Page 13 of Gone for You

“Well, I hadn’t reeeaaally planned on that. I only said it because I knew I’d be judged for how much food I ordered.”

My eyes bug out and I put my fork down. How the hell is she planning to eat all that? She’s tiny!

A laugh explodes from her lips and she quickly covers her mouth. “I just spit out some cinnamon roll!” she mumbles through a full mouth. I laugh at her honesty, liking her more and more with every minute that passes. She chews rather dramatically, holding up a finger for me to wait for her to continue. Just as dramatically as she chewed, she swallows, making a loud gulping sound. She takes a sip of her tomato juice and wrinkles her nose at it. “I was joking, you dork. Of course it’s okay for us to share! I can eat a lot but notthatmuch.”

I sag with relief while still chuckling. Not that I care how much she eats but I really didn’t want to see her puke all over the table from being too full. That’d put a damper on our breakfast date. “What’s wrong with your juice? Besides chasing down a gooey sugar-filled roll with it.”

“I need Tobasco sauce or something. It’s kinda bland,” she tells me, completely ignoring the fact that she just drank tomato juice after a cinnamon roll. Gross.

“I was right earlier.”

“About?”

“You’re adorable.”

“You know, if you keep calling me adorable, like I’m a little puppy, I’m going to develop a complex.”

I almost apologize, but the twinkle in her eyes tells me she’s feeding me a line of bullshit. I catch the attention of our server and call her over.

“Can we get some Tobasco?” I ask her and see Liv grin out of the corner of my eye.

“Sure thing.”

As she hustles away I say, “She’s probably just glad we didn’t add more food.”

“Whatever,” she murmurs. “Now that we’ve talked about me, it’s your turn.”

“You think telling me your real name is enough?”

She groans. “I’d held out hope. I don’t like talking about myself!”

“Obviously.”

I sit silently, sipping coffee and munching on cinnamon roll. I pop a big piece of strawberry into my mouth and chew. “Fine! Guh. You’re annoyingly stubborn, aren’t you?”

“Yup.”

Amber places the Tobasco sauce on the table and Liv makes quick work of shaking several dashes into her tomato juice, stirs it up with her fork, licks her fork clean then takes a sip to test it out. After she’s satisfied, she grins. “Okay, so don’t make fun of me for this.”

“Uh oh.”

“I know, I know. That’s like the worst lead-in in the world but, for real, don’t. You know those online magazines that people can’t get enough of and publish such a wide range of articles? Anywhere fromWhat Disney Character Should You Marryto real news events?”

“You mean the ones that are constantly being shared on social media?”

“That’d be them, yes. I write the obscure articles. Well, not all of them, obviously. I’m a contributor to the online magazine.”

“What’s the strangest one you’ve ever written?”

She doesn’t even hesitate in her answer, “Oh this one was hilarious.” She wiggles in her seat and sits up straight like she’s really preparing for something epic. “Ready?” I nod, about on the edge of my seat. I take a drink of my orange juice then she says, “Worst Nicknames for your Vagina.”

I choke on my juice, a little bit dribbling down my chin. I use my napkin to clean up the mess on my face. She seems rather pleased with herself at the level of shock value she just threw down. Her eyes are twinkling and she’s laughing so loudly we’re causing a scene in the diner. Curious gazes are being cast our way, mostly in amusement.

“Warn a guy, will ya?” I cough through the words, still trying to take in a normal breath. That was the very last thing I’d expected her to say.

“I know. That was kind of fun.” She forks off a huge bite of cinnamon roll and shoves it in her mouth, cheeks puffing out as she tries to chew the massive bite.

“Do I even want to know how you researched that one?”

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