Chapter 7 Lunch

As Lindsey got closer to the table Damian was sitting at, the cafeteria became quieter. She began feeling all the eyes in the cafeteria on her. It made her a bit uncomfortable, yet she kept her head held high. By the time she was standing across from Damian, you could hear a drop of paint hit the ground.

Damian gazed at her, and she gazed back. Neither of them said a word to the other. Everyone in the cafeteria was holding their breaths waiting for something to be said among the two.

"Are you going to sit down?" Damian asked out of the blue.

"I didn't know you wanted me to," Lindsey gasped out. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath until she spoke.

"That's usually what happens when one person wants another to have lunch with them," Damian said as if it was obvious. He had an eyebrow raised at her as he was waiting for her to sit. Whispers broke out among the other students. Each of them about Damian Wayne and the new girl.

"Is that why you asked me to come over here?" Lindsey asked still unsure of why he asked her to come over to her.

"Is that okay?" Damian asked politely.

Lindsey could hear that people were whispering throughout the cafeteria. She decided to listen to what they were saying. She heard one person ask "Friends?" Another person she could hear them say, "Sleeping together?" Another person whispered, "Whore."

Lindsey then pulled out the chair across from Damian and sat down. The right corner of Damian's mouth turned upward. The cafeteria gasped. Perhaps they were waiting for Damian to tell her to leave and watch her walk away crying. Instead this new girl was sitting with the great Damian Wayne and he didn't seem to care. Lindsey pulled out her lunch and started eating.

Damian turned to his lunch, which lay in front of him on the table, and started eating. Talking started around the cafeteria once the two of them started eating. Lindsey finished her lunch quickly, hoping the lunch hour would move just as fast. But unfortunately time was cruel and continued it's slow pace.

Lindsey looked to Damian, who was eating his lunch slowly, like he wanted to draw out his time eating to not have a conversation between them. That's when she noticed what he was eating and asked, "Why are you eating a salad? I've never seen a boy eat a salad just by itself, willingly."

"I'm a vegetarian," Damian said quickly before returning to his food.

"Really?"

"I wasn't lying. I love animals. They shouldn't be killed just so that we can have more forms of nourishment."

"I wasn't trying to say you were lying. I just couldn't believe a guy like you could look like you and not eat meat," Lindsey said. "Don't you need protein to have muscles like that.

"I became a vegetarian after I started living with my Father," Damian said. "There's other forms of protein besides meat. Plus you don't get muscles from eating protein. It comes from hard work and training."

"Was it hard?" Lindsey asked. "Becoming a vegetarian, that is, you said you started after you started living with your dad."

"I learned that you shouldn't be picky when it comes to food when I was younger," Damian said. "It all goes to the same place in the end."

"I guess it does," Lindsey muttered.

Silence fell between the two of them once again. Lindsey looked over to her friends, who were still watching the two of them.

Ryeanne looked scared at her new friend before she had a lightbulb go off in her head. She held her phone up to Lindsey. She started typing furiously onto it. A couple seconds later she looked up at Lindsey. Lindsey heard her phone go off inside her backpack. She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone.

Tell him to leave you alone. Remember to take off your jacket if you need saving.

Lindsey turned her gaze to Ryeanne. She made a hurry up motion with her hands. Lindsey threw her phone back in her bag and turned to Damian.

"What did you friends want to tell you?" Damian asked.

"How did you-"

"It's obvious. I can tell that they're still staring at us," Damian said as he finished up his lunch.

"They want to make sure you don't get hurt. I'm also pretty sure they told you to do something in case you wanted them to come get you."

"They said we shouldn't be friends," Lindsey said quietly, but she knew Damian still heard her. "That this should be the last time we do something like this. I kind of agree."

"Why should you stay away from me?" Damian asked. He seemed genuinely interested in what her answer would be. It was like he thought nothing was wrong with what the two of them were doing.

"Because all the girls who have tried to go out with you have ended up with broken hearts. All the people who have tried to be your friend, have ended up hating you. You can't tell me those aren't warning flags for someone like me."

"They're warning flags for those who want to try," Damian said sternly. "Not for those who I invite to be friends with me."

Lindsey sat in shock. She couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. "You want to be friends? With me?"

"Why not?" Damian asked. "You're different from the others at this damned school."

