Chapter 1: A Date With Roger
Delilah breathed a sigh of boredom as she made her way around the tables in the ghost town of a cafe that she waitressed at. The place was always dead, never more than four tables on average, never more than twenty dollars in tips for a broke waitress.
However, things had become a little more interesting when a guy named Roger had begun to stop in and chat with Delilah more and more frequently. It was no different that Thursday morning.
"How are things?" he asked flashing a white smile and flipping wavy blonde hair, which he had styled in a messy fashion that day. He looked to be about twenty six, or perhaps twenty seven, not much older than Delilah herself.
Roger sat down at a small two top table and ordered a medium black coffee and a blueberry glaze pastry.
Delilah brought over his coffee and put the order for the pastry in with the cook. She gestured about her at the empty cafe. "Oh you know, business is just booming these days." she laughed sarcastically. "I just cannot seem to keep up with the demand."
Roger chuckled deeply at that and Delilah couldn't help but blush just a little. She didn't usually get close to people, let alone date them; her second job made that difficult. However she found herself deciding that she wouldn't mind getting to know Roger in a friendly way. She also entertained the thought of getting to know him as more than just friends. Delilah couldn't help but feel attracted to him, there was something alluringly familiar about him that she couldn't seem to pinpoint.
"Let me know if you want anything else." she smiled as she placed his pastry and some napkins in front of him.
"Will do," Roger replied as he sipped at his coffee.
Delilah snuck a glance at Roger again before going to the kitchen. The cook always played good music in there and she wished she could hear it from the cafe sitting area. She used the mirror at the waitress station to fix her hair as she sang along to Queens.
"That Roger guy again?" Will, the cook, asked making a face.
"Yeah," she replied as she grabbed one of the fresh pastries Will had put in the warmer.
Will was a good kid, and an excellent cook for being so young. He was seventeen but could pass for twelve with his short stature and baby face. Working at the cafe didn't really allow him to explore his skill to the fullest though. He had always told Delilah that one day he would be a famous cook, like Gordon Ramsay, and cook for celebrities or maybe even the Queen of England.
Delilah had told him he might want to find a different place to work because his talent was wasted at that stupid little cafe.
"That guy gives me the creeps." Will said about Roger, shuddering. "He's gonna be a serial killer or something one day, I just know it."
"Don't you ever watch those shows?" Delilah asked. "The serial killer is always someone you would never expect. Sometimes even your own coworker could be a murderer. Have you ever killed anyone Will?" she looked at him in mock suspicion.
Will rolled his eyes, "No, look at me! I couldn't even kill a spider, let alone a person. How could I be a killer?" he laughed.
Delilah believed him. Will was innocent and reminded her of a puppy with his big brown eyes, olive skin and nappy black hair. She felt kind of bad for him though. His job at the cafe was the only thing that kept him and his mother afloat. His mom worked at an ice cream place nearby but she was an alcoholic and called into her work a lot. Delilah had never met her, and didn't know if she wanted to.
"I suppose not." Delilah smiled and laughed at Will. Then she walked back out to the sitting area to ring up Roger's bill.
Thirteen dollars and seventy two cents, for a medium black coffee and a small pastry. No wonder that place was such a ghost town, you practically had to rob a bank to afford a muffin. Delilah wondered why Roger even bothered going there so often, he was totally being robbed.
"Here you are," Delilah said as she set down his bill. "Can I get you anything else?"
"Oh, I'm not sure. I was hoping to get a date with the beautiful waitress who works here, but I didn't see it on the menu. Perhaps you could help me?" he asked with a grin.
Smooth, she thought. For a moment she was stunned, she didn't really know what to say. Delilah had never been asked on a date before. She adjusted her glasses.
"Um, perhaps that can be arranged." she smiled shyly. "What did you have in mind?"
"There's this great ethnic place across town. Would you go with me say….. Saturday night?" Roger asked as he stood up from the table. He was wearing a black suit with a red tie, she couldn't help but gaze at his tall figure and long limbs. He had strong shoulders, and good posture. When he stood, he made Delilah feel so small, smaller even than her height of five feet two inches already did.
"This Saturday? Ugh, I can't." she said disappointedly.
"Oh," he said sadly. He went to leave after putting enough money on the table to pay the bill as well as for a very generous tip.
