Guardian Angel

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"Oh my god, stop, you're so embarrassing."

I smirked, peeking over my sunglasses at Aric, who was sitting across from me at the little iron bistro table, hiding his blush behind his menu. I reached under the table with my foot and poked at his knee, then dragged my foot down to swirl his ankle, and he giggled, then slammed the menu down and shot me a teasing glare.

"If you don't stop, I'm going to make you stop," he warned and I grinned, resting my chin in my palm.

"Sounds kind of sexy," I replied, making him laugh and cover his face.

"I mean it," he said, reaching across the table to swat at my hand and I caught his in mine so I could draw his knuckles to my lips to lay a kiss across them and he sighed, like he was melting at my touch, then quickly he whacked me in the mouth, gently, drawing his hand back to himself as he cleared his throat uncomfortably. I frowned, then paused as I saw his eyes flicker up and over my shoulder. I followed his gaze to where a couple was sitting at their own table, giving us a stern frown of disapproval.

I glanced up and around the bisto. Plenty of couples flirting and teasing each other. We weren't the only ones. So why were they so fixated on us?

I turned back to Aric, but his teasing smile was gone and he was frowning down at his menu. I glanced under the table and his legs were crossed very firmly in an X-shape, which meant he did not want to play footsie anymore. Disappointed our outing turned into a spectacle, I just looked down at my menu now and couldn't even remember what I ordered when the server came by afterwards. I glanced up at Aric again anxiously.

He was annoyed. I could feel it. He wanted to keep playing around, but the couple at the other table looked satisfied that they had shut us up. That annoyed me. What were we doing specifically that turned them off, that no one else here was doing? It just didn't make any sense.

I looked at Aric again. He was still pissed. He was bouncing his foot now, which meant he was also anxious and even angrier than he looked. He was pretty good at just looking stuck up when he was mad, but when he was really mad, he was proving to be a little scary because you couldn't tell when he was angry. He was good at hiding it for the most part, especially in public.

He had a mask he wore in public and he didn't take it off for anything.

But it broke my heart that he felt like he had to wear armor in public, wear a disguise, because he was afraid of being judged by others. What kinds of things had he gone through where just innocent teasing and loving wasn't allowed?

"Aric," I said, making him glance up at me with disinterest, then drop his eyes to the menu again, his silent approval that I could talk to him, "Maybe we should go somewhere else." Aric glanced up at me pointedly.

"It took us two weeks to get reservations here, Ryky. I'm not leaving, especially for a couple of bigots," he added under his breath, cutting a glare at the couple at the other table, who blissfully ignored him now that he wasn't making a scene.

"But I want you to have a good time," I said, making Aric blink like that surprised him and he looked up, "I know the food here is supposed to be out of this world, but if they're going to let people like that in here, I don't know if I find it worth it to eat here." Aric seemed taken aback, and it was probably the fact that he'd never had anyone try to accommodate him. He was usually the one trying to please others, so it must have come as a shock that someone was willing to break the social barrier for him.

"Are... Are you sure," Aric asked after a moment, glancing at the other table, who was ignoring us now, "I mean, they're not paying attention to us now. We can just eat, then leave."