pepper spray | e.d

4

Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I appear to finally be ready.

For the last 30 minutes, I have been shaving, brushing, washing, blow drying, and putting on makeup. The amount of time I got ready in is record breaking and I'm honestly quite proud.

I race out the door, tugging my shoes on in the process. I opted to not dress as fancy tonight due to the lack of time I had.

I am wearing a loose, light pink top, skinny jeans, and a worn down pair of ankle boots with small heels. My make up is simple with only a bit of concealer and a brush of mascara. I typically only wear mascara to let my skin breathe.

When I was in high school, I dealt with horrible acne. My face was never smooth and I always tried to use makeup to cover my imperfections. I used face masks, medications, and cleansers and nothing worked. After trying almost everything to treat my acne, the thing that caused it to clear up was losing the makeup. Now that I have healthier skin, I feel much more confident.

The drive to The Crunch is 10 minutes, but I am already late. Although I got ready lighting fast, it still wasn't enough for me to actually be on time for once. The clock in my car reads 8:04.

I drive as fast as I can without breaking the law and manage it make it to the restaurant by 8:11. When I walk inside, I am greeted by the sound of a band playing music and the smell of French fries. I spot Natalie and Marcus seated in a booth near the back.

As I walk over to join them, Natalie spots me and hops up to give me a hug. We embrace for a couple seconds, just long enough for her to whisper, "Your man is in the bathroom," in my ear.

I slide into the booth next to Nat, who is facing Marcus with dreamy eyes. Natalie and Marcus have been dating for almost a year now and they are practically inseparable. The way they look at each other makes me long for a relationship. You can tell that they truly love each other from the way they gaze at one another.

My heart beats a little faster with the anticipation of waiting to see who my date is. I really hope that we get along well. Who knows? Maybe it will lead to something more.

A waitress walks up to our table. Her body is barely covered by the required V-neck t-shirt and booty shorts she is wearing. Her name tag reads 'Sheryl' and she appears to be in her early twenties.

"Hi! My name is Sheryl and I am going to be your waitress tonight! What would you like to drink?" she chirps with more enthusiasm than I could ever possibly muster.

I'm about to tell the waitress my order when I look up and see someone sauntering toward the table. He is in a black t-shirt just tight enough to see his defined muscles, denim jeans, and black vans.

Before I can get a good look at his face, Nat nudges my shoulder and happily whispers, "That's him." A wide smirk covers her face and she seems quite pleased with herself.

A body plops down in the seat across from me and a deep voice speaks up, "Uh, can I have a coke?" The voice sounds familiar.

No. That's not him. That would be way to cliché. It can't be him.

I raise my head up and am greeted by two dark eyes. Two red-rimmed dark eyes. My suspicions are confirmed.

Yep, that's him alright.

He seems to realize who the person sitting across from him is and immediately tenses. He automatically looks away and awkwardly glances around. Neither Nat nor Marcus notice us being weird and they carry on their conversation about who knows what, and order their drinks.

Hey, at least I left my pepper spray at home.

I focus my attention to my menu and pretend to be extremely intrigued by the variety of beverages offered.

"Excuse me, what do you want to drink?" the waitress's voice trills through the air.

I have to force myself to pry my eyes away from my menu and tell her what I want. Her bright blue eyes are wide and staring straight into mine.

"A, uh, a water will be fine." I manage to murmur.

Sheryl nods her head and turns on her heel to walk away. "Sure thing! I will be right back!" She bounces off with energy in her step.

Sheryl, please save me.

Marcus takes a couple sugar packets and fiddles with them between his fingers. He still obviously doesn't know what is going on.

"So, Olive. This is Ethan." Marcus motions towards the red-eyed boy seated next to him.

I somehow manage to look Ethan in the eyes and give a small wave. An uneasy silence fills the air and the room suddenly seems ten times smaller.

How do awkward situations always seem to find me?

Ethan is the first one to break the tension by saying, "Olive and I have already kind of met." His lips turn upwards, like they are trying to form a smile but not quite being successful.

"Oh really? How did you guys meet?" Natalie quickly says while giving me a look that says 'why didn't you tell me this earlier?!'

"It was just last night actually. Ethan, uh, he held the door for me and we just started talking." The lie comes out easier than I thought it would and I look at Ethan to make sure he plays along. He looks confused as first, but then quickly catches on.

"Yeah, that's right. I was coming home from a friend's house and I thought I would be polite." he adds to the lie. Natalie and Marcus seem to be pleased with our story and nod. The look on Nat's face tells me that she thinks that Ethan and I are perfect for one another.

She could not be more wrong.

"You and your friend must have been up to some wild shit for your eyes to be that red." Marcus says with a deep laugh. I feel blood rush to my face as my cheeks turn bright red. Ethan stays calm and just laughs in response. Little do they know that I caused it.

Darn pepper spray.