“My friends come here sometimes to do a group meal thing,” he went on. “There’s not one there today, so it should be quiet. Except for a server or two that will want to talk. That’s actually where I meant Joane while she was in college.”
“How…do you know Noah?”
He was the one that texted me sometimes since I gave him my number. Asher, on the other hand, seemed to not want a single thing to do with me. Which kind of hurt, but I understood just the same. I wouldn’t wantmy past coming up to haunt me again once I got over healing.
Noah was…strange. He rambled a lot in texts as much as he did in person that one time. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I wasn’t friend material. So it was easier to just say one or two words when he’d text.
“We run in the same friend group, kinda.” Jasper answered, pulling into a parking spot. “He’s…a happy kind of person and not much brings him down. I take it he’s been trying to text you?”
“Yeah. He’s determined.”
Determined to get me to be his friend. But what was the point? I didn’t need friends. And if he was in some sort of relationship with Asher, I didn’t want to get in the middle of that.
“He’s clingy,” Jasper supplied the word I was thinking. “He means well, too. But if he gets to be too much, tell him to back off. Or tell him the word, yellow, and it’ll put a pause on it.”
Squinting, I looked at Jasper as he shut off the car. Why would a color put a pause on something? That made no sense.
“Yellow is a safe word, a way to say ‘I wanna take a pause.’ It works very well for tons of people. It works great if someone is reaching a limit and needs a break for whatever reason. You could use it, too.”
“Like stop light color yellow?”
Slow down? There was a word that could slow down life when things went too fast? What about red?
“Exactly like that. Green, all good. Go ahead. Yellow, slow down or pause. And red stops everything. My friends use the color system all the time.”
“Do you?” I tilted my head.
I still couldn’t wrap my mind around it all. Three simple colors that could be spoken or signed so easily.
“Yes. With Noah, I have had to use those words because he doesn’t understand boundaries or the word no very well. There’s also some other lit-uh…friends who get a bit over excited and need a reminder to tone it down when they are around so many people.”
I guess that made a tiny bit more sense. Not much, but I was usually confused about a number of things still.
Once we were seated in the restaurant, in a corner booth towards the back of the building, did I take a better look at my surroundings?
It seemed simple enough with dark browns and wood paneling. The lights were bright enough to make it feel brighter, but not too bright like the sun was shining in my face.
There were a few people, but everyone seemed to be spread out enough that no one was close by.
I made a mental note of where the bathrooms were, right behind me, before getting as comfortable as I could with my back against the corner of my bench seat. Jasper sat in front of me, his back to the rest of the dining area.
From where I sat, I could see who came and went from the main entrance, along with the bar area that was separated by a half wall. Someone was on the other side of the bar, fiddling with glasses or bottles or something. It was hard to tell exactly.
“So, any idea what you’d like? They have mac and cheese, chicken tenders and fries, hamburgers or something else?”
I shrugged, not really caring.
“Do you want to look, or would it be easier if I order for you?”
If he was offering to order, then I’d certainly take the easy way out. So I pointed at him in answer.
“Figured. What do you usually go with when you eat out with Dawn?”
“Chicken. Or hamburgers. Easy stuff.”
“The chicken strips here are really good. I’ve had them a few times. Same as the other things. I think I’ve tried almost everything at least once on their menu.”
How often did he come here, then?
