The War God's Woman

50. Thinking About You

Throughout her shift, Zahira mentally prepared herself. It was simple. She needed to tell Orion that she didn't want to go on a date with him. Simple. Nobody could force a person to go on a date. 

By lunchtime, her nerves got the better of her and she wimped out. Text message, she'd tell him by text message. She agonised over the composition of words.

Sorry, I don't think we should date. Thanks.

She sent the message and then worried. What if he hadn't saved her number? Would he know who that message was from? Should she have said 'thanks'?

Zahira shook herself and tried her best to calm down. Orion was using her; she didn't need to feel this guilty about cancelling their date. Her phone buzzed with his reply and butterflies danced her stomach.

I disagree.

Zahira stared at those two words. What did that mean?!

             "Have a nice day," Zahira bid a customer as they got up to leave. She moved forward to wipe down their table and felt the change in the air. She glanced up and, as she'd expected, Orion had walked into the café. She pouted unhappily. She'd feared that he'd come. Instead of heading for the cakes, Orion scanned the café – looking for someone.

Zahira tensed. Maybe he wanted to speak to Jaz again? But a shadow fell over her and Zahira looked up and timidly met Orion's intense gaze. She swallowed nervously.

"I'll wait for you to finish." He stated calmly.

"My text..."

"I replied."

He left her and headed to the till to order a coffee. Zahira bit her lip. There had to be a limit to how much she'd let herself be pushed around by this guy. She was worried about how far that limit might go.

                    Orion waited, as he'd promised. They walked out the café together and Zahira hung her head awkwardly, realising that her colleagues had noticed him waiting for her. Cesar looked like he was being eaten up with curiosity and Zahira knew that he was going to bombard her with questions tomorrow.  She was already anxious at the thought of it. 

Outside it was raining. Orion had an umbrella and he wrapped an arm around Zahira so that they could share it. The physical contact was making it hard for Zahira to think clearly.

"I'm sorry, I forgot an umbrella this morning." She mumbled.

"It's fine." Orion's tone was brisk. 

The walked in silence for a while. Zahira didn't like the silence. She wanted to know what Orion was thinking. They were approaching the traffic lights. Orion was taking them ahead, heading somewhere for their date. If she didn't want to go on this date and she wanted to take the left and go home, she needed to say something now. Zahira took a deep breath.

"I'm not going to let you into my flat again." She declared loudly. They stopped walking and faced one another beneath the umbrella. Zahira realised that his shoulder was wet from where he'd been holding the umbrella more over her then himself. "I know you searched it... that night." She mumbled. 

"Do you know why I searched it?" He asked, studying her expression.

"No." She lied. He smiled slightly.