Page 34 of Leo
“Which is why you should let me handle this part.”She sighed.“Seriously, Am.Let me do this.”
“You’re—”
“Swear to god, if you say I’m a kid, I might scream,” she groaned.
“I wasn’t going to say that.Iwasgoing to point out that you’re in high school and that’s going to have to come first, before anything else.”Okay, that was basically the same as saying she was a kid but in a more palatable way.She seemed to accept it because she nodded, flipped her plaits back over her shoulders, and grabbed her milky coffee.“Okay, so how are we gonna do this then?”
She grinned.“If we haul ass, we’ve got a little over four hours till the shop opens and you’ve got some bakes to start, right?”
“Right,” I drawled.“Where are we going with this?”
“Oh my god.Seriously, Am!”She reached out and squeezed my cheeks in her hand.“You are so smart but sometimes I think you turn your brain off for the day.Finish your coffee and let’s go—I want to get atleasthalf an hour of usable video today!”
* * *
Bethany recorded me chatting,getting several batches of stuff started, and then a bit of the bakery itself.She asked me questions like an interviewer and goaded me into telling stories about getting started, the history of the recipes I was making, even some “fails” where I’d screwed up royal or things didn’t come out as intended.“Seriously,” she muttered, reviewing some of the video.“We can totally do a Fails series.People love that kind of stuff.”
We’d been open for an hour and she’d taken to discreetly filming me and Ira from behind the counter as we helped customers during the morning rush.“It’s for the intro,” she muttered when I asked what she was doing.
“Just don’t show customers’ faces without getting them to sign something or whatever, okay?”
She nodded and I made a mental note to ask her to show me the videos before she posted them, just in case.As the rush wound down, a teenaged girl came into the shop and made a beeline for Bethany.“We cool?”
Bethany nodded.“Let’s do it.Ambrose!This is Mika,” she said, smiling so big I thought it must surely hurt her face.“She’s gonna be a customer, okay?And you help her.I totally have permission to film her.”
“My mom signed a permission slip and everything,” Mika agreed solemnly.She flicked her magenta bangs out of her eyes and winked at me.
“Did you?”
She nodded.“Scout’s honor.”Rummaging in one of her oversized pockets, she pulled out a folded piece of paper.“Mika has permission to be on camera,” she read, then turned it so I could see an illegible scrawl.“See?”
I sighed inwardly.“Bethany, before this gets posted, give me Mika’s parents’ number,” I muttered.The door opened again and, for just a second, I forgot about the filming, the bakes I had waiting to go into the oven for tomorrow, even the little old guy at the counter trying to pay in dimes.Leo stood in the doorway for a moment, his eyes lighting on me, and smiled.
And I turned into an absolute dork for a full ten seconds.
“See?”Bethany whispered none too subtly.“They totally need to just go for it and date.”
Mika shrugged.“I dunno.I mean, why label it?If something’s working, it’s working.”
They wandered toward the drinks cooler, leaving me with a red face and a shy smile as Leo made a beeline for me.“Hey,” I mumbled, because I’m super smooth.
“Hey.”
“You sound way cooler than me when you say that.”
“I think you’re biased.”He started to lean in for a kiss, then paused.“Um…”
I closed the distance, giving him a brief, soft kiss that earned awhoooofrom Mika and anoh my godfrom Bethany.“Not that I mind the visit—because trust me, I really don’t—but to what do I owe the honor?”
Leo nodded toward the counter and I led him over, ducking behind the back as he leaned on the surface.“I had a bit of time before a client this morning.Edward’s with Naomi and Leslie at the softball field so I thought I’d stop buy and grab some cookies or something for them for afterward.”
Beside him, Bethany slowly moved closer, her phone held up to film our interaction.“Um,” Leo murmured, “What the hell?”
“Don’t mind me.Just act natural, okay?I’m gonna use this as a slice of life reference.”
Leo raised his eyebrows at me.“Do I want to know?”
“I’ll make sure I get you a release form,” Bethany said.“Now act like you’re happy to see one another.”She paused and lowered her phone to shoot me a significant look.“Like you’re happy to see yourboyfriendthat you’re too chicken to call yourboyfriend.”
