

Zak raised his hand to Harley, "Well, it has been a pleasure, Harley Rawson," and Harley grasped Zak's hand in her own. With a silent gasp, before Harley's eyes, she saw a flash of black feathers, like some fallen angel. There was a pale back, covered in tattoos of some unknown hand, but then there was a hand, tan and long and slender like her own falling on the pale back. Then the vision was gone and Zak let go of Harley's hand, "You alright, there?"

Harley gave a shaky sigh, "Yea," and she glanced around at the people around her, but they were too absorbed in themselves.

"See you tomorrow, then," Zak replied, "Meet at the bar around lunch time to discuss our plans?"

"Sounds good," Harley replied, her mind felt foggy and all she could see was those black wings and that hand.

"Till then," he gave a nod and before Harley's eyes, vanished into the tables around them like Aaron had.