38"Took me two weeks to get a reservation here" Harvey said as he sat down with Rachel "and I had to tell them I work for the Government"
"Really?" She replies playfully.
"The health inspector is not afraid to pull strings"
"Oh.." Rachel heard the beeping of her self-phone.
On the way. Subway was late. Order I am not hungry I ll just have a drink.
"Uh she's going to be late" Rachel said placing the phone back on the table.
"Should we wait?" Harvey asked.
"No she wont't eat let's just order-"
"Rachel, fancy that" said Bruce Wayne as he approached the table.
Mia was getting fidgety. She looked down at her watch as she got out of the subway walking fast. She was wearing her favorite purple mini dress with black classic heels. She had let her black hair loose on her back and had chosen a scarlet red lipstick for the occasion whcih brought out her big brown eyes. She thought since she was forced to go out with her sister she should at least take advantage of the situation and enjoy the dress up.
She looked back down at her watch as she felt someone bumping onto her. She turned around startled as she continued walking and mouthed I'm sorry
"Hey bitch at least apologize!" she heard the voice of the woman she bumped into behind her.
Mia sighed and kept walking. She had lost her voice when she was fifteen. That was ten years of random strangers thinking that she was being an ass not talking to them or apologizing, or thanking the waitress verbally. She always used sign language to communicate but still some people didn't really get the whole mute thing. Or even worst, most of them asked her to stick out her tongue to see if someone had cut it. Well actually being mute was not being able to either hear nor speak. But she had lost her voice from laryngitis. She didn't even bother to undergo all the recovery her parents forced her to go through. Most people thought it was genetic but she didn't want to have to explain. She just wanted to be left alone. That was all. So it became permanent.
It wasn't that bad sometimes though. She could easily avoid situations that nobody else could and pretend she couldn't answer or reply to someone. And of course, boys did freak out about the fact that she couldn't talk to them so that area was completely shut down for her. She knew she had a pretty face and her body was not too bad either, but there were occasions where it seemed that boys liked their girl talking? Only some occasions. Of course, most of them would argue that they would prefer their girl not to talk at all but she bet to differ. Only once in high school did she get an actual boyfriend but they broke up when he went to college. He said that he couldn't be with someone he couldn't hear even through a video call. Besides him going to college, Mia always wondered if he understood the real concept of a video call. That being, seeing someone on video.
She walked fast to the entrance of the restaurant when a hand stopped her.
"Can I help you?" the waiter at the entrance asked scanning her from head to toe.
Mia gulped and approached him, showing him the name of Harvey Dent on the reservation list.
"Oh, right" the waiter said fast "Follow me Miss"
She felt a hand taking off her coat and she looked behind her startled as another waiter took it and placed it in a huge room full of similar coats.
"Miss" the waiter in front of her said irritated. Mia blushed embarrassed and followed him. She walked fast behind the waiter as she approached the table.
But there were four people sitting there. Not two. Mia slowed down her walking as she approached and gulped not liking the crowded company.
"There you are! Oh my you look wonderful." Rachel said getting up and giving her a soft kiss on the cheek.
"You really do look beautiful Mia" Harvey added and she looked at him and smiled weakly.
She sat down on the chair the waiter had offered her and placed her hands on her lap in discomfort.
"Mia you remember Bruce Wayne" Rachel said as she sat down.
"How are you? You look lovely" the man raised his glass at her. Mia smiled faintly.
"And this is Natasha" Rachel continued indicating the blonde date of Mr. Wayne. Mia smiled faintly at her and proceeded scanning the woman up and down. She was one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen. Even as a heterosexual woman, she enjoyed knowing that the female population had such striking women as part of it.
She ordered a glass of red wine as Rachel and Harvey 's food arrived. She took a sip and sat back on her chair, already waiting for the night to end.
"So, Mia isn't it?" Bruce Wayne asked her.
She shook her head as he continued.
"I've heard a lot about you. Rachel used to talk about you all the time"
Mia turned towards Rachel and looked at her dead on.
"It was all bad I promise" she told her with a smirk, taking a sip from her wine. Mia rolled her eyes slightly and turned her attention back at Wayne as he spoke.
"Do you mind if I ask you something? It's somewhat inappropriate"
Mia froze, half knowing what the subject would be, but shook her head positively.
I know you uh… have this problem? Where you can't talk? Well, Rachel was telling me how you find it difficult to find a steady job due to this..problem.."
Mia felt her fists clenching.
