Permanent, chapter two. 

The restaurant was an outdoor affair, with a walk-up counter and open eating area, shaded by an overhang that protruded from the stucco building. The sun descended further and strings of lights flickered on, casting the otherwise empty courtyard in a twinkling softness. With a shared stack of taquitos, two beers and a bowl of guacamole between them, Shane and Carmen sat on opposite sides of a table for two.

“This is cool,” Shane said while glancing around, taking in the scenery, “I’ve never beer here before.” This was her kind of element. Not too fancy, a hole in the wall, oozing with character and delicious taquitos.

“I come here pretty often, I live a few blocks away,” Carmen explained. She bit into a taquito that apparently needed to cool down, and her eyes widened with pain. She frantically fanned her mouth, but to her dismay, her beer wasn’t a screw-off. Shane quickly opened Carmen’s beer with her cigarette lighter and handed it to her. After a few swallows, the pain subsided and she set the beer down.

“They’re hot,” she explained.

“I see that.” Shane grinned at her with amusement.

Carmen was captivated for a moment, watching the settling sunlight catch in Shane‘s smile and narrowing eyes. She told herself not to stare, and asked, “How did you open that beer?”

“With my lighter.” She held up her own beer for demonstration. “You just tuck the bottom of the lighter under the lip of the cap and push up.” Carmen watched Shane’s practiced hands, and the cap popped off and fell somewhere on the ground. She took a victorious sip that left moisture along her mouth that Carmen was dying to lick off.

Impressed, Carmen leaned forward and smiled slowly. “You’re just full of tricks, aren’t you?” The swaying strands of lights played against the shine in her eyes and her curved lips. She had been wanting to kiss Shane all day. Shane leaned in as if gravity were telling her to, but abruptly stopped herself short of kissing the gorgeous mouth in front of her, even with her body screaming to do just that.

She caught Carmen’s eyes shyly. “Uh…yeah. I’m full of tricks.” Completely and totally embarrassed, she leaned back stiffly. Full of tricks. Good work, Shane. Good work. She was starting to understand why she was acting like a total idiot. She didn’t have wanton flirting and sex to hide behind anymore, she had to act like an adult, on a date.