Disclaimer: I do not own Switched at Birth or any of its characters.
It was about 2 hours before we passed through a small town with a decent looking restaurant. Making sure Emmett was still behind me, I pulled off into the parking lot, quickly swinging into a spot and getting out. He pulled up beside me, the roar of his engine going silent.
He easily slid off his bike, hanging his helmet on a handle. 'Something wrong or just hungry?'
'Food. Feed me, man!'
He grinned, shaking his head slightly, amused as he made his way to the sidewalk and into the diner, with me hot on his heels.
Stepping inside was almost like walking onto a TV set.
There were five booths lined against the right hand wall, a bar dominating the space to the left. An old black register sat on the far end of the bar. The counter tops and tables were all silver, almost metallic. Six red stools lined themselves at the bar, matching the booths. Each table had 5 basics; salt, pepper, ketchup, tobasco sauce, and a napkin dispenser. A cat clock sat on the wall to the left, visible by everyone in the small diner. There seemed to only be 2 waitresses, one looking to be our age with black hair, standing behind the bar, talking to an older man. The other was much older, maybe 60, her red hair graying. She went from booth to booth, laughing and joking as she got orders and delivered coffee. Both wore a pale yellow dress with a white apron tied around their waists. The sounds of pans clanking and food sizzling emanated from the kitchen.
None of that seemed to be what made it so surreal, though. Everyone was happy, smiling, talking to each other between booths. Everyone knew each other. I could just imagine it being like this in the restaurant in Alderdeen, but the only image that came to my mind was an argument. I suppose I had been too stressed to actually pay attention to my surroundings.
The red haired woman quickly approached us. "Hey, there, hun. I'm Nadine. Booth?" She smiled widely, quickly snagging two menus from some unseen cubby.
I nodded quickly. "Yes, please."
She didn't hesitate, quickly spinning and leading us to the middle of the five booths, setting a menu down at either side of the table. I quickly slid in, facing the door, Emmett sliding in across from me.
"Ok, hun, anything to drink to start out?" Nadine turned her head away from us as she spoke, pulling a pad of paper from her pocket. Emmett frowned, looking to me. Since when had he started doing that? Waiting for me to help him? I still remember how much trouble I had been in at the music festival when I had said his order for him... that hadn't been pretty. What had changed now?
I chewed on my lip slightly, before saying, "Lemonade, please," while I signed, 'What do you want to drink?'
He quickly flipped open the menu, finding the drinks and turning it to her, pointing at what he wanted. I guess the moment was gone. Maybe it's a gradual thing? I don't know. Trying to understand Emmett was sometimes the easiest thing in the world. Almost like I was raised doing it. I could do it in my sleep. Second nature. Then other times... Figuring out what was going on in his head was like trying to read some alien language. Impossible and just confusing.
Nadine looked to where he was pointing and quickly scrawled on the paper, walking away and disappearing behind the counter.
'So you're going to stay with me, right?' His hands were confident, that seemingly constant smile on his face.
'What do-'
'I know you, Bay. I know your thought process. You have three options, and with what happened, I'm the best one.'
I huffed and looked away. Sometimes, I really hated how he did that. Because he was right. He did know me. Probably better than anyone else in the world. And there shouldn't have ever been the illusion that this conversation wouldn't come up immediately.
I still would have preferred to be the one to bring it up.
Nadine quickly returned, setting my lemonade in front of me, and some brown fizzy drink in front of Emmett. "Know what you want to eat?"
I quickly nodded. "Mushroom omelette, please." Nadine scrawled it on her pad and turned to Emmett. I guess he had been prepared this time, as he turned the menu again and pointed, not asking for my help again. Nadine quickly had it jotted down, taking our menus and disappearing.
Emmett turned back to me, his eyes intense. 'So? Are you staying with me?'
I sighed heavily. 'What about your mom?'
'I'll deal with her.'
'What if she acts like John?'
Emmett's jaw tensed. 'Then we'll find somewhere else.'
'We, huh? You plan on tagging along?' I joked weakly, forcing a smile.
'Yes. I do. I told you. I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere.' His face was completely serious. I wanted to find something about that sentence, about his attitude, anything that I could get mad at. He cheated. If not for Daphne, he wouldn't even know about this thing inside of me.
But despite how hard I tried, every time he said those words... 'I'm here for you'... a little bit of the ice I had put up around my heart melted a little bit. I wanted to believe him more than I wanted to protect myself. I wanted to believe that he would be there for me. That he would be here for our baby.
I said nothing, and neither did Emmett. The sounds of the diner came back to me. Nadine and the other waitress calling back orders. For a small town, it was surprisingly busy here. People talking, laughing... not having a tense conversation. It was like we weren't there. We were in our own world.
Nadine returned with our food, and we ate in continued silence. It wasn't long before we finished, and though I pulled out my wallet to pay, Emmett beat me to it, going to the register. I rolled my eyes and stood, going out to my car. Him and his chivalry. Like buying me lunch was going to fix anything.
A minute or two later, he came back out. I leaned against the driver side door, not quite ready to continue driving.
'Well? What's the game plan, Bay?' he signed as he made his way to his bike.
'I guess we go to your house.'
He grinned and straddled his bike, putting the helmet on while I got into my car.
Look at me, updating again so quickly.