"I was wondering, would you like to come work for me? I hear you're good with numbers"
Mia stared back and forward between him and Rachel. She wanted to protest and actually beat the shit out of both of them. She wanted to say:
Who the fuck do you think you are huh!? You think I need you? You think I need your fucking money to survive? I'ma beat the shit out of you you little piece of shit.
But there were a couple of mistakes with this argument. First, he was Bruce Fucking Wayne. Secondly, yes she did need him and thirdly, GOD did she need his money.
She blinked and raised her eyebrows and shoulders approvingly.
"Great! You start on Monday"
Mia smiled weakly and looked down at the table as the group finally stopped bothering themselves with her and began talking with each other.
Mia took another sip from her drink and observed the people around her. It was one of her favorite things to do when she was beginning to be invisible. Bruce Wayne was a very charming young man. But he seemed tired. He had faint black circles under his eyes which said that he wasn't getting much sleep. He was moving his left arm cautiously and Mia thought that he might be hurt. She went on to the next victim, the blonde, lean Balarrina.
Oh yes. Definitely a ballerina. She was holding her back so straight even if she was relaxed. That was a stands that Mia had seen cheerleaders and dancers do.
She turned her attention to Harvey but went on. She had no interest in knowing what he was doing in his personal life. With his sister.
Mia sighed and took another sip from her drink as she gazed around in the restaurant. There was a couple that was fighting before they came here, judging by the fast eating pace and the red nose of the woman… an old lady returning stressed from the toilet..a man who was texting someone that he didn't want his wife across the table to find out…a man ignoring his date as he was looking discretely at their table and eavesdropping their conversation.. a woman eating-
Wait what?
Mia's eyes darted back to the man who was staring at them. He had blonde wavy hair and dark brown eyes. He was very attractive; she had to give him that. But there was something about his eyes. They seemed so focused on their table. So concentrated. So…cold.
The man's gaze was suddenly fixed on her and she quickly turned away looking down at her hands blushing. She took another sip from her drink and exhaled embarrassed, not daring to look at the direction of the man again.
The night proceeded and Mia was almost ready to maybe cut open her veins. She was so bored. She wanted to leave, to go home to her couch and TV. She sighed as the group opened another cycle of conversation and gazed around the room again. And she paused. She quickly lowered her eyes on her lap again as she felt the hair on her back rising.
The man was staring at her. The blonde man with the dark brown eyes. He was still sitting there, alone this time. It seemed that his date had left but he was still here. And he was staring right at her. It wasn't that that caused the hair on her back to stand. It was the way he was looking at her. His gaze was like death himself had come to claim her soul. She only got a glimpse of them for a second and she couldn't bear the idea of staring into them again.
But for some reason, she couldn't resist. She raised her eyes slowly first to Rachel, then to Harvey, then to a lady on the right and then to him.
And down they go again. She couldn't do it. She removed her hair from behind her ears throwing them at the sides of her face to hide it.
"Mia" she heard Rachel's voice as the men continued talking. She signaled to her discretely.
Are you ok?
Mia shook her head and smiled weakly. She could still see the figure sitting on the table from the corner of her eye. And she was now getting irritated. She frowned and turned to him dead on, ignoring the strong sensation she had to turn her head away again.
He looked amused. He was playing with the top of his glass as he was staring at her with a smirk of enjoyment on his lips. His lips…
Mia's attention was now focused on them. They seemed odd. She instinctively crooked her head to the right slightly as she continued staring at the man's bottom lip. He wasn't this close to the table and she couldn't see clearly, and it seemed that his lips were covered with something. They were covering something on the middle of his bottom lip. Something…some…
A diagonal short line.
Mia's breath got caught up in her throat as she realized who was staring at them all evening. She looked up to his eyes as realization hit her. He was still piercing her with his gaze that seemed even more amused than before. He knew she knew. She was dead.
"It's a nightmare isn't it?" Bruce Wayne suddenly told her.
She blinked startled at the man placed a hand on her arm to wake her up from her trance.
Mia shook her head confused.
"Sorry you seemed elsewhere… About the crime.."
Mia kept staring at him, clearly off topic.
Bruce Wayne smiled at her politely, understanding that she had not listening to a word they said.
"We were talking about the Batman… and how criminals in this town are the worst…a nightmare?"
Mia raised her eyebrows in understanding and smiled in return agreeing with him. She gulped as he spoke and turned her eyes towards the table on the right. And frowned.
There was nobody there.
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