Young and Beautiful

Six.

"Here you are." The driver pulled to a stop and then rushed to help him get Demi out of the car. They were at a Mexican place tucked in between a laundry mat and an old book store and the driver smiled at Wilmer as he walked with Demi into the cozy restaurant with the bright red decorations.

There was a woman at a table in the corner picking at one of the three tacos on her plate while scrolling through her phone and by the front counter a teenage couple was sharing a quesadilla. A tired middle aged woman with her brunette hair gathered on top of her head in a bun and accessorized with red flowers was half asleep by the cash register but moved from around the counter to greet her two new customers.

"Hola, welcome to La Azteca, booth or table?" She was friendly enough and she was looking between the two of them with a smile as she held two menus in her hands.

"Booth please," Wilmer requested and she complied by leading them over to a booth against the wall. Wilmer sat Demi down first and then slid into the booth across from her as she woke herself up by rubbing her eyes. She must've taken her makeup off a while ago because he briefly caught the bags that sat underneath them.

"I will be your server and my name is Nina. We have a special going on, three tacos for $5.99 and you can have your choice of beef, chicken, fish, or shrimp. Fish or shrimp would be $6.99 though. What would you like to drink?" She questioned as she placed their menus and silverware in front of them.

"I'll have a Dr. Pepper," Wilmer said, looking over at Demi who looked like she was afraid to touch anything.

"I'll just have a bottle of water please. Thank you." Nina nodded and walked off to get their drinks and since she was more alert, Demi dug into her bag and squirted some hand sanitizer onto her palms. She offered some to Wilmer which he gladly accepted.

"I don't eat meat on the weekdays," Demi stated, looking through the menu to see if there was anything that she could actually eat on there. It did look very good and she loved Mexican food but she never ate past eight o'clock and she didn't eat meat on the weekdays because of the diet she was on.

"And I can respect that but you haven't eaten all day and you need some protein. I don't usually eat late either but eating late is better than not eating at all," Wilmer reminded her, deciding on what he wanted and setting the menu down.

"I could've eaten at home..."

"But you probably wouldn't have because I can assume you've been too busy to eat all day and you probably would've passed out as soon as you made it into your building so I'm being nice and treating you to a nice meal. Be thankful and choose what you want to eat," Wilmer replied in a tone that caused her to close her mouth and look down at the menu. No one ever talked to her like that, not even when they were checking her.

"Thanks...I guess. And you're right. I actually did forget to eat but you know why I've been so busy lately." Demi set her menu down as Nina walked back over to them. She gave Demi her bottle of water and Wilmer his Dr. Pepper.

"Are you guys ready to order?" They quickly ordered their food and Nina took their menus from them before leaving them to talk. Demi opened her water bottle and gulped half of it down as Wilmer chuckled. Not because she had obviously been dehydrated but because he'd never seen her do something so out of character before.

"What?" he shook his head and took the wrapper off of his straw before sticking it in his cup and taking a few polite sips.

"This place smells like home," he randomly said to break the silence between them. Demi set her phone down and looked at him before snorting.

"Your house smelled like Mexican food?"

"My mom was always cooking. It was her favorite thing to do and my dad had a good job so she didn't have to work. We always had three meals a day," Wilmer reminisced as Demi nodded.