𝓒𝓪𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓶𝓮?...𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓪𝓶 𝓐𝓯𝓽𝓸𝓷 𝓧 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓇

     I watched as William rose out of his seat and walked over to me elegantly, making no mistakes. I start to smile as he keeps his eyes focused on me as he reaches out his hand. I let mine rest onto his as we both shook softly. Williams's eyes darted behind me and instantly changed from soft to cold. The hostess jumped slightly and cleared her throat.
     "Oh, ahem, sorry..." She started to fondle the door handle, seeming uncomfortable with William's piercing stare," Jessica will be your waitress for the rest of the night, she'll be right in shortly." She nodded as she shut both of the doors and made her way back to the front of the restaurant, letting out a short sigh of relief. I turned back to William as he placed his eyes back on me. I swallowed.
"Did you know her or...?" He furrowed his brows for a moment as he slid his hands effortlessly into his pant pockets.
"No I'm afraid not, I just don't seem to do well with a third party, or maybe something about my face threw her off..." he looked back at me with a clear face, "skipped right passed Hellos didn't we? No need to pay any other woman any mind, your the lady of the hour, yes?."
          "Right, right...well then, Hello, William, it's a lovely place," I said as he turned around and rested his hands on the back of my chair. A small yet deep chuckle came from him as he pulled my seat out for me as if amused by what I said. I placed myself down as he pushed the chair in. He then made his way back around the table. I noticed William was wearing a very nice black suit, with a dark purple undershirt and silver cufflinks with a small purple stone in the middle. His dark hair was slicked back with perfection. His jawline and bone structure was more noticeable with his hair back, his skin was flawless and his jaw was sharp. Almost like his eyes, which glowed underneath the candlelight. He then took off his coat and placed it on an accompanying table, revealing more of the dark purple undershirt.
"Yes, it's one of the better restaurants this town can offer. " He pulled out a cigar and placed it in his mouth, " but it's not as lovely as you, you can really pull off that dress, though I didn't know what size you were so I just...guessed." he shrugged and leaned back comfortably in his chair. I looked down at the dress and I smiled shortly then I looked back up at him, watching the cigar dangle from his lips without him lighting it.
"That's very kind of you to say. And you look very, dashing Will-, well, William, I thought this was just a meet, you know, to talk, I didn't expect all of.....this." I looked up and realized the ceiling has hand-painted murals on it, beautiful.  William shot a quick look up too and smiled up at the ceiling and then brought his seriousness back.
"Mmm yes, well would you rather of us met at some McDonalds in some old rags chowing down on some sad excuse of food?" He noticed as my facial expression slowly fell realizing he was right and it didn't fit his character to of done something like that. So this is for nothing. I looked down at the table feeling a little bit of sadness, but for what?
"You have a point I suppose..." I was thinking of something to say when the waitress came out of one of the doors and sauntered her way toward us. William's eyes didn't leave my face.
"How are you two this evening?" she asked while pouring ice-cold water into our glasses. I smiled up at her as William hadn't greeted her yet.
"We're doing well, thank you," I said as I sat up a little straighter, noticing Jessica's perfect posture. She smiled down at me and placed the pitcher on the edge of the table.
"That's great, my name is Jessica, is there any drinks or appetizers I can get you guys started with?" She said as she folded her hands behind her back. William nodded at me while giving a small smile.
"Ladies first." He said while removing the cigar and squinting his eyes slightly like he was intrigued to actually know what I wanted. I nervously fidgeted with the tablecloth, feeling a little anxious about having to go first. I smiled up nervously at Jessica's glowing facial expression.
"I'll take a raspberry tea."
"perfect, and for you sir?" She turned her attention onto William and he slowly gave her his.
"Ah yes, ill take an Angels Envy please." He said while giving her a light smile. She seemed to flutter a little being under his attention.
"Could I see your ID please, sir?" She said as a small wicked smirk crept onto her sweet face. He tilted his head to the side and gave her a playful smirk as he slide his ID out of his pocket swiftly. She scanned it then gave a short glance from me then back to William. Then she gave a sad smile.
