Page 33 of The Scientist
“Deal.” We shook hands.
Zack, the waiter, came up and gave us our drinks, continuing to focus his attention on me, and I started to get nervous that Stuart might be right.
“So, are you guys ready to order?” he asked (me).
“I’ll take the shrimp tacos,” Stuart said.
Lex shot him a look of annoyance. “Really?”
“What? All that talk about them made me really want them again.”
Lex sighed. “I’ll take the chicken fajitas.”
“And I’ll take the Baja chicken,” I said, passing him the menu, not making eye contact.
“Great choice,” he said, and I spotted Stuart smirking.
“And how will the checks be divided? Will you and your boyfriend be on one ticket?” he asked, looking between Lex and I.
Ughhh. Really? I snuck a glance over at Lex, who was trying to hide his smirk.
“No, we’ll all be on one ticket.” I avoided looking in Stuart’s direction. “Apparently, it’s on me.”
At that, they couldn’t hold back their laughter. Lex at least had the decency to try and hide it, but Stuart jumped up, laughing triumphantly.
“HA! Thank you, sir.” He shook the waiter’s hand. “I’ll save you the trouble. She’s single.”
“Stuart!” I chastised. “I’m sorry, Zack. My friend here’s an idiot.”
“No, he’s right. I was trying to see if you were single,” he admitted, not ashamed at all. “You’re very beautiful. It’s hard to look away.”
“That’s very kind of you to say.” I didn’t know how else to respond.
“I know you must get that all the time, but I still had to say it. I’ll go put in your order.”
He walked off, and I continued avoiding looking Stuart's way, but I could see him staring at me with a devilish grin out the corner of my eye.
Stuart folded his hands on the table. “Say it, Hadley.”
“Say what?”
“Say that I was right. I need to hear it.”
I sighed, admitting defeat. “You were right.”
“There it is,” he said, drumming his hands on the table.
I rolled my eyes. “You probably embarrassed the hell out of that guy.”
“Yeah right. You didn’t properly turn him down… ‘That’s very kind of you to say,’” he said in a girlish voice, trying to mock me. “He still thinks he has a chance. You played nice and now he’s coming for your number.”
“Oh, come off it,” I said, contemplating a kick to his shin.
“You want to go double or nothing?”
“No,” I answered quickly, realizing Stuart may actually have some insight into this guy.
“That’s what I thought,” he said, smirking. “Don’t take it too hard, Betty. I took advantage of you. I could tell you were one of those women who’s oblivious to how insanely hot they are.”