“Oh no,” she says. “If it’s a lobster, three course meal thing, so help you?—”
“And your dinner,” Crystal interrupts at the perfect time. She sets a plate in front of Lana who is now gaping at her meal, and then my plate. “I’ll be right back with your sodas.”
Lana, still gaping, flicks her eyes up to mine. “Chicken fingers and French fries?”
I smile. “Your favorite diner food.”
“Oh my god,” she chuckles. “And your double bacon burger.”
I hitch a shoulder. “Guilty pleasure.”
“And here I thought you banned greasy food when you got jacked.”
I laugh. “I’m notjacked.”
“You’re more jacked than you used to be,” she says, dipping a bundle of fries in ketchup. “Not that I’m complaining. It’s very…Hot.”
“Hey, you got a little—” I point at the corner of my mouth “—you got a little something there.”
With her fingers, she wipes at her lip. “What?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Just a bit of drool.”
Lana glares. “Ha ha.”
I snicker and bite into my very deliciously greasy burger. For the night, I ordered everything we used to eat here. After this, it’ll be an extravagant, over the top banana split that she’ll eat most of and then to top it off, I’ll order her a milkshake to take home.
For now, it’s us stuffing our faces with our favorite diner meals. It’s just us laughing and talking. And I’m drowning in all of it, letting it flow right into my lungs so all I ever breathe again is this—the sound of her voice and her laugh and the beauty of her existence.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lana wipes her lips with a napkin and takes a long drink of her Coke through the straw.
I tilt my head to the side. “Because you’re pretty.”
Lana snorts, finishing off her plate by dipping the last three fires in ketchup. “So,” she says, “what next?”
I gape at her with a smile. “Youjustfinished eating.”
She shrugs. “I just really want to take you home. And you bought me dinner so…”
“Lana,” I warn, but not stern enough to be taken seriously by either of us.
“You’re full of shit, Calloway,” Lana chuckles.
“You’re very hard to resist, Gomez.”
“Hmm.” She hums with a closed lipped smile and reaches over the table.
I instinctively do the same. There will never be a time that I won’t reach for her when she’s reaching for me. I willalwaysreach for her—I always did.
“Thank you,” she whispers, grazing the tip of my nose with hers. She kisses the corner of my mouth. “You know, after the diner, we used to sit and make out in the car.”
I swallow and clear my throat, wiping my hand on thenapkin on my lap. I scurry to get out of the booth and tug on her hand. “Come, we’re done here.”
Lana laughs. “You’re so easy.”
I roll my eyes and she holds my hand tightly as she scoots out the booth.
“Oh! Wait!”
