Nina

“So...” Jen glances over at me while wiping down the counter. “What do you think?”

“The morning was rough, but I think I did pretty well for my first day.” I lean against the counter, trying to take the weight off my feet.

“Girl, you slayed it today.” She spins around and throws the rag in the sink, but misses. She picks it up and smiles. “But you know what could use some improvement?”

I look at her questioningly, and she points down to my shoes. “Your matching game is off.”

“Wh-what?” I glance down. “Oh my God! How did I not notice?”

“Navy, black, same difference, right? Plus, I would say your vision is impaired that early.” She chuckles.

“At least they are both Converse.”

“Word.” Jen holds out her fist for a quick bump.

I would have never suspected Jen to be a fist bumper, but Jen is everything I thought she wasn’t. Crazy, awkward, but cool as hell.

“Do you think you can handle it if I go on break?” She asks as she puts a slice of double chocolate loaf in the toaster, her decision apparently already made.

“Um, yeah?”

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Right answer.” The timer goes off. “Plus, you can take yours after I get back.” She grabs her loaf, heading to the breakroom.

Since there aren’t any customers, I make sure everything is cleaned and begin to restock the supplies.

“Here!” Niki slams a box down on the counter.

I whirl around, startled. “What crawled up your butt?” I inch closer to the counter, curious as to what she has, but cautious as to what has her so irritated.

“I wake up today thinking, ‘I wonder how Nina’s day is going?’ Only for Gavin to come in and tell me my car was still in the garage.” She opens the box, removing a cell phone. “This, it’s a phone.” She reaches into her purse and pulls out a piece of paper. “And this, it’s your number.”

“Okay?”

“You are now the proud owner.” She holds it out to me. “Now, take it.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Don’t make me hop over this counter, like I’m a star in the next Hollywood action blockbuster.” Her hand-shakes the phone, demanding for me to take it.

“Niki, I don’t need a phone. I’m doing just fine without one.” I cross my arms, standing strong.

“Maybe you are, but I need you to have one.” She lets out a big huff. “I freaked, okay?” She sets the phone down as I move closer. “When I saw my car in the garage and you were nowhere to be found. I freaked.” She lowers her head, shaking it back and forth.

“Niki…”

Holding up her hand, she interrupts. “I was moments from calling 9-1-1 until Gavin noticed the bike was gone and called Java Talk. Luckily, Jen filled us in.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think.”

I honestly didn’t. I was so used to someone making the decisions for me, I got wrapped up in myself and, well, the rest is history.

“Just...” She scans the room before her eyes settle on mine. “Take the phone. If you are going to ride the bike, let me know so I don’t worry. If…if anything happened to you, I would never be able to forgive myself.”

A moment passes as we just stare at each other. I don’t want to take it, but I don’t want her to worry either.

“Give it here.” I reach out, palm up, and she hands it over.

“It’s a pay-as-you-go phone, but we bought you a ninety-day plan.” She shows me some of the features. “I took it upon myself to program some numbers in there for you. Me being number one, for obvious reasons.”

“Good to know.”

“I also activated the location services and downloaded the app so I’ll always know where you are,” she throws in as she gathers up the bag and rest of the papers.

“Overkill, don’t you think?” I try to make a joke, but the look in Niki’s eyes is a cross between guilt and I’ll cut a bitch, maybe both.

“How can you say that? When you showed up at my door...” She takes a deep breath and looks toward the ceiling, before she finishes. “I refuse to let that happen again.”

“Niki, there was no way for you to know…”

“The hell if there wasn’t. You asked me for money. You had a broken ankle and you begged me to keep a secret about your school and savings.” She holds out her hands, wide apart. “Big fucking clue.”

“I convinced you everything was okay. I never gave you any reason to believe otherwise.” I stretch my hand out to grab hers. “I love you for loving me, but I’m going to be okay and that is because of you.” I pull her in for a hug over the counter and whisper, “Thank you for the phone. I’ll always have it on.”

She gives me a tight squeeze before she lets go. “Good. I made sure it was charged and here is an extra cord. Although I doubt your ride has a plug.” She makes sure to get in the last word as she spins around and runs right into a brick wall of firm, rippled muscles — Mr. Tall Guy.