"I'm free tomorrow though!" she called to him before he walked out the door.
He turned and grinned at her. "I'll pick you up tomorrow then. Say, seven o' clock? Your place?" he asked.
"Perfect, see you then." Delilah smiled.
"Perfect," Roger echoed as he left.
The next day, after a very uneventful work day at the cafe, Delilah rushed home to get ready for her date with Roger. She hoped he didn't mind having it on Friday rather than Saturday, but she had to be at her second job on Saturday evening.
Delilah took a shower and set out on a quest in her closet to find the perfect outfit for her date with Roger.
"Ugh, I have nothing!" she said in exasperation. "Nothing to wear at all." she groaned.
She pulled out a nice blue dress that brought out the color of her baby blue eyes, it also had a lacy sweetheart neckline that made her bust look good.
"Too short," she decided. Delilah didn't want to look too available or even desperate on the first date.
She pulled out a pair of black dress slacks and a flowy grey blouse. It made her short brown hair and bangs look good, but it also looked somewhat odd to her in a way.
"Too boyish," she decided.
Delilah must have gone through her entire closet and tried on every article of clothing she had before she decided on a cute black skirt that went just below her mid thigh and a pink button-up blouse. She wore a pair of black high heel sandals, applied some pink lip gloss and tied a pink ribbon in her hair.
"I look like a child's doll." she said in frustration when she saw herself in the full length mirror in her bathroom. "Ugh!" she groaned.
It was six fifty five already. Roger would be there any minute. It was too late to change. She sighed as she looked in the mirror at herself again. The pink blouse complimented her porcelain skin tone, she supposed. And her legs looked nice in the skirt. The heels also made her look taller, but not too tall.
"I suppose that this is as good as it's going to get, huh Thorn." she said to the russian blue maine coon cat that sat on the floor beside her. He meowed at her, as if he understood.
Her phone rang just then, and she grabbed it. "Huh? Unknown number." she shrugged and answered it.
"Hello?" she asked.
"Hey Delilah, it's me Roger." the caller said.
"Oh hi!" she replied enthusiastically. "How'd you get my number?" she asked curiously.
"You gave it to me, remember? Anyway, I'm outside in the red car." he said.
"Oh, okay," she said. Maybe she had given him her number. "I'll be right down."
Delilah made her way down the three flights of stairs and out onto the sidewalk outside.
She looked up and down the street for a red car. The only one she saw was a brand new looking, cherry red Dodge challenger.
No way, she thought.
Sure enough, Roger was sitting in the driver's seat smiling.
"You look beautiful," he told her as Delilah settled into the passenger seat. The car smelled like lime and men's cologne, she liked it.
"Thank you," Delilah blushed and straightened her glasses.
Roger began driving down the street toward the main expressway. They listened to the weather as they went.
"As we begin the stormy season, it looks as if Mother Nature will not disappoint. Seven inches is estimated for this evening, and the rest of the weekend looks to be more of the same."
"Yuck," Roger said, grimacing. "I hate the rain. It's such an annoyance."
Delilah couldn't agree. She loved the rain, and staying up at night to watch the storm out her apartment window was always a favorite pastime of hers during the rainy season.
"I suppose I can see how storms would be an inconvenience for hard working individuals." Delilah decided to say.
"It's not just that," Roger said. "It wets your clothes, it makes everything moist and dirty, causes the sewers to overflow, it's disgusting."
Delilah just shrugged.
Traffic was light for a Friday, and they arrived at the restaurant just before dark.
It was warm, cozy and intimate. They were escorted to nice table by the window by a young gentleman with the most gorgeous green eyes that Delilah had ever seen.
"This is one of our finest tables," he said placing their menus at their seats. "It has a beautiful view of the city lights, however, I imagine such a view must be quite dull to look upon with a beauty such as you sitting near," he said to Delilah.
She blushed as he kneeled to kiss the top of her hand. "Thank you," she said laughing.
Roger frowned. "Thank you young man, that will be all," he said, shooting the host a look.
Delilah took a seat and they both pondered over the menu. There was a lot of items to choose from, as well as thirty different types of wine on their wine list. She spied Zinfandel Rosé. She was tempted to order it but decided to just get water. She had some at her apartment anyway.