"Why do so many people say that?" Lindsey wondered out loud. Damian looked at her expectantly. "You've told me before, that I'm different. And so have my other friends. What does that even mean."

"It means that there's not many people out there like you, Lindsey. Be proud of that. People are here think too highly of themselves, and after the issue with the portrait I did of you, you have little confidence in yourself. I want to be your friend so I can try to change that."

"How can we be friends if I don't know that much about you?"

"Okay, how about I tell you something about me," Damian said leaning closer. "I own a dog, a cat, and a cow. The dog's name is Titus, the cat is Pennyworth, and the cow is Bat-cow."

"Bat-cow? Pennyworth? Like your butler, Pennyworth?"

"The cow was rescued by Batman and Robin a few years ago, I wanted her, and I got her. I decided to pay homage to those who rescued her by naming her Bat-cow," Damian shrugged.

"She also has a spot over her eyes, like a mask. She lives in the barn behind Wayne Manor. And Pennyworth because I didn't like the butler at first and I got the cat when I first came to Gotham. I was trying to insult him."

Lindsey laughed. "That is adorable. You must have been a demanding kid when you were younger."

Damian grew silent and stared at a spot on the table. "My brothers say that I still am."

"I don't see you that way," Lindsey said.

"You'll get to know the real me soon," Damian said.

"Does that mean we're going to have lunch together more often?" Lindsey asked.

"If that's what you want," Damian said looking deep into Lindsey's eyes.

"I think that would be nice," Lindsey said with a smile. Silence once again enveloped the two before Lindsey said, "Tell me something else about you."

Damian thought for a minute. "Until Mother brought me to Father, I always looked up to her father, my grandfather, as someone I should strive to be. Now I know that doing so was a bad idea."

"Why?"

"He wasn't the best man. He did some stuff I shouldn't talk about."

Damian grew silent. His eyes slipped from Lindsey's and onto the table. Lindsey reached her hand to his.

"It's a good thing you don't look up to him anymore."

Damian wanted to say that there were still some aspects that he looked up to about his grandfather, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to push Lindsey away or make her think something bad about him.

"Something else about me, all of my brothers don't like me in one way or another."

"I'm sure they love you."

"Just wait till you meet my brothers, you'll see how much they hate me."

"So, when am I going to meet them?"

"Not anytime soon. They don't think I'm likeable enough to make friends. And besides that, if you were to meet them that would mean we have to find Tim Drake, where ever he's been hiding. And Dick has to get time off work to come over from Bludhaven. Which probably won't happen since all his free time is spent with his girlfriend who lives in Jump City."

"Jump City is the opposite way from Gotham. What's so special about it besides the Teen Titans living there?"

"When Dick was younger and ran away from Father, he went there. He met her there and they've been a thing ever since. He took me there when I was having trouble with Father. So, it's basically a getaway for us."

"Well I guess that makes a bit of sense."

"Do you remember the pictures outside of my room?" Damian asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I do," Lindsey said.

"Some of those guys live there," Damian said. "I met them when Dick took me out there for the first time."

"Did all of them run away from home?" Lindsey asked.

"Some of them did," Damian said. "They all needed someone to take them in and they found that there in Jump City."

"I wish I had something like that," Lindsey said. "My grandparents can be a little overbearing. I just wish I could get away sometimes."

"When we have a break, I'll take you to Jump City," Damian said. "It can become your getaway too."

"Sounds nice," Lindsey said.

Silence befell them once again.

"When did you decide you wanted to have a friend?" Lindsey asked.

"Last week," Damian said. "I can't be alone all throughout my entire High School experience. Also Father thought it would be good if I had a friend or two."

"And you decided one was good enough?" Lindsey asked. Damian nodded.

The bell rang and all the people in the cafeteria got up to leave.

"We should do this again," Damian said.

"Yeah, just let me know beforehand so that whole episode doesn't happen again."

"Fine. And Lindsey," she looked over at him, but instead he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him. He spoke softly into her ear, "don't listen to what people have to say about all of that. They're just jealous because they're less significant than you are."

Lindsey's eyes widened when he pulled her close to him. Her eyes searched for her friends who were waiting for her. Their eyes widened, and their jaws dropped. Lindsey was only listening to Damian half-way, but she got the gist of what he was saying. She not only heard his voice in her ear, but she also heard her heartbeat. It was fast and Lindsey didn't expect it to react that way with Damian.

