Neither Tom nor Sam made any move to hold hands or act remotely affectionate as they travelled down the road to their destination, nor did either of them attempt to break the awkward silence that had settled upon them. Sam sighed. This was beginning to sound like the perfect start to a terrible date.
There was no planning behind this on Tom's part that Sam could see. One moment they had been laughing at a comedy that Tom had found online, the next he was asking her to come with him to his favourite restaurant and she agreed before she had even had a chance to think about what she was agreeing to.
Anyone walking by them right now would have assumed that they were prefect strangers or distant friends, but noting closer than that. The silence between them was starting to sound more deafening to Sam than a 41 gun salute, making her desperate to break it as soon as possible.
"So what restaurant are we going to?" Sam asked in a most carefree tone she could muster.
"You'll see." Tom said with a smile, apparently as grateful as Sam that the awkward silence had been ended.
Sam spent the next couple of minutes or so trying her best to guess what restaurant they were going to, though she only knew so many because she had searched all local restaurants on the internet before they left. Most of the results her search turned up were quite posh or at the very least formal, which was not Sam's thing at all and partly the reason she was pushing to find out before they got there so she could make some excuse to get out before she was stuck at a table with several knives and forks lined up on either side of her plate.
When they finally did turn up at the restaurant to Sam's relief she could tell is was absolutely nothing like she had feared, as 'Old Ken's Beef Jerky' for one did not sound like the name of a restaurant and for another was definitely not a posh restaurant.
When they entered a man at the blue topped kiosk with grey hair and a round face gave Tom a massive wave which he returned whole heartedly. The man, who Sam was assuming to be 'Old Ken', also turned his gaze to her and then back to Tom, waggling his eyebrows at him. Tom sighed and gave Ken a half hearted grin before leading Sam over to a table in the right hand corner of the place by a window as to avoid the punters and smokers, who were rowdily watching a football match on a television screen that could have easily been as old as Sam.
Once they were seated Sam took a moment to look around. The place reminded her somewhat of some vintage Wild West pub, complete with half doors and drunken 50 year olds wearing Stetsons. There were around nine small round pale wooden tables, including the ones Sam and Tom were now sat at, and each came with three of four blue leather and dark wood chairs.
"So what do you think?" Tom asked, shouting over the rowdy punters.
"It's… not at all what I was expecting." Sam replied in a raised voice.
"I'm hoping that's a good thing." Tom said with a nervous smile.
"Well considering every other restaurant in this town looked to be five star and was most likely full of uppity snobs… it's a VERY good thing we're here or I may have lost my mind." Sam said with a grin.
Tom gave her a relieved smile back before saying, "I used to come here a lot when I was a kid. Ken would always give me a discount because he knew my family and when I got older I used to bring my friends here."
"So this place has a lot of history for you. It's nice…" Sam said as her smile drooped slightly.
The only place she used to frequent as a child and teenager was underneath a small oak tree in a park that was only a short walk from her house. She wondered briefly if she had any place as an adult she would go to get away from things, but upon remembering how extremely focussed on the army and her career she appeared to be, she doubted it.
"You ok?" Tom asked.
"Yeah I'm good." Sam said, brightening her features with another grin.
Tom gave her a warm smile back just as Ken hobbled over with a small notebook to take their orders.
"What can I get ya?" He asked with a smile, though Sam could see this was more directed at her than at Tom.
"What have you got?" Tom asked, trying to draw his attention off of her and remind him that he was there.
"Well you've come on the best day M'boy! We've got a wide selection of delicacies that have been fine tuned to my loyal customer's taste buds."
"That's still code for fish and chips with coke and cold turkey sandwiches that taste like chicken, right?" Tom asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Coooorrect!" He replied, sounding like a game show host.
"Wonderful." Tom said, placing a hand on his temple, "I guess I'll have fish and chips then, but please don't drown everything in salt."
"And what will this fine young lady have?" He asked, turning his attention back to Sam.
"I'll have the same." Sam said, trying to ignore the fact she was being checked out by someone who was old enough to be her father.
"Good on ya! I'll be back in a minute, love birds!" He smiled before tearing his eyes off of a body part of Sam's that were a little lower than her eyes and walking away."
"He's…. Nice." Sam said slowly watching him walk away in disbelief.
"Don't take any notice of him. He's been a little desperate since his wife left him a few years ago, I don't think he means anything by it." Tom said a little sadly.
"Ok. Well then I hope he can just tear his eyes off me long enough to cook our meals." Sam said awkwardly as Ken washed up a plate while staring at her as though hypnotised.
"Yeah…" Tom said slowly, following her gaze.
…
Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been getting a little stuck with this story lately.