IF YOU'RE LUCKY (COMPLETE)

5. Chili Cheese Fries

He laughs and walks towards the entrance. "Yeah", he smiles.

I bring him to my usual booth and sit down. I pluck the menu out of its holder and hand it to Benji. "Pick what you want, everything's good here", I tell him. He searches the menu as I watch him intently. As annoyed as I am, I can't help but look as those light green eyes of his. His eyes had a similar look as he looked at the menu, just less intense. His eyes looked like they were searching for something that even he didn't know what that was.

The waitress comes over to our table, causing me to come back to reality. "What'll it be", she asks Benji between smacks of her gum. He looks to me like he wants me to go first, but I motion my palm to him in insistence.

"I'll have the #4 burger and the chili cheese fries", he says proudly.

"And for you?", she turns to me.

"Same", I say as she jots my order down and struts away.

"You like chili cheese fries?", I ask, suspicious. I was still under the impression that this guy wanted to humiliate me in my own environment. I was testing him.

"They're my favorite", he smiles. "I used to get my maid to buy them for me whenever my parents weren't home even though I wasn't allowed to have them. They didn't want to disobey my parents until I started slipping them twenties from my piggy bank".

Must be nice to have maids. and money. and a piggy bank for that matter.

Our food comes and we eat in silence. Benji keeps looking at me like he wants to talk, but doesn't know what to say. The awkward silence drags me back into my conclusions about the actual reasons behind this dinner. The conclusions turn into anger that I can no longer hold inside. I was done playing my game, I wanted to know the truth.

"Why are we here?", I slam my silverware down onto the table. Benji looks up at me in confusing, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Well, you owe me a favor and you took me here, remember", he grins. The sarcasm only makes me angrier.

"I mean, why did you want me to take you out? Here?", I motion to the room. "You knew I'd take you to a dump. You knew I wouldn't be able to take you anywhere fancy, so why make me come to dinner with you? I know why, you made me bring you here so you could laugh at me". I finish my tirade and search his face for a reaction. He looks pensive, he's fighting with his words. "Well, joke's on you! Because I'm proud of where I come from and who I am!"

"Is that why you were acting so weird in the car? And during dinner?", He crosses his arms on the table in front of him. Before I could even answer his question, he sighs. "Believe it or not, I don't only eat fine dining. I like real food too, I crave it like everyone else. Do you really think I would be that awful to make you take me somewhere just for laughs?"

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. All I can do is look at him. He continues,"You claim you're proud of who you are, yet you still refer to this place as a 'dump'. He says it so nonchalantly as he picks up a fry and pops it in his mouth, his eyes never leaving mine.

As much as I wanted to be angry at his words, I couldn't. Even though I didn't want him to be, he was right. I was so determined to take Benji to the worst place I could think of that I'd forgotten my humble beginnings started from places like this. What I once referred to as my favorite place was now considered a dump.

I hang my head in shame, unable to say anything back. The silence is daunting and uncomfortable.

"Wanna shoot some pool?", Benji disrupts my wallowing, pointing to the pool table next to us. He smiles at me giving me the confidence to speak again.