Sitting by herself at the tiny restaurant table, Zelda awkwardly sips her water for the sixth time. Her eyes keep darting around the cozy establishment as she searches for him, but he's nowhere to be found, and people are beginning to stare. Finally, she has to keep her eyes down because the embarrassment of it all is too real.
The awful stares of pity burn holes into both her back and her heart. She pushes a loose lock of hair behind her ear and bites her lip self-consciously. Where in Hyrule could he possibly be right now? He's humiliating her!
"Um, excuse me, miss?" The snooty waitress questions from the side of the table. "Would you like to get started - or at least order - while you wait for the other person in your party?"
Zelda shifts uncomfortably in her seat as she eyes her menu, "Can I just have another five minutes? I'm sure he'll be here soon..."
"He" - Ganondorf Dragmire - lead singer of the rock band, Metal Powerlines; enthusiastic and proud endorser of cereal brand, "Cookie Flakes," and CelMint toothpaste; lover of all things expensive; owner of about five different sports cars; and most importantly, at least in Zelda's opinion, boyfriend of Zelda Harkinian.
The waitress just nods, her voice plastic and her smile fake, "Sure, why not?" She then heads to the back where she straightaway begins to complain to her boss, Telma - owner and manager of the establishment - about the audacity of the girl in the corner booth.
Zelda knows people are watching her so she tries to avoid shrinking in her seat too much. Where is he? She plays idly with her napkin and clean silverware while gazing dully out the window. The minutes tick by, and the clock hands don't stop their rotation; she is discouraged. No one tells her to get out, though, so there she sits, sipping her not-so-cold water and staring out the window.
Just when she's about to get up from her seat and give up, a cheerful masculine voice rings out of nowhere, compelling her to stay, "Hey, baby! So sorry I'm late! Traffic was terrible..."
Zelda's eyes fly open, and she looks up at the young man sitting across from her. His crystal blue eyes are easygoing, and his smile is friendly. His light gold hair is ruffled and going in every direction possible, and a small blue hoop hangs from his left ear lobe. "Just roll with it, OK?" he whispers from across the table. He's wearing a nice green polo and a pair of light wash jeans; his hands look worn and capable – calloused.
"Aw, it's alright - I haven't been waiting long," Zelda responds lazily, inwardly willing herself not to blush.
The people around her watch in bewilderment before averting their gazes. So the poor girl wasn't really stood up after all.
The young man shakes his head, "No - you shouldn't have had to wait at all! I'm so sorry! You look really pretty, by the way," he adds with a mischievous grin.
Raising a brow slightly at his presumption, Zelda finds herself drawn to him. She smiles in spite of herself, "You don't look too bad yourself." Oh gosh... Now he's going to think she actually likes him... But she just met him... That's awkwaaaard...
The waitress comes to their table, pen and paper pad on hand, a scowl painted on her made up face. "And what might I get you today?"
The young man's eyes darken slightly, "C'mon, Ruto..."
She suddenly brightens, and her artificial smile makes a comeback, "So... What will it be?" She takes their orders and does her best to remain calm while HER Link is with another girl. But she can't stay at this table for forever - she has other tables to wait on... However, she can still spy on them...
Eventually, Zelda and the young man are quite settled over glasses of ice water and onion rings while waiting for their meals to arrive. It doesn't take long for the young man to start up a conversation, and Zelda doesn't mind - in fact, she enjoys it.
She dips her onion ring in ketchup while laughing merrily at a corny joke he told previously.
"You know, I've always thought that Link is kind of a weird name," the young man says, sounding thoughtful, his blue eyes twinkling with mirth. He isn't using ketchup for his onion rings like Zelda; instead, his are drenched in hot sauce.
Her brow furrows for a moment before she understands what he's trying to do, "Aw, don't worry about it, baby - Zelda's way worse than that."
Link shakes his head, "No way - Zelda's a beautiful name - fit for a princess," he states with a gorgeous smile. Zelda knows he must be acting, but why does he have to be so good at it? She can practically feel her blush burning on her normally pale cheeks.
They continue to converse, and Zelda is thoroughly enjoying every second of it, much to her inward dismay and delight.
"Your boyfriend is Ganondorf Dragmire?" Link asks finally in hushed tones, completely shocked but not speechless. "As in Ganondorf Dragmire of Metal Powerlines?"
Zelda nods slowly, eyeing her ice water in distaste.
Link's eyes bug out, "Really? One of my… acquaintances… is actually a huge fan of Metal Powerlines – How come Ganondorf's always seen alone?"
