Chapter 13

Drayer

I didn’t know what it was about the day, but I was feeling much more impatient than usual. I still didn’t take it out on the kids, or at least I tried not to, but I found myself growing much more irritated at a quicker pace. I guessed that maybe I was getting anxious for my date with Ella.

So, when Jimmy cut off the line for lunch, and it took about thirty-five minutes for the last one to get off my lap, I was both ravenous and pissy. I quickly ran to the food court, grabbed the quickest meal I could find, and headed back to the break room.

All the people who normally ate after me passed by me on my way to the room, which meant I was an hour late for when I was supposed to eat. I assumed that the closer we got to Christmas, the more that would happen. Oh, well. That was just part of the gig.

But when I walked into the break room to find it completely empty other than Ella sitting at the far table, I suddenly didn’t feel so mad about it. I crossed all the way to her, shooting her an eager smile as I plopped down in the chair next to her.

“Long day?” she asked, chewing her food with an exhausted expression.

“You wouldn’t believe it,” I said. “What are you doing here so late?”

“Some jerkwad crapped in the dressing room. I’ve been stuck cleaning it with three of the floor girls since ten this morning.”

“Oh my god, that’s disgusting.”

“You’re telling me.”

I shook my head, opening my lunch up. I noticed Ella’s nostrils flare almost immediately, and she looked longingly at my food.

“Would you like some?” I asked, smiling at her.

“I mean, only if you’re not that hungry.”

“Don’t worry. There’s plenty here for the both of us.” Slick as can be, I picked up the plastic fork I had brought, dug it into the meat and the rice, and then offered it up to her.

She sent me an uncertain look before realizing exactly what my intentions were, and she opened her mouth. I watched her lips as they closed around the food, and when I pulled the fork back, it was completely clean.

Wow, that was ridiculously hot. Hunger forgotten, I quickly picked up another forkful and brought it up to her again.

Our eyes made contact as she took that, too, slow and deliberate. The next thing I knew, the fork was on the table, and we were hard-core making out.

Our lips moved together, the taste of my lunch in her mouth. My hands went to her shirt, palming her glorious curves through the fabric.

I couldn’t say how long we stayed like that, but eventually, we did realize we could be caught by anyone at any minute, and we broke apart, both of our faces red.

“So,” I said, trying to bring myself down and stop the tent that was rapidly rising in my pants.

“So,” she answered, just as breathlessly.

“You, uh, still want to go on our date tomorrow?”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, I do.”

Her smile stayed in place, but something changed as she said it. She seemed like she was pulling back from me, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Her mouth said yes, and she was certainly into making out with me, but I wasn’t sure her mind was fully where her heart was.

I wasn’t sure what I needed to do. All I knew was I never wanted to hurt her, but I definitely needed to prove that to her. How I would go about that, though, was a mystery.

“Looks like my lunch is over,” she said weakly before heading out, leaving me to chow down on my now lukewarm meal. I watched her as she went, wondering what had hurt her so terribly.

I finished up the rest of my shift without seeing Ella again. I hoped she was stationed in the stockroom for the second half of her shift rather than avoiding me. By the time I did get off, it was well past six, and I had racked up yet another hour and a half of overtime. Christmas was looking good indeed. I liked that I would be able to go into my new job without being completely destitute. Which was great considering it sometimes took two to three weeks to get paid while getting integrated into payroll.

To my surprise, I caught Nick as he was finishing a cigarette in the parking lot. Jogging to him, I called out to catch his attention.

“Hey! What are you doing here?”

Nick looked up at me like he’d had the absolute worst day. “Are you aware that some people think it hilarious to shit in our dressing rooms?”

I winced. “Uh, yeah. I heard that happened this morning.”

“Not just this morning,” he corrected. “This afternoon. Twice.”

“Oh God, what is wrong with people?”

“I have no idea,” He flicked his cigarette and shot me another weary look. “You wanna go get a drink?”

“Hell, yes.”

We walked out of the parking lot together and headed for the nearest subway. Although we had a few regular haunts, we were pretty happy to unload ourselves at the first bar we saw.

And that was exactly what we did. Less than an hour later, I was seated at a bar and drowning my stress in carbonated hops.

“I couldn’t seal the deal.”

“Pardon?” I looked up from my drink to find Nick staring at me balefully.

“I couldn’t seal the deal with Jo. We spent the whole night flirting, but in the end, she said she had to get home.”

“Aw, I’m sorry man,” I said with a grimace.

“It’s fine. It’s fine.” It clearly wasn’t fine. “At least you know exactly how I feel.”

“Actually, I kinda don’t.”

Nick set his drink down with a thunk. “Wait, what?” Then his mind seemed to catch up with what I had said, and he gasped. “Are you kidding me? You? And Ella?”

“Would you keep your voice down?” I hissed, not wanting my personal business to spread everywhere.

“Are you kidding me? Man! You must be over the moon!”

“No. Not really?”

He hung his head again, being dramatically emphatic enough to be Jo at this point. “Dude, what the hell is wrong now?”

“I just … I really like this girl, Nick. She’s sweet, she’s smart, and my god, Saturday night was amazing. But I can tell she’s scared, and there’s like this wall between us. I can’t tell if she likes me or just considers me a booty call, and for once in my life, I want more than that.”

Nick took a long drink before answering, and I couldn’t quite tell if he was glaring at me or if his expression was still sour from striking out with Jo. “You gotta come right out and tell her, man. There’s no point in beating around the bush and just hoping you two are on the same wavelength.”

“You’re right,” I said, downing more of my own beverage. “That’s what I’m going to have to do.”