Page 19 of Love is Trash in Hallow's Cove

He places the platter down on a tray table and passes me a cloth napkin. “Crap, I forgot to ask you what you’d like to drink. I have, uh, tap water, or… moonshine. Dammit, that’s not a great selection, but I mostly drink water and don’t have people over a lot to warrant having a better selection. But I can go to the store and buy you something else!”

Before I can stop myself, I reach out and touch Jake’s arm, which silences him as his eyes go wide. “Take a breath,” I say gently.

He nods and inhales, his wide eyes softening.

“I’ll go get something from inside. After all, it’d be a little silly to have you go to the shop I run to get us drinks.”

Jake chuckles weakly. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Hayley. I’m not normally this weird. Well, no, I am, but not in a nervous way. I just, uh, I really don’t want to screw this up.”

I squeeze his arm and smile back at him, chest swelling at his words. “I’m really fucking nervous, too. I’ve had bad luck on dates lately. Bad luck with dating in general, if I’m being honest.”

Jake blinks down at me. “But you’re perfect.” He flushes as he realizes what he’s said.

A twin blush washes over my cheeks at his compliment, but I wave him off. “No, I’m not. You said you’re weird, but a lot of the time I feel like I don’t fit when I’m talking to people. Especially on dates. I know what I’m supposed to say, how I’m supposed to flirt, and I can go through the motions, but it’s all pretend. Inside, I’m yelling at myself to seem normal, so I don’t scare them away.”

“Really?” Jake’s eyes go wide. “How are you weird?” He sounds excited, rather than put off as he asks the question.

I chuckle. “That could fill a whole conversation. Why don’t I go get some drinks, you take a moment to take some deep breaths, and then I’ll tell you how much of a freak I am?”

“That sounds fucking amazing,” he sighs, giving me a broad smile that makes the urge to kiss him rise even though that’d be super inappropriate to do right now.

“Do you like soda?” I ask, trying to shake out of my besotted stupor.

Jake nods. “Yeah. I don’t drink it much though because it makes Bea—” He cuts himself off as he clears his throat. “Uh, it makes me a little hyper. But I’ll probably need the energy if we’re going to be up late.”

My cheeks heat even more at his words. They aren’t flirtatious, but I can’t not think about what we could get up to in the late hours of the night.

“Okay! I’ll go, uh, get that.” I stand and scurry back inside, heading for the coolers in the shop and sighing as a blast of cold air hits me when I open the glassdoor. I stand there for a moment, letting it cool off my overheated senses until Eddie appears by my side.

“Everything okay?” he asks, quirking a brow at me.

“Y-yeah. Trying to pick what I want.” I grab two bottles and close the door quickly. Thankfully, Eddie is the least nosy of the triplets, so he doesn’t ask any further questions.

When I return to the alley, my stomach does a little flip at the sight of Jake sitting there waiting for me. Tonight isn’t going at all how I expected, but I’m going to embrace it. For the first time, I’m going to be unfiltered Hayley on a date.

Shower TED talk Hayley would be so proud of me.

Jake stands as I approach, brushing the front of his jeans and drawing my eyes directly to his crotch. I flush and quickly bring my gaze back up to his face, wishing I could go back and stand in front of the cooler again.

I pass him a bottle and he murmurs his thanks, then we both sit. It’d be weird to not face him, so I tuck my legs up under me and turn so my back is against the arm rest. I awkwardly fumble with my bottle of soda and shove it between my thighs to keep it from tipping over as he hands me a plate that already has four tacos portioned out onto it, along with dollops of salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.

“Thanks!” I say brightly, accepting the plate as warmth spreads inside me at his thoughtfulness.

Jake follows suit, positioning himself on the couch to face me, and we both stare at each other for a long moment.

Unwilling to go back to us both feeling awkward as shit, I say the first thing that comes to mind. “I believe in aliens.”

A soft smile spreads Jake’s full lips, and he cocks a brow. “Yeah?”

“Yep. It feels absurd that the universe is so vast that there wouldn’t be alien life. Maybe they don’t want to come here to this backwater planet, but who knows?”

“Oh, they’ve come here,” Jake deadpans.

I narrow my eyes at him, assessing if he’s fucking with me or not. As much as I said I was weird, I’m worried that if I admit I agree and start babbling about all the accounts of alien sightings I’ve read about, he’ll change his mind. That he wants cute, fun weird, not “the truth is out there” weird.

“Are you serious?” I ask evenly.

He pauses and takes a moment to scan my face. I guess he finds what he’s looking for because he nods. “Yeah. Have you seen that documentary where the one guy kept getting his cows abducted and the minotaur who—”

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