"Those will be right out shortly, and I'll also bring some fresh bread out to get you two started." She said as she swiftly disappeared behind the kitchen doors. William slipped his ID back into his wallet and returned it to his pocket. Then his eyes found their way back into mine. I stared for a while, causing the room to feel way quieter than it really was. His head started to tilt sideways as if he were analyzing me, watching me like his prey. I swallowed hard then I took a short sip of the water Jessica had provided earlier.
"You're very quiet for someone who had...SO many questions before," William said with a dash of annoyance in his voice. I blushed out of anxiety as I placed the glass back down.
"Well, I guess I'm just taken aback by all of this and....you," I said the last part quieter than the rest of my sentence, as I looked up at him as I said it. He was still watching me with those eyes.
"Maybe this was a mistake then?" William said as he started to get up. I panicked and looked up at him with sorrowful and pleading eyes. Which made him stop moving almost immediately. He looked almost vulnerable. Child like.
"Please, Willam no it's okai, I'm sorry I'm just a nervous anxious wreck." I gave out a soft laugh and he smiled and sat back down, regaining his normal expression.
"Okai then, what would you like to know?"
"Well, we were last talking about Henry, but I wanted to know your part in the business." William nodded as if he were remembering our last conversation.
"Mmm yes right, well I'm more of the, how should I say it? Background guy? I deal with the dirty work, the stuff nobody else wants to do. But it keeps me wickedly smart, we're always growing you see, so I take care of the numbers, and he takes care of the smiles." The door swung open as Jessica came back in with a round black tray on her hand which held the drinks and bread. She set down Williams first, a short square whiskey glass with 4 perfectly placed square ice cubes. Then she sat down the bottle of bourbon whiskey, that was held in a crystal decanter, and then slid the bread in the middle of the table, being sure not to knock anything over. She then sat my drink down, the brim was coated in sugar. With one swift move, she put the tray under her arm and filled Williams's drink then walked over to a small bar that I hadn't noticed off to the side of the room.
"I'll leave this here if you would like some more. Would you like to-" She spoke so softly until she was interrupted by his deep accent.
"Leave us. Please." He asked as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but she did as told, shutting the door softly behind her. William picked up his glass and took a long sip as I took a small one of my tea, licking the sugar off of my lips. Willam watched for a second, having an amused look on his face.
"Dirty work, meaning I do all of the establishment's paperwork and bills. I also do the shipping and returning of certain parts Henry needs. We have a sort of system, if he wants to 'design and bring to life' one of his bots then he needs to draw them out, create a listing of the items and parts he needs then sends them over to me and I take care of it from there. But before we owned the restaurant that you know of now, he used to make the animatronics by hand. He would go out and pick the metal he wanted, the bolts he wanted, just, everything," Willam took a minute to think as he took another sip of his drink. He leaned back in his chair, resting his arm on the back of it, " But now he barely has time with the new establishment to do the engineering himself, so he has me hire engineers. So unfortunate to see something so incredible inside him die." He looked down with an upset look in his eyes.
"Why would he stop? I mean if he was so happy doing it-"
"His daughter, I mean to put it simply that is. His daughter, the new establishment, a broken family, the divorce, it was taking a toll on what he had left in his soul. What he had left in life really. That smile holds so much pain yet he throws it on every morning and puts his all into the customers." He finished what was left of his drink then got up to pour himself some more, "now isn't that something to make a man drink." he chuckled then lifted up his newly filled glass. I smiled softly then nodded.
          "Then is that all you do? You're just the...how do I say, nerd of the two of you? He's the golden retriever on the outside and a depressed mechanical genius on the inside and you're the nerd on the inside and wickedly handsome and charming on the outside?" I gave him a teasing smile as I called him names. He seemed to stop in his place as he was walking back to the table, to collect his thoughts. Is that a small blush?
          "Right." He chuckled and sat his drink down as he also sat down in his chair, "Not a nerd...just 'wickedly' smart." He rose his glass then took a drink.
