Page 55 of Runaway Pride

The man turned to where Rick pointed, but didn’t lookappeased. “They haven’t come up in our direction for twenty minutes.”

“Then you canwalkto them,” Rick said matter-of-factly, leaving no room for retort. His tray was emptied shortly after, and he went back into the kitchen.

“I’m going on break,” he told Nick. Feeling the fatigue, Rick untied his apron and dropped it on the counter.

Maybe he was too sensitive today, but the slightest attitude triggered him into a pot of boiling anger. He stopped at the back of the dining hall, where it was quiet. Leaning against concrete balustrades, he tuned out the chatter in the background. The greens he saw instead helped his mood.

The venue was nice, he’ll admit, but not as nice as the super fancy one Charlie goes to. He wondered what she was doing right now…

Nick appeared next to him, slamming on his shoulder. His friend’s uniform was identical to his, from the dress shoes to the bow tie, but Nick appeared to fit in better than he did.

“You alright?” Nick asked. “You seem more on edge than normal.”

“I’m fine, just needed a breather.”

Rick didn’t notice the smell of fried eggs and bacon until Nick slapped a foil-wrapped burrito against his chest.

“Here, a snack.”

Rick took the wrap and began unfurling. “This is much better than the twenty-dollar cracker and cheese I saw earlier.”

“They’re Gouda, it gets expensive.”

“It gets unnecessary.”

Nick rested against the railings for support while looking ahead. “I’ll bet my money that your pissy mood has something to do with Charlie. I haven’t seen her for weeks. She’d stopped coming to the gym to feed us.”

Rick glared at him before biting into his late lunch. “Her feeding all of you was never supposed to happen.”

“But she did it because she wanted to,” Nick argued. “So what happened?”

He and Nick rarely talked to each other about relationships. Now wasn’t the time Rick wanted to start. Then again, none of his previous relationships held long enough to become deep subjects to discuss.

“Nothing. We just weren’t right together,” was his simple answer.

Nick laughed. “That’s what you say about all of them, but you were never this testy after the end.”

“I’m not testy,” Rick barked.

Sighing, Nick persisted. “So what is it about this time that wasn’t right?”

That question hilariously mocked him for weeks, and he still didn’t have a solid answer.

“We’re too different.”

A scoff tumbled out of Nick incredulously. “Different how?”

Why was Nick being so nosy?

“I like things simple. Charlie is too…”

“Too what? Too rich? Too generous? Too beautiful? Yes, I hate it too when she cares so much about looking good for me and being thoughtful to my friends,” Nick said in a sharp tone. “Also hate it when she has moneyanda career path. What a nut job.”

Nick didn’t understand. No one did. He couldn’t explain it, and felt himself backed into a corner by everyone around him. Wasn’t it within his own rights to choose who and what he wanted?

The need to argue with his friend never came, so he concentrated on eating, needing the energy to make it through the rest of the event.

“Hey… isn’t that Charlie?”

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