Page 14 of Someone Like You

I looked at him then, at his gorgeous face with those eerie eyes that seemed to see past every lie. At the thick head of wavy black hair that curled gently over his ears. At the beautiful, wide mouth with the silver ring in the center. At his perfect nose, his sharp cheekbones.

He had the most beautiful face I’d ever seen, if I was being honest. With just myself, of course. To him, I said, “Your nose is too big.”

His eyes flicked across my face, paused at my mouth, then snapped back to mine. “Oh yeah? Well, I guess that settles it then. We can’t all have perfect faces like you.” He grabbed the keys from the ignition and shoved his way out of the car, leaving me staring at the seat he’d just occupied in shock.

He thought I had a perfect face? And after I’d basically told him I thought he was ugly? My own attempts at self-preservation were starting to make me a plain old asshole. With a groan, I unbuckled my seatbelt and followed after Brody.

I found him at the register, leaning over the counter and speaking quietly with Bri. When she looked at me over his shoulder, they stopped talking, and Brody turned around.

Pop. “Hi, Isaac,” said Bri.

Her chipper greeting immediately had me on edge, but I walked over to them and said, “Hey. So. What—what’s the total?”

This was it. I’d thought my episode with Brody would be the single most humiliating moment of my life, but I was wrong. It was going to happen right here, right now, and there was nothing I could do to stop myself from continuing the charade until I couldn’t. My card was going to bounce, and then there would be two pairs of judgy eyes on me, laughing at me, and I’d have to leave my car here until I could pay for it.

Which would probably be never. A date with Brody wasn’t looking so bad right about now.

Bri typed something into the computer, then said, “That’ll be one thousand, six hundred and thirty two dollars and twenty three cents. How will you be paying for that?”

At first I thought she meant “how can you even afford that?” and I was about to break down and admit that I couldn’t, but then I realized she meant cash or card or Venmo or something.

“Uh—card. With my card,” I said. Brody was just standing a foot away from me, watching the exchange in silence.

“Why are you sweating?” Bri’s eyes trailed over my face.

“I’m not sweating,” I said.

“There’s little beads of moisture popping up all over your face.”

“That’s just condensation,” I said. “From the—it’s humid in here.”

Bri’s eyes squinted at me, and I concentrated on getting my wallet out and slipping the card from the pocket. My fingers were shaking, and I didn’t want her to see, so I all but threw thecard at her. It landed on top of her keyboard, and there was a moment of silence as she just stared at me.

“That was rude,” she said, picking up the card and slipping it into the reader.

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. There was a roaring in my ears and it felt like my entire body was vibrating intensely. When an atonal beep sounded, I jumped.

“Hmm,” said Bri. “It’s not going through.”

“Try it again,” I rasped. I was gripping the edge of the counter now, staring at the card reader like I could will it to go through. Bri slipped the card out, then shoved it back in.

Beep.

“It bounced again,” said Bri. Her knowing eyes slid to mine, and she blew a bubble.

“Just try it again,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Isaac.” That was Brody, and his voice pierced through whatever toxic cloud had begun to swell and choke me.

I watched Bri pull the card out and push it back in again.

Beep.

“Isaac,” Brody said softly.

“It must be your reader,” I said desperately.

“We just got it replaced last week. It’s brand new,” said Bri.

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