Crash and Burn

n i n e: Alone

We entered the diner and I wasn't surprised when Roman didn't hold the door for me. I guess he thought that was only something a boyfriend does for a girlfriend. It didn't really phase me though, I wasn't expecting anything more from him anyway.

"Hi, how many?" a redheaded waitress asks, clearly checking Roman out. I swallow my disgust down at the encounter, not understanding how some girls can have such confidence to just openly flirt like that. I mean, Roman and I weren't dating but the waitress didn't know that. For all she knows I could be his girlfriend and she was just undressing him with her eyes. 

"Just two," Roman responds, clearly picking up on her flirtatious clues."Okay, right this way," As the redhead leads us to our table Roman is not so subtly checking out her ass in the process. I roll my eyes even though he can't see me.

We reach our table and sit on opposite sides of the booth as the waitress puts our menus on the table. "Enjoy," She winks, directly at Roman as if I wasn't sitting directly in front of him. He just smirks in response.

"Gross," I mumble. "What was that?" Roman turns to me. "Oh, nothing," I smirk back at him.

"Okay then," he laughs shaking his head at me.

"Alright so obviously you've been here plenty of times so what's your recommendation on the food?" I ask, gazing over the menu.  "You definitely have to try their burgers. Best in town," Roman nods, his gaze flickering around the diner. He hadn't even opened his menu yet, but he probably has it memorized anyway. I nodded in consideration.

"So..." he trails off, a glint of mischief in his eyes. "So....what?" I ask when he doesn't say anything in addition to his lingering word.

"What's this pretty damn good reason you have for not drinking?" Roman says slowly, clearly thinking about Friday night. The way he asked the question sounds almost taunting like he's doing his best to get under my skin before we even have the chance to place our orders.

Here we go again. I should have known nice Roman wouldn't have lasted all night. He was probably just acting all nice so I would feel more comfortable around him and would answer this question honestly. Well guess what Roman, it didn't work, and now I'm back on my guard. I narrow my eyes at him, getting angry.

"That is none of your goddamned business. You think because you've been acting all nice that means we're friends and I'll tell you anything, but that's not how it works." I huff, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Now here comes uptight Tessa again. She never knows how to have any fun," he mocks me, sheer annoyance dancing around his gaze towards me.

"So your version of fun is me telling you things I'm not comfortable telling you? That seems like a really twisted version of fun," I refute dryly, trying to stay calm as to not cause a scene in public.

"What deep dark secrets could you be hiding anyway? The only thing to know about you is that you're a goody-two-shoes who does whatever her daddy tells her and gets perfect grades all the fucking time," Roman fumes, suddenly looking fed up with my presence being this close to him.

That was it.

"That's enough!" I shout, drawing attention right to me which was exactly what I was trying to avoid. Oh well.

"Roman Anderson you are such a hypocrite! You're so closed off and never tell anyone anything! You try and play off this bad boy act then the minute someone comes asking questions you get all defensive and tell them that they know absolutely nothing about you. Don't pretend you know shit about me," I grit my teeth on the last sentence to keep myself from screaming even though everyone was already staring at us.