Sinister Tales

Valentine

"Oh yeah," she nodded her head up and down eagerly. "did you?" she asked, looking from my eyes to my menu.

"I'm getting the freshly grilled salmon."

Her smile widened, "My roommate always gets that every time we come here. We both love their salmon."

"I'm guessing you're getting the salmon too?" I asked.

"Close. I'm getting the miso salmon." When I thought her eyes couldn't shine any brighter from anticipation, she proved me wrong.

Charlotte showed back up with her pen and notebook handy, ready to take our order. "Have you decided or do you need more time?"

"We're ready," Jessica answered before I could. "I'll take the miso salmon. And do you think I could get extra sauce on it?"

"Yes ma'am." She scribbled down her order and turned to me. "And you, sir?"

I looked down at my menu, momentarily forgetting what I wanted. "Oh yeah, um, I'll take the freshly grilled salmon."

"Mashed potatoes and broccoli okay as the sides?"

"Yes."

"I'll  be back with your bread." She gave a half forced smiled. It was like she wasn't trying anymore to fake like it was her favorite thing in the world to wait on customers. But then again, I couldn't blame her. I don't think working on a day like this would make me happy either and would wear me down quickly.

"So, what do you do for a living?" Jessica snapped me out of my thoughts and back into the real world where a basket of bread was already sitting in front of us. She ripped off a piece of brown bread and stared at me waiting for an answer.

I did the same, enjoying every piece of the bread and each bite giving me a moment to respond. "I work in a bank."

"As a teller?" she pried.

I shook my head, "Manager. And you?"

"Assistant at a law firm."

"So if I'm ever in any trouble, I know who to turn to." My response earned an amused smile coming from her. "Are you seeing anyone else?" It was my turn to pry.

"Oh, you know.. Just another manager at a bank." She joked.

The conversation was going better than expected. It skipped the awkward phase of the date and now I felt like I had a real shot. "So you have a type?" My lips curved up into a small smirk.

"Maybe I do." She sipped on her water and took another bite of bread. "What about you Mr. bank manager? Any other girls you're seeing? I'm sure a man like you goes on dates on the regular."

My eyes averted down to my lap. The nervous habit of rubbing my fingers and cracking them was starting until I noticed and stopped myself by the time I cracked my both of my index fingers. "You're actually my first date in a while."

Her playful looked dropped and she turned her head at me like a dog listening to it's owner. "Why?"

"The last girl I was seeing, I lost her."

Karen's face appeared in my head. Her dark hair that she used to hide her face, wanting to mask her beauty from the world. I never believed someone's eye color could give the illusion of it being black but hers did.

The thought of her brought back anger and sadness. My hand gripped onto my leg tightly, squeezing it until I was sure I was piercing through my pants with my nails and digging into my leg.

"I'm sorry, we don't have to talk about it anymore." Her voice came out as a tone higher than a whisper. "What do you do in your free time?"

Think about Karen.