No Strings Attached

Day 5

            "How may I help you?" The hostess approaches Elena, a smile plastered across her face. Elena adjusts her sweater nervously, unsure as to how to answer.

            "Umm... I'm meeting someone here," she mutters, glancing around. There were tables and chairs everywhere, giving the place a homey vibe. Dean wasn't sitting at any of the tables, but there seemed to be a patio out back. Maybe he was out there and Elena just couldn't see him. "I don't... I don't know if he's here yet."

            "Oh, are you with Dean?"

            Elena's eyes fly wide, startled. The hostess is on a first name basis with Dean? Not a good sign.

            "Yes?" Elena suddenly feels the need to turn and run. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be meeting with a stranger for "coffee." Isn't this how it starts? The girl starts talking to the guy and before she knows it they're in a full-blown affair?

            "He said someone was coming," the hostess says, cutting off Elena's train of thought. "He's just outside. Through those doors." The woman points to the back of the café where a set of double doors opens up to the patio. Nodding in thanks, Elena shuffles through the chairs, her gut twisting painfully. She stands on the threshold, hesitating to take the last step. Once she does, she won't be able to turn back.

            Taking a deep breath, Elena steps over the edge and out into the shaded patio. The color green is everywhere just as it had been in the hospital. The potted plants placed randomly glow dully, their normal bright green color already fading due to the oncoming winter. Green ivy climbs the wooden walls, intertwining in the trellis above. But neither color compare to the green eyes staring at her from across the patio.

            "You came." Dean breathes a sigh of relief, his stomach unclenching at the sight of her. A part of him feared she would back out, choosing to remain at home with Damon instead of joining him on this chill Saturday morning.

            "As did you," Elena comments, taking the seat across from him. Her nerves seem to have slipped her mind, replaced by a warmth fluttering inside her. "You were even early. And that hostess knows you by name. Do you come here with Lisa or something?"

            "I have a few times," Dean says, stiffening slightly at the mention of his girlfriend. Though it doesn't feel as uncomfortable as he thought it would. It's like talking to an old friend, easy and carefree. "But she doesn't really like this kind of food. Brunch, I mean. She's more a coffee for breakfast kind of girl."

            "At least she knows the most important part," Elena teases, smiling brightly at Dean just as the waitress comes to take their drink order. "I'll have coffee with cream."

             "Just straight up coffee for me," Dean says, his eyes remaining on Elena even as she begins to peruse the menu placed in front of her.

             "I'll be right back with your coffees and to take your order," the waitress says, excusing herself from the table. Elena, feeling Dean's eyes, glances up from the menu.

             "You're staring," she points out, returning her gaze to the menu. Chuckling, Dean picks up his menu and tries to pay attention to the words in front of him. "Since you've been here before, is there anything you suggest?"

            "Well the pancakes are amazing. And they do this thing with the waffles that makes them taste like sugar coated bliss." Dean closes his menu, clasping his hands on the table to watch Elena struggle over the decision of food. "But you look like an omelet kind of girl, so I suggest the cheese and ham one." Dean leans forward to point it out, bringing a smile to Elena's lips.