Chapter 20: Questions

The waiter then hesitantly turned away and walked back to the kitchen. Once he was gone, I tried to ignore the strangeness of this whole situation and move on. "So, what did you want to talk about? Sorry, I didn't have much to say on the drive." Levy continued to hold my hand as he answered. "Don't apologize. I'm not easy to talk to. I need to get used to speaking more myself." I quickly took my opportunity before it went out the window. "Well, you could try telling me some more about you to warm up. Normally, talking too much about yourself can seem narcissistic, but this time it's okay since we're looking for conversation starters. And besides, you're still a mystery to me. I'd really like to get to know you." His face stayed the same but his eyebrows shifted as if no one had said that to him before. 

"What do you want to know?" He asked, deeply. I hesitated. I didn't expect him to put me on the spot like this. "Um, well, I am curious about why you would need a tailor. Where we live isn't suit-friendly, and I don't see a need for them in the line of work you do." He nodded, understanding why I would be curious. "As you probably figured out by now, I get paid a lot to do what I do. So naturally, the people who hire me are those who can afford it. The fat cats and CEOs of this city tend to make a lot of enemies. Believe it or not, I have regular customers. I form relationships with some of my clients and they often invite me to galas, auctions, and parties that require formal clothing." 

I was surprised with how simple his answer was and how much it made sense the more I thought about it. "Well, you sure cleared that up for me." He laughed a little at my response. "I try to be as clear as possible when I speak. What else would you like to know about me?" I thought for a moment. "I am curious about your religion. Do you... like, sacrifice animals? Or use their blood for um, things?" He shook his head. "No, I prefer to use my own blood when performing rituals. It's just easier that way. As far as sacrifices go, I already do plenty of that for my career. I just chant a quick tribute to my god before pulling the trigger." Dear god. Having it confirmed that he did rituals and used his victims as sacrifices was unsettling, but at least he didn't kill animals. That's a plus, right?

"So, do you refer to The Satanic Bible?" He scoffed at my question. "You mean the book written by a human? Yeah, right." I was caught off-guard by his tone suggesting that he wasn't a human himself. Once our eyes met he added, "I don't trust our kind to decipher such things. Satanism is different for everyone. That's the beauty of it. Do you have a religion?" I shrugged. "Not really. I've never believed in a higher power or anything like that. Life's been too rough, you know?" Levy nodded. "Funnily enough, Atheists and Satanists get along quite well. That's promising for us." 

I wondered what he meant by that and was intrigued that he suggested a future together. A romantic future was still in question. I admitted that I sure was letting him get away with a lot of stuff. Most people would've said nope and left after he told them everything he had told me. I wasn't as scared off as I should've been for some reason. Levy had been a part of my life for a long time before we met, so a big part of me was holding on tight. At least that was the only explanation I could think of. As if he read my mind, he asked, "Why are you so accepting of me?"

I nervously fidgeted with my phone underneath the table as I tried to answer. "I don't know, I'm just, um, chill?" I laughed a little at my own joke since I didn't feel chill at that moment. The shape of my phone started to irritate my fingers so I placed it on the table as casually as possible. Even my hands were too embarrassed to fidget. Levy then reached into his inside pocket to pull out his phone as well. As he looked at the screen I felt like I was being ignored, at least until my phone started to buzz. I panicked as I realized that he had called me. The insanely embarrassing name I forgot to change as his contact popped up and he snatched my phone before I could hide it. "Ah! Wait!"

I practically reached over him for my phone but it was too late. He had seen the unnecessarily large number of heart emojis with the title 'My Undying Love' between them. Why had he called me?! I was sitting right there! I expected him to look at me like I was insane, but to my surprise, he smiled instead. His amusement became cockiness as he turned to me. "Ah, so that's why." I turned into a tomato and realized that I had gotten so close to him in the process of trying to get my phone back. I quickly returned to my seat, stiffly. "W-why did you do that?" I asked through my shaking. 

He placed my phone back on the table where he had taken it as he answered. "I was curious. You can tell a lot about how someone feels about you by what they have saved on their phone. I knew you liked me, but I never suspected that you loved me. Something tells me that you've known me longer than I've known you." I felt like my throat was getting tighter by the second. "It's not what you think! I'm not a stalker or anything, I just... have had a crush on you for a while. That's all. I know that it's not possible to love someone without knowing them. It was just a joke since I didn't know your name at the time." Levy raised an eyebrow. "How long have you had this crush on me?"

I didn't want to tell him. I would come off as crazy or a wimp for not talking to him sooner. I sighed and gave up on trying to save this conversation. "About a little more than a year..." I looked at the ground until he raised my chin with his hand. "You should've grabbed my attention sooner. That's a whole year I didn't get to spend with you." I stared at him with shock. He was just as crazy as I was. Given his career and religion, I guessed that he wasn't in a place to be judging me either. I just couldn't wrap my head around why he was more upset about losing time with me rather than how I'd been obsessed with him. 

The waiter then brought our first course of dishes. He placed the four plates on the table and hurried back to the kitchen. They sure did have a lot of work to do. "Do any of these look good to you?" Levy asked me. I switched my attention to the plates in front of me, but I wasn't feeling an appetite as I looked at them, no matter how fine they were presented. "No, it's okay. You can help yourself to this first batch."