The diner Dwayne that had chosen for them was cute in an old, tired sort of way and Elizabeth was very glad for its informal air. It was a very nonthreatening place, perfect for a night of easy chatting. It was kitsch and tacky but also comfortable. The seats were a lightly padded mixture of red and white leather and the plastic tables were topped with a spongy layer of removable plastic, acting as further protection from spills.
It was weather worn and cozy, like her Grandpa's house, her bedroom.
It felt very...Santa Carla.
There was a pay-when-you-order system and a random if not inventive "unlimited coffee with any bacon item" offer displayed on a bright, handmade sign near the register.
Not that Elizabeth had seen it up close.
Dwayne had bought all the food; she had never been treated so well on a date.
In the diner itself, there were about seven booths moving into an L shape against the wall and some stools evenly spaced at the bar, making it small enough to feel quiet and intimate but still informal and casual. The menu was really big in both its physical size and content and they had shared a joke, wondering if the cook could really rustle everything up. The laminated and bound menu looked like it hadn't been updated in a while but it was clean all the same - no ring marks or sticky smudges.
It featured twenty starters alone and there was even a lobster thermidor option in the mains section. Elizabeth had grinned when she saw it, she'd heard of it in movies but never seen it on a menu. Picking up on her reaction, Dwayne had suggested she go all in and try it, but, with a happy shake of her head she decided not to. There were no pictures and she had no idea what it actually was.
She would have probably ended up with an expensive plate of lobster brains and a duty to eat it.
Elizabeth had kind of wanted to indulge in the triple cheese, avocado and bacon monstrosity of a hamburger that was promoted quite heavily on page five but was too scared. She would have definitely made a huge mess of herself and that was the last thing she wanted. It was hard enough to play cool with such a handsome man in front of her..adding a sloppy, wet burger into the mix would have ended in tragedy.
In the end they had settled on sharing a large fries and a bunch of sides - popcorn shrimp, breaded mushrooms, nachos. The works. It was a random assortment but Dwayne had suggested they just get whatever looked good.
It turned out a lot of things looked good.
Lucy would have died if she'd seen the amount of junk food lining the table, but, healthy or not, it sure was tasty.
They had spoken a lot about Michael and Sam, about her move to Santa Carla, her time in Arizona and impressions of the town so far before Elizabeth had started challenging him playfully about his interest in history.
"...David's the expert on Santa Carla's history. He knows this place better than the back of his hand" Dwayne said, taking a bite of the hot, salted fries they were sharing, "and if you can keep Paul on topic he knows a lot but he has the mind of a golden retriever.."
"A golden retriever?" Elizabeth laughed a little at the description.
It seemed very apt.
Dwayne took a second to think on it and then grinned, swallowing another fry, before amending "a chihuahua that gets distracted easily and thinks its a mastiff..."
"I'm telling him" she threatened with another laugh, picking up a fry of her own.
Dwayne chuckled easily, wiping the grease from his fingers as he sat back a little, "seriously though, they can answer all your questions. Those two have been here forever"
"And you and Marko?" she prompted, eyeing the small sized balls of popcorn shrimp in the oil stained basket they had arrived in.
"Marko kind of grew up on the East Coast but moved a lot as a kid - cross country - so his historical experience is more scattered" he informed her.
"His historical experience?" she asked, tilting her head with a grin, "you make him sound like some sort of academic?"
He paused for the briefest of moments before picking up a fry.
"He is, sort of. He likes to read"
His voice was so deep but as he ate the lone fry he had taken, he fell quiet.
Elizabeth nodded, showing she was listening.
"What about you?"
"Me?"
"Yes!" she laughed, watching as he sat back again.
"I know a lot about Santa Carla but my main thing is Native American history" he liberated a lone, breaded mushroom from its place beside the shrimp and grinned at her, "surprise"
She laughed lightly, enjoying his dry humor, "I'm starting to believe you, I guess leather and bikes can be interested in history.."
"Told you not to judge" he admonished lightly, plopping the mushroom next to some other food he'd picked up but not eaten.
"..so, what did you mean buy Marko's historical experience is scattered?" she asked, rubbing her greasy fingers on a flimsy, thin napkin.
He looked at her with a small tilt of his head, "I told you? He likes to read"
There was a second of pause and Elizabeth shook her head, "but did he go to private school or...is it just a hobby of his or...?"
From what she'd seen, her school in Arizona was covering almost the same stuff as the one she was due to join in Santa Carla. Maybe Marko went somewhere private? Or to a vocational school rather than an academic one?
