Three-way Date

Zolo smelled her before he saw her. She had lit up again and she did it rarely enough to tell Zolo when she was thinking very hard about something that she wanted to get away from. The green-haired man just shook his head and walked over to her.

"Smoke makes it hard to breathe." He said and E turned her head to blow the smoke out of her mouth and keep it out of his face. E looked at him and then rolled her eyes.

"Don't stand so close, Lolo, best I can do is blow it out in another direction." She looked at Sanji and smiled at him. He was gnawing at the paper stem of his cherry sucker.

"You could quit, too." grumbled the grouchy man as he pushed through the door to the restaurant. E followed him in and then Sanji followed the short woman. Inside the building it was the perfect temperature as compared to the bitter chill that soaked into your clothes and into your skin and right to your bones that lingered outside. E led them to an empty table and then went to get menu's while they looked at the drink list.

"What drinks do you two want?" E asked while she ran a hand through her hair, pulling the hair from behind her glasses and showing off the oddly formed scar that was still hard to see because of the ear piece to her glasses. Sanji gave it an odd look and lifted a hand in inquiry. E ignored him with obvious unease. Zolo answered her while she readjusted the hair under her glasses.

"Just water." Sanji looked at the other man as if he should be asking about the scar, too, but he didn't get to harp on the man before E glanced at him with discontent shining from behind her glasses. She then looked back at Zolo and fidgeted, waiting quietly for his answer. The way she acted made Sanji feel cold and ashamed.

"U - ah.. a... coke?" he muttered and slumped in the seat as she walked away hurriedly. Zolo looked at him like he was everyday dirt. Green hair waved a little as he shook his head and sighed.

"You'll see lots of things about her that she would rather hide, so please do not stare or ask," Zolo said under his breath before he turned to watch the woman in question walk back to them with a tray of six glasses, putting three on their table, then going to another to put theirs down. She was being followed by a girl who looked like she was anything but confident around the smaller woman who was speaking smoothly to the people, explaining that the girl was Emma and she was going to be their server and that she was new.

"Why is she doing that?" Sanji asked aloud as he watched her walk back over to their table and take a sip of her drink.

"Because I was asked to help out." E said and then looked at Emma, who was writing orders in a shaky script that looked like E might have to re-write the order. "I'll be back in a few minutes, I'll bring Nachos." She murmured and then walked with Emma back to the kitchen, looking at her pad before sighing and taking a pen out of her apron - which she had put on when she went to get the drinks and scribbled in a messy, but clear script, the orders as she read them.

Sanji watched her hands in fascination, they were so small, quaint and though they look soft and inviting, he knew them to be rough and calloused. The blonde suddenly had the unnerving need to hold them tight in his own. To rub off the callous' and make them soft like they looked from so far away. Zolo gave him a strange look as his best friend stared at his close female companion.

"You really like her, don't you? It's not just a three day crush, right?" Zolo was worried, because he knew that Esme also liked Sanji, but she was scared of his antics and reputation as a lady killer - love 'em and leave 'em type of personality that just made a girl wanna kill herself because she wasn't good enough for him. Sanji looked at him with obvious shock. He looked down at the Coke before him and played with the straw.

"It's deeper than the others..." The love cook said and wrapped his hands around the cold glass as Zolo looked at him with stern eyes, then he slouched in his seat and looked around the room. It was quiet for a while, just the low buzz of the alternative rock music playing in the background of the lives of the patrons of the restaurant.

E helped Emma carry the order out to the waiting tables that she'd taken charge of and swooped over to their table to drop off the nachoes and take another drink of her water, which was very lacking in the department of ice by now. E smiled at the both of them before she told Emma that she'd supervise while she took the orders of another table that came up, and reminded her that she needed to write clearly, but quickly. Then the girl went off and E slipped away to get a few more things for the three of them to munch on.

There were four empty plates there on the table, and a large slab of cake rested on the fifth plate. E covered it in whipped cream and began to eat. Sanji watched her in almost horror - she'd eaten the most out of all of them, and she was the smallest one that was there! He wasn't sure if he should ask her to stop or root her on, because she didn't to be slowing down at all. The blonde glanced over at Zolo before he heard the plate scrape on the table and he looked over to E, who was looking back at him, offering him half of the piece of cake. "I'm full, you eat it," she offered with a smile, licking the whipped cream from her lips.

Sanji stifled the shudder watched that tongue produced.

E and Zolo then stood up, he had to go to the bathroom, and she was taking the plates to the back room. Zolo walked hurridly into the bathroom and once there, he pulled his wallet out, taking the estimated amount of money from his wallet that would pay for the meal. The man that Zolo was holding the money out toward chuckled at the serious face that the swordsman had on his face. "Zolo, you don't have to give that to me, it's really no problem," the older man said, grinning as the other shook his head. "I'll take care of it, you shouldn't baby her so much, Clyde," The older man laughed and took the money from his hand, "I see, I see, that's your place, isn't it?" he laughed again as Zolo just curtly nodded. Clyde nodded and pocketed the money while the younger male walked out of the bathroom and made his way back to the table.

"But the pepper and vanilla made that vaguely heated sweet taste that twisted with the chocolate and pickle juice and made an over all compelling and delicious flavor!" E was saying loudly and flailing, more of the cake that she and Sanji had been eating resting on the table. "Maybe I shouldn't ask what I missed..." he muttered as he sat back down, taking a long gulp of his water.

Sanji took a large bite of the cake and rolled it around in his mouth for a long time. He finally swallowed and then stuck his tongue out at the small woman, grinning, "Sadly, I have to agree..." He looked toward the other male and rolled his eyes, "I asked what was in this cake." Zolo scoffed and let a ghost of a smile slide over his face. E looked between them and the yawned, "Chill out here if you'd like, I've got to get to the library to grab a book before I forget it." She stood and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to check the time before she started out the door, her pack of cigarettes in her hand.

Zolo watched Sanji and then looked at the door, where the blonde was staring. He rolled his eyes and kicked the taller male. "Go with her, moron..." Sanji nodded and got up, following his crush out the door.

It was colder outside then it had been when they had gotten there. E was standing on the very edge of the curb, smoking into the wind, so that the smoke wafted down the street and away from the restaurant. "Took you long enough," she teased before she flicked her cigarette butt into the street, blowing the last of her smoke out through her nose. Sanji rolled his eyes and moved to her side, getting there as he heard a loud motor. He jerked his head toward the noise and grabbed her by the shoulders, tugging on her hard as he threw himself back away from the street. A large truck zoomed past, swerving this way and that as it did. Sanji pulled the small, cold woman to his chest and felt her shake from more than just the cold. Zolo and Clyde burst through the doors, responding to Sanji's calls for help, which he hadn't even known he was saying.