“Kyle, you shouldn’t sneak up on people like that. What if I would have felt threatened and used some of my ninja moves on you?”

“I didn’t sneak up. I opened the door and walked up to the counter. You ran into me.” His dimpled smile is looking down on us both.

“You could have lost a ball.” Niki looks down. “Or two.” She steps around him and calls back over her shoulder, “Consider yourself warned, Lewis.”

“If you’re not afraid, you probably should be.” I smile, letting him know I’m joking.

“Looks like you are in a good mood today.”

Crap.

Last night I was so carried away working on sketches and then excited about today, I totally forgot about our run-in the day before.

“Oh-um-I…well…” I stutter.

The old me would back away, run and hide, waiting for the bad to come, but today is a new day and I’m moving on.

“It’s been a good day.” I return his smile, which has never left his face.

“First day?” He says as his hands go back into his pockets, something I noticed he did a lot yesterday.

“Yeah. That noticeable?” I cringe.

“Nah, I was just trying to make conversation.”

“Conversation is good.”

“Indeed.” He rocks back and forth. His head turns, noticing someone coming through the door. “I’ll be right back.”

He heads for the door, stopping another guy, who is just a tad shorter than Kyle, from coming in.

That’s weird.

“Who are we staring at?” Jen comes to stand by me, following my eyes. “Ohhhh…Kyle Lewis.”

“You know him?” I twist to face her.

“Everyone knows Kyle Lewis, the nice guy no one wants.”

“That’s a joke, right? Just look at him.” We both turn to see him standing at the counter, the other guy gone.

“Are we talking about me again?” His smile is a little more wicked than it was before. “Jen.” He nods.

“Kyle…what can we get you today?”

Looking between the two, I begin to wonder if something has happened there. Did they used to date? Was it just a one-night stand gone wrong? Whatever it was, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy in the pit of my stomach.

I know I shouldn’t, given my history with Brandon. But I’m still a woman after all, and everything in me notices Mr. Tall Guy.

“Give me the same order as yesterday.” A smile is still plastered on his face.

Does this guy ever not smile?

“Here, let’s split the order, so you can go on break.” Jen, writes down what he had yesterday and tears it in half.

“Deal.” I nod and look back at Kyle, who is standing against the wall, legs crossed at the ankle, hands in pockets. Smiling at me.

Heat stirs within me, causing a blush to creep up.

Filling two of the orders, I place the cups in a carrier. “Jen, did these have whipped cream?”

“Yep, the mocha had extra.” She nods over to a new case of whipped cream I didn’t notice before. “I brought up a new case. We were out of the heavy whip.”

“I have a little more in this one.” I shake it a couple times before I aim the nozzle at the intended target.

“Dang it!” Air shoots out, spraying the coffee and whatever whipped cream was left into my face.

Hands still in his pockets, Kyle walks over as I stand staring at the cup, can in hand and cream on face.

“New can, Sanders, right over there.” Jen snorts as she looks around the espresso machine, pointing to the box of new cans.

“Maybe I should have listened,” I huff out as I look up. Kyle is now in front of me, eyes zoned in on my face.

“You have a little something right there.” He takes his hand out of his pocket and points to my nose.

Grabbing a napkin, I clean off my face the best I can and return to topping off his drinks.

“You still have some, on your lip.” He points to the spot on his face, but when I reach for my own, I dab all the wrong places. “No, right here.” His hand is out now. “You mind?”

I shake my head. His thumb grazes my top lip, and he brings his thumb to his mouth, but instead of licking it off, he wipes it on his jeans. His hands go back into his pockets.

“Thanks.” I stand in disbelief, curious as to why he stopped himself.

“Here you go.” Jen walks up, saving us from another awkward moment. She stuffs the other two cups in the tray, then puts lids on mine. “That will be twenty-five, Lewis.”

He hands Jen thirty and tells her to keep the change. “You going on break now?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I buy you a drink?” He nods over to the booth as he picks up his order.