It was kind of a weird choice of words, very specific. She hadn't missed it and she hadn't missed his explanation, either, though it felt a little weird. Like a half explanation, or a half truth.
He smiled slowly, looking at her with a thoughtful gaze, "you don't miss much, huh?"
She liked the considered look of respect in his eyes, even if she didn't fully understand it.
"No, that was just a weird choice of words" she told him with a small smile of her own and challenging, raised eyebrows.
He chuckled again and she felt the butterflies in her stomach make themselves known once more.
"I like it when you're blunt" he told her, keeping his eyes trained on her own.
She exhaled a small laugh, trying not to feel flustered by his intensity.
"To be honest, we all have different levels of education"
"Do you go to school here?" she asked, pausing as he chuckled lightly, "..what?"
"It's just a cute question" he replied with a casual vagueness, shaking his head a little, his eyes sparkling with a hidden joke.
"..so you already graduated?"
He nodded, moving to flick open the menu once again, "yeah but I don't know. I don't like mainstream education"
"No?" she tilted her head to observe him.
"Nah" he confirmed "I just think there are better ways to learn than being locked up in a classroom all day"
Suppressing another smile, Elizabeth nodded, "wow..you're deep as well as historically knowledgeable"
She bit her lip to keep that smile down, to try and keep her face serious as he grinned at her.
"You have no idea" he told her, "so, what are you drinking?"
She hummed thoughtfully and glanced down at the menu with him, "it all looks good.." she mused as he watched her scan the pages.
She glanced at all the food, the empty trays and platters. His plate still held a lot of food but she'd eaten quite a lot. She felt kind of guilty, thinking on it. She must have eaten a good eighty percent of everything but she couldn't deny that she wasn't hankering after something more. The food had been wonderfully salty.
"Something sweet, maybe?"
"You want something sweet?"
"Sweet" she nodded, "what do you recommend, Mr Fountain of Knowledge?"
He pulled a face and she laughed, closing the menu with a playful finality despite it being held loosely in his grip.
"OK..." he nodded, sliding out of the booth, "something sweet..."
He walked over to the counter and she watched him go, biting her lip as she considered his body.
She turned to gaze out of the window before he could catch her wandering eyes.
There was just something so..so wonderfully compelling about him.
Elizabeth didn't know how long they had sat in the diner talking, she genuinely didn't know if hours or minutes had passed.
When he returned to their small little booth, all she knew was that the last of their food was cold, she knew that three couples had been and gone and she knew that she was having an amazing time.
She leaned forward slightly and he matched her movements.
"Earlier, you said that Paul and David have been here forever?" Elizabeth asked, thoughtfully running her fingers over the laminated menu, "...but you also said you're not all from around here...so, really. How did you guys meet?"
"How did we meet?" he asked, and she nodded.
She was curious about their group.
"How long have you been friends, how long have you lived here..everything"
"Everything?" he leaned back into his seat with a thoughtfully playful smirk and she felt her own smile explode.
That look.
God, she could just get lost in the boy before her.
"One strawberry shake-"
Elizabeth blinked as the polite but quiet server deposited a huge, glistening glass in front of her on the table. It settled between her and Dwayne with a soft plonk, the thick glass meeting the thick protective padding of the table.
"Oh, yeah.." she'd almost forgotten about her drink.
Her something sweet. That came in almost record time.
"..it looks great, thank you"
She smiled up at the server, with his graying hair and stained apron, but he was already ambling away, back to the bar.
Elizabeth looked between the shake and Dwayne and he sat up a little, "something sweet, right?"
"Strawberry shake..how did you know?" she laughed a little in pleasant surprise, looking at the delicious looking drink. It was her favorite, right down to the whipped cream on top and the syrup lining the bottom of the glass. That wasn't standard, it was always something she had to ask for yet...here it was.
How uncanny.
"..thank you, this is...hah, this is actually my favorite..."
She stared at the drink in amazement.
"Yeah? The extra cream, too?" he pointed to the pretty swirl resting on top of the thick liquid.
"You're a good guesser, this is exactly how I order"
He smiled a little and nodded in easy agreement, looking pleased at her happy reaction.
Moving to take a sip, she paused.
What were they talking about?
"Sorry. You..were you saying?" she asked with a little shake of her head, smiling against the straw as tried the deliciously sweet, thick and creamy shake.
It was really good.
"About my friendship with the guys.." he supplied, sitting forward again and resting his elbows on the table.
She loved his closeness.
