Chapter 3 - Tyler

Luckily, the restaurant isn’t too far from the university.  I have heard about this area.  A lot of the students talk about it, but I’m always too focused on studying and getting good grades, that I don’t take the time to visit the area or even go out to restaurants much.  Not only does it take my time away from studying, but it also takes money, which I’m very tight with.  I have only so much that I can spend, and I don’t waste any on fancy meals at restaurants.  The main reason that I have agreed to come tonight, besides Noah pestering me, is that he has promised to pay for my meal.  Now, who could turn that down. 

As we sit by the restaurant’s front windows, Noah keeps glancing out and looking up and down the street, like he is waiting for someone.  I furrow my eyebrows and lightly tap on the table.  “Are you going to tell me why we just had to come to this restaurant tonight?”

As Noah continues to look out the window and scan the street, he moves his hand in the air.  “It is a surprise.  I’ll ruin everything if I tell you ahead of time.”

I slowly shake my head.  This is definitely not a good idea to be here, but I won’t back out now.  Plus, I will miss the free meal, which Noah doesn’t offer too often.  I think I can count on one hand the number of times that Noah has offered to pay for my meal since we have been in the university together, and that goes back to when we first met in our first year when we were 19. 

I silently look down at my menu and continue to scan it.  Since, Noah is paying, I’m going to make sure that he buys a lot.  Plus, I know something bad is going to happen, so I will order some extra food for when I go home.  Then, I’ll have something to eat tomorrow night.

As I look through the menu, the waiter approaches the table.  “Are you ready to order?”

I eagerly nod my head.  “Yes.”  I proceed to rattle off my order that I’ll eat tonight and then I request another order to be boxed to take with me.  Luckily, Noah is too interested in trying to find something or someone on the street that he isn’t paying attention.  He does manage to rattle off his order, but he doesn’t bother to turn and look at our waiter. 

The waiter looks at me and asks, “Will that be all?”

I smile and nod my head.  “Yes.  I’m sorry about my friend.  He is waiting for something and apparently, he can’t be bothered with anything else.”

The waiter smiles and chimes, “Don’t worry, sir.  I’ll go put your order in.”

I smile and nod.  As soon as the waiter is gone, the table, once again, falls into complete silence.  The only difference this time is that Noah begins to tap his finger on the table. 

Why did he ask me to come with him, if he is just going to stare out the stupid window?  He could have done that without me here.  Ugh…

With nothing else to do, I fish out my phone and begin playing some video games.  If I had brought my books, I could be studying instead. 

As I’m just getting into the game, Noah suddenly sits up straight on his chair and chimes, “He’s here.”

“Huh?”  I look up from my game and ask, “Who is here?”

With a mischievous sparkle in his eyes and a huge grin on his face, Noah happily replies, “The person that I have been wanting you to see, our new Dean.”

What?  He has brought me out for a meal just so I can see the Dean that he keeps talking about.  Oh, well.  I get a free meal out of it.

I shrug and shake my head.  However, instead of asking anything else, I turn my attention back to my phone and the game that I’m playing.  I could care less what the new Dean looks like. 

As I focus back on my phone and the game, Noah starts tapping on the table.  “Oh my…  I think he is coming into this restaurant.  I know that he usually gets food each night from one of the restaurants on this street, but I didn’t realize that he would be coming to this one.  I haven’t been able to find out which place is his favorite one yet.”

I sigh and shake my head again.  When is he ever going to grow up?  I swear sometimes that he is still in high school with the way he acts. 

With my focus still on my game, Noah begins tapping the table even harder.  “Yes.  He is coming here.  Tyler, you have to look up and see him.  I want you to see what he looks like.”

Not caring about what the Dean looks like, I ignore Noah and continue playing my game. 

However, Noah reaches across the table and quickly snatches my phone away while he huffs, “You need to look and see him.”

Ding.

With my back to the front door, I put my hand out and hiss, “Give me back my phone.  I was in the middle of a game.”

Still with a huge smile on his face, Noah’s eyes follow someone behind me, but I don’t care.  I want my phone back. 

He holds my phone up and behind him as he motions behind me with his chin.  “Look.  I won’t bother you again if you look at him just once.”

 I put my hand out in front of me with my palm up and hand wide open as a scowl begins to form on my face.  “I’m not looking.  Now, give me my phone back.”

However, Noah isn’t paying attention to me.  Instead, his eyes are still focused on someone behind me.  “No.  You have to look first.”

