Player Interference

Seven

He chuckles, but when he looks back at me, he shakes his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't ask you here to tell you my sappy stories."

"That's okay," I respond.

He looks down at his menu, then back up at me.

"I didn't want to do all of that stuff, you know."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "Then why'd you do it?"

A sigh escapes his lips. "I was told some things about you, and I thought that since you were hurting my family, I could get back at you. Now I know I was wrong in doing so."

"What are you talking about? What family was I hurting?"

He opens his mouth to speak, but our waiter quickly approaches.

"Hello guys," he says, taking out a notepad, "My name is Liam and I'll be taking care of you tonight. Can I start you off with something to drink?" When he smiled I could make out one dimple. It was kind of cute. He had dark brown hair that almost looked black, but bright green eyes. They bore into mine.

I felt a hand shake my arm. The boy across the table smirks at me.

"I'm sorry, what?"

He laughs. "What would you like to drink tonight?"

"Oh, uh... water's fine, thank you." I mumble, trying to avoid his gaze.

When he walks off, the boy in front of me is holding back a laugh.

"Shut up," I mutter.

His eyes are still bright with laughter. "Hey, I didn't say anything," he says defensively, holding his hands up in a surrendering pose.

"Just tell me what you need to tell me."

"Tell me something," he says, leaning forward, "if you can correctly tell me what my name is, then I'll tell you. If not, then I guess you'll just have to settle for a wonderful meal paid for by yours truly."

"Easy peasy," I claim, remembering his reservation, "it's Jackson." When he gives a small smirk, I continue, "maybe you shouldn't use your name for reservations."

His smirk doesn't fade. "Normally, people use their last names for reservations, Miss Mack. That was a good guess, though." He says, sitting back in his chair. His eyes turn back to the menu, but I could tell he wasn't really reading it.

His cockiness was starting to annoy me. "You should be more specific when proposing riddles, Jackson," I said. "You only said your name; you didn't specify first or last. Therefore, since I know your last name, you have to give me an answer."

He looked up from his menu, his eyes wide at how I found a loophole to his test. "That's not how this works."

"It is definitely how it works. You asked, I answered. Spill."

Jackson opened his mouth to reply when Liam came back, setting down our drinks. He looked between the two of us eagerly.

"Ready to order?"

~~~🦋~~~

"So what you're telling me is that someone from your family asked you to scare me into not pitching?"