Brynn
couldn't be certain, but I was almost positive that the guy sitting across the table from me was staring directly at my tits.
I snuck a glance over at Rett. His face was the strangest mixture of pride and undisguised loathing as his eyes flicked between me and the hyper-groomed Ken Doll across the table.
I decided to conduct an experiment.
"And so then what did you do?" I asked, batting my eyelashes and sitting forward. I crossed my arms across my chest, subtly pushing my breasts upward as I leaned against the table.
The guy's eyes nearly jumped out of his head and the girl sitting next to him snaked her hand over his bicep and tugged him closer to whisper something in his ear as she stared me down.
Hiding my smirk, I snuck another glance at Rett. He was grinning at me, and I think I saw him flip a thumbs-up of approval on his lap.
I stifled my laugh behind my hand. "Glad to be useful," I murmured in his direction.
He laughed out loud, and his laugh made me laugh too. I'd never seen him so playful before. I didn't know whether it was the alcohol, the atmosphere, or the fact that we were eating and drinking for free that made him so relaxed, but I decided I liked this version of Everett McCabe.
"May I take your orders?" a voice interjected.
I looked up, and then did a double take. "I know you!" I blurted.
The waitress regarded me with baleful dark eyes, then blinked slowly in recognition. "Hi there," she said tightly.
"You're Grace's mother," I said. "Adelina, right? Is your last name Moore, like Grace's?" I swiveled sideways in my chair and reached to shake her hand. "I'm Brynn. Brynn Reese. Miss Reese, but then you knew that, right?" I laughed nervously.
Adelina looked at my hand like I was offering her a dead fish. I swallowed and let it fall back into my lap. "I've seen you at morning drop-off," I said. "But I never got a chance to say hello, so it's so nice to finally talk to you in person and..."
She was staring at me with undisguised contempt. I could see that. I could tell she wanted to get away from me and just keep doing her job. But I couldn't seem to stop the flow of words gushing from my mouth. It's like my brain short-circuits whenever I feel like people dislike me. My tongue just starts spewing out words at a high velocity. Like I think that if I just keep talking, eventually I'll hit on something to make them like me again.
"She is such a sweet little girl," I gushed. "And she's such a good reader for her age, really advanced. You must do so much reading to her at home." Adelina blinked and I thought I saw a little flash of acknowledgment in her eyes, so I kept plowing on. "I'm going to miss her so much next year. I was so glad to have her in my class."
Adelina nodded once. "Thank you for saying so," she said formally.
Progress. I'm breaking though her shell. Soon we can be friends, my brain egged me on anxiously. "You just moved to town, right?" I prodded.
She gave an abrupt nod. But remained silent.
Her silence forced me to keep talking to fill it. "I wish I had your daughter longer," I sighed, running my finger over my glass. "I didn't know you worked here."
"This is the only thing I can do," she said curtly. "May I take your order?"
Her abrupt rejection snapped me out of my chatter-spiral. I swiveled back to stare at my menu, tears stinging the corner of my eyes. "Give me a moment," I said in a strangled voice.
"You okay?" Rett murmured, leaning slightly towards me.
I held the menu upright to hide my face. I hated when I felt like people didn't like me, but even more I hated how badly I tried to change their minds.
"Just trying to make conversation," I mumbled under my breath to Rett as Adelina went around taking everyone's drink orders. I looked over at Rett. He was so composed all of the time. And he never seemed to be bothered about people's opinion of him. "Did I say something wrong to her?" I whispered.
He shook his head emphatically. "She must be having a bad day," he said. Then raised his voice to give Adelina an order for him and me, a nice little chivalrous touch that I resolved to tease him mercilessly for doing.
I swallowed and straightened my shoulders. Already I could feel the rearrangement going on in my brain. If somebody didn't like me, even after I tried to be their friend, then I needed to hate them in order to justify my hurt feelings. I shot Rett a haughty grin.
"Or, she might just be a bitch," I said loudly as Adelina walked away.
Rett laughed, but this time his cheeks reddened slightly. After that touching display of 1950s chauvinism in placing my drink order for me, I decided to have a little fun with him. "You can call a bitch a bitch, Rett. You don't have to be all chivalrous."
He leaned forward. "What about to you?"
I leaned back "Nah," I said waving my hands. "I'm being a bitch too." I grinned at him. "This bitch is using you to fill her face hole with bourbon and filet mignon."
Something darkened in his gaze. "I'm enjoying watching you fill your face hole," he deadpanned.
I choked on my drink, and grinned at him. Maybe he was using me to make his co-worker jealous. Maybe I was using him to eat fancy food I couldn't otherwise afford on a teacher's salary. But if all this using each other meant I got to spend more time with Rett McCabe, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all.