https://youtu.be/v3HhWHJpLP8

(Author's Note: If you would wish to listen to Chapter 3 parts 1 and 2 on audio, please click the videos. Thank you)

  By the time I know it, we're driving through via Soldiers Field Road. and Storrow Drive. The car is filled with silence as we head to our destination. Where is he taking me? When I look out of the window, I have my answer. IHop? He tells me they have the best pancakes and I take his word for it.

   As we head inside, it's crowded and full of people and every single table is almost taken, being a Friday. The lady that greets us is wearing a waitress outfit with her light brown hair in a bun. She tells us they have one table that's open, but it's by the bathroom. Chris informs her we'll wait for another table and I thank him because I would not want to be by a restroom. While waiting, I can tell that Chris is getting impatient every minute that passes and I tell him to have patience. He doesn't listen and goes back over to shout at the poor woman for not having a table already.

   After him being rude to the lady, she tells him that they have a table ready for us and I apologize to the woman for Chris's behavior. She sits us in a booth by the window, I take sight of the beautiful orange and yellow autumn trees, watching as the leaves start to fall off.

  In no time the waitress brings us our menus, I notice the lady is younger than the other woman who greeted us earlier. She's about in her 20s, she couldn't be much older than me. She has the same outfit and has wary blonde hair hanging off her shoulders. Her cheeks blush to a deep shade of red as she gazes at Chris, observing him. She has not once looked my way- not that I blame her, but can she be more obvious? She informs Chris her name is Isabella and asks what would he like to drink. I want to tell the impolite woman that I am here too, but I keep to myself since I do not want to start a conflict. He tells Isabella we will have coffee. I give him a glare of what-if-I-wanted-a-other-drink.

   Chris spotting me scowling at him, asks, "What?"

  "What happens if I did not like coffee?" I sneer.

  "You don't like coffee?" He asks, raising his eyebrows.

  "Yes... But-"

  He cuts me off. "Good, don't be upset I'm paying for it," he hisses.

   I would not want him to pay for me, so I add, "You don't have to pay... I can pay as well."

  "Well since I invited you here, I will be the one paying for it."

  "But I-"

  He interrupts me again, "No, I will be buying lunch today, end of discussion."

  He can be so irritating and I hate that he interrupts me. I sigh in defeat knowing I do not want to ruin our lunch together.

  Isabella brings us our coffees with creamer on the side. She asks Chris what he will like to have. This woman is getting on my nerves. I want to shout at her to tell her that there is someone else here, but decide against it. He orders for both of us and she takes our menus.

  "Are you okay that I'm ordering for you as well?" He anxiously asks.

  I nod in agreement. I hadn't looked at the menu once since we'd been here, in a way, I'm glad that he ordered for me. Besides, I'm not that hungry and if the food tastes awful, I'll eat some and give the leftovers to my dog.

  While we wait for our food, he adds two sugars to his coffee, reminding me of my dad, who liked his coffee black with sugar. I prefer it with sugar and cream just like my mom did. "Do you like black coffee?" I ask.

  He stirs the sugar with a spoon and he looks up at me. "Huh-yeah, I have to be in the mood for creamer. Why do you ask?"

  "Just curious," I shyly smile. Why am I being so shy around him suddenly?

  He takes a sip of his coffee and I decide to change the subject. "So, is this your way to ask me on a date?" I tease.

  He chokes on his coffee and spits some of it onto himself and on the table. It was only a joke. I didn't think anything of it when I said it.

  I hand him a napkin. He clears his throat. "Thanks." He takes the napkin and starts to clean himself, including the table. "No this is not a date," he huffs and I frown. I don't know why that hurt my feelings. "No... I mean I do not date."

  What does he mean he does not date? Does he think that's a better answer?

  He continues. "Well, I do not do the girlfriend thing."

  The girlfriend thing? What is that supposed to mean?

  I'm offended by his response. I am not jealous. I just don't believe he does not date or has girlfriends. I have always seen him around girls. In a blink of an eye, my words come out of my mouth before I can stop them. "But I see you with so many girls."

  He laughs. "Yes, but they weren't my girlfriends and I did not go on dates with them. I would only fuck them and they enjoyed it- trust me." They probably did enjoy it, even so, they perhaps wanted more from him. Still, all those girls that he had been with wanted to become his girlfriend at some point in their lives. I feel bad for those girls.

  And like he read my mind he says, "And do not feel sorry for them they knew what they were getting into."

  I'm speechless. I do not know what to say to that, so I remain silent. As we stay lost in our own thoughts, I can hear everyone else's conversations all around us.

  Chris breaks our silence. "Do you know a lot about cars?" He asks.

  I nod. I do not want to talk about my dad. Every time I bring up my parents I start to weep, and I do not want to cry in front of Chris.

  "How do you know about cars?" He sarcastically asks.

  Does he not take a hint that I do not want to talk about it? Nevertheless, I do not want to be disrespectful. "My dad," I say very quickly, and I am hoping he heard me the first time that way I do not have to repeat myself.

  "Oh..." His mouth tries to form another sentence, but the words didn't escape. I guess he got the hint that I didn't want to talk about it.

  I decided to give him a little bit of information. "Yeah... He taught me from the classic to modern cars." Now enough talking about me. I want to get some information from him. "Where did you learn about cars?" I question.

