TPS *(original version)*

Chapter Five

The next night made everything worse. Mrs. Laestrom had insisted Alex take me out to dinner, just the two of us. Alex had no choice in the matter, so we sat in silence as he drove. We finally got to a small restaurant called 'Bella' and he led me inside.

"Laestrom," he said to the server. She nodded and immediately led us back to our table, a private booth in the back. He took one side and I took the other. Neither of us had said anything to each other yet.

"What'll it be to drink?" Our waitress said suddenly, startling me. I suddenly realized Alex and I had been there for about ten minutes already.

"I'll have a Coke, please." I replied.

"Water," Alex grunted.

"I'll be back in a minute to take your orders!" She said smiling. She left and I glanced over at Alex. He saw me glance over and immediately looked away. I huffed out a breath and crossed my arms.

Five excruciating minutes later, our waitress was back.

"Steak, medium rare, with a side of mashed potatoes and a ceaser salad." Alex said.

"I will have the house salad and the American cheeseburger, please." I told her. She wrote down our orders and took our menus, and left again.

Alex scoffed at me.

"What?" I asked him.

"An American cheeseburger?"

"What's so wrong about that?"

"I thought girls were supposed to watch their weight." He said nastily.

I sucked in a deep breath and bit the insides of my cheeks. "I didn't think I needed to do so." I replied.

"Well," Alex said, dropping his sentence off there.

I bit my lip and looked down at the table. It was taking everything out of me to not burst into tears right there. When I finally composed myself, I looked up to find him staring at me, with a confused expression on his face.  I just looked away.

The waitress brought our food not long after that, and Alex immediately dug into his food. I ate my salad neatly, and didn't touch my burger at all. I didn't drink my coke. I knew Alex was just saying things to be a jerk, but I wanted to make him feel terrible for what he said to me, and I hoped that by wasting money he would feel terrible.

"Are you not going to eat that?" Alex asked me after he'd finished his steak.  I shook my head. He sighed and signaled for the waitress to come over.

"Need a box for that?" She asked me. I just shook my head. "Okay, I'll be right back with your check!"

Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, setting them on the table. He pulled his wallet out too.

"What's your favorite color?" I asked him all the sudden. I didn't know why I'd asked. It had popped out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

"Red." He replied.

"Mine's green. Do you want to split the bill or something?" I offered.

Alex scoffed. "My mother would castrate me if I'd let you contribute a penny of your money towards this. And while I don't particularly plan on procreating with you, I'd rather not be emasculated, so no thanks, I got it. And I don't remember asking what your favorite color was."

The waitress stood in front of our table in shock. I stared at him, my jaw slightly open. I snatched the keys off the table and stood up. "Well, then, I'll be in the car." I replied icily.

I stalked out of the building quickly, hot tears threatening to spill over my eyes. That was the meanest thing anyone had ever said to me in my whole life. I seriously contemplated keying his car, but I knew that I'd feel guilty later, even though he'd been a complete ass to me. Also, I didn't want Mr. or Mrs. Laestrom to see and get the wrong idea towards me.