Before I can say anything, our waiter arrives with our food.  Even though I still want my phone back, food is more important right now.  I ignore Noah and turn my focus on the plate of food in front of me and begin eating.  I hear some commotion behind me, but I ignore it.  I even tune Noah out as I eat my food. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Noah pull a chair out, but I don’t bother to actually see what he is doing.  Just as I’m putting another bite of food in my mouth, Noah chimes, “Here, Dean Hanson.  You can sit with us while you wait for your food to be done.”

Still with my attention on my food, a deep voice replies, “I don’t want to intrude.”

Noah happily chimes, “Oh, you won’t be intruding.  My friend, Tyler, can’t seem to get his head out of his food to provide our Dean a proper greeting.  I do apologize for him.”

A warm chuckle fills my ears.  “Oh, don’t worry about it.  My wife used to be the same way.  I’m used to it.” 

As I continue eating, while trying to ignore everyone else, a silence settles over the table for a few moments until Noah hesitantly asks, “Are you still married?  You said used to.”

Ugh…  Why is he even asking such a question?  It isn’t our place to be asking any of this.  We should be doing exactly what I’m doing and that is minding my own business. 

I kick Noah’s leg under the table trying to signal for him to stop, but like normal, when Noah has something that he wants to do, he doesn’t listen to others. 

Noah clears his throat and whispers, “I’m sorry.  I’m asking about your personal life.  You are our Dean, and I should keep my questions limited to the university and general things.”

I glance away from the two as I grab my glass and take a drink.  I don’t know what has come over me, but at the moment, I don’t want to do what Noah has asked me to do.  Plus, I can see the Dean’s reflection in the window. 

As I finish my drink, I glance at the Dean’s reflection.  Oh, lord.  I’m glad that I wasn’t drinking when I finally decided to look at him.  Damn.  He is hot.  No wonder Noah has been wanting me to see him.  However, I’m not going to let my mind wonder.  I have to get my degree first before I try and get into some romance. 

But. DAMN. 

Gulp.

Oh, is it getting hot in here?

I take another quick drink as my throat suddenly has become dry.  Before I get any more flustered, I tear my eyes away from the window and the Dean’s reflection.  I turn back towards my food and begin eating again.  However, I don’t dare look in the Dean’s direction. 

I don’t know whether to be happy or sad that Noah made me come here tonight. 

My heart suddenly aches as the Dean finally replies with a sad tone, “My wife and son have passed away.”  A silence immediately falls over the table.

I don’t know why, but I softly say, “I’m sorry.  Noah shouldn’t have asked you about that.” 

However, I still can’t bring myself to look at the Dean, but I do steal a quick glance out of the corner of my eye, which only makes my heart ache even more.  The sadness is written all over the Dean’s gorgeous face. 

I can’t stand seeing him looking so sad.  I quickly turn my attention back to my food. 

Noah whispers, “I’m sorry.  Tyler is right.  I shouldn’t have asked such a question.  However, my curiosity got the best of me.  You are such a mystery that the students are guessing all sorts of crazy things about you.  I just thought that since you were sitting with us waiting for your food that I would ask a few of those questions that everyone is dying to know.”

With a sad tone, the Dean replies, “Even though it hurts, I’m fine with that question.  If you had crossed the line too much, I would have stopped you or refused to answer.”

As I take the last bite of my food, I can’t help myself to not only feel sorry for the Dean, but also wonder what his wife and son were like.  However, I’m not going to ask that question.  With the Dean’s sad voice, I can’t bear to cause him any more pain. 

I wipe my mouth and as I put my napkin down, a waiter walks up to our table with a bag.  “Sir, your food is done.”

With a blank expression, the Dean looks up towards the waiter and takes the bag of food.  “Thanks.”

The waiter smiles and walks away. 

The Dean stands up and as he turns to leave, he says, “Thanks for letting me wait with you.  I’ll see you around campus.”

Noah quickly sits up straight in his seat and chimes, “Maybe we will see you around here another time.  We eat on this street quite frequently.”

What the heck?  I tilt my head and furrow my brows as I look across the table at Noah.  What is he up to?

The Dean slowly nods his head.  “If you eat around here frequently, then we might just see each other again.  I usually eat from one of the restaurants on this street every night.”

As I open my mouth to say something, I immediately shut it when I realize that he doesn’t cook for himself.  I’m sure that his wife did the cooking, but since she is gone, he doesn’t cook for himself. 

He needs to learn to cook for himself.  I could also say that he should find someone to cook for him, but it is clearly too soon after his wife’s death for him to start dating someone else. 

Before I know what I’m saying, I quickly turn towards the Dean and smile.  “Then we will be seeing you again soon.”