          "Has watching Henry all these years ever inspired you or taught you how to work with animatronics yourself?" I said as I took another drink. His eyes met mine quickly, almost making me choke on my mouth full of liquid. There was something in his eyes, excitement?
          "Interesting you should ask that. I've learned quite a lot from him, though our minds differ on creativity-"
          "Is he more creative?" This made William tilt his head in amusement, then he looked to the table as if unsure of what to say.
          "Depends on how you look at it," He took another sip, " Anyways, once the maintenance is done I pay up front to the guys and all is well."
          "What if I looked at it from your point of view."
          "Pardon?"
          "Well, if I were to look at your creativity through your eyes, then how would I view it?" I asked, while gently folding my hands on the table. He seemed to be in a pause, like if someone hit the stop button on a TV remote. Then his eyes narrowed.
          "You'd see...the most exquisite of creativity. The most well thought out mechanisms and blueprints you've ever seen. You'd see sweat and blood in the creations. You'd see so much more than your own eyes would ever let you." He said as he pointed right at my eyes with one finger, "You'd see masterpieces."
          "You're a very hard working man aren't you?" I said as I took a drink of the tea and then I decided to butter up some of the bread. I went to pick up my knife as a soft warm feeling swallowed my hand. I looked up as William shook his head and let go of my hand. He picked up his own knife and started to take care of the bread for me. I smiled politely and watched him.
          "If you want to be successful, you'll have to be. Being lazy isn't apart of the deal. Henry's successful yes, but not on his own. To him his work doesn't seem like work, it's not frustrating and it doesn't furrow his brows, it comes almost naturally. But for me I have to work harder and be smarter, without me Henry's success wouldn't have any wheels to pick up speed, if you understand what I'm saying." I nodded at him as he placed two pieces of bread on my plate and the same for his. He then placed the butter knife down gently to the side of his plate. He eyed it for a bit then shot his eyes up at me.
          "Another headache of a thing is looks is a big part of the money." He then made a "cash" motion with his fingers. "Henry gets this easy as he's a good looking guy since his early 20's, now he's not on a me type of level of appearance, he's more of a dad looker. For me I've been this good looking since birth but keeping up with exercising and watching what goes down the hatch, is a necessity. And skin care, that's a biggie too-." He looked at me almost embarrassed for the first time in his life. He cleared his throat than continued, "though I don't know why I'm talking to you about skin care when you clearly know what you're doing." He pointed at my face then took a large drink of his whiskey. I blushed then touched my face.
"I-I don't do anything special to my face, heck sometimes I even forget to do anything with it." I said as I took a quick bite of the bread as he smiled with his eyes.
"There's a face for money then, yes?" He said as he chuckled and I uncomfortably chuckled back. Jessica then came back in with a forced smile. William looked up at her for once and gave her a quick nod.
"Can I get you guys anything to eat yet or are we still looking?" She said as she looked over both of us. William smiled and handed her his menu.
"I'll have the steak, medium rare please, and she'll have the..." they both looked over to me and i panicked since I've never been here before. I scrambled to pick up my menu when William spoke again.
"She'll have the pork chop, and could we get garlic mashed potatoes on the side please." He said as he then took my menu and handed it to Jessica.
"I'll have those right out for you two. Did we need anything else?" We both shook our heads no and she nodded then made her way back out of the room. I looked at William in surprise.
"How did you know I liked pork?" I asked in slight disbelief. He shrugged.
"I guessed." He said so calmly and causally. I raised my eyebrows for a short second and nodded.
"How did you and Henry meet? Like business school or something?"
"No, we are both self taught. I can't speak for Henry but I grew up fascinated by certain things and success. That's what drove me to the place I am now. Henry's love for bringing things to life for the cheer of others is what mainly drove him. I remember the nights we spent out at bars and hearing him boast about school science programs that he blew out of the park with his wooden animatronics."
"Wooden animatronics?"