When he finally let go of her, she looked up at him, "Thanks, Damian. I'll see you in class."

She walked as quickly as possible to her friends waiting across the cafeteria.

"What the hell was that?" Blaine asked.

"Did you tell him you two shouldn't be friends?" Juliet asked.

"Are you two going to be friends with benefits?" Abigail asked. "Because I want a friend with benefits who looks like that."

"Abigail! Not now!" Kelsey said.

"Should we beat him up?" Giovanni asked.

"We would totally do it," Noah said.

"And us girls would help too," Ryeanne said.

"You guys don't need to do anything," Lindsey said. "We should get to class anyways."

Lindsey started walking to class her friends followed her closely.

"You're not going to tell us anything about your lunch with Damian Wayne?" Kelsey asked.

"It doesn't matter what we talked about," Lindsey insisted. "All you need to know is that I told him we shouldn't be friends and he told me why we should."

"So, you two are still going to be doing stuff like this?" Logan asked pushing his way next to Lindsey. "It's a bad idea, Lindsey."

"You think I don't know that?" Lindsey hissed turning to face the group. "That's all anyone has told me about Damian. I listened to what you all said. And I tried to put distance between the two of us and he wants to be my friend. He wants someone who isn't going to want to use him. He wants someone to understand him. And maybe that happens to be a poor orphan girl, his father has a think with orphans, maybe Damian does too. But he lost his mother and grandfather within months of each other. And he looked up to his grandfather. He needs someone who knows what loss is. And maybe he wants to help me too. Don't you think it's about time he has a friend? All the friends he's had live too far away and don't contact him that often anymore. I'm pretty sure he hasn't told these things to other people, but somehow he trusted me enough. So please, stop pushing. Let me be his friend."

Lindsey stormed off to her class and plopped herself into the desk. She didn't know what her friends were thinking of her right now, but she knew she wanted to be alone.

She may have overreacted, but she couldn't help it. Damian wanted to be friends with her. And people had been trying for years to become friends with the Wayne Heir. But he chose a lonely orphan girl from New York who all she had to her name was what was in her parents' bank account and maybe the Holling fortune, but she had no idea if they were going to give it to her yet.

Damian was a confusing person, Lindsey has learned that much from her time with him. Once he becomes a bit more open and willing to talk more about the more difficult things, like his mother and grandfather.

{}~{}~{}~{}~{}

It was the end of the day and Lindsey was waiting for Samuel to come pick her up. He had lost track of time when he was at the store picking up groceries and was trying to get to the school as soon as possible.

"Lindsey!" she heard her name being called. She knew the voice, it was Kelsey.

She turned around and faced her friends. Everyone except Abigail was there, she must have had a rehearsal to get to.

"Hey, Lindsey, we're sorry about what happened after lunch," Juliet said.

"We only wanted to make sure that you were okay with being friends with him," Ryeanne said.

"We will still fight him, if he hurts you," Logan said. "But only if you say we should."

"It's partly my fault to," Lindsey said. "I shouldn't have exploded at you guys."

"You really seem to want to be his friend," Blaine stated.

"Yeah, he's been nice to me," Lindsey shrugged. "And I guess it's partially because he seems to be really trying to be my friend. I should fight for something I think will be good for the both of us."

"We're about to head out and see a movie, would you like to come?" Noah asked. "Just hang out for a while?"

"I'd love to, but my grandparents' driver is coming to pick me up," Lindsey said. "And if Samuel gets to the house without me in the car, my grandparents are going to call the police. Otherwise I would."

"We'll text you when we want to hang out, okay?" Kelsey said.

"We'll see you around, Lindsey," Giovanni said.

The group walked towards the parking lot and Samuel pulled in front of Lindsey.

"I am so sorry, Lindsey," Samuel said as he got out of the car. "It's been a while since I had to pick someone up from school. I lost track of time."

"It's fine Samuel, let's just get home," Lindsey said.

Lindsey got into the car, not noticing the eyes that had been watching her since she left the school building. Damian made sure she was safely inside the car and half-way down the road before walking to the parking lot.

Damian couldn't distinguish the feeling of wanting to protect Lindsey every waking moment. He thought it was trying to be protective of his only friend, but he knew it wasn't that. He couldn't understand what was so different about Lindsey that made him want to spend time with her, protect her, keep her close. None of it made any sense to him.