The Patient

Twenty-Five

When my eyes met his it felt like the world around me stopped. Those grey orbs just seemed to suck me in, stealing both my breath and thoughts. I lost all brain power as I stood, clutching my purse excessively tightly, completely frozen. Raphael just stared back, seemly as frozen as I was. 

After about a minute of both of us staring frozen into each other's eyes, I felt a tap on my shoulder, pulling me out of my trance. The waitress was looking at me concerned and I smiled sheepishly at her once I realized how weird I was just acting. 

"Are you okay?" She asked, tilting her head slightly. 

I laughed awkwardly, nodding my head and resuming my walk to the table, "Ya, ya, sorry about that." I said and she chuckled a little, winking at me before making her way back to the employee area. 

When I turned back to Raphael he was still staring at me, a small smile that he was clearly trying and failing to hold back on his face. Finally he seemed to come out of his haze and smiled, knocking the breath out of me once again as I settled in across from him. 

"Hi." I breathed out and he smiled wider. 

"You look absolutely stunning." Raphael said with a breathy laugh and I immediately felt all my blood rushing to me cheeks. 

I looked down shyly, placing my napkin on my lap and adjusting it awkwardly until I felt cool fingertips gently grazing under my chin.

I glanced up to meet Raphael's concerned gaze. 

"What did they do to you?" He whispered so quietly he probably thought I didn't hear. I was just about to question him on it when the waitress reappeared. 

"Hey y'all, how's it goin tonight?" She greeted and I responded kindly, feeling my heartbeat begin to return to normal as Raphael's hand left my face. He leaned back in his sight, seeming to be deep in thought as he tilted his head slightly, staring me down, making it almost impossible to listen to the waitress that was talking about their wines. 

Finally Raphael's gaze slid away from me for a second and to the waitress. "We'll have the Louis Roederer Cristal 2008 please." He said quickly before returning his attention to me, bringing his hand up to his chin to scratch the dark stubble slightly. 

"Of course, I'll have that right out for you guys." The waitress said before walking away, leaving me defenseless against Raphael's intense eyes. 

"Do you believe in mythological creatures?" Raphael suddenly asked out of nowhere. 

"Uhm, do you mean like zombies and stuff?" I asked, unsure why we were having this conversation right now.

"More like werewolves, dragons, witches, siren, fae." He said, as confident as ever. 

Oh god. I really can't deal with another slightly crazy person in my life. I think having a thing with the strangest case my mental hospital has ever seen is more than enough. 

"Okay... No, I don't. Why? Do you believe in them?" I asked, unable to hold back my cringe on my last sentence. 

He smiled lightly but remained quiet as the waitress placed the bottle of wine and poured us each a little taster to make sure it was all okay. I let Raphael do the honors and he slowly lifted the glass to his face and tasted it, nodding that it was good, never breaking eye contact with me. 

Meanwhile I was looking anywhere and everywhere. I found myself unable to hold his intense eye contact, but I couldn't help but glance back at his mesmerizing grey orbs at every chance. 

This time when the waitress left we fell into an easy conversation about his move. I talked a bit about my day but didn't really have much to contribute. It's not like I'm about to tell him about 32.