Illusions

Chapter Five

"Ah, another day in the life of Allison Cameron," Ruby teases, refilling Emma's cup for the third time this evening. "I would love to just sneak a peek inside that head of yours."

Emma smirks, shaking out her sugar packets, but refrains on commenting on the implication and changes the subject altogether. "You're coming tomorrow, correct?"

"Yes, I've told you a hundred times already," the waitress rolls her eyes and leans just a tad closer into Emma's side. "You know Ally, if you really want to see me that bad, all you have to do is ask for a date," she coolly remarks, sashaying away from the booth before Emma even has a chance to politely and regrettably, decline.

She's straight in this world.

She sighs heavily and sips her coffee, deciding that she should call it a night, because yet again, she's coming up short on any new leads or information. She shuts down her laptop and slowly packs up her things, taking her time to sip the fresh new cup Ruby poured, without her consent. She slings her bag over her shoulder and fishes in her pocket to place a five dollar bill on the table before heading to the counter to pay.

"You must be really hard up for a date."

"Uh...what?" Emma stammers like an idiot, temporarily immobile with her hands in the middle of counting out her cash and her eyes widening at the bold woman before her.

"Stop tiptoeing, if you like my granddaughter then ask her out. Stop playing games, we all know you hardly get any work done here with all the racket," Granny grumbles, angrily typing in Emma's bill against an old, rickety register. "So, you must be here for Ruby. Eleven, fifty-two."

Emma blinks, slightly jumping to attention to count out the correct amount and quickly paying the older woman. "I'm not sure if you know this Granny, but I just recently went through a divorce...with a man," she very clearly points out to back up her undercover persona.

"Well, you're still young, recovering from heartache, I'm sure you're ready to take a dip in the lady pool. We've all done it, just make sure you don't hurt my baby girl. Maybe you're on the fence, but she's splashing around in there and has no intentions of ever getting out," the woman sternly says, slapping Emma's change roughly into her palm.

"I promise Granny, I'm just here for the good coffee and a bit of inspiration," she politely explains, quickly shoving her change into her pocket and very slowly backing away from the counter...

And of course, she backs into someone.

"I'm so sorry," she sputters, swirling around on her heels while a young man, maybe two inches taller than her, steadies her wobbly stance with his fingers firmly gripping her biceps.

"I'm sorry, I should have been paying closer attention," he blurts out while she is busy studying every feature upon his face. Brown puppy dog eyes, light brown hair gently tussled and swooping across his forehead, straggly mustache and goatee that is a very embarrassing sign that he cannot properly grow facial hair and sharp jawlines and cheekbones. "Really, truly sorry," he repeats as his eyes drift to somewhere more important, behind Emma.

"T-that's alright," she stutters, gaining his attention once again.

He offers her a weak, crooked smile before lightly patting her biceps and taking a generous step back. "You have a nice evening."

"You as well," she mumbles under her breath and watches closely as he rushes to a booth in the back of the restaurant.

"See you tomorrow, Ally," Ruby calls out, distracting Emma from whomever that man is in a rush to see, but even if she wasn't shouted at from across the room, she still wouldn't have been able to make out the person hiding in the back.