Blank Canvas

Part Two

"What are you doing?" she replied, patting her silver curls back into place with her hands. A ruby broach in the shape of a turtle glistened on her purple cashmere cardigan.

"What did you say?" the man asked, tucking into his spaghetti. He had a dribble of tomato sauce down his chin, caught by his beard.

"I don't remember," the woman sighed, returning to her cannoli.

"Don't remember what?"

"I don't know," the woman laughed, plucking a screwed up tissue from her cardigan sleeve and passing it to her husband, "Clean yourself up, dear. We're going out for tea tonight."

Maisie smiled, saddened at how confused and lost they seemed, yet feeling warm and fuzzy inside at how their love survived even the cruellest of diseases. That's what she wanted, too.

She didn't want Alzheimer's. Just the love part.

6:29pm

The moment had arrived. Maisie turned her head towards the main entrance as the tall figure of Lucas jumped into the seat opposite her, trying to hide the fact that he was breathing heavily and slightly sweaty.

"Hey," he said, trying to wipe his forehead discreetly. He slipped his jacket off and flopped backwards into his seat.

"Did someone go for a bit of a run before they came here?"

"I may or may not have had a slight argument with Google Maps," he said, raising an eyebrow, "And I may or may not have had to find my way home and start all over again."

Maisie rolled her eyes and picked up a menu from the middle of the table, "I was here earlier than you, so I guess I win that one."

"Well, you are the one that asked me out," Lucas grinned, showing off his pearly whites again, "I guess it's only right that the man in the relationship is the first one to arrive."

Maisie blinked at him and swatted at the air between them. "Shut up," she said eventually, defeated.

A well-dressed Italian waiter approached their table, pad and paper in hand, and smiled at the couple.

"What can I get for you lovely young people tonight?" he purred in his thick Italian accent, adjusting his bow tie.

"I'm fairly hungry for some completely unknown reason, so I think I'll have a fourteen-inch margherita, please. How about you?" Lucas replied, smiling at Maisie.

She was slightly stunned by his order and raised her eyebrows. "Fourteen inches? Are you overcompensating for something?"

The waiter let out a choked laugh before trying to disguise it as a cough. Lucas pushed his tongue against his cheek as he tried to think of a comeback.

"I'll have the penne arriabiata, please."

"Oh, and two lemonades," Lucas chimed in. The waiter wrote down the orders and departed with a cheery smile, still stifling laughter. "You like lemonade, right?"

"Uh, yeah. I was gonna ask for one, actually."

"I guess I just read your mind," Lucas laughed and put both of their menus back in the middle of the table, "So what do you do?"

Realising she was an actual human being on an actual date, Maisie snapped from her daydream of Lucas already knowing things about her and replied, "I'm a student. I think."

"You think?"

"Think what?"

"That you're a student?"