I was prepared to ask him today. I had gotten up early to carefully consider what outfit to wear. I wanted everything to go smoothly. In the end, I decided on a blue-and-green tweed skirt, a blue cardigan, and a nice white T-shirt underneath. It took me forever to choose between blue flats and my new boots, but, like usual, I went with the more practical choice—flats.
Julien wasn’t there when I arrived at the café, so I picked out a secluded table at the back of the room. The light-gray Normal waitress immediately brought over a menu and iced water. I noticed my hands were shaking slightly as I picked up the water, so I set the cold glass back down on the table before anyone noticed. I shouldn’t have had a coffee at breakfast. While I waited, I googled the nearest scale center and was happy to find one within walking distance. We had been going out for over three months now, so it was time, right?
I looked at my watch. He was ten minutes late. I looked at my phone to see if I had any text messages or missed calls from him. Nothing.
That's odd. He's normally not late. Why wouldn’t he at least write and tell me he's running late?
Twenty minutes went by. I decided to call him. I was now worried either something had happened to him or he had forgotten. Would he forget? He just sent me a text yesterday saying he looked forward to seeing me today, so he couldn’t have forgotten! I let the phone ring until the voicemail picked up. I was about to dial his work number when he walked in.
“Skyla!” he called out while rushing in. He looked around nervously as if he was sensing or expecting danger, took off his dark-blue blazer, and sat down.
“Hi Julien, I was starting to think you forgot about lunch,” I said flatly.
“Oh yeah, sorry I’m late. I got held up at work.” He looked around the room again and then picked up the menu and stated looking through it.
“Are you expecting someone?” I asked. Why is he acting so strange? I was feeling a little irritated, but then I remembered that he had attended his aunt's funeral yesterday. Maybe he just had a lot on his mind.
“Oh, uh, no.” He looked up from the menu. “Ty has been jumping out at me all day at work. I think he thinks it will make me laugh or something, but instead, it's freaking me out.”
“What?!”
“I know, right? He's jumped out at me three times today, and each time it scared the heck out of me! I thought maybe he followed me here, too.” He cracked a weak smile.
“I kind of wish he would have. It would be nice to finally meet him.”
Julien had met Lorana twice—once when he stopped by my work to pick me up for dinner and another time at a fundraiser. I had never met any of his friends.
“Did everything go OK yesterday?” I asked gingerly.
He shot me a puzzled look.
“The funeral?” I reminded him.
“Oh, yeah, sorry. I have a lot on my mind. It was fine.” He looked around the room again. It was hard for me to see him on the edge like this; normally he was so confident and cheerful.
“It must have hit your mom pretty hard, losing her sister so suddenly. But at least there's comfort in knowing there is a wonderful place waiting for her,” I quickly added.
“Yeah, I guess,” he said. He started fidgeting with his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box.
“Look what I found.” He placed the box in front of me on the table with a mysterious smile.
“What is it?” I asked curiously.
The waitress came to take our order, so I quickly asked for an iced tea and a slice of cheese-and-mushroom pizza. Julien gave the menu back.
“Just a coke for me.”
“You aren’t going to eat?” I asked.
“Not in the mood.”
“Oh.” I looked up at the waitress. “Just an iced tea for me then.”
“Don’t not eat on my account, Skyla!” he said in a chastising tone. “I really ate enough yesterday to last a year.”
“No, it's OK,” I said. “I have a ton of leftovers from my parents that I brought into work today. I’ll just grab some of the lasagna when I go back to my office.”
I really didn’t feel like eating in front of him when he wasn’t eating. Besides, I wasn’t joking when I said I had brought in a lot of food. My mom always cooked as if an entire army were coming over for dinner. I was a little bummed, though. This birthday lunch wasn’t turning out to be the great time I had imagined—clearly not the day to bring up scaling. I wasn’t really sure what to do or say at this point.
“Well…open your present!” he urged.
I slowly untied the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a charm for the bracelet I wore to Coney Island: a sterling silver carrot with green stones covering the leaves at the top.
“Happy birthday!” he said, smiling. “Are you surprised?”
“Wow,” I said, flabbergasted. “I love it!” I couldn’t believe he remembered that I even had a charm bracelet. He had made fun of me for having a cupcake on it, considering I was a nutritionist.
“I think those are real emeralds.”
“What?!” I said looking again. “This must have cost a pretty penny!”
I thought about it for a minute. I hope he didn’t get it because he felt bad about not being able to take me out over the weekend.
He laughed. “I think you’re worth it. Besides, I got a good deal.”
He proceeded to ask me about my weekend and how I celebrated my birthday. He seemed to relax a bit more and wasn’t looking over his shoulder as much as when he first came in. We stayed and chatted for about an hour before he looked at his watch and apologized that he needed to get back to work. He wasn’t completely himself, but at least I knew why. Between Ty freaking him out and his aunt's funeral, he was an emotional wreck. I chickened out on the scaling question and focused on having the best time with him possible. It was a good sign that he gave me such a nice present, particularly since he said I was worth it. I will ask him to scale next time.