"You've been on edge all night."
Crystal wasn't used to men who paid as much attention to her as Austin did. He pointed out habits of hers she was completely unaware of, made note of the small freckles peeking out through her Fenty Beauty foundation, or commented on her behavior in a way that was completely foreign to her. She was used to men being so self-involved, they couldn't see beyond themselves, much less be clued into how she was feeling. So every time Austin felt the need to point something out about her, it always threw her off. "I don't know what it is," she said, glancing around the empty, high-end restaurant. "This entire night I've had...that feeling. You know? The feeling of someone watching you. I don't know. Just ignore me." Busying herself with spreading a linen napkin across her lap, she avoided his direct gaze.
"I've kind of had the same feeling," he confessed. "But then again, I'm me. I guess I just assumed I had that feeling because people were actually eyeballing us all night."
"Yeah, but I have the feeling even here. And no one else is here, except the staff."
He glanced around and shrugged. "Maybe they're spying on us. Or maybe they set up cameras to record us before we came in. They had enough time."
"Is that like...a real thing? Something you really have to worry about?"
He gave her an amused look. "Are you kidding? My fans beat me into my own hotel room on any given city that I'm touring in. Everyone's looking for the get-rich-quick scheme, and capturing candid photos of celebrities, trapping them by getting pregnant, or scamming them out of their money, whether from an orchestrated car accident or fight or whatever the fuck, seems to be the way people have decided to get their fifteen minutes of fame."
"Damn," she muttered just as a team of waiters filed out of the kitchen all the way across the restaurant.
The uniformed waiters formed a perfect line and weaved their way between tables, each holding an array of trays that carried food and beverages.
Crystal wanted to watch the procession and enjoy it, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood at full attention. Clapping a hand to the back of the neck, she slanted a look over her shoulder. There were so many dark corners in this place, so many different doors leading to coat rooms and lounge rooms and only God knew where else. Someone could be hiding in any one of those nooks. And why did she care about that enough to feel anxious about it? If someone was watching them, so the fuck what? The person wasn't doing anything to hurt them. It's not like there was some imminent threat or anything. But still... Her eyes roamed across the restaurant.
Initially, the thought of a man clearing out a restaurant had impressed her. That wasn't an everyday experience. Well – maybe it was for Austin, but it definitely wasn't something that she was accustomed to. At first she'd loved the idea of having the restaurant to themselves but now, there was something creepy about the empty tables and darkened corners. It was akin to the feeling she'd felt in the past when she'd been in high school or a library after hours. Halls upon halls or rows upon rows of utter darkness. The sense that you were alone, but not really.
Austin gently rested a hand upon her forearm. "Chill," he said coaxingly. "Everything is fine."
"Okay."
"Instead of worrying about who may be watching, you should be thinking about what's next on our agenda."
"Which is?"
"You decide."
"I don't know, this is your show," she said as the waiters set out tall, narrow folding tables for the array of trays.
"My show?" he echoed, his tone dripping with distaste. "You're still determined to keep me at arm's length?"
"I...no." She covered the hand he had on her arm with her own hand. "No, you've been on your best behavior tonight. And tonight has been great, really. That's kind of my point. You've already done so well, why give me the chance to fuck it all up?"
"Because I'm curious as to what you would choose as an activity for us," he answered earnestly.
"Okay," she murmured, the gears in her mind already working.
"Just...think about it for a minute. I'll ask you again when we're done here."
The food was excellent and the company was on par with the food. He asked her questions, genuinely trying to get to know her. She'd return questions to him. The conversation blossomed, and natural touching occurred throughout. When she had to go to the bathroom, he stood and with a hand at her lower back, escorted her to the Ladies' washroom.
The lights were completely off when she entered, but flickered on upon her entry. In those first few moments, she thought she saw shadows in the darkness. Which doesn't make sense Crystal, so calm yourself, girl. The door swung closed behind her with a gentle swoosh sound, but she remained near it. On second thought, maybe I could hold my pee. I don't have to pee that bad. I hate public bathrooms anyway.
A soft clinking sound reached her ears, and it seemed to be coming from the bathroom stalls.
As a result, her anxiety skyrocketed and she took a step back, her rear end brushing against the bathroom door. "Hello?" she called out. Maybe a staffer was in here. But then, the lights wouldn't have been off. They sense motion, don't they? So nothing moving, nothing alive should be in here.
The clinking sound happened again, and every instinct she possessed told her to run out of there. Black people don't last long in scary movies. Every scary movie I've seen taught us not to investigate those weird sounds that happen around us everyday. So get out of here, bitch. Save your own life.
But the urge to pee went from one to one hundred real quick, to the point where she had to cross her legs while standing. "Ugh," she muttered, sticking an arm out and bracing it against the nearest wall. Gritting her teeth, she kept her legs crossed and slowly moved across the bathroom lobby floor, towards the stalls. She opened the stall closest to the bathroom door, locked it behind her, grabbed one of the disposable butt gaskets from a dispenser mounted on the wall above the toilet, and hastily set it down on top of the toilet seat. Then she struggled to get her panties down before collapsing down on the toilet and bracing both hands on the stall walls. Breathing out in relief, she closed her eyes.
Clink, clink.
There it was, that damned sound again. She half-expected Diddy to pop into her stall talking about, "Baaaaaaaad boyyyyyys. Come out and plaaaayay." The thought made her giggle uncontrollably while seated on the toilet. She temporarily forgot about strange sounds and creepy dark corners. But then the sound happened again, accompanied by the whisper, "Cryyyyyystal."
"Fuck this!" she cried out, standing and shoving the butt gasket in the toilet. She tore out of the bathroom stall, quickly washed her hands, yanked a few paper towels from the dispenser, and stumbled out of the bathroom, feeling like she couldn't breathe. Fear choked her up until she reached Austin's table, her breathing sharp and ragged. She whirled around, looking towards the bathrooms. Had she imagined the whispering? Who would have whispered her name? How would they have even known her name? Only the head chef had been introduced to her, not the waiters. Goosebumps prickled along her arms.
"Hey," Austin said, standing and wrapping his arms around her from behind. "You're fucking shaking. Are you okay?"
"Can we go?" she asked abruptly, turning around in his arms.
His eyebrows shot up, and he directed a look towards the food that had just been brought up to them. "I mean, I guess. Sure, yeah. Why? What's going on."
"I can tell you in the car. I just really need to get the fuck out of here." She stepped out of his embrace and already moved to grab her purse.
"Oh. Okay. Yeah, just, um..."
"I'm sorry," she apologized, pausing in her haste to raise a hand to his jaw.
His eyes warmed and he smiled at her, the cutest, most boyish smile.
She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. "I'll make it up to you."
"Looking forward to that."
Laughing and shaking her head, she urged, "Come on, let's go."
~~~~~~
The hug irritated him. The kiss made him livid. He hovered over near the bathrooms with his hands clenched into fists. His eyes darkened as they watched Crystal and Austin leave the restaurant. Only then did he exhale slowly and glance at the expensive watch on his wrist. I guess it's a good idea for me to take a break from surveillance. Nicole is probably missing me right about now. I wouldn't want to neglect her for too long. A slow, twisted smile spread across his face as he emerged from the shadows.