After Maleena finished the rest of the work in the barn, she went up to the house where her mom was talking to Marc. Seeing Maleena walk into the house, Suellen looked over at her daughter. "Hi, sweetie. What's up?" When she saw the sad look on Maleena's face, she excused herself from the conversation with Marc. Walking over, Suellen wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Hon, what's wrong?"

      "Can I please take the truck? I need to run into town for a little while." Maleena said, thinking about her conversation with Dillion a little bit ago. 

     "Sure, honey." Suellen led Maleena into the kitchen. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her credit card. "Here, take this, and get yourself some lunch while you're out." 

      "Thanks, mama." Maleena smiled, giving her mom a hug. Taking the keys off the hook on the wall, Maleena walked outside. Looking around, Maleena didn't see her dad to say bye to him, so she just jumped in the truck.

       Checking her phone once more before she began driving, she tried to not be upset that Dillion hadn't contacted her since this morning when he called. He was at work right now, which she hoped was the only reason that she hadn't heard from him. Since he hadn't texted her practically all day, Maleena had decided that she would go and surprise him at the restaurant, hoping they could talk more. 

      Punching the restaurant address into her phone's GPS, Maleena set it on the dash where she could see it and not be distracted. Pulling out of the driveway, she said a prayer as she began her drive into town. She prayed that God's will be done and that He would give her the right words to say to Dillion. He seemed upset at her for some reason today, but she couldn't think why that was. 

      A little over 45 minutes later, Maleena pulled into the restaurant where Dillion works. Locking the truck after she hopped down from the cab, she checked her hair in the side mirror, then walked into the restaurant. 

      Once inside, the hostess greeted Maleena. "Just one?"

      "Yeah, and can I please be seated in Dillion's section?" Maleena requested. 

      "Um, it looks like his section is full right now, but if you give it maybe ten minutes, a table should be ready." The hostess said, looking up from her seating chart.

      "That's fine. I'll wait." Maleena smiled. Turning, she sat down on the cushioned bench fixed against a wall. Taking the time she was given, Maleena pulled out her phone, checking all of her notifications. There were some nice things about having a smart phone, but there were also some annoyances of it, such as the constant flow of notifications. Because she got better service in town than she did out at her house, Maleena's phone began buzzing with text messages and other notifcations. Dillion wasn't kidding when he said that he had been trying to get a hold of her all morning. Once they all came in, she had five text messages and three missed calls from Dillion. Before she could open the texts, the hostess came over, telling Maleena her table was ready. 

      Shortly after Maleena was seated at the small, two person booth furthest from the kitchen doors, she saw Dillion walk over in her direction. He didn't look at her, however, because on his shoulder he was balancing a large black tray with several full plates on it. Setting the tray on the stand, Dillion began doling out the customer's orders to the table of six college aged kids. After taking the tray back to the kitchen, Dillion made his way over to Maleena's table. When he was about halfway down the aisle, Dillion looked up, seeing Maleena for the first time. A huge smile broke out on his face; instantly, Maleena wasn't as concerned about him being mad at her. 

      "Hey, pretty girl, what are you doin' here?" Dillion asked, standing right beside Maleena at the table. 

      "I didn't like how we left thangs this morning and I was worried somethin' was up, so I decided to come and surprise you at work." Maleena explained. 

      "Well, man, I'm glad you did." Pausing for a second, Dillion said, "Well, aren't you goin' to give your boyfriend a hug?" He stretched out both of his arms to her. 

      Maleena froze. Dillion must have read the expression on her face because he asked her what was wrong. Blinking a couple times, Maleena said, "You just called yourself my boyfriend." 

      "Yeah, I guess I did, didn't I?" Dillion grabbed both of Maleena's hands, pulling her up to him. "But I think that sounds pretty good, doesn't it? You, my girlfriend." Dillion wrapped his arms around Maleena's waist, leaving just enough room for him to see her expression.

      Inwardly, Maleena knew that this was way too quick, but the thought of having a boyfriend excited Maleena. Her parents seemed to like him from the little they have interacted with him in person. "That sounds great to me." Maleena said, her better judgement flying out the window, along with everything her parents had ever talked to her about in terms of a relationship. "So, everything is okay between us?" She just couldn't seem to shake the sound of his irritated voice from the call this morning out of her head.

      Dillion's smile wavered slightly. "Yeah, everything is alright with us. I just had a really bad start to my day, and it's just gone downhill from there. That is until you came in and surprised me." He tapped the tip of Maleena's nose, pulling back from the hug before his boss could see him and yell at him for PDA during work hours. 

      "Do you want to talk about your bad day?" Maleena asked, taking a seat in the booth, hoping Dillion would do the same. 

