Page 60 of Russian Roulette
“Hmm…these onion rings smell scrumptious,” he says, holding a huge onion ring. “This right here is the Circle of Life.” He devours the onion ring in two bites and grabs a hamburger out of the bag. “And this burger right here,” he says, peeling back the paper wrapping. “Is like that teacher in middle school that you always wanted and couldn’t have. Sweet and thick. Mrs. Maynard was her name. I’ll never forget her.”
Seven shakes his head at Leroy and with a loud sigh, slumps in his seat.
Leroy scowls at him in his rearview mirror. “What are you pissing and moaning about now?” he asks. “Help me feed your lady. What the fuck is wrong with you? Don’t you have any manners? Here you go, Jade,” he says, handing me two paper bags of food. “Why don’t you come up here to the front seat and sit with me? If Seven wants to throw a hissy fit over missing his fancy pop-up restaurant, he can do it by himself. We’ll sit up here, listen to music, and eat until the traffic clears out.”
Seven shoves his head through the window beside mine. “It’s not enough that you’ve ruined the evening,” he says. “Now you’re trying to steal my girl, too? I should fire your ass.”
Leroy lets out an amused snort. “Fire me? You can’t fire me. Nobody else would put up with your crazy shit.” Leroy glances at me. “How much do you know about this guy? Did he tell you he’s a fucking freak? Because he is. You should go to his show one night. He sticks knives through his hand and shit. And swallows razor blades. I’ve watched it plenty of times and it’s one hundred percent real. No tricks. He’s creepy as fuck. That’s what those big billboards on the strip should say.Come see Seven…creepy as fuck. I’ll give you that tag line for free, Seven. You don’t even need to pay me.”
“I’m an illusionist,” Seven says in a warning tone. “Illusions are an art. And I’m not a freak.”
“If you’re not a freak, then who is?”
Laughing, I pull the bags through the opening. I thought Leroy was kidding about Seven pitching a tantrum. Now I’m not so sure. Artists and creative people can be temperamental when they don’t get their way.
“You’re not hungry?” I say when Seven sits there without touching the food. “Too bad. More food for me.” I pick up a French fry out of the bag and wave it teasingly under Seven’s nose. “You’re getting very hungry,” I say in a fake hypnotist voice. “You cannot resist this French fry.” A grin plays around the corner of his lips. “Your mouth is watering. All you can think about is greasy, hot French fries.”
He suddenly reaches out and grabs my wrist. Holding me tight, he takes a big bite of the fry I’m holding in my hand while his eyes never leave mine. He’s reluctant to turn me loose. “You’re right. These are good. You’re not mad?” he asks, suddenly serious.
“Mad?” I’m confused. “Why would I be mad? You mean, besides being kidnapped? I’m still mad about that, but not about eating French fries.”
“Mad about not making it to a nice restaurant tonight.” He nods toward the window. “Sitting in a trashy parking lot eating greasy fast-food is a lame excuse for the night I’d planned. I wanted to take you somewhere nice and show you a good time. You’re all dressed up and pretty. Maybe even try to impress you…a little.”
I grab two more hot fries out of the bag and cram them into my mouth. “At this moment, nothing could taste more delicious,” I say honestly. “How many degrees of good or great are there? Expensive doesn’t always mean that it’s better.” I shrug. “If these fries cost twenty-five dollars a plate, would that make them better? No, of course not. That’s my poor person’s perspective.” I tilt the bag toward him, and he reaches in for a handful of fries. Taking a bite, he chews slowly.
“Don’t you agree?” I ask.
He nods and smiles at me. He hits a button, and the roof of the limo slides open. “Come on,” he says, reaching for my hand. “Let’s sit on the roof. You go up first and I’ll hand you the food.”
“A picnic on the roof of a limo? Now you’re impressing me. That’s my kind of fun.”
He laughs and helps me up on the roof, then hands up the food before climbing up to sit beside me. “May I present you with your table, madam,” he says with a flourish, pointing at the bright lights of the Vegas skyline twinkling all around us. “The best view in the city.”
“And the cheapest,” I add.
He holds up a finger. “Hold that thought. We need the champagne to make our Super-Value Meal complete.” He disappears back into the limo and grabs the bottle and our flutes before hopping back up beside me. After he pours our champagne, I give him a handful of brown napkins.
We carefully try to spread out the napkins between us for a tablecloth with one hand while holding our champagne flutes in the other. When we have them laid out, the wind grabs the whole pile and blows them across the parking lot.
“Oh, shit!” Seven says with a laugh, watching our napkins fly across the lot and along the street. “Should I run to get them? We’ll need to do public service cleanup duty for a week because of the mess we’re making. We can’t keep littering.”
“Should we go back inside the limo?” I suggest when the wind whips my hair around my face.
“And miss all this fun?” he says. “No way. We’re committed to this adventure now. This was your idea, so you’re not leaving.” He smiles and for a moment we connect on a whole other level.
No games. No lying to each other. Only me and Seven.
Whatever is happening between us is real.
He opens the paper wrapping on a hamburger and spreads it out on his lap. “Here we go,” he says. “Put your food on me. I’ll be your table. I don’t want your nice dress to get greasy. Pile it on me, baby. We’ll start a new trend. Instead of eating sushi off a half-naked woman tonight, you can eat fries off my lap. How does that sound?”
“Not too shabby,” I reply.
When he dumps the container of fries on the napkin in his lap, I laugh at the absurdness of our situation. The wind is crazily whipping my hair around, napkins are blowing all over the place, I’m eating fries off Seven’s lap and now Leroy has cranked up James Brown full blast through the open windows.
This is the absolute best night of my life.
I hope it never ends.