The War God's Woman

47. The Coldest Star

Orion visited the café during its midday rush, his entrance causing his admirers to swoon. Smirking, he removed his sunglasses - allowing them all to admire his perfect face.  Zahira was sat on the till this time. She served a customer while watching Orion as subtly as she could. He ordered a coffee cake slice, like usual, and then headed her way to pay. Zahira took a deep breath and clasped her hands together. She was prepared for this encounter.

She said the price to him in a clear voice – and was a little overly proud of herself for this simple feat.

"Are you free this evening?" He asked her. Zahira froze, like a deer caught in headlights. 

She was no longer prepared for this encounter. 

Slowly, she nodded her head. "Give me your number." He confidently directed.  "I'll text you a time and place to meet me."

Zahira blinked.

"Why?" 

Why did he want to meet her? Was she in trouble? 

Orion sighed, seeing that she wasn't making a move to give him her details and that a queue was building up behind him.

"If I give you my number, will you call me?" He handed her his business card. Zahira accepted it, feeling lost. "You have to call me." He held her gaze, his expression stern. "Or I'll be annoyed."

"Ok..."

Orion moved on to find a table. And Zahira's heart was left refusing to calm down. Why did he want to see her tonight? Did he want her to help with something? She grimaced, hoping it wasn't related in anyway to blood pouring out of the sky...

                 Zahira felt sick with nervousness for the rest of her shift. Crippled with anxiety, she didn't look over to where Orion was sat at all – even though he stayed for over an hour.

                 Her shift ended and Zahira stood at the traffic lights, waiting for them to turn green. She had her phone in her hand and was staring at the screen. 

She hated making phone calls. They were much, much harder than talking face to face. This call was stressing her out.

In that moment, she was very close to hating Orion. What had she done wrong to deserve being mentally tortured in this way?

He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" It was unmistakeably Orion's voice and he sounded bored.

"Hi, err... you told me to call you..?" Zahira was sweating. She should have sent a text. But then she'd have agonised over what to type...

"Meet me on Castle Hill." He gave her the name of a specific bar and a time to meet him.

"Ok..." Then he hung up.

Zahira bit her lip. Should she change her clothes? She didn't know what to wear. She still didn't understand why they meeting. This couldn't be a date. And he couldn't want to be friends. Neither of those things made any sense. Was he going to critique the way she cleared tables? That seemed more likely - but also strange.

                     The bar Orion had chosen was one of the poshest on Castle Hill. Zahira entered the place and immediately felt like she didn't belong. She'd also dressed entirely wrong. She hadn't wanted Orion to think that she thought this was a date. So, she'd dressed as un-date like as she could. Which involved a very baggy Disney t-shirt. This place wasn't baggy t-shirt style, let alone one with Cruella De Vil's face across your chest.