"Yes, all made of wood and nothing more, other than tears and love. But they moved, well, according to Henry. I met him a long while ago at that very bar. Unfortunate as it may be, but I was almost a nobody. I had created things others didn't enjoy. Others didn't see the beauty I was putting into my work. So overhearing Henry bloat about his own toys he was creating for others, we decided to mold our brains together and create something we'd both want. A name, and laughter. So we first started up Fredbear's Family Diner. It was a small little place and had only two animatronics to it's name, Fredbear and Spring Bonnie. Both golden yellow creatures, Fredbear being, well, a bear with a purple bow tie and a matching top hat, and Spring Bonnie was a bunny with a purple bow tie as well. Yours truly picked the color." He then gestured to his shirt and I smiled. "We ran a pretty good show with them, but then it was time for bigger better things. So we had two locations, the one you've been too and a sister location, called Jrs, or more known as "the high tech facility" Henry calls it. It's supposed to be a more safer establishment than the current one and if all ends well we may roll with the new more "improved" animatronics he has set up there."
"What did he do to them? The animatronics I mean, why did they have to be safer? Was there an accident?" I asked which seemed to set something off in William. His face became almost ghostly and his eyes became brighter.
"Yes, several accidents had occurred with the older animatronics. The ones that we scrapped for parts for our current ones were deemed as the...most unfit for children safety...Henry added facial recognition with the newer animatronics, has data wiring set up and everything. One of the most advanced projects Henry's ever had set on, so he had me help him. The facial recognition has a criminal data base that would scan people's faces and they have a secret programming to get rid of the criminally unwanted guests."
"That's actually very neat and interesting. But, why would they need that in the first place? Facial recognition technology seems like a big stretch in safety, I mean you have security for that type of thing, right?" I asked as Jessica started coming back with the food. She placed both of our plates down on the table, using thick towels to handle the heat.
"Now these are going to be extremely hot, we heat our plates to a very high temperature so that your food is consistently warm." She said with a smile as William was staring at me hard. Jessica made a note of bringing me another tea and made her way quickly out of the room. Willam then grew a devilish smirk on his face. His eyes, before were soft and glowy, now dark and bitter, but they never left eye contact with mine.
          "A very unfortunate incident happened at our first Fazbear chain." He picked up his knife and twisted it slowly around his fingers, "though as unfortunate as it was, that wasn't going to kill our dreams. Henry relented, insisted that it was a sign not to continue on with our journey, but nonetheless here we are." He then grabbed his fork and started to cut his steak. He pulled back a piece and eyed it with perfection. His smirk grew wider into a smile as he chewed his food. Following his lead, I started to cut up my pork, making sure I was extra careful not to burn myself with the plate.
          "If I may ask...what was the incident?" I immediately regretted my question when he looked up at me from his plate with an almost hatred. He noticed my face turning pale and he fix his posture and put on a charming smile.
          "At this time, you may not." He said with the still gloomy look in his eyes that he was trying to hide with his smile. We sat and ate for what seemed like days in silence, chewing our food and occasionally glancing up at each other or taking a drink at the same time. Once we were more than half finished with our dinner Jessica came rushing back in with another tea. William gave up on ignoring her presence and spoke directly to her.
          "Hello darling, you've done a fine job tonight." He then took her hand and kissed the top of it making her glow all sorts of shades of red. I took an uncomfortable drink of my tea and waited to see what he was going to say next.
          "Why thank you, but it's more of the chefs work than my own." She said as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. William picked up his glass and swallowed down the rest of the alcohol that remained in the bottom of the cup.
          "Well whatever the case, you deserve a good tip." He said as he pulled out his wallet and removed a 100 dollar bill. Her eyes lit up as she seen the money and she placed one foot behind the other, trying to look flirtatious.
          "Are you free for the rest of the-" she stepped back a little too hard on her own foot and tripped backwards, causing her to push my arm on my plate to regain her balance. I yelled out in pain as I grabbed my tea and held the cold glass against my fiery skin, small tears trickling down my face, matching the water running down my arm from the outside of the cup. William slowly retracted the money and stared right at me.
