Altered by Shelly Crane

over my chin to collect the last tear. I gasped so quietly, it didn’t sound like a gasp at all but more like an inhale. He smirked at my shocked expression. “What? I remembered your pancakes and bacon.”
    “I can see that.” I wiped my fingers across where his fingers had just swiped. Was he purposely trying to toy with me?
    The waitress looked more stunned than I did. “Uh…I’ll just put this order in then.”
    “Thanks, Patricia,” he said, still looking at me.
    “How did you—”
    “Nametag.” He turned with a smile and nodded his head toward it. “You’re wearing a nametag, Patricia.”
    “Oh, right.” She took her beet red cheeks and sprinted to the back to put our order in.
    “You did that on purpose,” I said, but smiled a little. “You know you have this effect on people and you do it on purpose to see if you can get a rise out of them.”
    His smile was crooked, like he knew it, but there was more to it. “You see, that’s the way it used to be. But then this girl named Fay came along.” I grinned down at the table, unable to stop it, even though his antics were clear. “And she was good at not falling for my charms.”
    I met his eyes and went for it, decided to let the old Fay come to the surface—the Fay who wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything, the Fay who got what she wanted. “You used your charms on me?”
    He leaned back in his seat and smiled the smile of a caught man. “You know what I mean.”
    “Not really. You’ve been barking orders and acting like I ran over your dog since I met you.”
    He licked his lip and actually looked a little guilty. I didn’t think that was possible. I felt my eyebrows rise as he said, “When you’ve lived as long as I have and been brought up a certain way to believe certain things, it’s going to take more than one night and a beautiful girl wi th a golden soul to make you change. But I am trying,” he grated out, his words sounding as if they were being dragged over concrete.
    But the only thing I heard was… “Beautiful ?” I barely whispered. Why had I said that? “I’m…sorry.” I looked up from the table to find his mouth slightly open as he watched me, his violet eyes half open. I slid out and stood.
    “Where are you going?”
    I scoffed with a smile. “Anywhere but here?” He smiled and huffed a laugh. I sighed. “The bathroom. I’m going to the bathroom.”
    “Okay, Fay.” As I passed him I heard, “Don’t stay gone on my account.”
    I groaned and wondered why I was so weird all of a sudden. I used to be a dating guru. My friends all came to me for advice because I was good at it. I had dates every weekend in high school. It was never an issue for me. And now, there I sat, babbling about… am I beautiful ? I scoffed. Who cares if he thought I was beautiful or not. It was obvious he disliked me a great deal. Or woman in general. Or maybe just dating in general. Whatever.
    And Clara. What if it was Clara? What if she had broken his heart?
    I sighed and rolled my eyes as I washed my hands. Enough. I was going to go out there and get this over with.
    I looked at myself in the mirror. I was pale and had no make-up. I pinched my cheeks a little to give them s ome color. I scoffed. Beautiful? That was lifetimes ago.
    I sat back down and was sad to see the food still wasn’t there. I got right to it, staring at the table.
    “Clara is my little sister. She’s three years younger than me. I joined the military and she stayed with Pastor and his wife. I don’t really know much about what has happened to her since I left. We haven’t…talked much. I know she got married.” I can’t help but choke up a bit at that. That I missed my sister’s wedding and will never get to go back and do that again. In truth, I didn’t even know about the wedding until it was too late. I had moved from the base and neither Clara nor the Pastor knew it. The invitation took too long to reach me and by the time it did… But that’s on