Page 165 of XOXO

“Assholes who talk to waiters like that have zero fucking chance with me, so you can go.” The asshole sputtered in outrage but June ignored him. “You just ignore him, okay? You know Mia, the coordinator?” The waiter nodded. “You go tell her that June wants to see her, okay?”

“Yes miss.” The waiter had left in a hurry. The guy had stayed across from her.

“I wasn’t joking. You can go now and I’ll be sure to tell my friend how you spoke to her staff.”

“You don’t need to.” June spun and there Mia stood, arms crossed over her chest. “Number six, we do not approve of assholish behavior, so you’ll be blacklisted from any future events. Please leave.”

“He’s just a fucking servant!” The man exploded.

“Server, not servant. Clearly you don’t know the difference.” Mia glared at the man. “Now leave, before I get the bouncer to toss you out on your ass.”

The man stood with a huff and left, muttering under his breath the entire time. Both June and Mia watched until he got to the doors where the bouncer stood, having watched the entire ordeal. Once the man left, June leaned against Mia’s hip.

“Sorry.”

“Do not apologize. I love how you knock the assholes down a peg,” Mia told her. She leaned down to smack a kiss to June’s head. “Now, back to the fun.”

“Oh, is this meant to be fun?” June snarked.

“Yes!” Mia told her. “You just gotta put in a bit of effort.”

“I’m trying.” June threw her hands up. Mia laughed. “Okay, I’m trying a li’l bit.”

“Exactly!” Mia blew her a kiss and went back to overseeing the event. June was left at her table, the desire to eat gone. She sipped on the icy margarita, stared out at the crowd, and waited for her next potential match.

“That was brilliantly done.” The voice was deep. She turned and her eyes grew big. It was him! The guy!

“Oh, it was uh… nothing, really.”

“Sure,” he joked.

June looked away again, watching the people around her as she willed her blush away. A sound startled her and she turned to find the seat across from her empty and her mystery guy gone.

Chapter 2

Fri, Feb 15th 7:13 am

Still cursing Mia and the whole damn speed dating event under her breath, June walked into her favorite coffee shop by the college campus. She ordered her latte and a muffin and found a table near the back. Sitting by the doors was awful on a busy winter day.

“June!” Her name got called out and she went to collect her breakfast. At the counter she’d stopped short, frozen in surprise.

“Number fifteen. How interesting.” The runaway man from the night before had miraculously showed up next to her, and she hadn’t a clue how.

“I see we need to talk, can I sit with you?” he asked. June nodded, still mostly frozen. “Let me grab your order with mine, I’ll be right behind you.”

June nodded again and then shook herself out of her stupor. She was smarter than that. “I’m at a table in the back.”

“Perfect.” She left him at the counter, glad for the few moments to compose herself.

“So, I really am sorry about last night,” he murmured after sitting across from her. It was eerily familiar.

“I believe you, I do. Can’t say I’m not curious about why you legged it as fast as you did.”

“Ah, well, an ex sort of… not really but…”

“Woah, complicated huh?”

“Yeah,” he huffed out, “you could say that.”

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