Page 79 of Searching for Nova

“Whatever you say.” He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Just be careful, okay? I hate seeing girls like you being taken advantage of.”

“He’s not…” I don’t finish the thought because Rod’s already gone, heading to the front desk.

Why would Rod say that to me? He doesn’t even know Easton. And just because he saw Easton kissing me doesn’t mean there’s something going on between us. I don’t know how I’d define our relationship, but I don’t want to, or need to. I just want to keep things like they are now. Everything this past week has been perfect. I want to keep it that way for just a little longer.

Cleaning bathrooms and having to clean up puke would normally put me in a bad mood, but today it doesn’t. I’m so excited to see Easton that nothing can put me in a bad mood. He didn’t say what time he’s getting here. Open skating starts at five, but he might show up later than that so he can be here when I get off work at nine. We usually go somewhere and park, then talk, which somehow leads to kissing. It’s usually my fault. It gets cold sitting in the Jeep so I end up moving closer to Easton. He puts his arm around me, we get even closer, and then we kiss. Last night when he picked me up, we kissed before we even got out of the parking lot, which makes me think we might be having sex soon. We’re definitely headed that way.

“Any questions?” Rod asks just before five. He spent the last half hour training me on the cash register. That’s really all I need to learn. The food is easy. It’s just candy bars, bags of chips, and bottles of soda. Rod plans to add hotdogs and popcorn, and maybe pizza, but for now it’s just packaged food, which is easy. I just have to restock everything when it gets low.

“I think I’m good,” I tell him.

He points to my mouth. “Get that smile going. And don’t be talking back to the customers. Smile and act happy to see them. You think you can handle that?”

“Yes.” I smile extra wide.

He laughs as he walks off.

People arrive for open skating, mostly families with kids. Every time someone comes in, I check to see if it’s Easton. I hope he’s still coming. I almost send him a text, but then don’t. This isn’t a date, and I’m not his girlfriend. He’s just a friend who might stop by to skate.

At eight, Easton still hasn’t shown up and I can’t hide my disappointment. I snapped at a kid for taking too long to give me his money for a bag of chips. He paid in change and the kid took forever counting it out. Halfway through the counting, I scooped the change off the counter and told him to go, and I might have tossed the chips at him instead of nicely handing them over. Luckily, Rod didn’t see this. I might need to work on my customer service skills. To be fair, I was raised by Ted, who yells at everyone. I didn’t have a role model for how to be nice.

“I’ll take chips and a Coke,” a guy says as I’m picking up the pennies I dropped on the floor. “You need some help?”

I stand up and see Easton standing there, giving me a smile with his perfectly straight, white teeth. He’s got on a black hoodie and jeans, and I can smell his cologne from across the counter. I already want to kiss him and he just got here.

“You showed up,” I casually say as I drop the pennies in the cash register.

“You didn’t think I would?”

“I wasn’t sure. We close in a half hour. I thought you’d be here before now.”

“I wanted to wait for the place to clear out so I could skate without running into kids.” He glances at the rink. “But it looks like it’s still busy.” He turns back to me. “So what are you doing working the snack stand?”

“Jodi quit, so Rod’s letting me fill in. If I do okay, he might let me have the job. I’d still have to clean, but not all the time.”

“That’s great!” He gives me that smile again, which causes a fluttery feeling in my chest.

“Did you really want the chips?” I ask, grabbing the bag.

“Not really. But if you do, then yeah. Get whatever else you want too.”

My mind immediately goes to what Rod said about guys like Easton buying stuff to make girls like me fall for them. That’s not what he’s doing, but stupid Rod put that thought in my head and now I’m feeling a twinge of anger at Easton for offering to buy me chips.

“I don’t want any,” I tell him. “You want the soda?”

“Sure.” He gets out his wallet and hands me a five. “Keep the change.”

“I can’t.” I hand him the soda and take the five. “We’re not allowed to get tips.”

“Just don’t tell him.”

“Take it.” I hold out his change.

He sighs as he takes the money.

“You better hurry if you want to skate,” I tell him.

“We’re going out later, right?”

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