All I wanted to do was remain inconspicious and meet my mom's new girlfriend. It had been a while since she was willing to find love again, in fact as long as she had me she had never had time for love. But here she was, going out and meeting people, and I had my new.... well, job I suppose it could be called. Would one night out have been too much to ask for?

I put a lot of care into what I was wearing that night. A white dress with orange polka dots that flared out at the waist sat comfortably on my body. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail, not caring much to bother with it. The slight curl my locks gave made it look a little more fancy, I supposed. It was a lot more effort than I normally would have put out, but this was after all for my mother. She had given up a lot for me, so it only made sense that I would give back.

Things were going well enough. The woman my mother was with seemed friendly enough. She gave me a big hug as soon as we were introduced, which caused me to freeze up internally for a moment, but it wasn't her fault exactly. She seemed to sense my nervousness and pulled away immediatly, mumbling a swift apology. The restaurant was busy, but my mom's date had thought far enough ahead to make reservations. It was when we were finally seated and I was peering at the menu when things went wrong. I was choosing between the chicken parmesean or the fettucini alfredo when a familiar voice hit my ears.

"Welcome to Springollo's, can I start you three lovely ladies off with a drink?" The voice practically purred. Without thinking I swerved my head to take a good look at my server- a bad move on my part, I have to admit. The man was around twenty and ridiculously good looking save the scar that jutted across his cheekbone. I was very familliar with that scar. I was the one who gave it to him, after all.

The man's hazel eyes narrowed suspiciously as they met mine, and a cold chill ran down my spine as I realized he knew exactly who I was. Immediatly my hand went to clutch at my fork, my knuckles turning white as I waited for his next move. To my surprise however, he straightened his gaze into a neutral expression before my mom and her date could see. He offered my mom a generious wink. "You three seem like white wine ladies. What do you say?"

My mom's answer didn't even register to my ears. I sat there in a state of panic, trying to figure out my next move. Do I excuse myself, say that I'm sick? Confront him right there and let everyone know who I was? All scenarios played in my head like a broken record, and none of them seemed to have solutions that I was fond of. I jumped when a hand was placed on my arm, and a voice spoke right next to my ear. "Jessica? Oh come on now, I'm sorry. She's rather jumpy, you know. It's the anxiety. Jessica dear what do you want?" My eyes focused on the form of my mother and I blushed, trying to contain myself. "Oh, the white's fine." I lied. That's when my eyes landed on the glass of wine already on the table.

"We already ordered drinks dear." My mom's date answered patiently with a hint of a smile. "We are just wondering what you wanted to eat." The man took in everything that was said silently, and I knew he was going to remember this and use it against me. I forced a smile to my cheeks, and decided that I wasn't going to give him any more ammo to use against me.