[HannaBeth] A Kiss And A Photograph [Eight]

They sat at the counter in the small café Seth had chosen. The man behind the counter was tall and well-built, but he had a friendly demeanor and seemed to assume that Seth and Hanna were a couple - which was impossible of course, at least in Seth’s eyes. His food came before hers and he waited politely for it to arrive. She leant across and took a single French fry from his plate.

“Hey!”

She grinned at him and took another one. He stared at her, pretending to look angry, and then she went for another. He grabbed her hand, and then moved his plate away, out of her reach. She leant back and pouted, her arms crossed.

“Seth Owens, you are such a killjoy.”

“Hey, I’m like Joey. It’s my food, all mine!”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t, you can’t even say it with a straight face. C’mon and look me in the eye and say it.”

Seth leant in very close to her face, not letting any abstract thoughts get in his way - at the moment he was just concerned with hanging out with his new friend. She moved closer and said, as straight-faced as she could manage.

“Seth Owens, I hate you.”

And then, she leant further forward, and pecked him lightly on the lips. They both leant back very quickly, as if they’d just both come to their senses. Seth’s face was a violent pink, and Hanna’s was much the same. Seth picked up his food and started eating slowly. He put his burger down and swallowed.

“Why’d you kiss me?”

“Same reason anyone else kisses someone,” she replied with a wry smile, “Cause I like you, I guess. You’re so normal, and yet so different to every other normal person.”

“Everyone has their differences though.”

“But I mean more than that. You’re just like…awesome.”

“Glad you think so…but…we couldn’t work this all out, I mean, I’m not exactly working and I’ve got school in fall, and…well. I don’t think we’d work out.”

“I know, I know. It’s just…I dunno.”

“You wanna go somewhere else to talk it over?”

“Sure,” she turned to the guy behind the counter, “Can we have the food to take out?”

“Yeah, gimme a sec, I’ll go get your food from the back.”

The man behind the counter walked into the back room and put their food in a box for them to take out. He handed it to them with a smile and then said, kindly, “Hope you sort things out!”

“Yeah,” Seth muttered, “Me too.”