Pyrokenisis

Charle looked up as she heard the motorcycle come into the driveway, he waved at her and she ran over to him. She smiled at him and passed him the jacket, he put it on, and didn’t take the helmet off.

“You look hot.” The helmet muffled his voice. “But your not supposed to wear a dress on a bike…” He said and she blushed.

“Sorry.. I forgot…” She said then looked up at him. “We can take my car if you like.” She suggested with an embarrassed tone. “Or I can go get changed.”

“I’ve got a better idea.” He said and motioned for her to sit on the bike, he handed her a spare motorcycle helmet and took off his jacket again. After she sat on the motorcycle he laid the jacket over her legs. “There, problem fixed.” Charle chuckled and put her arms around him, noticing that his shirt was ripped and had blood on it. She felt him flinch and he turned back to her. “Hey, Don’t mind the shirt.” She nodded at him and they left, her parents just coming to the door when they left the driveway. The whole time they were on the motorcycle, she couldn’t help but worry about him and why he was so beat up.

They arrived at Chez Nouveau after awhile, Charle handed him back his jacket and got off the motorcycle, took off the helmet and looked at the restaurant, amazed at his choice.
“Um..” She looked over at him. “This is really expensive, my parents came here and they could barely afford a glass of water. Are you sure you can?” She asked as he took off his helmet and led her to the front door, not letting her see his face.

“Hey, I’m filthy rich.” He chuckled. “Emphasis on the Filthy!” He motioned to his clothes. When he got to the door the maitre’d refused to let them in.

“Hey! Nico!” D called into the restaurant and a man in a white expensive looking suit came over, it looked like the only expression his face showed was an angry scowl. He had bright blue eyes and blonde hair that was slicked back. He looked like he was fairly strong and very intimidating.

“What are you doing here?” The man asked angrily and Charle moved closer to D, like he was a physical barrier to the man’s angry tone.

“Well, I’m here to play Pinball…” D said rolling his eyes. “It’s a restaurant, obviously I’m here to eat…” Nico glared at D for a moment then turned back to the Maitre’d.

“Give them a table.” Nice shot coldly giving them a glare, to Charle it seemed the glare was meant for her and not D. The Maitre’d took two menus from the counter and began to show them to a table in the back when Nico grabbed D’s arm and pulled him to the side.

“Go ahead Charle, I’ll be there in a minute.” D said without turning to face her. She sat at the table and watched D and Nico, The grip that Nico had on D’s arm looked painful, even from the back of the room. After a few moments D turned and made his way back to the table with his head down. Once he sat down he looked up at her, revealing a very bad attempt at covering up a black eye.

“Sorry about that. “ He said picking up the menu and smiling at her.
“God, What happened?” Charle asked concerned.

“Huh…Oh, nothing…” he replied as the waitress came up to take their order. Charle ignored the waitress and reached out to touch his face.

“This isn’t anything.” She said softly looking intently at his face, concern filling her eyes. “It was that man wasn’t it? The one who called your phone and who drew you away earlier.” D brushed her hand away and looked at her.

“Look, Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing.” Charle pouted as he said that and he looked at her. “Don’t pout… Do you want a drink?” Charle looked at the waitress.

“Just an orange pop.” Charle said her eyes still on D’s black eye.

“Can you drive a motorcycle?” D asked and when she shook her head he looked defeated. “Damn, that means I can’t have a beer. So I’ll just have water.” The waitress nodded then left. Charle continued to scowl at D. D looked at her and chuckled. “You know, if you continue to have that look then it’ll stick that way. And I won’t ask you out again.” He said with a laugh.

“I still want to know what the hell happened.” Charle said simply her face softening slightly. The waitress came back to take their order.

“My mother wasn’t even this nosey…” D said under his breath then looked up at the waitress. “I’ll have Chicken Parmesan.” D looked over at Charle.

“I’ll have Fettuccini Alfredo.” Charle said as the waitress took their menus and left. “She may have not been nosey, but I am. So tell me what happened, or I’ll walk out right now.” D ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back to make it look like he had long hair and gave a looser-like laugh.

“Look, I just got into a fight at work.” D said looking at her and Charle shook her head.

“If it was as simple as that, you would have told me when I asked the first time. And what about that Nico guy, he was practically crushing your arm earlier.” Charle said crossing her arms stubbornly.

“Look, he’s just a friend who’s worried about me, that’s all.” D said with a shrug.
“So he nearly crushes your arm?” Charle’s eyes showed complete disbelief. “Last time I checked a friend was someone who helped you, not hurt you.”

“Look this isn’t good date talk.” D said, sipping his water. “So… how are you feeling?” Charle looked at him mockingly.

“Oh, just fantastic.” She said rolling her eyes, and digging in her purse for nothing in particular, giving him a bit of the cold shoulder. “And your make-up job sucks.” She pulled some make-up out of her own bag. “Do you want me to fix it?”

“Why, is it that bad? I did it in a hurry!” Charle looked at D and laughed, the mood significantly lightening.

“Yes, it is that bad.” She moved from her seat to kneel in front of him and took his chin in her hand, then pulled foundation out to fix it.

“So, shouldn’t we go to the bathroom for something like this? Isn’t that what all you girls do?” D asked looking at her and she chuckled.

“If you can show me a unisex bathroom we can go there.” She said and smiled at him. He took her hand and led her through the restaurant, past all the staring people, to the employee bathroom.

“Unisex!” he said cheerfully and she went inside with him. She wet a piece of paper towel to remove the make-up that he had put on before hand and gasped audibly.