          "On second thought, my dear Jessica, you won't be getting that tip. Bring us the check please." William said as Jessica hurriedly ran to the kitchen doors and closed them swiftly behind her. I looked up at William slightly angry and hurt from the pulsing pain. William outstretched his hands to my wound and I flinched back slightly, causing him to pause.
          "I'm not going to hurt you." He said, in an almost practiced tone. I furrowed my brows softly as I wanted to refuse his help. He then rolled up his sleeves and got up and inspected the other tables in the room. He gathered a couple cloth napkins  and unfolded them onto our table. He than began to take the ice out of my newly made tea and placed them on the cloth and he then paused and looked at me for reassurance. I slowly removed the cup from my arm as he wrapped the cloth around my wound, gently making sure not to wrap or tie it to tightly. I watching his eyes as he worked and the little strand of hair that escaped his perfect styling. I had almost forgotten about Jessica until a large man stepped into the room from the kitchen.
          "Excuse me, sir, Jessica explained what had happened with the young woman's arm and we'd like to humbly apologize for the burn. We realize that we've strictly told our waiters and waitresses about how hot our plates are and to warn the customers but since this was a matter of one of our own, your dinner is on us tonight. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your evening. Again, so sorry ma'am." He slightly bowed at us and William nodded and the man retreated back into his work. I looked back up at William as he finished tying and stood back up straight. He sighed and wiped his hands on another cloth and started to unfold his sleeves.
          "William..." I started as he held up a hand, clearly wanting silence. I nodded as I began to stand up but he then rose a hand again, so I sat back down.
          "Woman, most of them want riches, wealth and more diamonds beyond any other. Wave a pretty penny at them and they'll dance." Willam picked up the cigar he had gotten out earlier and placed it in his jacket pocket which he picked up and threw over his shoulder. He then walked back over to my side and offered a hand, which I took gently. He then lifted me to my feet and pushed in my chair for me, "Now, not every woman is like this, some just want the closeness and strength that love gives them. A hand to hold while the world tumbles from below. But that's a rare shade. I like to color them in purple." He took my arm back as we headed for the exit doors that lead back into the main dining hall. While me and Willam walked towards the front doors a few heads turned and watched us, voices hushed. As we walked by the hostess he stopped and didn't turn to look at her and whispered.
          "Make sure Jessica is fired. I don't ever want to see her hurt another being again." He says as he raised my arm slightly. The girl nervously nodded and said her routined 'have a good evening.' I looked up at William as the air smelled more like a crisp night and less of bread and alcoholic beverages. He let go of me and put his jacket correctly on.
          "Jessica is one of the girls I was mentioning prior. The ones that are after the gold." He said as he smoothly slide the 100 dollar bill between his fingers. I nodded slowly and I bit my lip in confusion.
          "Then why start a whole mess? Did you mean for that to happen? To get her fired."
          "I knew what she wanted. I watched her, watch me. She was like a lion on the prowl, assessing her prey but not yet biting, teasing if you would. Or in some cases people would say she was acting as prey for a predator, teasing what she has to get a bite out of them." He said as he stopped to see if I was understanding.
          "She just seemed friendly to me, are you sure you weren't reading too much into the situation?"
          "If you, looked at her from a male gaze, you'd understand the play by plays she was setting up. Her body was always faced towards mine, she seemed a bit saddened every time you answered or spoke up without me muttering a word. When she placed anything on the table down, she was sure to tilt herself just right." He winked down at me and I folded my arms over my chest, "When she placed the glasses down she always held out her pinky in a sort of elegance to seem more charming and delicate. Her eyes always fluttered over my body and were friendly over yours. When she walked she made sure she did in stride to make it look like she held more confidence in herself."
          "How did you notice all of those things? You almost never gave her attention." I said as I started to feel a bit chilly from the upcoming autumn air. William gave me a glance and smiled.
          "I just know how to watch and listen. You have to account for peoples tones and feelings you get around them. Not everyone's good, you have to learn to be smarter than the sheep." He said tapping his dress shoe rhythmically like a heart beat. I smiled up at him with a soft shiver.