Breakfast At Denny's

There was a little surprise waiting for me when I got off work this morning. It was nothing bad, it was actually really good if you ask me!

I walked out of the store to go to my car and noticed that there was a car parked next to mine that wasn't there before, it was Sara's car. I wanted to run over to her car, rip the door open and pull her out but I didn't, I somehow managed to remain calm.

When I got to her car, she rolled down the window and asked me to get in. Without hesitating, I jumped into her car and she sped out of the parking lot. "What's going on Sara?" I asked her as she came to an abrupt stop at the stop sign before pulling out into the morning traffic.

She ignored my questions. "Are you hungry?" She asked and then told me she was.

A couple minutes later we were seated in a booth at the back of Denny's with menus in our hands. "Is everything ok?" I didn't have the chance to really look at her when we were in the car and now sitting across from her, I was surprised to see that she didn't look half as bad as she did the day she came to me.

"It's amazing what you can do with make up and the right lighting," she said without taking her eyes off her menu. "Please don't stare at me Tanner, I know I look horrible still."

Before I could answer the waitress was back with our drinks and wanted to know if we were ready to order; Sara was, so I let her go first while I scanned the menu quickly.

When the waitress was gone, Sara took a sip of her water and then smiled at me. "You seem a little surprised to see me," she frowned. "You didn't have something you needed to do, did you? I didn't think about that, maybe we should cancel the order and go." She started to look around for the waitress.

"Sara," I reached out for her hand, she let me take it in mine. "If I had something I needed to do, I would've told you."

"Ok," she seemed to relax a little. "I wasn't sure if I would get there before you went home," she told me. "You always seem to be in a big hurry to leave in the mornings but you were later this morning." I could see the question in her eyes.

"There were a couple new people who started this week," I told her. "I was stuck with one in pets and we got a little behind." I didn't tell her that the reason we were behind was because the new chick that they put with me was the biggest flirt and all night she was hitting on me.

"They put a new person with you?" Her forehead wrinkled as she frowned. "Why would they do that? New people are always put with..." she paused and sighed. "Me." She asked me about the new people, how they seemed to be working out and stuff like that.

"They are alright," I told her nonchalantly.

"There were two?" She asked and I nodded. "Male or female?"

Ha ha...fuck! "Both female."

"Oh," she sat back and looked around for a couple minutes. I wish I knew what she was really thinking at that point but she wouldn't tell me when I asked. She was quiet for a while, actually she didn't say anything until the waitress brought us our breakfast.

"So the chick that is working with you? Is she older? Younger?"

"Ummm, I think she's younger." I knew she was 22, she told me that along with other things that I didn't really want to know.

"Oh," Sara picked at her plate and then looked up at me. "Is she pretty?"

I shrugged, "She's alright."

Sara nodded, "So she is pretty."

"I guess," I shrugged once again.

"If you think she's pretty Tanner, you can say so, it really doesn't matter."

Yeah, right! I don't know why women think that we actually believe they don't care if we think another woman is pretty; even if Sara wasn't my girlfriend, I wasn't that stupid. "I told you," I looked her in the eye. "She's alright."

"Uh huh," Sara nodded. "So in other words, you've been checking her out and harassing her like you do with everyone else."

"No," I jumped in immediately. "I don't do that with everyone."

Sara shrugged but she wasn't looking at me anymore. I sighed, what was I supposed to do? No matter what I said she seemed to not believe me so I let her think what ever she wanted to think. "I guess you'll have to find out for yourself when you come back to work."

And then she told me that she didn't know if she would be back. "Ken doesn't want me to work nights anymore and has been trying to get me a job with the company he works for."

"You can't be serious!" I stared at her. "You don't like people! Remember?"

She gave me a sad smile. "I know but Ken wants -"

"I don't give a flying fuck what that bastard wants Sara!"

"Tanner please," she glanced around at the table closest to us and turned red when she saw a couple people watching us. "It would be nice to work during the day again, to actually feel like I have a life." And as if she was trying to convince me that this was her idea she added. "I've been thinking about changing jobs for a while now."

I just shook my head, I didn't believe a word she said. "Fine," I muttered as I dug into my breakfast. "Do whatever you want, let the bastard control your life and cut you off from anyone who cares about you."

"Tanner I just think that -"

I glanced up at her. "It's your life Sara, you don't have to explain yourself to me."

"I'm know that Tanner, I was just trying to tell you that -"

I sighed.

"Excuse me," she jumped up from the table and walked quickly towards the bathrooms.

I feel like a complete jerk. At that point I wasn't so sure I was all that different from the bastard. Sure I wouldn't slap her around but I didn't bother to listen to what she had to say and I tried to manipulate her into doing something because I wanted her to do it.

When she didn't come back to the table, I got a little worried and went searching for her; I didn't even think twice about walking into the woman's bathroom. She wasn't there. I panicked.

I frantically looked around for one of the restaurants' staff and when I spotted one, I asked them if they saw Sara. After giving a brief description, the person I stopped said they didn't see her but the couple that were standing at the counter waiting to be seated said they just saw her outside.

I ran outside. "Sara!" She was sitting on the truck of her car, staring out at the traffic as it flew by. "Sara!" I called again and she glanced over her shoulder at me for a split second. When I got to her, she told me to leave her alone.

"Please Sara," I stood by the side of her car. "Come back inside and finish your breakfast."

She shook her head, "I'm not hungry."

"You barely ate anything and you said you were starving when you picked me up."

"Well I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought."

I moved around the car to stand next to her. "Come back inside please?"

"I think I should go home," she told me, still not looking at me. "I shouldn't have bothered you."

I chuckled softly. "I don't think you can help that one Sara," she shot me a look that made me smile. "Come back inside," I took her hand in mine and gave it a little tug. When she wouldn't budge, I asked her if she really wanted to see me beg. "I'll do it," I told her. "I'm not above begging for some thing that I want so badly."

"Tanner!" She laughed when I started to lower myself to the ground.

It worked, she let me lead her back into the restaurant. We finished our breakfast and soon she was dropping me off at work so I could get my car.

Even though she said she would see me later, when I turned down my street, she was waiting for me. I got from my car and she was by my side in no time at all. "You don't mind if I hang out with you for a while, do you?"

It's been a couple hours since we've been back to my place and as I sit here typing this, she is sleeping on my bed.

I think I'm going to go join her.