The prices for the food were higher than she expected. Roger had not said whether he was paying for the meal and she brought what she believed would be enough for herself. She hadn't been making a lot of money lately. She hoped more contracts would come in for her second job.
She had decided on the cheapest meal there was, a mixture of fried rice and grilled chicken when her phone dinged.
"Ah sorry," she said taking it from her purse.
"Don't worry," Roger said understandably. "You can check it."
She looked at the text, it was a message from Bones. He was the one who issued the contracts for her second job. He was also one of the few people she considered a true friend.
--44 year old woman on S. 3rd Street. Works at the ice cream place nearby. Do you wanna take it?-- his message said.
Awesome, she thought. She needed the money. The mark wasn't too far away from the cafe either.
--When is the latest it can be done?-- Delilah texted back.
--Wednesday. Payout will be $200. Not bad. Not good either. :/-- Bones replied.
--I'll take it-- She answered back.
"Sorry about that." Delilah said, putting her phone away.
"Was it important?" Roger asked.
"It was my work." Delilah replied, brushing her bangs out of her eyes and taking a sip of water.
"Ahhh, the cafe or your second job?" Roger asked.
Delilah almost choked on her water. She was taken aback for a moment. She had never told him about her second job. In fact, she never told anyone about her second job. She had to create a secret identity just to work there.
Her reply was interrupted when the waitress brought their food over.
As they ate, Roger began talking about his job as an insurance salesman and how he had originally wanted to be a detective, "like in the T.V. shows" he said.
As he talked, Delilah was only half listening. She was thinking about him though. Now that she thought about it, she didn't remember giving him her phone number. She never gave him her address either, and she wasn't listed in the phone book or anything.
Her stomach began twisting itself in knots. Something was not right here….
Delilah began watching him more closely. He had more of a smug sneer than an actual smile, she found.
He didn't seem to notice Delilah's feelings of unease. Roger just continued to talk about his favorite topic, himself.
She decided rather than causing him to be suspicious or making her concerns known, she would simply finish out this date and never talk to him again. However, he did seem to know an awful lot about her. Perhaps she would have Bones run a background check on Roger when she saw him the next day, just to be safe.
Throughout the meal, Delilah stuck to conversation topics unrelated to her personal life. It helped that Roger did most of the talking, all she had to do was smile, nod and pretend to be interested.
However, whenever she did speak, he would stare at her intently, as if looking into her very soul. It wasn't in a sexy way either, it was freaking her out to say the least. At the end of the meal as Roger rambled to the waitress about how much he enjoyed the restaurant and the food, while not so sneakily staring at the waitress's cleavage, Delilah snuck a peek at Roger's credit card receipt for a full name.
Roger K. Martin.
Such an average name, she thought.
Delilah rolled her eyes as she watched Roger stare at the waitress's backside while she walked away with their empty plates.
"I'm always satisfied with that place." Roger said as they headed back out to his car.
Delilah took a deep breath, she could smell the coming storm and stopped for a moment to admire the effect that the minimal moonlight had on the wet asphalt. It sparkled like a million diamonds, and just as quickly as the moonlight escaped, it was covered again by the storm clouds.
"Coming?" Roger said from the vehicle.
"Oh yes," Delilah said hurrying to the passenger seat of the vehicle. "Sorry, I was just admiring…."
"Hmmm" Roger replied simply.
They were silent for awhile, as he pulled out of the parking lot and began the drive back to Delilah's apartment.
"It's a nice car, isn't it," Roger said smiling and rubbing his hand on the dash lovingly.
"Yes it is," Delilah replied not unenthused.
Her reply led Roger into another rambling about himself. He told a few exaggerated horror stories about having to take public transportation and how he convinced his father, who was a well known politician, to buy him that car. His father was also able to get him his job with the insurance company and a nice apartment or "pad" on the upper side of town. This all happened after his brother passed away. He stopped talking after he mentioned his brother, Delilah felt bad for him and relayed her sentiments. Roger simply waved them away.
The drive back seemed to take longer than it had on the way to the restaurant, even with the lighter than normal traffic.
She breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she saw her apartment building finally come into view.
Roger pulled up in front of the building, and just as she was about to get out, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
Delilah almost yelped as he rested his cold, sweaty hand on her upper thigh.
Oh hell no, she thought and went to escape out of the car door. But gasped in alarm when she found it locked.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone