Page 5 of Still Love You

"Wait there," I tell Willow, then I go around the truck and open her door. Before she can attempt to get out, I reach around her tiny waist and lower her to the ground. She's only 5'4 and this truck sits high off the ground. I didn't want her falling out of it. I also might've wanted an excuse to touch her.

She's wearing this red dress that had my blood pumping the moment I saw her. It's a short cotton sundress that's open in the back, showing off her soft skin that has a hint of color from the sun. My blood is still pumping hard, diverting to places it shouldn't be going. Not now, while I'm standing in the parking lot of Bobbi's Burger Shack in front of the girl I'm only supposed to be friends with.

But it's extremely hard to control that part of me when she looks so damn good. Her dark silky hair only hit her shoulders the last time I saw her. Now it's several inches longer and sexy as hell. Her deep brown eyes still draw me in with their intensity. And those lips. I still remember how they feel, how they moved over mine when I kissed her, how they parted to let me taste her.

"Are we going or what?" Willow's standing there, waiting for me to move. I got so caught up in her that I forgot where we were for a moment.

"Yeah, let's go." I instinctively take her hand.

"What are you doing?" She looks down at our hands.

"Sorry." I let her go. "Habit."

We always used to hold hands, even before we dated. It was just a thing we did as friends. But now she won't even let me hold her hand? Guess that just proves that what we had is over. I knew it was, and yet I held out a small glimmer of hope that maybe she'd see me again and change her mind about us. Wishful thinking. When Willow makes a decision, she sticks to it. She's stubborn as a mule.

I go up to the order window and say, "We'll have two cheeseburgers, one with everything, the other one with a squirt of mustard, two squirts of ketchup, four pickle slices, and one very thin slice of tomato."

The teenage girl at the window stares at me like she thinks I was joking. I wasn't. That's how Willow likes her burger. She's very particular and she knows what she wants.

"You might want to write that down." I give the girl my famous Silas smile and her annoyed expression turns to a flirtatious grin combined with a head tilt.

She holds her pen above her order pad. "Could you repeat that, please?"

"Sure." I repeat the order as the girl scribbles it down while keeping her eyes on me.

I hear Willow clearing her throat behind me, then feel a sharp jab in my side. "Don't forget the fries. And the shake."

What was the jab for? Is Willow jealous that I'm flirting with the girl at the counter? I did it for her benefit. Just wanted to make sure she got her burger the way she wanted it. Or maybe, just maybe, I wanted to see if she'd get jealous. Willow is the jealous type. If you told her that, she'd forcefully deny it, but we both know it's true.

"We'll also take an extra large fry and a large chocolate shake," I say, getting my wallet out.

"With two cups," Willow adds. "And two straws."

After all Willow and I have done together, I don't know why she cares about sharing a straw with me. My mouth has been all over her body, and hers on mine. Just the thought of that causes blood to rush to that place it shouldn't be going.

"I can pay." Willow sets a twenty on the counter.

I slide it back to her, my eyes on the girl taking the order. "How much?"

"It's $12.85."

I hand her a ten and a five. "Keep the change."

"What's your name?" she asks, her fingers purposely sliding over mine as she takes the money.

Willow coughs, then clears her throat.

"Silas," I say, flashing that smile again.

The girl writes my name on the order slip, then writes something else on the back of the receipt and hands it to me. "Your food will be out in a minute."

The twenty Willow left is still sitting there so I take it and walk back to the table we always used to sit at. It's around the side of the building facing an empty lot. It isn't great in terms of atmosphere but that's why we chose it. Nobody ever wanted to sit here so we always got the table. It also gave us privacy, which we needed because sometimes our PDA got a little out of control. When Willow and I were dating, we couldn't take our hands off each other. Or our lips. Our tongues. I need to stop thinking about that. It's causing an uncomfortable throbbing below the belt, and is inappropriate given that Willow and I are just friends and have no hope of being anything more.

"Why were you flirting with her?" Willow asks as she slams a stack of napkins down on the table. By her tone and forceful handling of the napkins, I can tell she's jealous. I'm just not sure why. I'm not hers. She has no reason to be jealous. Unless...I chuckle.

"What's so funny?" She sits across from me instead of beside me like she used to do.

"Nothing." I take a couple napkins from the tall stack. "That's a lot of napkins. Your mom would not be happy. A tree had to lose its life for all those."

---