Page 8 of Five to Love Him
Then again, I’d wondered whether maybe they just didn’t know how. I sure had wanted to explain to Gran about dropping out of college because almost drowning had haunted me all this time, but she hadn’t been able to understand. She’d tried, but she simply couldn’t relate.
“That was weird, right?” Tate said. “Oh, did the hive just flirt with Leo?”
“No one ever flirts with me,” I said, revealing one of the truths of my existence.
“Smile sometimes,” Ezra said. “I hear it increases the likelihood of being talked to.”
Tate gasped. “I told him that too! See, Leo? Smile sometimes so people are being tricked into thinking you’re nice and not a big old misanthrope.”
“Hurts my cheeks. Might get me all wrinkly and ruin my chances of being discovered as a model.”
It was satisfying to watch Ezra, master of water, nearly snort his cocktail all over the place.
four
We made sure he and his friends were well taken care of all night. They didn’t stay very long, so the wait outside wasn’t too bad, and we wondered whether we should maybe go back, make sure we were totally presentable.
But we wanted to be close to the gleaming one. If Coral had not limited us to being two inside the Dazzle, we would have walked inside and sat at his table, told him while his friends were there.
While waiting and always checking on them, we wondered about why they needed to work. We hadn’t even considered the issue of money. It had always mattered, and yet it had never really been important to us.
But that was before, and a human, our human, might need more attention, more things. Money was the thing that made all of that possible.
“We could work elsewhere,” we mumbled outside the Dazzle where we stood opposite the entrance and watched the people walking by. “We can provide for him and make him happy. We just have to make sure he never finds us.” We nodded. We’d make it work.
***
They broke up their gathering at around one in the morning, and while they figured out the bill, we overheard the gleaming one’s name. Leo. We liked it. It was pretty even if he looked nothing at all like a lion.
“Is it okay to take off? For one of us?” we asked Coral just before he turned on his blender.
He looked at us with raised brows, the sparkling makeup emphasizing the expression.
“I only hired one person. I’m only paying you like I would one person. Or do you mean both of you are going to leave?”
We needed a few seconds to figure that out, then said, “We’ll stay, but we’ll leave. Of course we’d not run off in the middle of a shift, Coral.”
“Alrighty then.” The blender ended the conversation, and we left while also making sure to thank Leo and his group for the tip.
Leo was the last one leaving, struggling to zip his bag back up. They’d had two drinks and were slightly tipsy. We made sure to remember it as their limit.
“Here,” we said and zipped the bag for them—him.
“Uh, thanks. Great service. I mean, really. You’re so nice.”
“Yes, we—yes. We would like to speak with you outside if you don’t mind.”
They—he blinked at us. “Did I do anything wrong or something?”
“Oh, no. Not at all.”
The other human looked back over their shoulder. “Leo, you coming? How long does it take to exchange phone numbers, huh?”
Leo blushed. “Coming! And sure, we can talk. Are you still on the clock?”
We considered how to phrase it. “Yes. But we—outside. We will meet you outside.”
Leo looked confused, but then he shrugged, grabbed his bag, and followed the human and the oceanic.
