Following Isaac by Casey McMillin

asked.
    "Yep."
    "How about tonight? Have you eaten already?"
    "I don't think so, no."
    "I haven't either."
    "Maybe we should eat, then," I said.
    "That's just what I was thinking."

 
    Chapter 10
    Isaac
     
     
    I felt like I knew this girl Becca the instant I saw her. Her eyes were so familiar that I was annoyed with myself for not remembering where I'd seen them. She almost didn't agree to come back and get coffee with me. I could see how hesitant she was. She was so reluctant that I figured she must have a boyfriend. If she did, he was short because I had to slide the passenger's seat back about ten inches before I could even think about sitting down in her car.
    She had a small hatchback that she mentioned getting as a graduation gift before she came here for school. Before we took off, she asked where I wanted to eat. I told her I wanted a fish taco and she drove me to her favorite place to get one. It was a food truck that never left it's location. The tires of the truck were flat and they had stationary canopies and tables set up in front of it with strings of lights hanging overhead. We ordered at the window and then I sat across from her at a small wooden picnic table.
    I couldn't help but glance up at the lights behind me after seeing the way they were reflected by her eyes.
    "Are you wearing contacts?" I asked, staring into her eyes.
    She laughed a little, covering her face.
    "What?"
    "For some reason I thought you were going to say 'are you wearing underwear?' I mean, not that I wanted you to say that or anything… it just caught me as funny that I assumed it's where that sentence was going." She sighed and smiled at me. "And now I feel like an idiot for saying that."
    "I'd like to get around to that question and others, but for now, I was wondering about your eyes," I said. "Are you wearing contacts?"
    "No." She glanced at the table shyly.
    "Becca," I said, causing her to look up. I scrutinized them. They were like golden-brown jewels with facets that were only accentuated by the overhead bulbs. I was mesmerized. She squinted, which made me notice she was smiling at how hypnotized I was. I must have been staring.
    "You said my name, and I asked you what three times, but you didn't answer," she said.
    "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't even hear you."
    "Do you remember why you originally said my name?" she asked.
    Just then, our number was called.
    "I'll get it," I said, standing up.
    "I like your clothes," she said, as I put her basket onto the table.
    "They gave me all that stuff from the shoot, but I felt like being in sweats," I said. "I hope you're not planning on bringing me anywhere fancy." I sat down across from her and met her gaze.
    "This is about as fancy as I get," she said.
    "Tell me something about yourself, Becca."
    "I grew up two hours from here." She paused, but I nodded as I took a bite of my taco, and she continued, "I'm in the middle of my last year at UCLA and I live with a family friend."
    "Do you have a boyfriend?" I asked.
    "No." She remained almost expressionless when I asked that, but I could tell she was taken off guard.
    "Tell me something else," I said.
    "All right, but then it's your turn." She looked down shyly as if talking about herself embarrassed her—or maybe she was unsure of what she wanted to say. Either way, she seemed shy. "I don't really care about what I'm studying in school," she finally said. "Now that I know how much I love my job I realize I should have probably studied botany or agriculture or something."
    When she said that about loving her job, I had a flashback to the place I'd seen eyes similar to hers. It was a girl who was working with flowers just like she was. I tried to jog my memory. I'd been to a lot of hotels, and they all seemed to blur together, but I was almost positive the last set of eyes I'd seen like hers belonged to someone in Los Angeles, and oddly enough, to someone who was working with flowers.
    "Do you have a sister?"
    "Yeah," she said. "Why do