"He never wants to be seen with me," she responds bitterly. "He always goes to parties and events by himself… Being late to dinner or standing me up seem to be his favorite things to do sometimes because he never shows or he's always distracted."
Giving an understanding nod, Link seems to know that she doesn't want to talk about her neglecting boyfriend anymore. "So what do you do, Zelda?" he instead asks, playing around with the condiment bottles at the side of the table.
She can't meet his eyes, "I own a small art store nearby. It's my baby." A smile paints her face as she begins speaking about something she loves dearly, something that's always there for her when Ganondorf isn't.
"You love art?" Link questions with genuine interest as he twirls his straw around in his drink.
Her smile turns almost goofy – "I do… It's an escape for me. Painting is my favorite." She begins twisting the purple ring on her right ring finger, something she always does when she's nervous; then, she coughs a little before mentally berating herself. Zelda, don't be such an idiot – like he'd care…
Link asks another question, "Do you sell any of your pieces?"
Her eyes fly up to meet his, "Sometimes…"
"I'd love to take a look sometime – see, I'm moving pretty soon so I'd love to get a few pieces to hang up around my house – makes things more cozy, y'know?" he responds.
She nods; art has that type of power. "Sure. Stop by sometime and have a look. It's called Zel's Corner."
"How did I not make that connection?" Link's eyes widen in recognition. "My little sister loves art, and she's always over there – she says you're great…"
Zelda raises a brow, "You're Aryll's brother?" Aryll's a decently young girl (in Zelda's opinion), about twenty years old, and she has just about as much a love for art as Zelda does. She's bright, always smiling and laughing; her biweekly visits are always something Zelda looks forward to.
"Yeah," he nods. "She's always talking about how your place is like heaven – she's in love with your place; seriously, if you ever need a new employee, she'll be all over it. Plus, she's been needing a new job – she's been working as a waitress for a while, but she hates it. She needs something she loves…"
This causes Zelda's other brow to shoot up, "Really? I've actually been needing some extra help – tell her to talk to me next time she stops by or to shoot me an email. I would love to hire her!"
Link looks grateful, "Trust me, she'd love that – I've been trying to get her to work for me, but she keeps on saying no!"
"What do you do?" Zelda then asks, eager to get away from the topic of herself. She hates talking about herself. She's also honestly interested in Link.
"I own a zip lining tree top course – actually, I own a resort," he answers. "My Uncle Talon passed it down to me recently, and since I wasn't doing anything with my business degree, I took it. I'd been working for him all through college during the summer and then fulltime after so it wasn't a big transition. And I love being up in the trees."
The creepy waitress places their plates and milkshakes on the table and takes away the empty plastic basket that had contained their onion rings. She leaves but not before tossing Zelda a dirty look. Link catches it and sighs, "Ruto – stop."
"Ruto" tries to bite her lip but fails miserably. "Why?"
"Ruto – can you just leave?" he questions with yet another sigh. He tries to quell the burning anger that's bubbling deep within his chest. He can't blow up in front of Zelda – even if Ruto's pushing all of his buttons.
The waitress is smoldering, but she manages to walk away without assaulting anyone, which is probably a good thing…
Zelda unscrews the lid of the ketchup bottle before pouring the red condiment all over her fries and the top of her burger, "She's kinda weird…" she comments before handing the bottle to Link.
Chuckling awkwardly, Link accepts the bottle and replies, "Yeah – she's the acquaintance I was telling you about – the one that loves Metal Powerlines – although, I don't really think I would even call her an acquaintance anymore – more like an obsessive stalker…"
"For you or my boyfriend?" Zelda jokes lamely after she takes a bite of the delicious burger. The meat is cooked to perfection, and she can't help but sigh in contentment.
That earns a real laugh from Link, "The both of us…" He attacks his burger, and their conversation comes to a momentary halt as they both eat their meal, enjoying the comfortable silence that envelopes them.
"So you own a zip lining course?" Zelda asks after she's halfway through her burger.
Link nods, "Yup – Uncle Talon gave me the resort and the farm to Malon, my cousin. She's always been better with horses and milk while I've always been the one in the trees hanging with my carabiners and harness. Aryll's the artist, and she loves the ocean; Uncle Talon offered her some land in the country near the farm, and she just sold it to pay off some of her college debt."
"What's it like?" she questions curiously, dipping her fry into ketchup.
"What do you mean?"
She laughs, "Being in the trees. I've never been particularly fond of heights."
"It's amazing and purely exhilarating… I should take you some time," Link muses before pushing his finished plate away from him.
Zelda grins, "Only if you stop by the store."
