Page 22 of My Song for You
I set the glass down but accidentally placed it on the fork’s edge. The glass tipped over, spilling Diet Coke and ice on the table.
“Sorry,” I said, grabbing the available napkins.
“Are you going out with him again?” her friend asked, more interested in the dark-haired girl’s sex life than the stream of soda headed toward her.
“Maybe.”
I quickly mopped up the mess and left to get a damp cloth and another drink. I deposited the new glass on the table, taking care not to spill the contents this time. She just nodded in thanks, too engrossed in her friend’s sexual escapades to give me or the drink much thought.
“You’re so lucky,” another girl said as I continued cleaning up the mess. “I can’t believe I went to a lame hockey game with my boyfriend. I could’ve gone with you on Saturday and met the band. Did you get their autographs?”
Jared’s “friend” removed a piece of paper from her purse. I recognized his signature. Not his real one—the one he used to sign for fans. None of the other guys had signed it. “I didn’t have a chance to get the rest of their signatures. I got Jared’s before Amy picked me up at his apartment.”
So after he’d come over and helped Logan and me celebrate Sharon’s birthday, he’d gone out and gotten laid. Nice.
I took their orders, a pleasant smile painted on my face, even when the dark-haired girl demanded all kinds of changes to her order. As if tormenting me with information about what Jared had done with her last Saturday night hadn’t been enough.
I busied myself with my job and avoided the girls’ table as much as possible. I wasn’t too keen to overhear any more details about her more-than-satisfying night with Jared. Even when I brought them their food, I did my best to escape as fast as humanly possible.
“Is there anything else you need?” I asked, after picking up the last of their empty plates. I might as well have asked a brick wall. None of them were paying attention to me. They were busy staring toward the main entrance.
“Oh my God, Courtney,” one girl said, her voice hushed yet overly excited, “he must be crazy about you. Why else would he be here?”
“Did you tell him you were gonna be here?” another girl asked.
Without meaning to, I turned to the door. Jared stood there, surveying the area. I gasped and hightailed it to the kitchen. If I was lucky, he and his new girlfriend (or whatever she was to him) would leave before I had to check if the table needed anything else.
I emerged from the kitchen with the order for another table, which was thankfully nowhere near the girls’ table. Like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand, I avoided glancing in their direction. If I didn’t look at him, he wouldn’t notice me. Okay, maybe that was a foolish fantasy, but at least it was worth a try.
“Are you going on your break soon?” Beckie asked me. Just a year younger than me, she had also left college before finishing her degree, but for different reasons.
“Yeah, unless you want to go first.”
“No, I’m still good. Besides, you look like you need it more.”
The break was only fifteen minutes, but if the gods of senseless lust were feeling benevolent toward me, by the time I returned, Jared and his girlfriend would’ve left.
I grabbed a glass of Diet Coke and headed out back. The diner had a small staff room, but calling it “small” was being generous. Right now, the last thing I needed was to be caged in. I needed to run. Run far and run fast. But since there wasn’t enough time for me to do that, pacing in the alley would have to do.
As alleys went, this one wasn’t too bad, as long as you didn’t wander too close to the garbage. A small metal table and two matching chairs sat near the back door. They had once been white, but most of the paint had since chipped away.
After I took a sip of my drink, I parked it on the table and started pacing. My feet were tired, but that was just a minor inconvenience. Nothing I couldn’t overlook.
A slight breeze swept through the alley. The sky darkened as a thick cloud drifted in front of the sun.
As I walked toward the back of the building across from the diner, the diner door squeaked open. Groaning inwardly at the loss of privacy, I turned around to see who else was taking their break.
But it wasn’t one of my co-workers.
A raindrop hit my arm.
“What are you doing back here?” I asked Jared.Why aren’t you with your girlfriend? You know, the one who’s ready to write sonnets about your tongue’s magical abilities.
“I came to talk to you.”
“Why would you want to talk to me?” A few more raindrops splashed against me and the asphalt.
“Because we used to be friends, and I can’t see why we can’t still be friends.”
