Soren laughed happily when she wrote down and signed jellyfish, copying her, “That’s one that I wasn’t expecting. And ask whatever you want, I’ll answer truthfully.” He could smell food from the kitchen and he just settled into his chair, trying to wait patiently.
Rowan thought for a moment. There were so many questions she could ask. She took a second to finally sign, "Family?"
“Ah, middle child of three boys. Ethan, me, and Alex.” He said simply, chuckling and looking at her, “Us and our parents, though they got divorced when we were young. What about you, coffee girl?” His parents divorce seemed like a tender topic, but he didn’t seem like he would be terribly bothered if she asked about it or his brothers.
Rowan could tell he enjoyed his brothers, though the fact he mentioned them before his own parents. She started to sign and hesitated for a moment. Her hands were paused in mid-air before she responded, "I don't really remember my parents. I, I think I was in some type of accident when I was a kid. Caused me to lose my voice and some memories. So, I-" Her hands paused once more, "Don't really remember much of my childhood."
Soren nodded, frowning slightly and trying to imagine what it would be like to not remember his childhood. “Did your parents…pass away?” He asked gently, though he would back away from asking if she seemed uncomfortable answering at all.
"I," Rowan's hands paused as a flood of emotions took hold of her for a brief moment. Anger, disbelief, grief, the uncanny need to just cry. She took a shaky breath and let out a sigh. She finished her sentence, "I think so."
“I’m sorry for your loss.” He said gently, his eyes softening and a somber look coming to his face, “Loosing your parents is something I can’t even imagine.” Soren drummed his fingers against the table again and a tiny smile came to his face as he saw their food being carried to them by the waiter, “Here it is.”
"Thank you. I wish I could say more, but I don't know much else," Rowan signed to him before the waiter came. She looked up and smiled over at the waiter with their food. The chicken looked really good.
“Thank you.” Soren said to the waiter, taking his food and smiling at how good it looked.
“Enjoy your food and just holler for me if you need anything else tonight.” The boy said, setting Rowan’s food in front of her and nodding to the two of them before leaving.
“Mmm, I’m so hungry.” He said, looking at the sandwich and letting his smile grow as he tried to figure out the best way to eat the sandwich without getting dirty.
Rowan smiled at the sandwich and picked it up to take a bite. She didn't have much care about appearances and honestly was really hungry at the moment. She grinned at Soren after having a bite. She put the sandwhich down to sign, "This is really good!"
“It’s amazing.” He signed back after setting down his own sandwich, a huge bit in his mouth. Rowan closed his eyes and nodded, popping a fry in his mouth and humming. “This is the best.” He said after his mouth was empty, though it was quickly filled back up with food as he continued to eat. His mouth was probably a mess, or at least his hands, but he wasn’t terribly worried, worrying more about eating.
Rowan kept eating her sandwich. Her hands were getting messy from the grease and juices. She didn't care. Taking a fry she popped it into her mouth smiling as she found it quite good. She signed over to Rowan, "Glad we went here."
He nodded and smiled, happy that she was enjoying the food. Rowan grabbed a bottle of ketchup and soon was dipping his fries in the pile of the condiment he had on his plate. The fries paired with the hot sandwich was amazing, and soon he didn’t care at all how he looked, digging into the food and probably looking like he hadn’t eaten in forever when in reality he had eaten lunch only a few hours before.
Rowan smiled at Soren and continued to eat. If she could laugh, she would have seeing how Soren was going at the food. She didn't blame it at all since it was delicious in a unique way. She wasn't going to ruin this for him. They could talk after food.
Working all day, especially as a mechanic was hard and he was hungry, meaning he was thankful that Soren wasn’t mentioning anything about how he was eating. It almost seemed to disappear too fast into his stomach, and the fries followed the pulled pork after a few minutes. Rowan did mine his manners a little more after the sandwich was gone though, wiping off his hands and face and taking a little more time to savor the curly fries and his lemonade.
(My character is Rowan. Yours is Soren. Remember? Lol.)
Rowan took a breath and finished up the first half of the sandwich. She waited to start on the second half since she wanted to talk at the moment. She popped the few dwindling fries into her mouth. Her hands signed as she chewed, "Did you enjoy it?"
(I'm so sorry lol, didn't mean to do that)
Soren smiled and nodded, signing back since he was sure he knew what she had said, "Yes, it was amazing. How's yours?" He held out a curly fry to her once he finished signing, not knowing how to say that she should try it. They weren't much different than the normal fries, just in a cooler shape and a little crunchier.
Rowan took the curly fry from him, reading the universal sign of 'try this.' She smiled at the greater crunch of the curly fry and she might have to order those if she comes back. She signed back to him, "It was amazing! Those curly fries are really good too!"
"I know!" He signed back excitedly, popping a fry of his own in his mouth and humming in an overdramatic but very accurate representation of how good the fries were. Soren leaned back on his chair and drank the last of his lemonade before smiling at Rowan, finished with his food and happy.
Rowan grinned at him. She started on the other half of the chicken sandwich. She paused to sign to Soren, "I see why you wanted to go to this place! It is really good!"
He nodded and his smile turned into a grin of his own, "It's the best burger place in the city, I guarantee. I've never had a better burger or fries anywhere else." He was happy that Rowan liked it, and he was happy to be spending time with her. It made him think about what to do once they left the restaurant. Bringing her home seemed like the best option, but he wanted to spent time with her. Maybe a walk through the park if she wanted to, or going to get ice cream for dessert.
Rowan took her time to finish up. She nodded along happy with everything. Though the question now bogged her mind, what next? They could keep hanging out heading to one place or the other. They could walk around town. Lot's of options. She just didn't want to go home yet, "What do you do for a living?"
"Mechanic, I work in a shop in the city here. What about you?" He asked in sign. Soren made sure he knew how to sign his occupation, knowing it would probably come up in the conversation and he smiled when it did. He was genuinely curious as to what she did for a living, hoping it would spark more questions and they could keep talking.
"I work part time in a local bookstore," Rowan signed back smiling at the mechanic sign. She hadn't expected him to know that one, well it made sense since work was a common topic of conversation. She paused for a moment, "Run errands, stock shelves, help customers. The works."
(I'm so sorry it's short)
"Could you write that down?" He asked, smiling sightly at her reply but feeling bad that he didn't know anything she was saying. The only words he had made out was working part time, everything else was lost to his cluelessness.
(That's fine!)
Rowan nodded and pulled over her notebook. She wrote down the words she had just signed. Taking the time once more to draw the hand signals above each word, I work part time in a local bookstore. I run errands, stock, shelves, help customers, get coffee. The works.
"I'll have to visit that bookstore sometime." He replied, grinning slightly and drumming his fingers against the table.
The waiter from before came back a few minutes later and smiled at them, taking their empty plates and looking between the two of them, "How was everything? I'll bring the check over in a minute, as soon as I drop these off."
"You should!" Rowan signed beaming. She looked over to the waiter and gave him two thumbs up. She had really enjoyed the food and the friendly atmosphere.
Soren nodded and his grin grew as he glanced back at Rowan, "So, what do you want to do now?" He didn't want to say goodbye as soon as they finished eating, but he didn't want to bother her if she didn't want to stay any longer.
Rowan's hands hesitated. Her face tinted a light shade of pink. She signed rapidly forgetting to go slow for Soren's sake, "We could head back to my place? Or yours? Or maybe out on the town? Whatever works for you."