Link can't contain his own smile, "Deal."
Self-consciously, Zelda realizes that she's only halfway done with her meal and Link's already completely finished. "I'm so, so sorry – I'm such a slow eater," she says, mentally berating herself.
"Pfft," Link scoffs, "don't worry about it – my grandma used to always say that I wolf down my food. Needless to say, wolves are my favorite animals." His smile is so infectious that it's crazy.
Raising a brow teasingly, Zelda asks, "Are you still hungry?" Without waiting for a response, she motions to her fries, "I've got enough to worry about with this burger and my shake – take them. I'd rather give up the fries than the shake."
Not wasting a moment, Link's already begun eating the fries she gave him, literally scarfing them down like he hasn't eaten in weeks, when, in fact, he's already eaten a whole burger, plate of fries, large chocolate shake, and onion rings. "Thanks, Zelda. I know I must look like I'm crazy right now, but I can't really help it – the food's speaking to me!"
Unable to stifle her laugh at that, she attempts to hide it by sipping her milkshake. It feels like they've known each other for a long while instead of just a few hours. But isn't that how it always is? "And what might it be saying?"
He shrugs boyishly, "Guess."
Amused, she rolls her eyes and tries to pretend like he doesn't affect her at all – the lies told. "No clue – enlighten me."
"If we end up hanging out more…" he leaves that hanging – ellipses and all.
It makes Zelda want to tear her hair out.
…
And she's back to twisting her ring, trying to calm her racing heart… He wants to keep hanging out? As friends? As more? Then she remembers Ganondorf. What's she going to say to him? That doesn't take much thought – she just can't do this anymore… He's taking too much of her energy, yet she gets nothing in return. In fact, this was supposed to be a makeup date from two months ago. He always texts with an excuse of how draining being in the studio has become or how grueling performing is. She's so ridiculously frustrated with him that she wants to scream, but that wouldn't do – not in front of Link.
Predictably, her phone buzzes from within the pocket of her denim jacket, and she excuses herself for a few moments. Of course, it's Ganondorf.
Ganondorf: Hey, babe. So sorry – I forgot that I was recording today. Can we reschedule?
She silences her phone and resumes eating.
"Everything alright, Zelda?" Link questions from where he's sitting in front of an empty plate.
Shrugging miserably, she shoves away her plate toward Link, who's more than happy to oblige. "I guess… Ganondorf's just sent an 'I'm sorry' text. The only good thing about dating him is that I get a ton of flowers – I call them 'I'm sorry' flowers… Kinda lame, huh? And my apartment's full of them."
He shakes his head before beginning to scarf down the remains of Zelda's burger, "Not lame at all – I think you should get lots of flowers anyway, though… All girls as pretty as you should. At least Ganondorf's doing something right."
Zelda's mind momentarily freezes – is he flirting with her? Yet, he sounds so sincere – there's no way that he's flirting with her. Yeah, she shouldn't be acting so silly – presuming things about Link is wrong, and she can't make any assumptions.
A goofy smile painting his face, Link just watches her, "You know, Zelda, I'd love to keep seeing you if you don't mind."
"What do you mean?" Zelda asks; she's terrible when talking to people, and she's not really a big social butterfly. Maybe it's for the best that Ganondorf didn't take her anywhere after all. "I mean…" her voice trails off awkwardly. No, Zelda, no assumptions.
He suddenly looks uncertain of himself and fumbles around with the straw of his ice water, "Well… I kinda like you, Zelda – I mean, I know I shouldn't because you have a boyfriend and all already, but I really do think we could work maybe… I mean, I'd like to make us work, and I know that…"
Zelda stops him there, not wanting to torture him any longer with being forced to ramble on. She just laughs and smiles – he's really endearing and unknowingly charismatic. Even his smile is magical, in her opinion. "Link," she says firmly, and Link looks up at her, watching her carefully. "Link – I don't have a boyfriend – not anymore at least. I've given this a ton of thought, and I just can't do this anymore. It's draining me, and I've got to get out of it."
Link just waits for her to continue.
"You know, I've really wasted my time – six whole years of my time, actually," she sighs. "Link, I've been dating him for six years… six. And we're worse than when we started out. Junior year of college, I felt so lucky that I had a boyfriend – especially a college graduate. Our first two years were great, but the four years after that were hell – we're not even stagnant anymore; we're deteriorating. It's like he loves the band more than he loves me, and to tell the truth, he probably really does. I'm really done – the band's gotten so big, and I've never even gone to one party or concert with him – I've never even seen him perform! He always tells me to stay home!" Her longwinded explanation causes her to slump a little more in her seat, and she looks so despondent.
