Page 48 of Fun Together
“Yeah, it’s nice having a place that’s convenient and has good coffee.” He looks out the window. He’s got a bit of sunburn on his nose, I guess from being outside helping his dad yesterday. “This is a cool neighborhood. Have you ever been to that bar across the street?”
“Yes, I love that place. It’s very cozy and dark.”
“Maybe we could go there sometime. We can get espresso martinis to satisfy our caffeine fix.”
“Yeah, maybe we can—” I stop, realizing what’s he’s doing. That was good.Toogood. I sniff. “That proves nothing.”
He smiles, eyes twinkling with triumph. “It proves that it’s not that hard.”
“But it’s easy for you. You always know what to say, and . . .” I gesture to him. “You know . . .”
“What?”
“Your face . . .” I take a sip of my drink, wishing I’d never even said anything. “It’s a . . . good one.”
He seems baffled by this. “Thank you. But Faye,youare attractive. And he keeps looking back at you, too. All you have to do is bat those big blue eyes at him and he’ll do anything you like.” He sighs before continuing, “Trust me.”
“You can’t be serious.”It can’t really be that easy.
“Only one way to find out. It’s slowed down, so you won’t feel like you’re in his way.”
He’s right, so I can’t use the excuse that I’d be bothering him while he’s busy. “Fine, but you can’t watch.”
The idea of him watching me fumble through a conversation with someone is too much. This is already strange enough, going from pretend flirting to pretend kissing the other night. Before, I could use being drunk as an excuse, but it’s a bright, sober morning. I can’t pretend this isn’t weird.
“What if I close my eyes?”he asks, placing his hands over his face.
I take my hair down so I can re-do my bun. I’m stalling.
He peeks through his fingers and his eyes track the movement as I put my hair back up. “Stop stalling.”
“Okay, I’ll go talk to him.”
Eli stands up so that I can get squeeze past him, whispering, “Go get ‘em tiger,” to me as I pass.
I make my way up to the counter and tell myself this is going to be fine. He’s looking down at his phone. What if I’m interrupting an important text conversation, like maybe his great aunt needs a kidney transplant and if he doesn’t respond within ten seconds she will die, and he’ll have that on his conscience for the rest of his life because he had to be polite to a customer.
“What can I do for you?” he asks.
I smile in a way that I hope is warm and friendly and not like an alien who is mimicking human emotion.“Thought I might want to consume something besides caffeine this morning. These pastries look really good.”
He moves to stand behind the pastry case. “Good call. What are you in the mood for?”
“What’s your favorite?” This feels like something Eli would ask. I resist the urge to look back at where he’s sitting to make sure he’s keeping his promise of not watching us.
“The strawberry rhubarb danish is one of our seasonal pastries right now. It’s a fan favorite.”
“Okay, I’ll try that one.”
He moves to grab the pastry from the case.
“Actually, can I get a couple of those?” I ask.
“Sure thing.” He wraps the pastries in some tissue paper and hands them to me. He punches the order in. “That’ll be $8.50.”
“Thank you.” I swipe my card. “Um, I’m Faye, by the way. I come here so often, so I figured I should introduce myself.”
He smiles at me. It’s the kind of smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, but still a pretty good one. “I’m Cameron.”
