Uncaging Bunny/LT Fanfiction

Chapter 59 - Back the F--- Off!

"Hi, Larry." Malek stood up from his chair as he watched Larry slowly approach his table, an expanding grin on his face.

Larry was confused and surprised to see that it was Malek instead of Laurent who was his visitor. "Um, hi, Malek. What are you doing here?" Larry chuckled slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, that must have sounded so rude." He forced a smile. "Welcome to Ambar."

Malek too chuckled. "Thanks. No problem. I'm sure this must be a surprise." Malek slowly started to approach Larry.  His eyes gleamed in intensity as they looked at Larry. "Hey, look at you." Malek smiled, giving Larry the once over from top to bottom. "You look nice in your uniform."

Larry shyly wiped his hands down his pants. He took a step back when it appeared Malek intended to give him a hug, in greeting. In an effort to diffuse any awkwardness his backing away might have presented, Larry tried for humor.   "This old thing. It's a little dirty now though."

Malek chuckled. "Naw, Larry, you look great." Malek looked around the restaurant. "So, this is where you work. Nice what they did with the place.  It looks so different."

"You've been here before?"

"Uh, yeah, well, not here, exactly, but I used to come to this spot when it was an Italian restaurant, years ago."

"Oh, yeah, I heard it used to be an Italian restaurant. I didn't know you lived around here, downtown."

"Uh, yeah. Well, not exactly in the downtown area, but I'm not too far from here. I own a condo in Georgetown. It's only about fifteen minutes or so from here. I don't think I mentioned it the other night," Malek said, "but I own three pretty successful barber shops around the DC Metro area.  One of them is also in Georgetown."

"Oh." Larry smiled. "Okay. That's really nice."

"Thanks," Malek said, smiling. "I was out, making the rounds of my shops, checking on things, you know, taking care of business." Malek chuckled. "I had a few clients earlier today. I realized I hadn't had lunch yet, and I remembered you saying the other night that you worked here. I had intended to come by sooner, I mean like several days ago, but I got really busy at my shops on the other side of town, and--"

"Excuse me, Larry. Sir," a waitress cautiously interrupted, whose section Malek had been seated in. "Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt. Will you be dining in with us or will you be ordering take out?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll be dining in. Thanks."

The waitress smiled. "Okay. I'll just place a menu at your table. "Welcome to Ambar. I'll be back to take your order whenever you're ready." Then the waitress left.

Larry felt he'd take this cue to leave himself. He forced a smile. "Well, I won't hold you up from your lunch, Malek. Thank you for choosing Ambar. Enjoy your lunch." Larry was about to turn to leave when,

"Uh, wait. You're not holding me up, Larry," Malek grinned at Larry. "What's good here, by the way? What do you recommend?"

"Um, it depends on how hungry you are. For lunch we have a variety of salads, some sandwiches, and if you want something heartier, we get a lot of requests for the chicken stroganoff. It's really good. We have a lunch portion and a dinner size portion for the stroganoff."

Malek shrugged and smiled. "Sounds good. Maybe I'll give it a try. Thanks. I uh, was hoping you could join me.  My treat."

"Oh. That's really nice of you, Malek but, I'm just on my break. I only get fifteen minutes so I wouldn't be able to join you. But thanks.  I have to go finish up my shift."  Larry glanced at his watch.  "I only have a few minutes left on my break."