I’m not sure how to handle this. Maybe in a different time, I would have said yes, but now I have to focus on me, and having a drink with him will only make things more complicated.

Pulling out the phone that Niki got me, I hold it up. “I have to try and figure this thing out before Niki goes ‘American Ninja Warrior’ on my ass.”

“Ahh. Okay, well maybe another time.”

“Maybe.” I begin to play with the phone. Just something, anything, to take my mind off him. “Dang it.”

“What’s wrong?” I look up and he’s still here, staring at me.

If he wasn’t so cute, I would consider him borderline stalkerish, but… “Stupid thing won’t power up.” I hit the button repeatedly. This is nothing like my other phone.

“Here let me.” He takes the phone from me. “See.” He turns it to show me. “You just have to hold it down and to make a call you dial a number and hit the green button.”

My hands fly to my hips. “Kyle.”

“And to save that number as a contact, you just hit this button here and click add.” He doesn’t look up, but I can hear the smile in his voice. “Kyle ‘look at him’ Lewis, is that what you would program?”

Realizing he is doing this, I figure I might as well play along. “Actually, I would have put ‘Mr. Tall Guy.’”

He gives me a side glance. “Mr. Tall Guy, huh?” He goes to work on the phone. “Alright, done.” He hands the phone back. “Can you do that break now?”

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” I retort.

“You always have a choice.” His reply catches me off guard, making me consider his offer.

Finding the clock, I see I only have a few more minutes. “Ten minutes.”

“Good. Do you want me to show you the timer features on your phone?” He points over to the booth he wants and lets me lead the way.

“Hardy-har, Lewis.” Kyle stands waiting for me to slide in before he takes his seat across from me. The move reminds me of Gavin, always respectful.

“So, whatcha wanna talk about?” I wait for him to start us off. I’m fidgeting, so I fold up my hands and place them in my lap.

“Whatever you want to talk about.” He fiddles with the tray, reminding me about his to-go order.

“Those coffees are getting cold.”

“You want to talk about cold coffee?”

I shake my head no.

“They can heat it up.” He doesn’t seem concerned.

“Okay.”

“So, tell me about you? How old, are you out of school for the summer or do you plan on staying?” He pumps out the questions, one right after the other.

“Twenty-three and I don’t know,” I admit.

“You don’t know if you are in school or you don’t know if you are staying?”

“School.” I scan the room and notice Jen’s eyes are locked on us. “Did you used to date Jen?” The words are out before I bring my attention back to him.

“No.” He doesn’t seem shocked or even upset that I asked. So, I press on.

“Then why is she keeping an eye on you?” I jab my thumb in her direction, and Kyle bursts out laughing, slapping the table, causing the coffee to shake.

“What?” I turn to see Jen shrugging her shoulders.

“She mimed that she was going to cut my throat.” He mocks her threat. “But no, we never dated.”

“You didn’t?” I’m suddenly relieved.

“Nope.” He shakes his head, slowly, back and forth. “I was going through something and leaned on her sister, Cindy. Things happened and…” I can tell the words are on the tip of his tongue. “It didn’t end well.”

“She hates you for screwing over her sister.” I purse my lips. “I get that.”

“No, it’s actually the opposite. Jen and I get along fine, but I’m guessing she likes you and is afraid the same thing will happen to you.”

“Will it?” I ask, daring him for an answer that I shouldn’t desperately want.

The look on his face says I’m confusing him. I’m hot and cold. I’m drawn to him, but I know I’m no good right now. I have to deal with my hang ups before I even attempt a relationship, not that he is even asking for one.

Leaning forward, hands in his lap, he lowers his voice for only me to hear, “Nina, there is something about you. When you are near, I feel this pull toward you that I can’t control.”

“Kyle…” I beg him to stop, or am I pleading for him to go on?

“I can see you’re not ready and honestly, I’m not sure if I have anything left to give.”

“Oh.”

“Nina, I’m not saying this the right way.” He clears his throat, starting over. “I want to get to know you and I’m hoping you feel the same.”

“So, you want to be friends?” I’m still not sure if this is what he is asking.

“Yeah! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I do.”

“Okay then, friends.”