On the way to the diner, Norma (she asked me to call her by her first name) asked me small-talk questions about where I'm from, my family, yadda yadda ya. I was answering half-heartedly because I was too busy looking out the window at the town. It was a cute town. I had been back when I was really young but I couldn't really remember. There were little shops and eateries. I was excited to go to them and just venture the town.
Norma parked along the street in front of the diner. The 3 of us got out and when Norma opened the diner door, it chimed from the bell. Immediately I saw the backside of a blonde head and I just knew it was Dylan. Norma rushed ahead of us and began, "Dylan, sweetie, is it ok if we have two people join us?"
"Who?" he said looking around to us as we approached.
We met eyes and whoo...
"This is Emma's cousin, Ginny. They were coming here too and I suggested we all sit together. Is that ok?"
"Uhm, yeah," Dylan stated. He held out his hand to shake mine and when I placed my hand in his grip I actually got butterflies. For real.
"Hi, I'm Dylan." He half-grinned at me. "Ginny," I repeated.
Norma sat next to Dylan and Emma sat across from him and I across from Norma.
"Ginny here is 21 like you," Norma bumped shoulders with him smiling.
He nodded his head. "Cool."
Ok, so not much talk out of him. At least not yet. But there was something totally deeper to him. I just knew it.
We ordered food and milkshakes and made conversation while we waited. I was embarrassed to eat in front of him. I had always been embarrassed to eat in front of attractive people. It's a thing. But I survived.
"So how do you like owning a motel?" I asked Norma. "I think it'd be kinda cool to own a bed and breakfast."
"Well," she sighed. "I love being able to call it mine and it's work, but I enjoy it. I'm just scared of what will happen to business if they build the bypass on the other side of town."
"That sucks," I replied.
"What do you do?" Dylan asked me. I got so jittery everytime we met eyes and when he would ask me something. Norma repeated the information to him that she had asked me in the car, so he knew how old I was, my education, where I lived, and that I would be staying with Emma during my stay.
"Well, I worked at the school. I was a telecounselor." He gave me a weird look and I knew I should explain. With a slight chuckle I say, "We called future students, answered questions, stuff like that."
"Oh, kind of like a telemarketer." Dylan stated. By his tone it seemed as though he didn't appreciate the thought of that.
"Yeah. Kind of. Anyways, I graduated so I had to leave. So technically as of right now, I'm unemployed. But I plan to start applying as soon as I get back. I live with my parents, so it's ok. At least I have a place to stay."
"Yeah," he nodded his head.
A little more time went by and suddenly Dylan stated that he had to go back to work. Norma slid out of the booth and he got up. He shoved his hands in his pockets and said, "It was nice to meet you." He smiled a little. "I'll see you later." He gave a courtesy nod to Emma and his mom.
I accidently swooned after him as he left, staring at his nice behind. Emma giggled and said "Ginny thinks Dylan's cute."
"Hey!" I nudged her arm with my elbow. I didn't really want her to say that to his mother when I don't even know her. But reluctantly she was nice about it.
"Oh!" she gasped. Then, "Really?" like she was surprised. "He's trouble..." she rested her chin on her fist. "But yet again maybe a nice girl like you could keep him out of it."
"I told Ginny what he does, and I told her it's dangerous."
"Hmm. Yeah, I don't like that he works with pot all day. I mean the people he works for have killed other people," Norma said.
"Yeah, that's pretty scary..." I rethink thoughts about getting to know him.
"Well sometime this week we can all have dinner together at my place if you'd like," she suggested, meeting my eyes.
I nodded. "Sure! That would be nice."
Emma bought my lunch and we left the diner and visited the boutique next door. I saw this really pretty silver necklace of a crescent moon with a moonstone hanging down in front of the moon. But it was $30 and I didn't have money to drop on jewelry unfortunately.