Page 26 of Falling With a Spin

Garrett and Taylor have been I guess you could say, casually seeing each other, since this past summer. We don’t know much about her besides that she has a best friend named Emma. The same Emma who woke up in my bed a few weeks ago and the same one that ran into me in the hallway.

“This is why I don’t do relationships.” I say

“We aren’t in a relationship,” Garrett grumbles.

“Alright,” Justin claps his hands together and leans forward, “let’s go get something to eat and,” he looks at Garrett, “maybe we can get your girl something so you two can make up.”

“I’ll say it again,” Garrett squints his eyes at his brother, “she’s not my girl.”

“Food sounds great.” I say, cutting into the brotherly feud that is about to start. “By the way, where is Cole and Matt?” I ask, looking around the room not seeing them anywhere.

“Matt has class and Cole is-” Justin says.

“at an All You Can Eat Food Festival that’s happening in the next town over.” Garrett finishes for him. Another weird twin thing they have.

“Of course he is,” I chuckle. That kid can eat like no other. “Also you two need to stop doing that, it's creepy.”

“Doing what?” They ask in unison and I roll my eyes heading for the door.

An hour later, we are walking downtown, passing by shops and suggesting places to Garrett that we can go into for Taylor, but nothing has been sticking out for him.

“We’ve been at this for an hour,” Justin grumbles.

“Sorry, your highness,” Garrett shoots back, “but this was your idea.”

“Yeah, last time I’ll ever suggest anything to you.”

“Do you two ever stop bickering?” I question them.

“Nope.” They say in unison.

I shake my head and look down at the shops, one catching my eye in particular. “Do you guys mind if we stop to get something to drink?”

They both shrug their shoulders and I guide us to LaLa’s Coffee & Sweets.

We walk inside and the aroma of coffee and sweets hits me like a truck. I’m not a huge coffee person, I’m more of an energy drinker, but when I do drink coffee it’s always iced. Some people think I’m crazy for that and those are usually the ‘only drink hot coffee’ type of people.

I look around, only seeing a couple of groups scattered around the small open space.

“Hey, isn’t that Emma?” Justin questions and points to the girl behind the counter.

“Yeah, I think it is,” I say.

Emma has her hair up in a high ponytail and she’s wearing a white t-shirt with black leggings. Completely different from what she had on earlier today. She’s focused on cleaning the counter in front of her, specifically the same spot over and over again.

We walk up to the counter, and I look up at the menu trying to decipher the different type of drinks and waiting for her to realize we are standing here. After a couple of minutes, I break the silence.

“Oh hey, I didn’t know you worked here.”

Chapter 12

Emma

My shift at the coffee shop is going by as slow as it possibly can. It’s a Monday, so we only have a few students in the lobby either studying or watching Netflix and a book club happening in the far corner. It’s a group of six ladies talking about the latest Stephen King book. They meet here every afternoon around four o’clock and stay until we close.

I continue wiping down the same counter that I have been, waiting for someone to come in. I’m hoping that Liam will send me home early so I can look over the list of tutors and give one of them a call. I hope they take last-minute help. Throwing the towel in the sanitizer bucket, I grab the caramel bottle and place it back in the container with the others.

“Oh hey, I didn’t know you worked here.” A voice comes from the front. I turn around, startled. A small yelp escapes my mouth, and I tighten my grip on the bottle, which causes a mess all over the counter when I see who it is.

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