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Even though Rex believed that Six spent his entire day in Providence, the truth was that he liked to go places besides a bar or somewhere to eat. He usually avoided socializing, but there was a café where he would sit at the farthest table and drink black coffee while watching the sunset. He often didn't pay attention to the world outside, but he always looked at the big picture and made sure there weren't any dangers nearby before thinking about anything.
On Six's second attempt to scan the room, a woman sitting a few tables away called his attention. She was wearing a regular pair of blue jeans, but her orange shirt made her stand out. Her hair was down, but he could easily recognize her.
Holiday had been sitting at a table, in the same café, and from the look of the food on her table, she had been there for a while.
The fact that none of them had noticed each other was better than forcing an awkward interaction, making him wonder why he hadn't spotted her before.
It wasn't that surprising anyway, he supposed. If he could go to places when he had the time, she could do it too. But they had never been free at the same moment, so he decided it would be best if he took care of his own business. Seeing her life outside of Providence seemed like an invasion of her privacy.
Yet, before he could look away, a waitress approached her. He was aware of her sadness and disappointment, even though she smiled back at the woman, owing to the subtlety of her body language, perhaps only apparent to him. The waitress asked kindly if the person she was waiting for would show up, or if she should take the plates away, as the food was now cold.
Six thought that was why she hadn't noticed him, since she kept looking at the door and waiting. He wasn't a man to understand women and many feelings, but Six noticed how his fingers curled tightly around the steamy cup of black coffee. It wasn't his business, but he kept wondering if there was a reason to leave a woman waiting like that without at least calling her first.
She had to be waiting for a man.
“Oh my, isn't that Holiday!?” Six heard female voices coming closer to Holiday's table as he looked back at the window, just in case he got caught in the act of staring at her. He knew that Holiday wouldn't cry if a man left her waiting or if her friends noticed. Despite this, he was able to hear what her friends were saying because they were talking very loudly.
“I… hi!” He thought that one of her best qualities was her ability to quickly compose herself despite the situation. “The world is so small! What are you guys doing here? It has been a long time since I last saw you two.”
It was small, indeed, as Six took a sip of his now lukewarm coffee.
“We were just doing some shopping and were precisely thinking about you, Rebecca. I think we bumped into each other because of that.”
“I apologize for not contacting any of you lately. Things had been rather… complicated.”
“Of course!” One of them laughed, waving her hand dismissively. “You are the most busy of all of us.” Holiday wished for the earth to swallow her up as she looked around. However, the interaction was far from over, as her friends seemed curious about her personal life. Something Six knew that none of them could share with anyone, regardless of what the circumstances were. “What you have been up to, since your life is 'that complicated'?”
The man knew that Holiday sure also noticed the condescending tone.
“Well… I have been doing some research.” She wasn't lying. But she had to avoid certain details.
“Oh, then, nothing new!” Her friend continued laughing as the other crossed her arms, apparently unsatisfied with her answer. “I assumed you would be married or have a boyfriend by now. Being a scientist is fun, but isn't it time to have some life stability by now?”
Holiday avoided eye contact as Six's eyes looked away from the window, to briefly study the two ladies standing next to Holiday's table. No substance. He couldn't understand why she wanted to keep them as friends when they couldn't even say anything good about her.
Six expected that they wouldn't notice the obvious as he did, but it was too late, as her second friend looked at the plates on the table with interest.
“Oh, look!” She said to the laughing woman, pointing at the table. “I believe you are speaking too soon, as our friend appears to be waiting for someone already.” As her friend stopped laughing, the woman arched an eyebrow and gasped in surprise. “But there's absolutely no way that this onion soup has been recently served. There's no heat radiating from it. Where is the lucky man, Rebecca? We really wish to meet him. Finally, you're listening to us for once and open to dating someone, right, Holiday?”
He knew that the food was cold because of the waitress saying so. How could they notice details like that, unless they were looking for reasons to mock Holiday?
Six observed Holiday's embarrassment as she bit her lower lip, despite not being responsible for her date never showing up. Probably feeling like she didn't deserve to be loved by anyone, since her life was totally focused on helping Rex and saving the world, she wondered why she decided to go with it.
He was surprised by how much he could know about the woman sitting a few tables away from him, just by the fact that they worked together. Observation was indeed a skill.
The more he tried to ignore it as nothing of his business, the more he curled his fingers around the rim of his now cold coffee, threatening to break it. Two girls making fun of her didn't notice the scrapping noise of the chair moving.
The closer he got, the more annoyed he felt by the tone of their voices and their fake smiles of support that couldn't even hide how much they rejoiced in Holiday's embarrassment.