"I was saying that the friendships just formed" Dwayne said easily, meeting her eyes comfortably "you know, it just seemed to fall into place suddenly" he grinned at her, "notice how good things always seem to?"
She blushed a little and nodded her head with a small smile.
He carried on, "I was new..I was alone and then I wasn't. Dav-the guys looked after me when I first came here and we did the same for Marko. We started as friends, ended up as brothers. We live together, we ride together. We're family"
There was unabashed affection in his words, such genuine sincerity and she nodded softly.
It was clear he love them very much and his openness was so refreshing.
Even Michael and Sammy who she knew loved each other very dearly, would never even hint at it, let alone openly admit it.
"..you came here alone?"
"Hmm?"
Elizabeth took another sip of her drink, shaking her head for a second. There was something about his story that was a little...off? It had sounded like he was going to say that David had looked after him but she couldn't be sure.
"I was just wondering, did you come here alone?"
He nodded once, "David was the first person I met. I was alone before that"
She nodded her understanding, feeling a little blown away and sad by the beautiful intensity of his words.
It must have sucked to be alone.
She had her family, even if she didn't have friends.
"Wow...Dwayne that's..that's really nice"
"How so?" he asked and she shook her head with a little laugh, "'how so'? Come on, that's so special.."
"Yeah?"
"You know it is!" she giggled, "- I mean, come on...it's scary. New town, no friends, you're feeling nervous. I know you've all got the macho guy thing going on" he laughed at that, "but it's hard. So for the guys to look out for you, to care about you...it's really nice. And then ending up so close? As brothers?" she looked down at her hands resting on the table before her. Her fingertips a little wet from the condensation of her glass, "it's lovely. It's special..."
Dwayne grinned at her, "yeah. You're right...but maybe we're doing the same for you?" he suggested.
She laughed, "Well, you guys were very kind yesterday" she agreed and, when he made a faux-indignant gesture at the food on the table she laughed and quickly added, "and you're being very kind now"
"I think you're beautiful" he said sincerely "and, in all honestly, my intentions aren't so brotherly"
She flushed deeply.
"Too forward?" he asked, a smile on his face but his words serious, "the guys really were looking out for you. They like you a lot..but I wanted to see you again. There's something special about you.."
He gently ran his fingers over her own and, hardly daring to breath, she looked down, following the path they were trailing over the skin of her knuckles.
She knew her face was bright pink, she could feel the heat radiating from it and those butterflies fluttering in her stomach were racing a thousand miles an hour.
Their playful flirting, their conversation. It had all been fun and largely light but now Dwayne's words were serious.
She studied his face once more.
His words, his tone weren't misleading.
He really was being serious.
She bit her lip nervously, shyly.
He was funny, handsome, charming. She had loved the feeling of being on his bike, she had enjoyed spending time with him. For the second night, she'd had butterflies when she was near him.
God, that had to mean something, right?
She'd never felt like this with previous boyfriends or dates. She had dated her last boyfriend, a cute senior with a nice smile, for just two months before they broke it off. It had taken her four weeks to initiate their first and only kiss and now, here she was, already thinking of kissing the man sat opposite her...no, knowing that she would.
It had to be something.
She smiled at him and slowly, gently curled her fingers into his.
She opened her mouth and laughed softly when she realized she had nothing to say.
A kind, understanding look broke out on his face, "I didn't want to make you uncomfortable-"
She stopped him, "No. I'm-"she stopped herself, surprised how willing she was to admit this, "I'm not uncomfortable..just surprised..and happy"
She was smiling unabashedly now, looking into his eyes.
"Happy?"
She nodded, "yeah, very happy"
Truthfully, she felt like she could fly.
It was all so surreal but incredibly welcome.
"So, if I were to ask you on another date tomorrow night?" Dwayne asked.
"I would say yes, of course" she replied, her cheeks still flushed.
She glanced down at their hands once more, momentarily lost for words.
"I made it awkward, didn't I?" Dwayne said with a light laugh.
She laughed, too, sitting back in her seat once more, "A little...but it's nice. I'm.." she nodded again, "I'm really happy" assured him.
"Want to see more of the boardwalk?" he offered and she nodded, feeling like an idiot bobble head but unable to find words.
He extended his arm and she scooted out of the booth first, waiting for him to join her before walking towards the door.
What. A. Night.
The sound of the boardwalk exploded around them, a jarring difference from the silence of the diner. With contented smiles and a comfortable air, they both set off, walking aimlessly around with the crowds.