Page 32 of The Scientist
“Fine,” Stuart huffed. “It’s too late anyway. She already knows.”
We got seated with Lex sitting next to me and Stuart across the table from us. We were looking over our menus when our waiter came over, stopping at our table and staring at me awkwardly for a few seconds before greeting us.
“Hey guys, my name’s Zack. I’ll be taking care of you today. Can I get you started with anything to drink?”
“I’ll take a water,” Stuart said.
“Same for me,” Lex added.
“Water’s good for me too,” I said, rounding things out.
“Great, um, is there anything else I could get you right now?” he asked, only looking at me.
“No, I think we’ll look over our menus for a minute,” I told him, smiling, and he beamed back at me.
“So, where are you guys from?” he asked, his eyes trained on me.
“New York,” I answered even though it seemed unusual for him to ask.
“Wow, I’d love to go there someday,” he said, not waiting for the guys to respond.
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty great.”
“No doubt, no doubt,” he said in a California accent, nodding his head and standing there for a few more seconds. “Well, I’ll give you guys a minute. I’ll be right back with those drinks.”
When he finally left, Stuart started to laugh while Lex just stared stone-faced into his menu.
“What’s so funny?”
“Did you not witness the same thing we just did?” Stuart asked.
“What? The waiter?” I guess hewasacting odd.
“Yes, he was practically drooling on your shoes. Did you not notice or are you just used to men swooning and batting their eyelashes at you?”
He was a little off, but I figured people here were just friendlier. “I think he was just nervous. Maybe it’s his first day.”
“Hadley, we’re men. We know these things.” Stuart gestured between himself and Lex. “Trust me on this one. Most guys turn into blundering buffoons around beautiful women.”
“You two seem fine,” I pointed out.
“That’s because you’re way out of my league, and I’ve accepted that,” he said, placing his hand on his chest. “And Lex has yet to figure out that he’s good looking. He has Clark Kent syndrome.”
“What’s that?”
“He thinks because he wears glasses sometimes, he looks like a totally different person,” he explained. “My guy here could pull whoever he wanted, but he never tries because he’s usually too busy working to even notice the opposite sex.”
“I’m right here,” Lex pointed out.
“You sure are, buddy. Now tell her I’m right about the waiter.”
“He’s right,” Lex said before going back to perusing his menu.
Stuart leaned forward. “I bet you any amount of money he’s going to try and find a way to ask if you’re single.”
I leaned forward as well. “You’re on.” I wanted to take Stuart down a peg and get that smug look off his face.
“Loser pays,” he said, extending his hand across the table to me.