“Well, are you waiting for some…?” One of her friends asked again, but stopped when a tall man in green clothes approached them and fixed his hair with one hand.
“I apologize for being late.” Six said, looking at the very surprised expression of Holiday. “There was an accident on the road, so I had to take a detour. I'm sorry you ordered the food when we first talked on the phone and is now cold. Don't worry, I will pay for both of our dishes.”
“Wow! So you're really dating! Kudos to you, Rebecca. And really handsome. A bit obsessed with green, but hey, at least it's a date.”
He knew better than to be rude to a woman. The shock was still evident in Holiday's face as she opened her mouth for a moment before closing it again and sighing.
What was Six even doing there? And how did he know that she was waiting for someone and that the food was now cold, since the man never showed up?
She certainly wished for the earth to swallow her up. But whatever the reason for Six helping her with that awkward situation was, she should play along so that these annoying friends she didn't even know why she kept in contact with could leave.
Holiday couldn't be more thankful, as if all the stars and planets had all aligned, so the two of them were at the right place, at the right time.
“It's okay, we can always order something else.” Holiday smiled at him with one of the biggest smiles he had seen from her in a while. He didn't usually express any kind of emotion, but he felt glad to be able to spare her from that awkward situation.
“We don't want to ruin your evening, so we will be leaving now. Nice to meet you, mister…”
“Six.” The man said as the two girls looked at Holiday with a raised eyebrow. Holiday shrugged with a smile.
“What kind of name…” One of the girls asked, but the other shushed her, pulling her out of the café. Holiday couldn't help but laugh at the exchange, feeling strangely relieved that even if the man sitting in front of her was Six, she got out of it.
“Six… what are you doing here?”
“I was passing by and thought about stopping for a coffee when I heard these two women talking.” He admitted, and Holiday sighed. Yes. When speaking about the truth, the man had no filters.
Even if he was lying just a little. She didn't need to know that he had been listening to them the whole time.
“I… don't know what to say. Thank you, Six. Really.”
The woman blushed when the waitress smiled and said hello to Six, the man who Holiday had supposedly been waiting for a long time. Rebecca was glad that she was very polite, not to ask questions about why it had taken him that much time to finally show up, while taking away the cold dishes.
“Would you like to eat something? After everything that has happened, I should invite you something as a form of gratitude.” Six raised his eyebrow and Holiday smiled.
“Since you were waiting for someone and had already ordered food, I think it would be the right thing to do to invite you to eat and drink something.”
“You don't have to… feel sorry for me.”
“I sincerely don't. I feel sorry for the man who feels that leaving a woman waiting is the right thing to do.”
Six's knowledge of her private life outside of Providence made the entire situation even more awkward.
“I'm sorry that you had to witness that. If you wish, we could just leave.”
There wasn't any reason why they couldn't have dinner together as two colleagues if she was there for a date that never happened.
“I insist. Order whatever you wish to eat. I will pay today.”
“Alright. But only if you let me repay the favor.” Holiday said with crimson red cheeks as she looked at the menu, while Six called the waitress to take their orders.
After a couple of minutes, she had forgotten that she was supposed to be waiting for a man who promised to be there. It was difficult to find topics to talk about, but they seemed to enjoy each other's company.
“Work has been so stressful lately. It's so rare for the both of us to be at the same place, at the same time. Sure, Rex has been causing a mayhem in Providence.”
“He was playing video games with Noah when I checked on him. And I have not yet heard from White, so we should take advantage of this rare moment of peace and tranquility.” Six said while Holiday was finishing her dinner and getting an ice cream delivery so they could walk back to their cars.
The best date she ever had, even if Six wasn't precisely the man she was waiting for in the first place.
A rare glimpse into the private life of a man she barely knew. The type of food and drinks he enjoyed and the values every man should have, like trying to make her feel better after being dumped by her date, even though it was none of his business in the first place.
Why were none of her dates similar to Six?
“I guess that we should make sure that Rex and Noah aren't causing any trouble.” Holiday said as she walked along the streets, the lamp posts started to turn on at night. Six shook his head a couple of times, with his hands hidden in his pockets.
“I’m off today. I'm not watching Rex for today if there isn't an emergency.”
“Right. At least Rex respects that the two of us need a bit of rest sometimes.”
“That or Circe isn't around, so they can't get into trouble.”
Holiday laughed and that made Six smile for a moment. Six knew that she was not a woman who would cry easily, but he assumed that the fact that her date never showed up filled her mind with doubts about herself.
If only he could tell her many things.