  "Well..." He's trying to gather the right words to say. "My friends used to bring car magazines to school and I fell in love with cars ever since then. My best friend, Mark also had a father that worked as a mechanic at Dylan's Diesel and Auto Repair. I went there after school with him, fixing up cars. I still do it now, however, I do not go as often as I did when I was back in high school." I can see he is flashing back to his past remembering his memories. "Mark moved away to college, but I'm still good friends with Mark's father. His father is more like a dad to me," he lowers his smile, making it into a frown.

  "Did your father pass away?" I curiously ask and I soon regret saying it.

  His face becomes full of anger and his cheeks are turning red. "No, he's still alive, probably my mom is still alive wherever in hell she is if you must know!... Now drop it! I do not want to talk about it!" He yells.

  Gosh, he did not have to be cruel. I was just asking a question. I answered his questions, trying not to be impolite, at least he can do the same and not act like an ass. I don't like this side of Chris and I hope I won't have to see it again.

  I sense all eyes on us and when I turn around, I spot people staring. Chris notices other people are watching us as well and he gives them the fuck-off look. When everyone stops gawking, he focuses back on me. "Look, I'm sorry, but I don't want to talk about my parents, okay?" He says calmer than I expected.

  I nod in agreement, so I do not have to bring up the past anymore, and I wouldn't want to talk about my parents either. I can be a she-devil, but I will be the nice one here... for now. I need to talk about something else before we both start screaming at each other. Right on cue, Isabella brings us our food, it smells delicious, making my tongue water. Perhaps, I am more eager to eat this food than I assumed. Not only does it smell delicious, but it also looks appetizing with scrambled eggs, two bacon strips, golden hash browns, and a side of fluffy pancakes topped with butter.

  Mhmm, I will definitely eat all of this. Purposely I do not say thank you to Isabella, after all, she does ignore me and only pays attention to Chris. Thankfully, Chris does not pay attention to her when she is talking to him and only looks at me. Inside I am saying take that beotch. I am not jealous, however, my subconscious tells me yeah, sure you're not and I wish I could slap her.

  I pour the syrup and take a bite of my pancakes just to see how good they are as Chris proclaims. To my surprise, they taste heavenly. "Good right," he asks. I nod as I take another bite of my pancakes and wipe my mouth with my napkin.

  I am eager for him to answer the question that I had in the back of my mind. I hope he does not get offended this time, but I don't see why he should because I'd agreed to come with him if he answers whatever I want. I finally get the courage to ask him. "Why are you speaking to me now after three years when you never did before?"

  He chews his food slowly, thinking of what to say next. He stares at his food for a minute then he speaks. "I..."

  "I what?" I want him to spill it out already.

  "I know that I knew you since freshman year... I-I need help in Professor Young's class. I know for a fact that you're the only one who shows up to class every day and since I always see you working so hard, I figured we could study together. I just didn't know how to confront you about how I'm failing his class. So can you help me?" He stutters.

  I knew there was some reason why he was following and talking to me. Maybe this is the reason? He shouldn't be afraid to ask for my help or ashamed. I would be willing to help him, but I want to ask, "You want us to study together?" I pause. "And it seems like you don't need my help in his class, " I say, recalling the answer he gave in Mr. Young's class today surprised me.

  "Yes, we could study after class or whenever you can. I am free anytime... And yes, I do need help in class. I was looking at your notes and it gave me an idea of what to say," he anxiously says.

  "Oh... Okay so, what do I get out of this?" I ask, curious about what he might say.

  "Of course... I could offer you money?"

  I could not take his money. "No, no money. Anything else you can suggest?" I clasp my hands together.

  He seems surprised and I don't know why he should be because I don't want his money.

  "No money? Well, we could have some fun," he grins.

   I laugh. "I do not think your idea of fun is the same as mine."

  He joins in laughing. "We both like cars, so what if I take you to work on cars with me?" he asks.

  "Hmm..." I do like to work on vehicles, most girls don't like to get dirty and do man stuff as they call it, but not me. Maybe this could be fun.

  He adds, "And I can take you sailing. I recall you talking to some girl in class not too long ago. I know you always wanted to go sailing. I have a boat to take you on." He makes a good offer. I always wanted to sail and watch the sunset touch the ocean; it sounds amazing. "Well, do we have a deal?" He presses.

  I nod and we shake on it. "Yes. That sounds amazing-" I want to get a reaction from him so I add, "And are you watching me in class, Chris?" I tease and have a huge smile across my face.

  He remains silent and his cheeks flush. He seems nervous, but he couldn't be nervous around me. Can he? I start to laugh. "I was only teasing you, don't look so nervous."

  Not saying a word, he playfully grabs a slice of my pancakes and shoves it in his mouth.

  "Hey!... I was going to save that for later!" I shout.

   Without hearing what I said, he grabs another slice of pancakes with a grin and starts to chuckle. I had got full and was going to put aside half of my food for later, but now that Chris is eating what was supposed to be my dinner, I guess that is out of the question. I push my half-eaten pancakes, the bacon, and the rest of my hash browns to him.

   "Are you sure?" He asks and I nod. "Thanks," he says and takes a fork full of pancakes. Since he has already eaten some of my pancakes, he might as well eat the whole thing. I can't complain because I'm not the one paying for lunch today. He ate an entire plate of his food and now he's eating mine. Considering how much he eats, he must work out to keep his body in shape.