Enjoy

It ended up taking us an hour and a half to reach my little red car. Surprisingly, it was still the only car parked outside of the dense woods, but I tried to ignore it. He seemed somewhat sporty, so I assumed he may have walked. 

After a short drive, we arrived at a somewhat-popular mom-and-pop 50’s style restaurant before parking and nearly rushing inside. Our stomachs had become in sync with demanding food, and upon entering we had unanimously chosen a table in the far back of the restaurant. The 50’s feel to it made it feel like walking through a time machine; and no matter how many times I walked through the front door, it never ceased to amaze me.

But, almost as soon as we sat down and placed our orders, Virgo excused himself to go to the bathroom.

At first, I thought nothing of it, but after our food had arrived and I received a refill on my drink, he still hadn’t come back and I had already begun to fill with embarrassed dread. 

‘Of course,’ I slumped in my seat, ‘it was too good to be true...’

Luckily, I had brought my purse, and while it would be a hit to my already skimpy finances, I would at least be able to pay for the meal, and his, despite it being untouched. 

Although I should've known something was off about him when he’d ordered a rare steak; I swore I heard it moo a few times as it sat opposite of my well-done one. 

I crinkled my nose up; ‘I wonder if I would be able to cook it more later?’ I wondered to myself, trying anything and everything to distract myself from the incoming pain of being the butt of some joke once more.

But my thoughts would only last a moment; Escanaba was a small city after all, and it wasn’t long before I heard an all too familiar voice coming from behind me, my back to the main entrance.

“What the fuck is two-faced doing here!?” 

I was somehow, weirdly enough, relieved when I quickly realized it was not Virgo coming back to hurl insults at me. Instead, it was one of the popular jocks from my high school years; Alex Black, a now NFL player.

“Leave me alone, Alex,” I said monotonously without turning to face him at all. I could hear a couple of other people begin to laugh with him; most likely being some of the other high school jocks.

Alex huffed; I could hear him getting closer to me as his shoes tapped against the white-tiled floor. “You have no power to tell me what to do. You were a nobody then, and a nobody now.” His voice was harsh and his words, no matter how many times I hear the same things over and over again, stung just the same.

“Why are you back?” I asked, annoyed. He was supposed to be with his team in a completely different state training.

“Unlike you, I’ve found love, and she’s in the hospital about to give birth- something I wouldn’t miss for the world. You? You’ll never get a chance to have something like that, bitch.”

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t comprehend why him and everyone else treated me as such; aside from the birthmark on my face. No matter what, I’ve always tried to do my best to help others when I could, and always apologized for anything wrong that I did, even if it was something stupid like accidentally stepping on someone’s lawn.

And yet, I was the scum of the Earth to a good chunk of people in town.

I felt Alex and his posse stop just shy of the back of my chair; I could feel his breath disturbing my hair as it rested against my back. “Fuck you,” he hissed into my ear, as I felt his hand grab a chunk of my hair, hard, my scalp immediately beginning to sting with immense pain as tears started to lightly stream from my eyes.

Both of my hands went to where he was pulling, but he simply smacked my hands out of the way with his free one. “If you don’t leave this city by next month, then I will make sure you leave it permanently.... personally,” he threatened as a harsh whisper directly into my ear.

But before I had a chance to respond, I heard him.

“Who the fuck are you?” Virgo had come back- and he was furious, standing only a few feet away from us, just inside the entrance. He sounded like he was about to blow a fuse, and his approach challenged Alex to the point that he had finally released my hair from his clutches.

My heart went from pounding in fear, to pounding for something else. Something good, and I twisted in my seat to face the commotion.

Alex was making his way towards Virgo, who was standing stone-faced with both of his hands curled into fists; he was allowing people to pass him that didn’t want to witness a potential brawl. Though, instead of leaving, Alex’s small posse stood on either side of him, all facing Virgo like they were all about to pounce him at once.

Alex scowled at my savior, “I should be the one asking you that. So, who the fuck are you, dickhead?” 

Virgo, who was now wearing a souvenir t-shirt, crossed his buff arms across his chest, “depends on how you continue this conversation,” he cryptically replied.

My bully finally halted, obviously intimidated by him. At first, I was nervous for my savior- Alex is no small man; not only is he one of the leading defensive men on his team, he’s huge. But when Virgo spoke, he almost sounded like a demon- a beast, and she didn’t blame Alex for hesitating. 

“What do you mean?” The NFL bully ran one of his hands through his shoulder-length blonde hair; nervousness overtaking him.

“Continue to make this woman sad, and you’ll find out.”

“You? You’re wanting to protect this..... thing?” 

Virgo instantly snarled, and he rushed Alex without hesitation, his beautiful blue eyes no longer soft, but burning with rage as he grabbed Alex by the throat. “What did I just fucking say?”

The defensiveman started to claw at Virgo’s hand, gasping for air. His posse had no idea what to do, and they began to haphazardly lower themselves into a fighting stance, all of their fists raised. 

It was 5 on 1 and yet the 1 was holding them back with just his presence alone. My savior looked at each of them, his glare reaching the inner workings of their soul, as they all immediately dropped their fists simultaneously. 

“Don’t you ever speak to her like that again.”

Virgo let Alex go, and without another wasted moment, Alex and his gang darted out the door behind him.

“You know,” an elderly woman’s voice chimed in from behind the counter, a waitress, getting our attention. “Normally I’d kick you out for fighting, but instead, we would like to thank you for standing up to him; that kid has always been a son-of-a-bitch, and now that he’s rich? Yeesh.” She took out a small notebook from her server apron, making a small remark on it with her pen. “Your meals are on us today. Enjoy.”