His Bad Luck Charm

Sly Cardboard Box

This chapter has not been edited.

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"I know you don't want to go on a date with me."

How obvious did I make it? I wondered as I continued to stare outside the car's window as we made our way to the restaurant. 

"What makes you say that?" I spoke, not looking  his way once. 

"Who would want to go on a date with someone they don't like?" 

This made me turn to him, "What makes you think I don't like you?"

I mean, it's true that I didn't but I hadn't done anything to make it obvious. 

"Do you like me?" he asked as he parked the car. I was saved from uttering a lie as we were interrupted by the staff of the restaurant. 

"I'll take you keys," he said. 

We made our way inside and fortunately there wasn't a really romantic atmosphere in the restaurant. It was more homey and warm. 

"It's nice," Nicholas observed. "Hopefully the food will be just as nice."

"You haven't been here before?"

"I haven't," he said as we took our seats. "It was River's recommendation."

River, also now known as the traitor who could have saved me from this date but didn't. Not only did he not save me but he also helped his cousin pick out a restaurant? Unbelievable. 

"You know River, right?"

I turned to him confused, "Of course. Who doesn't know River?" I joked. 

He lightly chuckled in response as a waiter finally tended to us. 

Our food was served and to say I loved it would be an understatement. The food was simply amazing. I have never had food that tasted so real. 

"How long have you been friends with River?" Nicholas asked, lightly patting his mouth with a napkin. 

I was about to answer when we were interrupted by a handsome, young man. 

"Good evening, sir and madam," he greeted us, a large smile on his face. Judging from his outfit alone, it seemed like he was a kitchen worker. "My name is Benjamin Christensen and I am the head chef here at Good Soup. Our restaurant is making some seasonal changes to the menus and the dish you picked out is one of our newest additions to our menu. May I ask how your meal was?" he asked me.

I grinned as I gave him a thumbs up. "It was honestly beyond good," I answered him. 

"That's good to hear," he smiled in response. "I'll leave you to it then," he finished before returning to the kitchen. 

"I thought he was going to ask more than just that," I laughed. 

Doctor Nicholas just awkwardly nodded. Where in the world was his social skills at? Throughout our meal, he hadn't said a single word. It wasn't too bad since I was enjoying my food too much to want to speak, but it was a tad bit awkward. The whole time I had been obsessing over him, not once had I noticed his lacking social skills. I guess it was because he was in his comfort zone the whole time but still, how had I not noticed at all? 

"How close are you to River?" Doctor Nicholas asked once we had left the restaurant. I couldn't help but feel like I was being interrogated by him but I ignored that feeling for the time being.  

"Not too close," I honestly answered. "I have known him for a while but we only became friends recently so we don't know much about each other."

"That's for the better," he said as he started driving.

"Why is that for the better?" I asked a little too defensively. 

He slightly turned to me but his eyes never left the road, "River isn't good at forming relationships. He only has one purpose and that's to achieve his parents' goal for him."

My eyes narrowed at his choice of words. I didn't say anything though and just waited for him to continue speaking instead. 

"I assume you're not close enough to ask him what his dreams are in life?" he rhetorically asked. "Before his parents passed away, he wanted to be a pilot. Unfortunately after his parents died, he adopted their dreams instead and left his ones to rot." 

There was a tension filled silence that followed his words. I had so much on my mind but I couldn't think of anything to say.

In the end, I opted for a very pathetic, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

He parked in front of my house and turned to face me, a very gentle smile on his face. 

"Although I do think it's better to not get too close to River, he does seem to have some sort of interest in you. Although we're cousins, I really do see him as a younger brother and wish for him to be happy..." Nicholas trailed off. "What I'm trying to say is, maybe you can help him realise his dreams so he can start living his own life. He deserves it."

And that was how our date ended. I was very curious about how much truth there really was behind his words. Did he really want River to find his own dreams and be happy or was this his way of eliminating his competition? So many questions played around in my head. I wanted answers to all of them but I knew that was impossible. I was dying to know what Nicholas was planning and how all of it will play out. I guess only time will tell. 

One thing was for sure though, Nicholas Yates had the personality of a cardboard box. A very sly cardboard box. 

***

My first exam is tomorrow and my final is on November 14. I have some chapters written up already so I'll upload those in the meantime but I'm not sure if I'll be able to update as often since I won't be writing much during the next couple of weeks. 

These chapters may be a little boring too so I'm sorry about that. I'll try to write many fun chapters once I'm done with my exams. I'm aiming to finish this story before the end of this year though so there will be fast updates once I'm done with my school. 

Thank you for reading my story! I really appreciate it. :)