Spy School: We Meet Again

Chapter 7: Burgers

Ben's POV

To say that I was feeling unsure about myself, was an understatement. I mean, how should I act around her? She is just perfect. She has always been perfect and nothing has changed. Erica's eyes are still as beautiful as ever. Her face looks like it was carved from marble, by God himself. Her smile... oh, I want to count that as one of the seven wonders of the World. The Great Pyramid of Giza doesn't need to be on that list, right?

The fact that she still wants to talk to me, after everything that I did, is just surprising to me.

How much has she changed over the years? It looks like she is a lot more open with her emotions. I am surprised that she even introduced herself to Daniel, with her real name at that.

"Is that the place?" Erica interrupted my trance.

"Oh... yeah, yeah that's the place." Oh, that was smooth! Why don't you just tell her up front, that you aren't listening to her, because all you are doing is checking her out like some pervert?

At that point, because I was distracted with schooling myself I somehow tripped on my own foot. I could just feel the embarrassment and pain starting to show up before I even fell. I was on my way to face-planting on the sidewalk when I felt a hand grabbing mine and holding me up. Smooth... you just tripped in front of Erica and then like the real man you are, you let her save you.

"I see you haven't changed. Somehow you still manage to trip by your own two feet." I just looked at her and I could feel my cheeks starting to blush. The only thing that I was able to do was flash her a toothy grin, with a facial expression that probably just showed how nervous I am right now.

Her face expression changed from emotionless to a confused and a bit creeped out.

"What's with the grin?"

"Ummm... " Nice, now you managed to creep her out. I would say this is going well... yeah, definitely not! "Sorry, I just got a bit distracted. I'm dreaming about the delicious burgers, that we are about to get. I still don't know what I want. It's between the double-cheeseburger or the goodness that is the Tomburger." Ok good, at least I managed to make up a lie that would not make me admit the real reason why I tripped. But could it be any lamer?!

"The Tomburger?" Erica looked at me confused. I could see that she kinda forgot about the whole incident with me tripping and wanted to know what the Tomburger is. To be honest, I already knew that I will get the Tomburger. It is my go to every time I go to the burger heaven that is the diner down the street.

"Well, if you want to get a burger that has all of the best ingredients that you can get, then that is the best option. The name suggests that there are a lot of tomatoes in it, but actually, the real reason why it's named like that is because, the owner of the diner, whose name is Tom, made the burger. Yeah, I know it is not the most exciting story, but oh boy, when you first try it, that will be all you will want to eat for the rest of your life." I guess I said that to excitedly because I just blew my cover story.

"Well, I guess you made up your mind. It seems like the double-cheeseburger, that you wanted to get before, has long been forgotten." Erica gave me a look that told me that she knows that I was lying, plus she apparently thought that crossing her arms in front of her was necessary to make it more obvious.

"Oh look, we are here!" That was not the best thing to say, because we have been standing in front of the diner for a while now, but I had to change the topic of our conversation somehow. Opening the door I held it open for Erica to go in first. I could just see in her eyes that she found it amusing, that I wanted to act like I am not the most clumsy person she has ever seen.