Understandingly, Link places a supportive hand over hers.
Resolved, she says with conviction, "What Ganondorf and I have has to end – I'm ready to move on, and this one meal has shown me that – thank you, Link, for showing me that guys can be really sweet and not jerks. And I think I like you too."
A smile brighter than the sun lights up Link's face, and he's truly pleased. "If you're sure…"
She shrugs, "I doubt he'll even realize that we're not together anymore. He needs a girl who's able to deal with his workaholic tendencies – when she becomes devoted to him, she becomes devoted to his career as well. I'm obviously not that girl."
"And you don't need to be," Link agrees. His eyes sparkle at her, and her heart flutters a little bit. That smile of his could really light up the room.
Zelda does her best not to swoon.
The waitress, Ruto, comes back to question whether or not they want to split the check.
Before Zelda can say that they can, Link cuts in and insists that he pay for the both of them. She's shocked and flabbergasted, to say the least; she's always had to pay her way whenever going out with Ganondorf, and Link's now offering to pay for her when they'd just met.
Link throws a wink at her as he waits for the check. Ruto hands it to him, simultaneously smiling creepily at Link and watching Zelda menacingly. Needless to say, it's extremely uncomfortable for Zelda to sit under Ruto's gaze, and she squirms slightly in her seat – it's not like she's scared of Ruto – the waitress's just giving her weird vibes.
Finally, Link's done with the tiny receipt and nearly throws it at Ruto just to be able to leave with Zelda. Ruto is visibly fuming by the time Zelda and Link begin to exit the restaurant. Link's the perfect gentleman and opens the door for Zelda.
She smiles gracefully at him, and they stand together on the sidewalk. And that's when she wants to retch.
"Zelda," a deep, commanding voice says.
She almost jumps right out of her skin at that familiar voice. "Ganondorf," she replies levelly.
"You didn't answer my texts," Ganondorf says accusingly. His red hair's wild and crazy, and his amber eyes search Zelda relentlessly. He's so much taller than her and completely dwarfs her in size. His lips are drawn into a sneer, his brows pinched and slanting.
"I didn't have to," she quips back. "Thanks for standing me up, Ganondorf. I had a wonderful time with Link here, and I'm pretty certain that we're over and done with. I just can't do this anymore. Maybe I'll see you around sometime – or not."
Ganondorf's eyes jump from Zelda to Link to Zelda again, and his face contorts with anger, "You're going to regret this, Zelda!"
She scoffs, "I regret dating you in the first place so that's not really a problem –"
Link's brows are raised to the roof, and he takes Zelda's arm, steering her away from her ex.
From behind them, a feminine shriek is heard, "GANONDORF!"
Zelda and Link are pushed to the side as a blur of waitress literally assaults the lead singer of Metal Powerlines.
"Oh my gosh! Ganondorf! I'm in love with you!" Ruto exclaims as she hangs from Zelda's bewildered ex.
Exchanging glances, Zelda and Link race off to the park, leaving a fangirling Ruto, a furious yet confused Ganondorf, and their past behind them.
Amused, Link watches her jump onto a swing, her face a perfect picture of glee, "Feeling free?"
"Yeah," Zelda laughs, "I really am glad to finally be rid of him."
"I'm sure Ruto is forever grateful that he happened to stop by," Link shakes his head with a chuckle.
Leaning back in her swing, Zelda commands playfully, "Push me, Link!"
"Your wish is my command, Princess," he agrees, pushing her on her swing. They make a cute picture together.
In the distance, a twenty year old girl sets up an easel and watches the two adults on the swing set. She quells the laughter bubbling inside her before beginning to paint the scene in front of her – the girl with her billowing blonde hair and the guy pushing her on her swing, a perfect gentleman. She giggles to herself, "I'm so proud of you, big brother. She's quite the catch – you better not lose her anytime soon."
I'M ALIVE! :D So, I PROMISE I'm working on the next chapter of "Hey", but I've been gone for a huge portion of the summer, and I head back to school tomorrow so I wanted to get a little something out to you all; I didn't have my notes over vacay so I needed something I could start from scratch. Hence, I wrote this. I hope this makes up for some of that! DX Anyways, hopefully, I'll have the next chapter of something out fairly soon...
I pray that my teachers won't give too much homework... -.- Also, I have auditions in October so now's crunch time for preparing. :P So, what'd you think? Let me know via review or PM, ya hear? X) 3
~ {Zel}
Total Word Count (excluding A/N's):
3,542