      Looking away from Maleena, Dillion glanced around at the busy restaurant. "I would, but we are really busy and I have to wait tables, but I will come back between tables and talk to you." 

      "Great. I'll take a Dr. Pepper while I'm waiting, then, please." Maleena smiled.

      "Yes, ma'am. Coming right up." Dillion said, walking away from the table. 

      As Maleena sipped her soda, she scanned the restaurant. Lunch time seemed to be a really popular time for folks to come and eat. The longer she sat at the booth, the busier the environment seemed to get. More people flowed in the doors, causing a line of people out the door, waiting for a table. The more people that were seated, the louder the place became, and the more busy Dillion got. He hadn't come to check on her for close to fifteen minutes. Something had happened at one of the other waitresses section, so Dillion was having to help out there, too. Part of her wondered if it was the wrong time to come visit him, but just like that, a exhausted looking Dillion came strutting over to the table with a delicious looking chocolate dessert in his hand. 

       "Sorry about that. I had to help Christina in her section because she's new and hasn't been properly trained." Dillion explained, taking a seat across the booth from Maleena, putting the dessert plate between them. Grabbing the spoon, Dillion scooped up some of the chocolate lava cake, making sure he got some hot fudge and ice cream on the spoon as well. Lifting it, he told Maleena to open her mouth. Obliging, Maleena let Dillion feed her the dessert.

      "That is so good." Maleena said, letting the dessert practically melt in her mouth. "But I didn't order dessert." She smiled, watching Dillion take a bite of it himself. 

      "I know, but I ordered it for you." He explained, holding the spoon out for Maleena to take another bite. 

       "Well, thank you. You didn't have to do that." Maleena said, willingly taking another bite. 

        "I know, but I wanted to." Dillion smiled, lifting the spoon to his own lips. 

       "Oh, since you're here now, I will go ahead and give this to you." Maleena pulled her mom's credit card form her wallet, handing it to Dillion, but he pushed her hand back towards her, rejecting the card.

       "No, you keep that. I'm payin' for your lunch. It's not every day a pretty girl like yourself comes in here, asks to sit in my section, that patiently waits as I wait tables." 

      "But then how am I supposed to give you your tip?" Maleena inquired, smiling at her new boyfriend. 

      "Darlin', just you coming in to see me is the best tip I could ask for. Plus, since it's so busy today, I've already gotten double the amount of tips I usually do." Dillion smiled, sliding out of the booth. "But if you insist on giving me a tip, then how about you let me take you out on another date? It'll be our first date of being official." A huge smile formed on Dillion's lips as he saw Maleena standing up, sliding out from the booth with a smile on her face, too. 

      "I reckon that would be okay." Maleena teased, wrapping her arms around Dillion in a hug. "Thank you for lunch. It was delicious." She smiled, pulling back from him.

       "Thank you for coming in to see me. It means a lot. Certainly makes my shift be better and go quicker." Dillion grabbed the plates and glass off of the table, stacking them like an expert. 

       "What time do you get off?" 

       "I'll be off at four today. My boss said since it's so busy for lunch today, there's no reason I have to stay until 9." 

       "That's great. Well, I'll let you go, but I'll talk to you later." Maleena said with a smile. Being brave, Maleena stood on her tip toes to place a soft kiss on Dillion's cheek.

       "Later, pretty girl." He cocked a grin at her, his cheeks slightly red as she walked away. 

       Getting out to the parking lot, Maleena saw that it was much more full than it was when she first got here. This must be the hot place in town to go on a Saturday afternoon. Unlocking the truck, Maleena jumped into the cab, pulling out her phone to call her mom. When her mom picked up, Maleena greeted. "Hey, mama. I'm leaving the restaurant now. You need anything from town?" 

       "No, honey, I think we are good. Just come on home. Chandler wants to take you out exploring." 

       "Alright, I'll be home in a bit." Maleena said, hanging up the phone. Once again, she punched her home address into the GPS before buckling her seatbelt, heading towards their new house. 

       As she drove, Maleena decided the best way to pass time was to pray. She prayed that God would give her the right words to tell her parents that Dillion had asked to be her boyfriend, and she prayed that she was making the right decision in saying yes to Dillion. 

       The closer to home she got, the more she prayed and the more anxious she got about telling her parents about her and Dillion. She knew that she should be ecstatic about having a boyfriend, but just like every time she thought about Dillion for a long time, she got an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Hoping the more she got to know him, the more that feeling would go away, but for the first time, she thought that maybe Dillion wasn't a guy she really wanted to get to know better. There was something about him that told her she wouldn't want to know everything about him, but then again, she questioned if she could find a better guy.