Page 8 of My Jealous Boss

“That’s what I said,” I murmured, my face burning.

“Well, I doubt he’d do that if he wasn’t interested in you,” she pointed out. “Some of the girls I have classes with complain that they can’t even get their boyfriends to do that. I bet her likes you as much as you like him.”

I told her that I wasn’t so sure of that, and she decided we should come up with a plan to test his feelings for me. We both agreed that she’d bring one of her male friends from the university in to eat at Lucky’s. They’d sit in my section, and when Simon came into the dining room, her friend would flirt with me. I wouldn’t flirt back so as not to break the professionalism rule that Simon issued, and we’d see how he reacts to the interaction.

Now that I’m sitting in the parking lot waiting for my shift to start, I’m a little nervous about things. After having a day off, I’ve had plenty of time to think about what happened between the two of us. Distance from Lucky’s has convinced me that Simon’s behavior has all been courtesy. He can’t actually be interested in me. He’s just giving me the practice that he offered and I, in turn, asked for.

“You feeling okay?” Nicole asks when I walk past her a couple minutes later.

“What?” I ask, stopping in my tracks to face her. Then I shake my head, put on my best smile, and tell her, “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” she presses, rasping her acrylic fingernails against the wood of her host stand. “You seemed pretty lost in thought.”

“I’m positive,” I say, sounding convincing even to my own ears. “I just didn’t sleep well last night. I’ll be golden after I swipe a cup of coffee from the kitchen.”

“I sure hope so,” she laughs. “I bet we’ll be busy tonight.”

“That means good money,” I reply before shuffling away to clock in and get myself in the right mindset.

I’m a little distracted by my thoughts when I greet my first table, but once more customers start filtering in, I’m too busy to think much about what’s going on between me and Simon. It’s easy to fall into the organized chaos of dinner service. By the time Jenny arrives, I’ve nearly forgotten about the plan we hatched two nights ago.

“Hey, you,” she says when I approach the table she and her friend are sitting at. “You remember Blaine, right?”

Blaine, a handsome man that’s around our age, smiles at me and says, “Long time, no see.”

“How’ve you been?” I say as I place their silverware in front of them. “I haven’t seen you since our housewarming party.”

“I’ve been great,” he laughs, unrolling his silverware. “I’ve stopped by your apartment a few times, but you haven’t been there.”

“This place takes up all my spare time lately,” I reply as I pull out my notepad. “Someone’s gotta pay our rent.”

“Oh, shut up,” Jenny jokes. “Can we get two of those flavored lemonades? I want strawberry.”

“That sounds good,” Blaine says, glancing down at his menu. “Ooh, and can we do the mozzarella sticks as an appetizer?”

“Absolutely,” I say, scribbling down their order. Before I walk away to send it to the kitchen, Jenny stops me by grabbing my sleeve.

“Can you point out Simon?” she asks, glancing between me and Blaine. “You’ve been talking about him all week, and I have no idea what he looks like.”

“See that guy over by the bar?” I say after scanning the room and locating him.

“In the dark red shirt?” Blaine asks.

“Yeah, that’s him,” I confirm.

“Oh, he’s hot,” Jenny says. “I get why you’re crazy about him.”

“I’m not crazy about him,” I protest, even though she’s right – I’m wild for Simon.

“Sure, you’re not,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“I’m going to go ring this back now,” I say, deciding to excuse myself before she can say anything else.

When I finish at the computer, I make my way to the bar to wait for the bartender to finish Blaine and Jenny’s drinks. Simon’s still standing there when I approach. Instead of a proper greeting, he gives me a glance and a grunt. It makes me feel like I really might have misread the entire situation between us.

“You were at that table for a while,” he murmurs after a few seconds. “You know them?”

“That’s my roommate,” I reply, watching as the bartender pours their drinks.

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