chapter 3

They both reached for a steaming hot slice of freshly made Italian bread out of the basket their waiter had placed in front of them only seconds ago. Their hands briefly touched, but Natalie was too hungry to even notice. There was only one thing on her mind right now, and that was food. The bread was warm and soft in the middle with a crisp buttery crust. She couldn’t help but let out a moan loud enough that the people three tables over turned to stare. She was in heaven. Right as she was going to grab the last slice, she realized she had eaten the whole basket almost all by herself. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I ate all that without even offering you a second piece!” Natalie exclaimed. Without hesitation Derek replied “No need to apologize, we’ll just get more” with a smile on his face.

Now it was time for the most crucial part of the meal: deciding what to eat! Normally Natalie could choose what she wanted to eat at this place within seconds of scanning over the menu. She knew no matter what she ordered here it was going to be spectacular, and more often than not she usually just alternated between her two favorite meals. Today she was in the mood for everything though. Did she want pasta? Pizza? Chicken?

While she was debating on what to get she heard Derek chuckle. “You’re reading that menu so intently, it almost looks as if it’s your first time being in a restaurant and you’re just now discovering what a menu is.” Natalie giggled and flirtatiously punched his extremely toned bicep. “Damn, someone feels as if they’ve been hitting the gym extra hard” she teases. “You know me, I’ve always been a gym rat” Derek replies. “Yeah, I used to be crazy when it came to the gym too” Natalie said as she let out a deep sigh. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, taking a break from the gym might be good for you!”

Before Natalie could reply to Derek, the waiter was already standing in front of them ready to take their order. “You go first” Natalie told him. “I’ll have a slice of cheese pizza please” Derek says to the waiter. “That’s it?!” Natalie questioned him. “Well I have to save room for the food at all of the other restaurants we go to after this” Derek gleefully answered.

She still hadn’t decided what she wanted, so she asked the waiter which out of the three dishes she was considering she should get. Without even giving him a chance to reply, Derek interrupts and says “just get all three, I’ll eat whatever you don’t finish”. “Okay” Natalie agrees.

Now Natalie was nervous. And not because she thought she ordered too much food, but because she knew the chances of her finishing those three meals all on her own right now was far too plausible. “Wow, I don’t know how we’re going to eat all that” Natalie says as convincingly as she possibly can. “Correction, I don’t know how YOU’RE going to eat all of that” Derek sarcastically retaliates.

They spend the next 15 minutes or so catching up on all the new and exciting things going on in their lives, and then finally, their food arrived.

Natalie had decided on ordering a slice of chicken parm pizza, fettuccini alfredo with shrimp and last but not least, penne all vodka. The waiter placed the three large plates of food directly in front of Natalie. It almost looked comical next to Derek who was sitting there with his mere one slice of pizza. “Mhmmm, this all looks sooo good” Natalie says excitedly. She didn’t even know where to start. First she took a massive bite out of her pizza, practically eating half of it in just one go. Then she shoved a huge forkful of penne alla vodka in her mouth, followed by a heaping scoop of shrimp and fettuccini alfredo. “I wish I had three arms right now” Natalie jokingly tells Derek. “Here, let me help, I’m already done with my meal” he replies. Now Natalie has a slice of pizza in her left hand, a forkful of penne in her right, and Derek by her side feeding her mouthful after mouthful of fettuccini alfredo.

This is too good to be true Natalie thought to herself. She hadn’t even been back home for 24 hours and yet she had already gotten more flirtatious signals from Derek than she did throughout the four years of high school she spent living next to him.

Natalie had most definitely been overindulging on food over the last four months, but she hadn’t had food that tasted this good in that long either. She tried to eat as lady like as possible, but it was all so yummy, she couldn’t help but let her more ravenous side be exposed. Derek watched as Natalie slurped up thick, long fettuccini noodles doused in creamy alfredo sauce. “Here, you have a little something” Derek tells Natalie as he reaches for her face and lightly dabs the corner of her lip with his napkin. They locked eyes for a moment and both smiled at one another. Natalie had feelings for him before, but for some reason this time it felt like they were connecting on a whole new level.

“Clink.”

Natalie looks down at her plate and notices that it’s empty. “Well would you look at that” Derek goes. “And you thought you weren’t going to be able to finish it all”. Natalie had previously thought that she was going to feel embarrassed if she successfully ate all that food in front of Derek, but to her surprise she actually felt pretty proud of herself. “I’m proud of you, girl” Derek says. Natalie smiles and quickly looks down into her lap, biting her lower lip to try and contain her excitement.

While walking back towards the table after using the restroom, Natalie was greeted by Derek waiting for her in the front and who had already paid. “I know we didn’t get a chance to look at the dessert menu, but there’s an awesome crepe place just 5 minutes from here and I wanted to make sure you still had room in there to try it” Derek tells her and playfully pokes her now extremely full belly. “Aw, you didn’t have to pay for my meal. I ate so much more than you” Natalie says. Derek cracks a smile and goes “I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to”.